[abcollins1]

Last time we were there we went up the Eiffel Tower at the Paris hotel. We watched the fountains at the Belagio (i think) from the tower and on the ground. We also went to the Pawn shop that Pawn Stars is shot from (if you watch the show). We visited the largest M&M store there as well. I have read that the Aria hotel has a cool walk through exhibit and each hotel on the strip has something to see at it.

There are a ton of free or low cost things to do in vegas both day and night. Even just walking the strip at night gives you an interesting chance at people watching. If i were to go again, I would eat at the Gordon Ramsey Steak house, which i think is at ceasar's.

[abcollins1]

Last time we were there we went up the Eiffel Tower at the Paris hotel. We watched the fountains at the Belagio (i think) from the tower and on the ground. We also went to the Pawn shop that Pawn Stars is shot from (if you watch the show). We visited the largest M&M store there as well. I have read that the Aria hotel has a cool walk through exhibit and each hotel on the strip has something to see at it.

There are a ton of free or low cost things to do in vegas both day and night. Even just walking the strip at night gives you an interesting chance at people watching. If i were to go again, I would eat at the Gordon Ramsey Steak house, which i think is at ceasar's.

[abcollins1]

Umm wow!! my jaw was wide open the whole time… i dont even know the names of most of those moves yet!!! She is definitely very impressive.

[abcollins1]

I think this is a good topic and I am hoping some of the older members will chime in.

At my studio, I am level 2, which was hard as heck to get to (but in a good way). I am finally doing inverts and i love the strength drills. But i still feel like i am a while away from competeing, and then i would certainly rely on my instructor's imput, because she can tell my progress, and she is very big on technique (which i love).

I feel like i could do a preformance at the studio level, but not at the organized competition level.

 

[abcollins1]

Veggies and fruits are carbs…. if you are eating a lot of veggies/fruits, your carbs may not necessarily be low in relation to the rest of your diet. Be sure to eat adequate protein and fats as well… a lot of women say they are "low carb" but what they mean is that they have cut back on grains, not necessarily carbs. Unless you are specifically tracking cals and grams you do not know if you are truly low carb or not.

Usually when we talk about true low carb diets, we are talking about 100 grams or less of carbs per day, which is not a lot of foods if you are eating a lot of starchy veggies.

 

For instance, 1 medium potato is about 40 carbs, acorn and butternut squashes are also starchy and tend to be higher veggies in carbs… so if you are having troube losing weight, its important to track.

[abcollins1]

Never said TM was on trial. I am weighing the sides of the case. I have a degree in legal studies, decided not to go to law school. So i look at the case based on the merits presented.

This is a kid who had a lot more issues than is usually talked about, he was kicked out of his mother's home and expelled from school for drugs and bad behaviour. This was not allowed in court so i cant take that into consideration. So i consider what the jury saw.

What did they see??  What they did hear was testimony and proof that Zimmerman was on the ground under Martin, that Zimmerman had the injuries to back up his side of events while the only injury that Martin had was the gun shot wound. Tapes were shown in court of Zimmerman walking the the police through what happened and this shows where Martin had to have circled back around to confront Zimmerman, rather than to go home.

Martin had a violent and well documented past with the police and his friend acted crazy and childish on the stand, rolling her eyes, making faces at the attorneys, coping an attitude, and like usually follows like. That is not the actions of a person who is taking the situation seriously nor of someone who friend was murdered and wants to see his "killer" punished..

I can tell you that my best friend was killed and that is certainly not how i acted when talking to prosecution.

And i dont know very many people who would be on the phone with their friend, say "i am being followed by someone" and not call the police and get home as quickly as possible to get help.

I actually think they were both in the wrong, but carrying a gun is not illegal, following someone and observing their behavior is not illegal, calling police about suspicious people after a string of burgularies is not illegal.

Honestly, who ever esculated the fight to the physical is the responsible party here, and no one really knows which one struck first (assault is illegal). Zimmerman claims he believed that Martin saw the gun and went for it, and that is the point where he shot him.

But with all of the evidence, i can not say that Trayvon was an innoccent bystander who just happend to walk by a vigilante cop wanna be and get his self shot for no reason. Apparently the jury didnt see it either. The case must be proven and there wasnt enough evidence to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that Zimmerman was guilty of anything illegal.

Maybe he should have stayed in his truck, but the kid should have gone home… so under the law, there is no proof that meets the criteria.. again i am going by the legal definitions of what the jury had to look at and the evidence presented in court.

I could care less about race, i have briefed cases much worse than this….

[abcollins1]

The thing that gets me is, if this kid thought that he was being followed and was afraid, why did he not call 911 to say he was being followed, why did he not go straight home, and why circle back around to confront the "crazy" person??

This is all my questions according to what was shown in court.

Also, i think his friend acted horribly in court, and if that is what his friend acts like in a court room after her friend had been murdered, it leaves me wondering how he acted while alive and if he in fact did esculate the incident.

[abcollins1]

Wanting to add protein to your diet does not make you an athlete. I mean, if i want to add more chicken or beef or hemp powder to my diet, does that make me an athlete??

Protein is not divided into "hobby" and "athlete". Protein is just protein and powders are pretty much just a convienent and expensive way to add it. That person had no clue what they were talking about.

We see this a lot from bodybuilders, they say if you are training for the bikini division, you are not an athlete. Even though those girls work their tushies off. I hear it a  lof about crossfitters not being real athletes, because none of their "games" are real life scenaros. I hear it from crossfitters about cardio bunnies.. because they dont lift hard core…

I wish people would just accept that their way isnt every ones way and what makes you an athlete is the work you put into your sitation. I consider pole a sport, as it combines lots of the things that make fitness as a whole. Strength, flexibility, cardio training, functionality, etc…

Besides if someone tells you you are not an athlete, i think an appropriate response is to tell them to hold their entire body weight sideways in the air and then tell you you are not an athlete or "exercising"

seriously, outside of pole, how many people can do flag or iron x????  What we do is amazing, even if we dont think so sometimes, and others may not understand the level of training that goes into it, They think we just swing around a pole ;D

 

[abcollins1]

If you are not losing weight, its because there is a discrepency somewhere. And there could be many reasons why.

If you have been doing the same routine for a while, your body may have adapted, become more effecient at it (burn less calories than before) and you may need to change your exercise routine.

If you start with super low calories, again your body may adapt to that quicker than you think causing you to hit a plateau sooner. At that point you need to take a diet break, bring cals back up to maintence for a bit, then start over by slowly lowering cals again.

If you have been dieting a very long time (more than 4 months), again your body may have adapted and you would need to take a diet break, come to maintence for a few weeks, and then start lowering cals again.

There is no "super food" no "magic" pill or potion that will cause you to lose weight any faster. RBK's may help to a degree, but its a very small percentage and its not the end all be all of weight loss.

Ketosis also isnt the way to lose weight, Atkins and all those fad diets work for a bit because they all use the same underlying principle of eat less/move more, its just packaged a bit differently each time…..

I have yet to see a client.. human or animal… that was unable to lose weight by following the eat less/move more mantra..even those with medical conditions. Some people may have a harder time of it due to some of the above reasons..but all "diets" are based on the restriction of calories at their core. Most even come with the disclaimer of "when used with proper diet and exercise"…why would they need to put that in if their answer was the miracle we have been waiting for??

 

[abcollins1]

I pole in my garage too. Basically i have a whole gym set up going on in there. What i do is to open the garage door a little (maybe a foot or 2) while i am home. This allows the air to circulate and keeps it much cooler in there. I also have a fan that runs while i am home to help. I usually pole at night pretty late, just how my sched works, but it gets cool enough for me to work out.

 

[abcollins1]

I currently work at 3 different gym facilities, plus know many other owners of studios. This time of year is tough for fitness, memberships and classes are down across the board. Usually things pick back up as school starts. People dont take as many vacations, they get a schedule going again, and some need to lose the summer "indulgece". January is the "good time" for fitness since loads of people make resolutions and they want to "try something new". You will probably see another decline around the halloween/thanksgiving/christmas times as well.

 

[abcollins1]

The truth is that supplements are just that, a SUPPLEMENT to good diet and healthy lifestyle. It should never be the basis of your diet and, as the others have said, anything you take should be researched throughly.

I take a few supplements as I said. I take a multi on DOCTORS orders. Found out a few years ago that i have a couple of nutirents that my body has a hard time getting from my foods. Even in a diet rich in those nutrients, my body just doesnt cooperate sometimes, leading to physical symptoms. I take a multi and much of those symptoms are alleviated.

I also take protein drinks at times. Sometimes i am running late, need cals and protein and dont have time to cook or make things. A protein supplement is useful at those times.

I also use a pre workout, because i teach a lot of classes and need to keep my energy high to motivate others in their workout. Other people count on my energy and motivation to keep them going in an hour long class. Sometimes that energy is hard to get when you have done 4 classes that week, plus lifted weights, plus pole classes, throw in the care of kids/home and volunteer work, and yeah i tend to get a bit tired!

So there are reasons to add supplements, but nothing will "tone and strengthen" and many supplements/products make a lot of claims that they cant back up. Top it off with lots of companies who use cheap products and charge crazy prices and you really need to know what you are taking and why before you buy.

Obviously, if i followed the advice of just eat, i would be not be able to function on a daily basis, nor would i be able to make a living.

[abcollins1]

Please know that the 10% is not correct. 10% body fat is BELOW  what is necessary fat for a woman. Most women will have flat bellies around 20 – 18 %. at 10% body fat, a woman is simply shredded and must take some pretty extreme (and not advised) methods to get there. That is body builder low…

http://www.leighpeele.com/body-fat-pictures-and-percentages

This is one of the best descriptions WITH visual  pictures of body fat percentages for men and women.

If someone is trying to get rid of belly fat, then the proper calorie and nutrients need to be taken, as well as being at a particular body fat level. It is however, not so low as to be impossible.

 

[abcollins1]

I take some supplements. I mean what exactly is in this product for "strength and toning" (there is no such thing as toning anyways). Honestly, you dont really need any supplements for strength. The only thing that will build strength is to build muscles, tendons, ligaments etc.. and that is only done by eating proper nutrients and working out to break down the muscles (being on a progressive program).

No supplement is going to build mass or strength.

[abcollins1]

I second craigslist… there are 2 stages on sale where i am for $150 each. people are always selling their poles.

[abcollins1]

I second craigslist… there are 2 stages on sale where i am for $150 each. people are always selling their poles.

[abcollins1]

My experience has been that these ameature nights are nothing more than a ploy to find new girls to dance at the club. They really arent for people who are serious about poling.

If you want to compete, then look for the serious pole competitions… if you want to have some fun and "try out" the club… then go for it..

Besides, you start throwing out a bunch of pole tricks, then every one will know you are not really an amature.

 

[abcollins1]

I practice it and have 2 hammocks at my house as well. Right now I am using the TRX mount that I have on the ceiling, working on get a better mount set up. Im lucky in that i work at a gym that has the class, so free classes for me and the instructors that we have are really great.

All you need is the mounting and the hammock and enough room/high enough ceilings. I put up a video of a few things i had been working on and learning at the beginning of the month.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lEln2salTh0

 

[abcollins1]

I should have updated this a while ago so thanks for bumping it!

We made some decisions on how to decorate the space and I am very happy with it so far, though i am not finished. But its a process, ya know..

Since we have decided that the space is a muli-purpose area, we went with the professional gym rubber flooring. Its easy to clean, protects the concrete floor and looks very good in the space. I also have found that I no longer need the rubber skid pad that Lil Mynx suggests under their poles, since basically the whole floor is a rubber pad. This stuff is not cushy though. It is rock hard. So now i am looking at crash pad options.

I bought mirrors from home depot, spent 150 bucks for their 3×5's and 1 smaller one. I have one set of curtains that i hung up to hide the "storage" area, bought at walmart, rod and curtain set around 10 – 15 bucks. I have a room screen that will go up to hide the tools, it needs new hinges though so I need to get on that.

I have added a TRX and mount, aerial yoga hammocks (from aerialempowerment.com), Spin bike, power rack, weights and 2 benches, and turned our old baby crib into a kids art center since I first posted. Im not done with it, i add something as i can. Overall i am happy with the space so far, though i have some more plans to work on. I will have to add a picture

[abcollins1]

Ok, is it me, or does that story not jive??

First MissPole, you stated that this Tina person (who i do not know) called the venue and asked THE VENUE if they wanted it open to the public. So you claim the VENUE chose not to have it open due to liability issues.

In your last paragraph, you tell CaseyKill to call the SPONSOR (who would be TINA) and ask, yet you stated that the Sponsor did not chose to close the competition.

Casey called the Venue, which in your story, was the one who closed the competition, why would they not tell her it was closed at the time of the call??

Plus, waivers dont take that long to draft, not to mention they dont hold up in court anyways.

On the other side, what is stopping someone from claiming they are from any other studio or that they are their own studio???

I just dont see the sense in the "rebuttal".

 

[abcollins1]

Yes, strength training that gets your heart rate up and can keep it there, is considered as cardio. Circuit training is really useful for this 🙂

cardio in and of itself really isnt necessary at all, and no one said cardio had to be running. Any activity that gets you moving and gets your heart rate up is cardio!

[abcollins1]

I too have a LM rotator pole, which i am so glad i went with it! I am pretty sure i also have a video up of me doing some things after only a few weeks.

however, i will say that i first learned pole from a stripper round about 10 years ago. I learned nothing of proper form, or safety issues and i was doing tricks i should not have been doing at all. I had no strength and ended up falling out of inverts quite a lot. Im suprised and lucky that i ended up with only bruises.

Also, when i picked it back up in October, i had all ready been building strength for years so I had a good base to start with. My grip has always been an issue for me, evn in the weights, so i have been doing lots and lots of spins. I have a few tricks i work on, like the others said to do. I would still classify me as an "advanced beginner". I can do pretty much all of veenas beginner things, and a couple of the intermediate things, but thats about it. so thats what my practices consist of, all of the tricks/spins i can do, and then a few i am working on, then dancing around having fun, throw some floorwork in there, and stretching and i got about an hour or 2 workout. I do this about 2 x's a week.

Now i also take silks and hammocks class, weight lift 4 days a week, plus teach spin and muscle pump classes every week. so there are lots of other things you can do to help you learn pole, but all of them take time. And if you give up easily, then you will never accomplish anything.

Maybe look into a way to structure your work out, perhaps like this: Warmup – strength – spin/tricks – dance (fun) – stretch and cool down. Just a suggestion but it may help you feel more like a "poler" and be less boring if you have a plan.

[abcollins1]

First, you need to realize that 2 weeks is nothing in the grand scheme of things. For some one starting out, its going to take a long time to build strength, muscle, and endurance and pole requires all three. Top it off with the fact that you must eat for strength and muscle as well, you do need adequate protein and overall calories. You also need rest, cause that is where the real magic happens.

All this isnt going to be pulled together in 2 weeks or maybe even 2 months.

I dont say this to discourage, but more to have you see that you are normal.

Work on the things that you can, the conditioning, the stretching, what spins you can. You can even take this time to try a dance class and work on dance moves and "flow"

I have been working on building muscle and strength for more than 3 years now, its a slow process and im still not to the point i want to be. Its a long hard road, some days are not fun, some days really are work. But nothing comes free. you either put the time into the beginning building a solid foundation to work with, or you say this isnt fun and you give up.

The beautiful and pretty part comes because that girl has done it 100xs and perfected it. It only looks easy because they put the work into making it seem effortless. A lot of people underestimate the strength, time and work that goes into poling or building strength/muscle.

[abcollins1]

No, most "diets" are the same concept repackaged to get people to buy into a "quick fix" and make tons of money. All diets are eat less, move more… they just change one thing to make is sound "new" and "different". From The Zone, Atkins, South Beach, weight watchers, jenny craig, keto, paleo, curves, HCG, blood type. low fat no fat, low carb no carb….. the message is the same Eat less, move more….

The difference is that they spread misinformation, people latch on to this as "it worked for me so thats how it works, you must only eat clean, no carbs, no fat, take a pill, only eat the foods they tell you"

They all work to a point because the basic concept is "eat less move more" except they dont teach you how to eat healthy for life. They dont teach you how to make meal plans (as someone else said they were struggling with), they dont teach portions they dont teach calorie control or awarness.

It takes work to lose weight, the underlyiing concept is simple, but yes you have to track foods, be aware of what you are eating, think about how to cook it and what you can make. It is work to be healthy and to lose weight…. there are no quick fixes that these diets promise and that is why people will gain weight after they stop doing the diet. They eat more and move less….. it didnt become a lifestyle, it became something they did or were on.

So really there is no "opposing approaches" it is all eat less move more, just different ways of making money for the "inventors: of the latest movement.

 

 

[abcollins1]

You must understand, taining an untrained and overweight individual and getting them to lose weight is quite easy. Its not that complicated. You get in a calorie deficit, you move your body, and then you lose weight.

If you are not losing weight, then you are no longer in a cal deficit.

Eating clean doesnt mean you will automatically lose weight. You can gain weight eating clean as well, if you are eating more than you expand. Also, eating clean is a marketing ploy. There is no real definition of what eating clean means. Ask 10 different people and everyone of them will give you a different answer. While i agree that for health we should limit processed foods, eat lots of fruits and veggies, get good cources of proteins and fats in, its not the reason you lose weight.

If it were, then how did people los weight before clean eating came around?? why can people lose weight eating only potatoes or junk foods?? Because they are under their calories.

I dont think there are tons of opposing sciences out there for weight loss. The body only works a certain way, and barring any abnormal medical issue, the body will continue to only work a certain way. Metabolism is metabolism no matter what animal you are looking at (human or otherwise) the body only breaks down proteins, fats and carbs, and transforms it into ATP, the body only makes certain hormones and applies them in certain ways.

While everyone is different in their structure and genetic makeup, their muscle shape and attachments, no ones body is different in the way we break down foods and use it to fuel the body. We are not all that special or all that different from any other animal on the planet in that regards.