[Rylonn]

Is your skin too dry? Or are you sweaty?

[Rylonn]

Ahhh triple post, and Heather005Poles, do it!! 🙂

[Rylonn]

If I had the skills and resources, I would get on this right away. But I dont, so hopefully I can inspire some others with my post to take part in this idea, and maybe one day it will be a thing that people send to their friends to watch and not have it be received with caution.
You know what I’m saying? I’m terrible with words.

[Rylonn]

I love that. I’ve always wanted to watch that video since I found out about it, but I dont know where I can find it.

I think we need more of things like this, repping pole and telling its story, letting the voice of pole be heard, even if we can only reach other polers. I think those aspects of pole dancing (the physical and emotional struggle, taking care of families at the same time, having to hide it from co-workers or family, etc) are just as much a part of pole as the dance itself.

[Rylonn]

I also have really dry skin, especially in the winter. I would buy , which is made for dry skin, but the shipping to canada is like $50. A good alternative that works great for me is to buy 100% vegetable glycerin and mix a bit of it with a bit of water and put it in a spray bottle. Cheaper and more accessible than and works wonders once you let it dry thoroughly.

Although is shipping prices are not an issue for you, I would just get . Sometimes lotion wears off in the by the time morning comes round.

[Rylonn]

And is this gripping the pole and leaning away done with only the elbow, and the other arm hangs free?

[Rylonn]

Oh I’ve never seen this Juliet spin. Thanks guys so much! I’ll give it another shot.

Also, any tips for a strong elbow grip? Or is it pretty much a strength thing?

[Rylonn]

When will you be adding new lessons (more specifically, more Advanced lessons)?
[Just checking before investing 🙂 ]

[Rylonn]

Ugh me too. The 20 dollar shipping breaks my heart.

[Rylonn]

I would say properly warming up your back (we usually focus on legs and arms) and making sure to properly engage everything that needs to be engaged when poling. Being able to properly keep your shoulders down and back during the full course of an invert takes strength, so maybe conditioning for that.

[Rylonn]

Im also inclined to think is a strained intercostal. I strained mine a few months (like, 3) ago doing inverts and not engaging my lats properly. It hurt to invert, to twist to the side, anything involving my back, sometimes to breath. I went to a physiotherapist. He thought my ribs moved a bit out of place so I spent hundreds of dollars on multiple sessions of him cracking and massaging my back. Weeks later, I realized I was not getting better so I quit the sessions and just rested a long time. Im convinced it was an intercostal. After about a month’s rest, I could do inverts again for a little bit a day. Now, its pretty much healed, but it still hurts during inverts once in a while.

[Rylonn]

Oh my gosh that was adorable.

[Rylonn]

Adding to the not rushing point, once every month or two, ill take a full week off super intense stretching and super intense strength training, and let my muscles heal and my body rest. The following week after, Im sooo much more flexible and strong, so that may be something you want to try sometime.

[Rylonn]

Hasnt happened to me yet, but just curious, what is a good way to respond to those kinds of comments to politely let them know that’s not the case?

[Rylonn]

Yeah running makes me tight in my quads, hips, glutes, hamstrings, and calves. So I guess everywhere lol. After running, I NEED to stretch right away for at least half an hour to counteract any tightening that has happened. And the for another 30-60 minutes to increase flexibility (might as well while I’m warm)

[Rylonn]

I've always wondered as well, isnt it also a hip/leg flexibility thing because you need to get your legs to spread wide enough, almost like a split?

[Rylonn]

Yeah I agree that you can sometimes learn faster on your own, but at the same time, it can be hard to tell if you’re using incorrect technique and such, without an experienced person spotting/critiquing/evaluating you

[Rylonn]

Wow everyone, thanks! ive got alot of combo ideas in my head now
Time to start practicing 🙂

[Rylonn]

Maybe you can place some yoga mats folded over once, instead of a crash mat. I know it wont reduce injury by much, but for me, it certainly makes me FEEL much safer and confident than just having the hardwood beneath me 🙂

[Rylonn]

I’m in too 🙂
By te way, does anyone know how far off the ground people’s parallel splits (splits with square hips) are by the time they have their full turned out splits?
I’ve decided to train/stretch my parallel splits exclusively, and do my turned out splits once every few weeks so it should be a nice surprise to see how much lower I’ve gotten. If tht makes sense.

I find it discouraging to do my splits every day/week and see minimal progress. Like watching hair grow 😛

[Rylonn]

Yeah, and also, if bruises are holding you back, then practice different moves, so you can let them heal.

And if you had an intense session and your muscles are screaming with pain the next day, just gently massage/ice/stretch it, whatever feels good, and again work on some different things involving different muscles if you can

If things really hurt, take a nice break, it really sucks to feel held back by pain as you may have noticed 🙂

[Rylonn]

Unless your "routine" is more like a guided freestyle, then I guess it doesnt really matter and you could just practice the moves to made up counts

[Rylonn]

My own instructor teaches with counts, and we practice a few times til everyone seems to get it, then we practice it with music, then move on to the next counts, and so on. But I suppose if doing by counts is difficult, you could teach the moves and sing along, to get the timing down, my instructor does that as well 🙂

[Rylonn]

I completely agree with Koidragon. I injured my back a month ago, and was still determined to pole even a little. Even shoulder engagement for basic spins and especially climbs and inverts were so darn painful. 

I finally managed to convince myself to take a few days/weeks off with zero kind of exertion, and within a week or so the pain was reduced to a much much much more manageable degree. Of course your healing time will be longer or shorter depending on your own injury. But yeah. Dont bother with poling. Your time is better spent resting. 🙂

[Rylonn]

Yeah after trying some stuff out, I think my shoulder are very inflexible when it comes to putting them over my head like that. And I suppose my triceps are weak since they dont get used as much in pole. I'll give it a shot. Thanks everyone so much!