PolarGirl
Forum Replies Created
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Chem, my comment before was joking and lighthearted, by the way. I enjoyed reading your comments today, and I definitely don’t think you are a bitch. I do think you are a scientist! In fact, when I read your comment, in my own head I heard the voice of my good friend, who is a Harvard and Yale trained epidemiologist and professor of Public Health. She has the same fury at the same kinds of things, and people often misinterpret her intentions when she points things out like this (and think she’s a bitch). But, I think, good on ya. You are absolutely right, and journalists get this stuff wrong all the time, because (1) they don’t have the training to interpret this kind of literature, and (2) yes, they do need training, because while high level critical thinking skills do come easily to some of us, they definitely do not for most of us. Also, it is usually the case that people without this training who read the journalist’s blog post or whatever DO NOT go back and read the actual journal article that was cited, so they are indeed relying on faulty or misleading information.
But, you said it, visualization is still good because it “trains” the mind in ways that are incredibly similar to actual movement. But it’s probably not going to make you “stronger” in a literal sense.
I just love that you actually read that study. You are awesome 🙂 -
Yeah, I do see why you would be upset, zoilife. This sounds like a cool club, where you can go and socialize and pole, where no one is yelling at you to “take it off” but instead focusing on your dancing and/or the beautiful shapes you can make with your body…until one day people ARE asking you to “take it off”, and suddenly it’s not a safe cool space for you to explore pole without those unwelcome pressures. And the thing about strip clubs is that when you walk into one, you know that if you’re onstage you’ll be asked to take off some or all clothing; similarly, you know that if you’re in the audience you’ll be seeing some nudity. It sounds like the managers of that club did nothing to let the performers know how the night would go, and that was a glaring oversight.
The other part of me, a major part, is like, Wow! Really!? A 57 year old?! …who could not only do all those moves but who also felt confident enough to take off all of her clothes and dance for an audience? That IS sexy! Not to say I want to do exactly that at 57 — but I’d love to think I’d have that kind of confidence at that age. What a beautiful thing.
So, I’m sorry that happened to you. And…wow!
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Well, that’s good news. ‘Cause I think about pole like, allllll the time 🙂
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I would probably have had mixed feelings too. Hell, I am having mixed feelings trying to decide what to write about this. But no, don’t take it out on Teddy! The no-hands teddy is a move that requires great strength, grace, athleticism, and flexibility, just like so many other pole moves. And there are really few pole moves that wouldn’t show off some, uh, lady bits if the person performing were not wearing any clothing (except maybe a pencil something or other). Will you also stop doing fan legs or V inverts, or Ayesha? No way!
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Ah, if only working on a bendy back were simple! 😉
Yes, work on shoulder, back, and hip flexor flexibility, and (as has been said already) once you have more range of motion, especially in the shoulders and upper back, you will be able to really push into the pole behind you, which will help you to push your hips up (if you have enough ROM in lower back).
It sounds like you have had a bad injury, so be gentle with yourself and really consistent with your stretching. Good luck!!! -
Holy crap. I’m only maybe halfway through this thread and I have a HUGE list of moderately doable as well as in-my-wildest-dreams kind of moves already. I’ve watched enough videos – time to get to work!
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I am intermediate – advanced. I use Veena’s hardcore warmup and pole strength routine two to three times a week to really hit the core and upper body to build that strength. Consistency is key, and I can definitely see clear results with my body growing stronger over time. Some of those days I do some pole tricks I’m training (or just really like) in between the warmup and the pole strength routine. I try to have at least one day if not two where all I do is pole only for my workout. This is my FUN time where I just do whatever I want. It consists of setting good music and freestyling for quite a while and finding new movements and combos that flow for me naturally. Then I’ll find myself working pole tricks on and off between freestyling until my arms and core are so tired I can’t even invert anymore. I’m always amazed during these sessions what I can actually do, and really keeps my morale high and motivates me. Functional training is really good for you, which is why I pole to get stronger for pole, and use Veena’s pole strength routine where I’m lifting my own body weight against gravity rather than lifting weights and doing holds and movements that translate very literally over into poling. (http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Functional_training) I always stretch a little bit, even if I don’t have time to do full on flexibility training (which I don’t do enough). I do Cleo’s Rockin’ Legs and Abs three to four days a week to hit my legs, core again, and some good splits stretches. I really like the video and find it effective, but she does not hold the stretches as long as I’d like. If there were one thing I would change about my pole training, it would be to add more flexibility training. I’m pretty flexible, but as you advance in pole, you’ll find that some of the more advanced moves cannot even be gotten into until you’ve attained a certain level of flexibility in your back, shoulders, or hips, or that you really need a vertical and/or center over split for a move to look good. I would also say that a strong flexy body makes very basic movements look way more impressive as well. It’s so key.
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Phoenix Hunter: the cross ankle release “at the pole” (dumb name, I know) is set up just like the Dangerous Brian, which Veena kindly just posted for visual reference…but it is NOT a thigh hold.
Imagine the Dangerous Brian but with the “free” or back leg also brought to the pole so that you can cross that ankle behind the hooked leg and squeeze the pole between the meaty sweet spot inside both knees. It is super secure.
For entry, you go from a pole sit with legs extended, basically a pike, like you’re in a plank but sitting up with the torso vertical, with your hands below chest level and lean torso back so your legs come up a bit. From there I have seen two common methods of leg placement. One is to keep the legs crossed at the ankle and slightly bend the legs outward which creates an opening for the pole between your knees and then pulling your legs in toward your body until the ankles meet the pole and the pole is between your knees so you can grip it, then of course laying back. I simply cannot do this entry for some reason. Plus I don’t like the knees bending, which loses the pretty line. The other method is the same in the beginning, but then instead of leaving legs crossed, you lean back with your hands still gripping right in front of you, uncross, and bring your hooking leg only to the pole and hook it. My other leg, which also gets to stay straight and pretty, then comes to the pole, finds the perfect knee placement on the side, and then the ankle meets the other ankle, crossing behind. This may require some finagling with your hand placement, but you’ll find something that works for you with practice.
At first, it can be challenging to find the sweet spot between the knees for many people, but the correct knee placement is more important than having the ankles crossed just right, because it’s really the between-the-knee grip holding you. I find that when I find that perfect side knee squeeze grip spot on the second leg, it’s tough to bring the second ankle to completely meet the first. It does, but if I’m focused on crossing harder at the ankles from the get-go, I end up with a nasty bruise from bad knee placement.
Once you have mastered this one, you can do the one-legged variation (which is still not a Dangerous Brian). Everything is the same only the free/non-hooked leg, once brought to the pole and finding the good spot on the side of the knee and squeezing the pole between both knees, BENDS and points toward the floor. It looks much more impressive but really isn’t much harder, as the ankle cross isn’t doing much to hold you up. It just feels more secure.
Like polekat said, using these to pull up from a headstand/elbow stand/handstand is the best and safest way to learn.
As Veena said, the Dangerous Brian is definitely more advanced.
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At my studio they teach two types of cross ankle release, and they call them regular CAR and CAR with ankles at pole. The regular car is just what you think: a thigh squeeze. The CAR at pole has the foot “hooked” with the other ankle crossed behind it and the pole between your knees. Many moves are easier to get into from the “at pole” version (like aerial iguana, certain bow and arrow variations, or any move where you reach behind yourself to grasp the pole with your hands – easier because your thighs are already out of the way) and it’s so secure that they teach it before the CKR. Everyone has their preference. Some less than advanced polers prefer the regular CAR. My opinion is that everyone should practice all of them. Regular CAR does get less scary when you practice it regularly (and SQUEEEEEEZE like you’re about to pee your pants!).
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Maybe I just didn’t listen close enough to that clip…because most of what that guy says is nonsensical anyway… But I thought he was talking about Beyoncé the whole time and then randomly dropped a stripper pole bomb out of seemingly nowhere. His point would have at least been somewhat coherent if he had been talking about Rhianna.
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What I’m getting at is that “pole dancing” was actually never mentioned at all in the segment. Huckabee said the words “stripper pole”. Very different connotations, and in my book, different things.
(If anyone calls their pole their stripper pole, I didn’t mean to be insulting. I just don’t do it.)
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Anyway, they didn’t really talk about pole dancing. Huckabee just made a passing comment about not telling kids that if they get good grades their parents will buy them a stripper pole. But I do catch your drift.
First of all, I don’t let friends and acquaintances call my pole a “stripper pole”, and I used to be a stripper (long time ago), have nothing against strippers. But that’s just not what it is!!!! I correct them and say, “aerial dance pole”. The owner of my pole studio always calls it our “apparatus”. As in, “Now, remember ladies, you are on a spinning apparatus.” I have never stripped on or near my pole, and we don’t strip at the studio. Therefore they are not stripper poles. The poles in the club are *arguably* stripper poles. I think the way we talk about these things are important steps toward changing the culture that views aerial pole as something lewd, and makes “stripper” a derogatory catch-all for pole dancers. Can these terms please be separate and equally non-derogatory, please?
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I’m in massage school and am totally open about what physical activities I do. I don’t go out of my way to talk about pole, but I don’t shy away from it at all. Not one of my classmates yet has just taken it in stride. I’ve gotten used to the pregnant pause and “wait, what?” moment. Especially from men. Even a guy who is a longtime professional dancer and choreographer was like, “did you just say…pole dancing?”
So, whatever. Fuck ’em. Bless ’em. I really could care less. This (massage) is my new profession, and what I can do with my body and a vertical metal apparatus just adds to my bank of knowledge and draws nothing from my level of professionalism. I’m also at the head of my class in Kinesiology and A&P and already have a science degree. So if they need to pause and take it all in, that’s them. Meanwhile I’m moving right along as if
nothing just happened. As if I had said “ballet” or “gymnastics”, and not “pole dancing”. Because, really, fuck them (or bless them)…(your choice). -
Me too!!! I love my brass!
And the friend I sold it to loves her new (used) TG. She came to my place to pole play and couldn’t even lower herself on the brass, she just stuck to it. But for me the brass is perfect. I don’t even use grip aid.
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I have a dance skort but found it’s useless for pole. As soon as I invert, the skirt part falls down over my torso, so going into a leg hang from there doesn’t work because I can’t possibly get any side grip with slick cloth between my skin and the pole. I feel like invert to Gemini is such a basic transition into other moves that if I can’t do that, what’s the point? If you do a lot of advanced hands-only moves and/or mainly just spins and floor work, it could work.
Also, it could just be that style. It’s possible that the Mika skort is a bit tighter and doesn’t fall “up”, and Chem is right that bathing suit bottom skirts might work great. You won’t ever know until you try. It really depends on the structure of the skort and your dancing style/favorite moves. I just know that I won’t be purchasing any more skorts myself. -
Shoulder mount is the classic exit out of figurehead, FYI, whenever you are ready to do your aerial shoulder mount.
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Meggie, it’s not “just the way they are”. It should not rotate at all when in static mode. Either the spin/static screws are not tightened completely, and/or are not in the correct position (directly in line with the “X” at the base), or the screws need replacing, as someone suggested.
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I got my brass pole in the mail after selling my TG to a friend. Grip problems now happily GONE! I don’t even need any grip aid on the brass. What was with the TG anyway? I mean seriously: WTF was that!?
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Yeah, WOW to your space! My basement has waaaaay too low of a ceiling to pole, which is why my living room it is!
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I really like the AMB shorts (which you’ve probably read on another thread somewhere). I have a couple of Mika shorts and they’re both just okay. I have four pairs of AMB, which only come in solid colors and have tons of colors. I got mine at a local dance store for $20 but they sell online for cheaper. They’re one size fits all and look teeny tiny but are actually SUPER stretchy but resilient – in other words, the fabric will not stretch to super thin and see through, and I wear them a lot and they hold up through the washer and dryer. They have the cute side strings that tie at the top so you can gather the sides and show some cheek or leave the sides longer for more bum coverage. They have a lot of crotch coverage. They do have the “dreaded front seam” someone mentioned. The front seam doesn’t bother me on these shorts though so I never really thought about it. I have also been waiting to try BK but they really truly don’t have anything in stock.
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Yes, definitely try Tite Grip first and experiment with grip aids. Tite Grip doesn’t work for me but everyone is different. My hands are so sweaty that I tried Dry Body, a very strong antiperspirant that Mighty Grip now sells. I really liked it but it’s super pricey so I’m trying Dryclor. Both products are powerful antiperspirants that you apply before bed and they work to suppress your sweat glands while they are least active (while you sleep). So far I have found it very very helpful, especially giving me confident dismounts. Often I can get into a move but when I’m in the air in a new move I get nervous I guess and my hands sweat, making it hard to make a graceful exit. I was apprehensive to try these as I’m more of a “natural” product type, but I love pole and so far they have really really REALLY helped. If all else fails, I definitely recommend these.
Dirty Girl Poletice is another antiperspirant that claims to be more “natural”. I ordered some but have not tried it yet for pole. My hands are a bad case and I need the powerful stuff, I think. But I will definitely give this a try for home practice days.
I have the Mighty Grip gloves but did not find them very helpful. I honestly feel more comfortable making actual hand contact. It feels more secure, even with my terrible case of hand sweat. The non-tack gloves did not give enough grip, are kinda slippy material, and they make your hands even sweatier on the inside so you can even sweat through. They’re not terrible, but I got on better without them. The tacky gloves stick like flypaper but then I have a hard time pulling my hand away, which is no good either!
What comforts me is that my favorite instructor said she went through my level of classes wearing gloves (and she says she found them problematic and would sweat through them also) because of grip confidence issues. And now she’s amazing and doing much more difficult work without gloves or much grip aid at all… I have definitely noticed now that my hand sweatiness is by far at it’s worst when I’m in the studio learning something new. Then I can go home and work on something until I’m more psychologically comfortable with it, and when I try it again in the studio it gets better…and just keeps getting better as you mind and body acclimate to being in the new position. I hope eventually my brain stops freaking out at every new thing as I become more acclimated to pole in general – that is to say contorting my body into all kinds of crazy shapes around a vertical pole high in the air! It’s pretty natural for your brain to freak out at that a little, until you get really truly used to it.
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PS – Mighty Grip did not work for me. I use Dry Hands. But the most effective thing was wiping the pole frequently – like basically between every move – with 90% isopropyl alcohol, undiluted. It’s not a perfect solution, but I really found that it was the pole itself that needed treatment, and not actually my hands. After a good alcohol wipe, it usually felt grippy again. Applying the Dry Hands directly to the pole was also helpful when trying hands only tricks like handsprings, but then I’d have to wipe the pole again pretty quickly and of course just wipe the product all off. I never could freestyle on my TG with this scenario. I agree with the above comment that it seriously felt like it had condensation in it most of the time. Hope this is at least somewhat helpful…I really hope you find something that works for you!
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For me it was mostly hands but occasionally body. I do know what you mean though about the awkwardness of body sticking but hands not. The body grip was almost TOO much most of the time and moves that didn’t bother me on brass at my studio, very basic things like Gemini, just killed me on the TG. It hurt me so bad that I found myself doing strength and flexibility work every day instead of wanting to dance or work on tricks. I realized there was no point in having a home pole if I wasn’t going to utilize it. So I bit the bullet and bought a new one. I can’t wait to try out my new home brass pole.
My main issue with the TG was how temperamental it seemed to be: one day great grip, next day felt like a rain slick; and even minute by minute it seemed to change. One particular day I could not grip the pole for the life of me even with tons of dry hands and the next thing I knew, my hands were suddenly so grippy that I tore off a callous and couldn’t pole for over a week. Usually though, my grip would be fine and then suddenly I’d slip hard. It makes it very hard to feel confident in trying new hand-dominant moves. Moves like butterfly, handsprings, etc are so hit or miss for me. Even basic spins like reverse grab. Sometimes I’d just drop to the bottom of the pole like bam! But then some days I could use that same pole with no grip aid (extremely rare for me on any pole) and be fine. Maybe this is just the nature of poling, I don’t know. Maybe this is just me having personal problems and blaming it on the pole finish. But I eventually got so frustrated with the TG that pole was seeming a lot less fun and kind of like to chore. I’d stare at the pole and just not want to get on it. If it causes you as many problems as it caused me, I definitely think you should sell and “upgrade” – whatever keeps you from giving up on pole!!!!
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Donna, I have some serious old injury scar tissue in my left hamstring, which is why my left vertical split is not as good, but I definitely see gains with flexibility training, and I just know that side will come more slowly.
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No Christmas tree but I’ve been working on my splits!
