[Suzanna]

This is a rookie’s personal experience 🙂 10 days ago, I gave myself a 100-day goal to achieve a certain move. I make this goal really organized, journaling every day, making plans for every day, etc.

Without knowing anything about how difficult stuff on the pole is, I decided that for the first 10 days, I will do the tuck-ins while hanging on the pole. I chose number 50 a day. (ha ha, yea, I know… what did I know?). The first day, when I tried to do it, I was horrified. I couldn’t do one! I was hanging there for life, like a sack of potatoes, and I couldn’t lift anything on the bottom of my body. But I am so competitive with myself, so somehow, I squeezed out one (ugly one) after another. I did 50 all together and almost died 🙂

To my surprise, my body somehow figured out how to do it, and the next day I could do 5 in a row. Still ugly, but hey, it was a movement. I did it day after day, and it was becoming easier. Still hard for me to hold on (I am heavy). I went to my Sunday class and we were doing the V (split) inverts, and to my surprise, I just lifted my legs there, without kicking them up, like it was nothing. I surprised myself. It was easy!

My long story wants to say that working on those tuck-ins really helped. I can now touch my feet to the pole above me with straight legs when I do them, and it is only day 10.

💪

[Suzanna]

Briwi, thanks… you are so right, the gym cannot do what the pole does. I have been working there on doing dead hang off a bar, just to do extra grip strengthening. Both arms and one arm. Then different grip machine etc… and something non-pole specific, I work on my booty to get it round and perky (as with age, the gravity does horrible things, haha). Now it is working against me because I have to drag that booty around the pole 🙂 but that’s a good problem 🍑 Thanks for sharing your story!

[Suzanna]

Tango, obviously, I am such a beginner and have far less experience than all the girls here. During my short pole journey and frustrations not being able to hold myself, I bought all these different products to improve the grip and tried them all and they all were good for something but not everything. Then after many tries, and successful ones, I like the best the chalk balls. https://www.amazon.com/Z-Athletic-Gymnastics-Climbing-Weight-Lifting/dp/B001KGA1L6/ I rub the ball slightly on my feet, calves, knee caps (yes, mine sweat too) and whatever sweats, and it works great… I reapply here and there and it’s great. I know some studios don’t like them because of the mess, but if you are careful, you can remain quite clean. Have you tried those before?

[Suzanna]

Wow, thanks for posting the Shaina Cruea videos, Tango. It is nice for me to see what a tall, solid body can do. Just an inspiration. Visualization. I know I need to be patient, and create my own style and all that, but it is still nice to see a tall, built body in action, especially because it is so few of us out there.

Phoenix Hunter, thanks for your input. You have overcome some serious obstacles and are truly inspiring. You are right about the limitations we set on ourselves. Who know when it started, maybe my parents told me something when I was young, that I cannot do, and boom, maybe it became a belief. I have overcome many such “limitations” in sports and life, so I know what is possible. Thank you for the reminder not to put them on myself here with the pole 🙂

Maybe the pole fooled me a bit, it looks so easy, graceful and beautiful. But I forgot that behind any mastery hides thousands and thousands of practice hours. The more of a “master”, the easier it looks.

I am obsessively determined, so I know I am not going to give up, and I’ll keep practicing. It is nice to hear all your experiences, and Makasha, yes, patience, patience, patience… I forget that sometimes. But I can be impatiently patient 🙂

[Suzanna]

QueenCaroline76, sounds good 😀 I need to get my shoulders much stronger (and I guess bigger) to match my quite solid bottom: legs and the booty. I’ll keep practicing and just be aware that maybe some moves may be out of reach… thanks for your input!

[Suzanna]

clmeverhart35440, thanks for your lovely input as almost as tall as me, and even a bit heavier. I truly appreciate finding a tall lady who also carries some weight, because I can now relate. I am slowly surrendering and believing it is possible even with my height & weight combination. I am now patiently practicing the basics, and building a good strong foundation. I do see progress (small progresses) almost daily, so I am on a right track. I do a lot of cross training in the gym, and now all the things I do, I have the pole in my mind 🙂 And then I do some strength exercises on the pole at home, because it is and feels, indeed, completely different.

Veena, thank you for your answer too, and for all your lovely videos and tips. I am a performance coach, teaching athletes how not to get overuse injuries, so I do love the analytical approach and you are presenting it nicely—what we should and shouldn’t do, what muscle to use and not use. I think it will help me to build a good foundation. I have been taking once a week classes for a couple of months, but not practicing home, because the progression felt really fast, and I had my rotators completely strained for the first 5 weeks 🙂 now I am recovered and ready to rebuild my strength your way. In the classes we were doing the one-handed spins, and some things that were totally too much for me, and maybe that’s why I felt a bit frustrated. Seeing all the other girls (40 lbs lighter) could do them, I became to question myself. But now, after joining the community, and reading all the inputs, and other discussions, and watching the videos, I am super excited and motivated. I committed to small daily practices at home, whatever is needed, and the classes on Sundays. The classes will show me how the homework works for me 🙂

garynnnjb5232, wow, what a motivation! I am just starting to work on my pull-ups. And my pole holds. And headstands… and name it… whatever is weak, will get strong. Thank you!!!

[Suzanna]

Hellcat, thank you for your inputs. I am slowly surrendering to the fact that I am not as athletic on the pole as I am used to be in other arenas. I just have to be patient and it will all come. I’ve been watching many videos here today, and practicing, and it was so much fun… Even though I have my 100-day goal, I know that even if I don’t know achieve it, it’s not a big deal. I will keep going and achieve it eventually. That written goal and journaling about it every day makes me more focused on things/practices that are maybe too hard and I would tend to procrastinate otherwise. The goal keeps me focused.

I am kind of smiling to myself, thinking about me today, struggling holding onto the pole and just now for the first time in 50 years working on a headstand… and already thinking and planning that handspring. Ha ha, talk about ambitions 🙂

Impressive accomplishment with that cartwheel mount. Maybe that will be my next goal 🙂 Thank you also for the names of the tall pole dancers, I will definitely check them out.

AllysonKendal, thanks for the names too. I just want to see what the tall body can do. A picture or vision that I can keep in my head.

[Suzanna]

Thank you, Kelly, for your input abut your long arms. I can relate. Much less upper body strength and mass, compared to my bottom. I have been training really hard in the gym to get my booty big and round (and I did get it 👌) but now I had to drag that thing around the pole… grrrr…

Thanks, bformosa922163, for your input how you too are losing your grip after a really short time. It feels better to see that I guess I am going through a “natural process”. Maybe I have had high expectations from myself, because I am quite athletic, strong, and lean… and you girls make the pole look so easy, so I thought I’d just dive in and here we go, I can do it all 🙂 ha ha. I am learning that strength is very specific, and I have none regarding the pole.

Runemist34, that is so cool to hear that you are even heavier than me and you are working that pole. It is very encouraging. I am not really worried about my weight per se, I love my muscles, and I am pretty lean too. Very bottom heavy. So gaining more muscles and strength on the top is going to be really great! Maybe it is a bit frustrating to me that I feel so “out of control” on the pole, while being quite skilled and athletic in my other physical endeavors. I am realizing now with my few encounters with the pole, that I have to be patient and just work on it little step by little step. Maybe I compare myself too much to my shorter and lighter ladies in the class (I’ve been taking a class one day per week for a couple of months). While I could invert on my first try (that felt easy, even though not very sexy), I can’t spin in the split grip (one arm up, one down) as I cannot hold my heavy booty in the air. Ha ha. I am learning that I should only compare myself to whom I was yesterday, and be inspired by all the others.

I keep reading and watching the videos and practice all the tips. I also do dead hang in the gym, any time I pass by something that I can hang from, just to improve my grip.

I will definitely post pictures and videos from my journey. I gave myself a goal, using a special journal “100 days to accomplish your goal” and that is that I want to do the twisted grip ariel handspring. (If the name is right? My teacher in the class called it that way.) I am only in the beginning of my journey, day 4 today, so I have a hard and obsessive work ahead me.