Stacia0330
Forum Replies Created
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So far, so good 🙂
Just went and did the basic intro stuff. Energy-wise, I had a lot more to give, but didn’t want to overdo the elbow. As far as the elbow is concerned, it feels great! No weird soreness or anything, although I did find I have lost a lot of grip strength with the left hand. Just happy to be back at it again.
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Thanks, Hellcat!! Yes, injuries are soo irritating–I appreciate your comment and your empathy! I did a few inverts on each side today at home, just to see how it felt. I can tell I’ve lost so much strength, which is a bit disheartening. Trying to take it slow and not be in such a hurry. I want to be able to actually make some gains and be in the game for a long time.
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Hi, all 🙂 been recuperating slowly and start PT for my elbow Thursday. My back is feeling better
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This is the move where I really scared myself and fell off a few times in class. So grateful for this series!
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Briwi, it’s like you and I were having the same moment 🙂 I also have been having a few weeks where I was getting down on my pole abilities (or lack thereof), and haven’t been seeing progress as much as I’d like to.
I have been feeling older and more injury prone. I also don’t have a gymnastics background, and am relatively inflexible as my primary modes of fitness were more along the lines of weightlifting. Caterpillar is my nemesis, because I’ve fallen off a few times and scared the bejeesus out of myself. Leg hangs have been hard. Any split grip type move is hard. I don’t have a great straddle. My shoulders are like iron bars and are not flexible in the slightest. And I still feel EXTREMELY self conscious wearing pole shorts.
I was driving to my class yesterday, and I just told myself I’m not going to compare myself to anyone else’s pole journey anymore. I’m not going to pressure myself to be an any “point” on any “timeline.” I’m going to live to pole another day and not get myself injured by going too fast. I’m going to set limits for myself in class when we’re doing something I can’t get into safely, even when everyone else seems to be getting it just fine. Like I was in intermediate yesterday, and we were supposed to do a climb where you invert into chopper, go to jasmine, then invert again to go up. We were asked to do it at least three times up the pole on each side. I only did twice on each side. I literally was so scared to go up any higher and had a moment of SHEER panic when I was on my last one. I got a little stuck and was barely in jasmine, when the panic set it. I had to talk myself into staying calm and to keeping my points of contact on the pole instead of letting go and falling all the way off. I managed to get up and out, and then I got down off the pole. I wasn’t upset at myself, because I actually was able to overcome a moment of complete fear and be safe. YES, I didn’t do it all three times on each side, but for me two times was enough!
We did brass monkey yesterday and I was able to do it, barely. There’s another girl who started after me, who was not only able to do brass monkey, but she could deadlift herself into it, no problem. She could also do shoulder mount flips, easily. I tried on both sides and have no idea what it looked like, but I know it wasn’t even close to being what it was supposed to be. Another gal was next to me who looked like a graceful angel, not only doing all the things, but adding to them and creating this awesome flow I’ve never been able to do yet. Normally, the way my mood has been in the last few weeks, I’d be getting even more down on myself, but yesterday I was working my mantra of no comparisons, and it helped. I could appreciate their progress and their abilities and be proud of my own progress. It’s not easy, but I think actively reminding yourself of your own abilities and progress can help.
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I so relate to your struggles right now. Feeling stuck and slow, but hoping to keep at it and feel a surprise here and there 🙂 Thanks for starting this thread $
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These are all awesome responses–and I got a lot of much needed perspective. I guess things come to us when it’s the right time, and this was my time to discover pole 🙂 I will start going through the conditioning exercises as well. I appreciate all of you for listening.
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Don’t have much to add, aside from seconding possibly getting to a doc asap and some sports massage therapy.
My rhomboid on the left has been wonky for some time. A dead giveaway for rhomboid injury is pain upon drawing the shoulder blades together. I use a lacrosse ball to do self massage on the tender spots, and this seems to help. Hope you can get some healing soon!
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Anything where I’m hanging on by my legs. Fallen out of caterpillar a few times. Any move where I have to hang on by an ankle or calf, like butterfly or ext butterfly.
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Any arm pit or elbow holds kill my skin. I tried a few last week for the first time, and it was excruciating. I think, as others have said, different grips hurt worse/less for different people. That said I tried those same grips today and they felt ever so slightly less painful. Certainly not easy or great yet (still holding on with my other arm when possible), but I felt some improvement. Just keep at it, and you’ll be feeling better in the sit before you know it 🙂
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Veena has good shoulder/forearm stuff on this website tok
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Warming up thoroughly will help. I tore my right shoulder years ago and recently did the same with my left. I rehabbed myself but using the exercises and stretching prescribed to me the first time I tore my shoulder. Now, I do a daily routine built to strengthen and stretch the stabilizers we don’t normally use. Takes about 10 min each morning. So far my shoulders and arms feel great. I call it “prehab” since the goal is to stay uninjured. Doing pole or aerial fitness, I think it’s a good habit to form 🙂
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I’ve had mine done (June 2010), and mine were placed under the muscle. At first, when the pectoral muscles contract over them, it feels weird. It will always feel differently than it did previously to the procedure, but you get used to it over time.
As far as ruining the investment, I think if you take your time and get back into the activities you once did prior slowly and carefully, you’ll probably be ok. Aerial fitness uses so much upper body strength, which will be impacted now that you have your musculature affected by your surgery. Implants themselves, depending on the type you have and where they were placed, are pretty tough and it would take quite the force to actually damage them. Also, whenever a foreign object is placed in the body, a scar capsule forms around it, adding another layer of support to the implant. All women with BA have some kind of scar formation around their implants. In fact, if the body gets too ambitious and overdoes the healing, you can wind up with advanced capsular contracture. I got back in to working out (heavy lifting, cardio, the whole bit) about six to eight weeks after my procedure. I’ve done crossfit type workouts, pole, plyometrics, running, and nothing yet has done my chest in so far.
Hope that helps!
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One way I’ve grown–to answer your question–is by not getting so angry with my body for not being an ideal size or shape all the time. I’m wearing pole clothes and not freaking out. I’m not getting jealous or mean towards other women for being younger/cuter/better at pole. It’s like I quit competing with the world and started appreciating what I can do for ME. Great question!
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I get the disconnect you have in your mind between strippers and pole artists–I do it too, even though I agree it’s not right. Thanks for putting this out for discussion, because I think it’s proper to give credit to the roots and not deny people are out there doing this for a living. And, dabbling in the sexier side doesn’t mean you’re doing exactly the same thing (not that this is what you were saying). And anyway, it sucks we have to defend ourselves for something that really isn’t that wrong if it’s being chosen freely. If a person wants to strip and pole, great! If another wants to approach it from a more family-friendly pole-athlete side, that’s fantastic, too! As for the style aspect, I want to be more athletic, but I think my background in belly dance causes me to want to freestyle in a more sexier way than purely athletic. IDK. I do love it! Way fun, but I haven’t dared do this yet in front of others (or make a video).
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I think you have to prioritize what you value as well, in terms of fitness goals. Do you want to be a better poler? More flexibility? More brute strength? Lose weight? It would be cool if we could do all the things at the same time, but for most regular people have to decide which they want and go for it. Doing All The Things (or trying to) will probably get you injured or at the very least overtrained. There’s another thread where we were talking about workouts and pole. Like Veena said, maybe adding more weights to your pole days would be a good way to start out. Flexibility can be added at the end of your workout to get that good stretch in.
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When you say cardio and weights, how often have you been doing this and how intensely? The only reason I ask is bumping up too much too fast could burn you out or injure you.
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Thanks, Tracy–from the look of your pole lift pic, you’re super strong, too!
I like your workout breakdown, too. Sounds like it really hits all the right stuff!
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Briwi–Tracy will probably have a better answer for this, but on my heavy leg day I only do 4×4 of squats and Deadlift. My max on both is only #155, but that’s about a year’s worth of working up from a #45 bar. My pump days for legs is usually quite lighter, so I can get 3×12 in of whatever exercise I’m doing. Usually for squats/DL I’d take it back down to #115. I can still feel a burn, but it’s not like a build day. Not sure what that is, percentage – wise but hopefully that gives you some direction. I love to lift, so this conversation rocks my face off 🙂
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I only pole 2x per week, and I use her pre hab videos where you’re conditioning the wrists/arms/shoulders. She uses bands and stretches, sometimes the poles itself to help execute them 🙂
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I would like to second what Latin Poler said about conditioning the smaller stabilizers that may not be utilized regularly with the bigger lifts you do–especially in the core, back, and arms. Veena has so many great conditioning videos. I’m sure you probably already incorporate this in your training with pole, but I just wanted to reiterate how important it’ll be. My arms hurt so badly the first few weeks, and I think it was due to jumping into it too quickly without properly conditioning those little muscles 🙂
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No problem, Tracy 😀
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I’m not a professional, but I do lift, and my schedule is similar to what you listed. I think you’ll be fine with what you’re doing as written. You’re probably better off than most when it comes to knowing your limits, so just listen to your body. Keep up the amazing progress!!
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Thanks, Veena 🙂
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You and I are pole twins, I think 😉 I’ve been poling for about the same amount of time you have, and come from an extensive weightlifting background with dance as well.
I haven’t used the 30 Day Take off in order, but I found the conditioning exercises to be very helpful. Especially for the upper arms–even years of weightlifting didn’t prepare me for the small muscles and stabilizers that I was using for the first time in pole! I had the same pain/soreness you speak of in the arms as well.
I reference lessons and go through the 30 Day take off to find what I need to supplement lessons I take in a studio. Hope you find all the info you need here!
