[horsecrazy12987]

I just saw these DVDs on the X pole US site and was thinking of getting them eventually; I'm glad you guys have such a high opinion on them. 

[horsecrazy12987]

Floor work is a blast anyway; I love it. Definitely focus on stretching too if you're not already naturally bendy; I came into pole with a pretty extensive background in strength training, so that's never been a problem for me, but I am huuuugely inflexible, and now that I'm getting into more advanced tricks, it's holding me back because there are some moves my body just can't physically do right now. Start now and you will be thanking yourself later.

[horsecrazy12987]

That would be awesome. I personally prefer the look of a silver pole, but I want the TG for better grip, so I'll just have to live with a gold pole. I'm sure I can manage to put up with it in return for not sliding all over the place.

[horsecrazy12987]

PS is the only brand I know of with removable brass poles. Also, I definitely have to agree with going with the grippier material, so definitely titanium gold if brass is not doable for some reason. The last thing you want to worry about during a photo shoot is trying to pose on an oil slick of a pole.

[horsecrazy12987]

I've kind of wondered this myself. lol I have exercise-induced asthma, so even though I work out a ton and am in very good condition, anything intensive like poling gets me panting pretty quickly. I also am very bad about holding my breath sometimes–don't know why I do that, but I actually do it quite a bit when I pole, I've noticed. You might want to pay close attention next time you're practicing to make sure you aren't doing the same thing; obviously improper breathing techniques during your workout are going to make you suck wind all the harder. Other than that, I don't really have any advice, just some I'm-in-the-same-boat sympathy for you. My only other suggestion might be if you're dancing for your SO, just whip off your top really quickly. They won't even notice if you're out of breath. lol I jokingly told my boyfriend one time before I danced for him that it didn't matter if I screwed up and fell in front of him, because as soon as he started to laugh at me, I'd just whip the girls out and then he wouldn't even remember that the performance hadn't gone perfectly. He agreed.

[horsecrazy12987]

I have to say that this is the only place I feel comfortable posting pole videos, except the occasional ' look what I'm doing now' video on a forum I have been on for years with a small, active community of members whom I have chatted with since I was 15. I do not post on YT because I do not have the patience to deal with "hey, can u do dat on my pole hee he hee,' or 'omg how can u be such a fat whore?' or my personal favorite 'omg, i'm 13 and i've never been on a pole b4 and i can do that way better and sexier than u.' I don't want to block comments, however, because I do want the helpful ones to come through–that's why I post videos in the first place–for encouragement and for tips if there is a move I'm struggling with, and I know that I can do so here and get positive feedback and constructive criticism instead of a bunch of dumbasses with too much time on their hands.

I think the videos and the pictures are the best part of this site, because I love watching other members progress and I also love watching you sexy ladies move because it gives me new ideas and inspires me to get back to it when I'm feeling frustrated with my sweaty hands and my slippery pole. I trust Veena and Webmaster to very quickly take care of any pervos, and like has already been mentioned, you will encounter creeps anywhere you go. I had a much older guy basically stalking me for a little while, and he was someone I met here in town, at my karate dojo and had known for a year or so before the issues started. I'm a lot less concerned about some random weirdo who doesn't know where I live getting his jollies in watching me swing around a metal object.

[horsecrazy12987]

Lil Mynx is probably your best option if you're looking for a safe pole that's a little bit cheaper. I'd sell you mine if a friend wasn't taking it. The only well-known pole brands that sell safe products that I'm aware of are X-Pole, Lil Mynx and Platinum Stages, but they're all pretty much around the same price range for a brand new one. Would you be willing to sacrifice spinny mode? You could get a static only X-Pole for about the same you would pay for a new Mynx. 

[horsecrazy12987]

I definitely recommend getting Veena's lessons and following them from the very beginning if you are a brand new dancer. Inverting takes good core and upper body strength, and if you are lacking in that, then you're using momentum to get yourself upright, and that is neither pretty nor safe. If you have sloppy technique on a basic invert and don't correct it now before moving on, you're going to keep whatever bad habits you may have formed and use those in more advanced inverts and you run the risk of hurting yourself. I had a friend who I invited over a couple of times to pole with me, and she was a disaster waiting to happen; she was a complete beginner, so I just taught her a basic fireman spin and some floorwork and movement around the pole. She'd been sedentary pretty much her whole life aside from some gym classes when she was in high school, which was years ago, so she had lousy upper body and ab strength. She wanted to go upside down and I repeatedly told her she was not strong enough and that she needed to learn the beginner stuff first (walk before you run and all that,) but in spite of that, she tried inverting three different times as soon as I'd turn away for a second. Basically, she just threw herself into the invert as hard as she could and hoped for the best; twice she could only get halfway, and once she finally, out of pure dumb luck, managed to hook her ankles. She thought this was pretty good, and, even when I informed her that no, it wasn't, that she was being very unsafe and that it didn't look good, she tried to invert again. If she finds another place to pole, I forsee a nasty injury in her very near future.

Bottom line: don't be like her. Wait until you're ready, and in the meantime, work on building up your strength so that you can get into it properly and safely. It'll look much better, and you won't have to worry about injuring yourself because you jumped into something you weren't ready for.

[horsecrazy12987]

Do you have a Lil Mynx right now, or an X? I'm just asking because I'm curious whether or not you've tried the ss Lil Mynx. I will warn you right now, they have a reputation for being the most slippery of all the poles on the market. Stainless steel is the slickest surface anyway, and the Lil Mynx stainless is mirror polished, so it is super slippy. If you have sweaty hands, I would stay far far away. I'm a heavy sweater and have had so many issues with grip on this pole that I'm switching to a titanium X. I haven't tried their powder coated, but have heard they are super grippy; expect massive pole burn in the summer, apparently.

[horsecrazy12987]

Congratulations! What a great opportunity!

[horsecrazy12987]

With the lessons, you don't have to watch them and follow along at the same time. I do do this sometimes, but often what I do is pick which move I want to learn next and watch the lesson, even if I'm not going to try it right then. Then, right before I start practicing the new move, after my warm up, I watch the lesson again. If I feel like I'm still a little confused, I will have it running while I'm practicing the move, but sometimes it's hard to watch and process exactly what Veena's hand/leg/whatever is doing while I'm upside down trying to figure something out. I find the handiest thing is to just watch the video beforehand as many times as I need to, then try the move, and if I'm struggling, watch the video again. The lessons are super helpful and have gotten me to nail several moves I was formerly really struggling with in just a few tries; Veena's lessons are the best I have seen so far at breaking everything down in a way that makes sense, and they are fabulous at explaining exactly what muscle group you will be using and what part of your body needs to be on the pole to ensure best possible grip. 

[horsecrazy12987]

Oh, and if anyone is wondering why the pole is squealing so badly, the damn thing was so slick today that I had to rub candle wax on it in addition to wearing those full finger gloves. Owwww!!

[horsecrazy12987]

Ouch!! Kind of cool that you made it on TV, though! Yeah, they did basically refer to you as a stripper (which makes them look pretty stupid considering that you are obviously in your house and wearing the kind of outfit you would go to the gym in,) but like you said, no publicity is bad publicity!

[horsecrazy12987]

Oh, and sorry for the double post, but I just wanted to let everyone who replies to this thread know that I'm taking off on vacation for a week in about a half hour and probably won't really have internet access so anyone who replies to this, I appreciate all your help, and I'll take all your suggestions into consideration when I get back.

[horsecrazy12987]

I've tried iTac because so many people like it, but unfortunately it's just not for me; the gunk it leaves behind on my pole just seems to cause more problems. It's weird how grip aids work for different people–one person has perfect grip with it, and someone else has even worse grip! Just goes to show how different we all are, I guess.

I'd be really nervous about getting a PS pole–I have heard some really awful things about their customer service–you're actually the first person I've seen so far who has said they've heard bad things about X pole's customer service. I usually hear really good things about their customer service. Anyone else have experience with PS poles and their customer service?

[horsecrazy12987]

That story I saw on asexuals actually featured a married couple where both the man and woman were asexual, so obviously they cared about each other, just not sex. They actually had  kids together because they'd wanted kids, so sex to them was purely for breeding purposes, and as soon as they had all the kids they wanted, sex was a total non-issue. So it is true that no matter how much some people care about their partner, they just don't want to sleep with them. It's just odd to think about from the perspective of someone who is not asexual, because obviously you want that connection with your partner and can't imagine not wanting it. I didn't even know asexuality really existed until a few years ago. I imagine it's probably fairly rare; people have different sex drives, some a lot lower than others, and that can change throughout life especially for women with menopause and whatnot, but most people at some point have some desire for sex. Does anyone know, statistically speaking, how common asexuality is? On the same level as homosexuality, more, less? I'm just curious; I've never known anyone who was asexual. Actually, most of the people I've known have gone the other way. lol 

[horsecrazy12987]

The caterpillar and caterpillar climb are tricky moves–much harder than they seem to be, at least to me. When I first tried it I watched some online lessons on the move (not Veena's,) then started practicing and while I don't think I ever had any falls, it was very difficult and I had a lot of near misses. It was a move I shelved for a while because it just wasn't making any sense, and then I watched Veena's lesson, tacked it again, and all of a sudden within a few tries I could do it. Something she said in her video just really made everything come together for me.

[horsecrazy12987]

Thanks for your replies guys! Cocoa, if it was purely for grip purposes I would probably just continue to tough it out with my ss, but the pole is also static only, and I want to try spin mode. I'm sure there are disadvantages to a multi-piece, but there are also disadvantages to having to find some place to stick an eight foot piece of metal where it's out of the way if I need my living room. I also want to travel with it–I will probably (hopefully, if everything turns out the way I want it to,) be moving within a year or two, and it would be a lot easier to travel with an X pole than the Lil' Mynx. I also want to be able to take it over to my sister's apartment, and the Lil' Mynx isn't really one you can do that with, since you'd have to be drilling into ceilings everywhere you take it, obviously.

I've used multiple grip aids, I've lightly sanded it–which did make it grippier, the only problem is that it still often feels like it's sweating. It did that the other day while I was trying to practice extended butterfly combinations, and I was having a lot of trouble slipping around. There's fairly grippy pole underneath what feels like a layer of slime, and this happens all the time. I think it's a combination of the climate and my sweaty hands. It's finally starting to warm up a little here, but it's still been pretty cold some days, which isn't helping. And the weather is very dry, no matter whether it's cold or hot; we have pretty much zero humidity.

[horsecrazy12987]

Yep yep–so true. I have yet to come across a guy who won't give me the time of day because I have small breasts. Men just like boobs, end of story. My boyfriend dated a girl for a few months before me who had huge breasts–DDD's, I think, maybe bigger, and four or five months after they broke up, he downsized to an A. lol It obviously doesn't bother him–he loves my boobs because they are, well, boobs.

Look at it this way–if you have even the teeniest tiniest hint of something in the chest area that might be considered breasts, men love it. We women are the only ones who get so bent out of shape over the girls.

[horsecrazy12987]

MissKitty–a 32 DD?! Oh my God–it's hard enough trying to find a 34 in an A cup–I can't imagine trying to find an even smaller band size in a DD cup!

Most girls I see with large breasts tend to be bigger, and most smaller girls tend to have smaller breasts because a lot of it does have to do with amount of body fat, however I definitely agree that genetics can play a big role; I had a friend in high school who had three sisters and all of the woman in their family had really small ribcages–she had me try on her sister's old wedding dress because she was trying to sell it and I was the smallest person she knew, and I literally could not zip it up all the way because my ribcage was too wide, and I'm not big by any stretch of the imagination. All of them had breasts that were pretty proportionate to their body size except her oldest sister, who was at least a DD if not larger from what I remember, and she was tiny–at least my size except a little smaller around the ribcage. She had a hell of a time fitting anything and always had to have her clothing altered to fit her breasts.

And seriously, what is it with girls with large breasts basically having to wear grandma bras? Do bra makers think they don't deserve nice bras like the rest of us? 

[horsecrazy12987]

Congrats for taking the plunge! You'll do just fine, dance background or no dance background.

[horsecrazy12987]

Welcome to the forum and to pole dancing! Veena's lessons are amazing; the closest studios to me are a three hour drive each way, so I'm stuck with teaching myself, and the lessons have been amazing. I've gotten several intermediate and even a few advanced moves within just a couple of tries, and though I'm generally a quick learner, I chalk the vast majority of it up to how well Veena lays everything out. I've never made a better purchase in my life. (Aside from buying a pole of course. lol)

[horsecrazy12987]

Definitely take probitotics, and limit your sugar–bacteria thrives on sugar. And yes, like has already been mentioned, your guy could be reinfecting you–guys can carry stuff like that and it doesn't bother them the way it does us ladies. I read that it's actually easier for women to contract STD's because of how well bacteria and viruses can flourish in that area. He definitely needs to be treated.

Also, after the thread on whether underwear is worn under pole shorts and the one I started about smashing your lady parts on your pole, I'm not sure TMI is really an issue on this forum. lmao

[horsecrazy12987]

I personally love having small boobs; I'm an exercise nut and big breasts would just get in my way. My sister is quite busty (D cup) and always has been–she was an early bloomer and had pretty good-sized breasts already by the time she was only 9 or 10. She hates them–they're uncomfortable, she can't find nice bras in her size (not to mention, good quality bras are really expensive in that size,) and she always has to buy her tops a couple of sizes bigger than she actually is just to fit her boobs. Seems like a big hassle to me, which is why I've never even considered implants. 

I know a lot of girls with small boobs are self-concious about them, but there's no reason to be; I'm a proud A cup. It's all about finding the right shirts and bras to flatter them. Plus, small boobs are generally nice and perky, and you can find lots of nice bras in smaller sizes. Also, chances are that while you're envying someone with a big ol' set of girls, they're probably envying you right back; I had a friend who used to be small-chested like me, then had two kids and now she's probably at least a DD, and she was actually jealous of my boobs and wanted smaller ones back. 

[horsecrazy12987]

I think any competition that has ever been invented, regardless of what it is judging, has probably had to deal with this sort of thing sooner or later. It's human nature; if someone's favorite doesn't win, they sometimes get mad and decide that it couldn't possibly be fair because how could anyone else win when this pole dancer is the most amazing, talented, flexible, graceful, etc. etc. etc. dancer they have ever seen and anyone who doesn't agree with them is obviously blind or cheating. It is ridiculous, but it's just the way some people are. I love Felix, but there are pole dancers just as talented as her, and at a place like Worlds, those polers are there because they are the best in the world–which to me means that the title is up for grabs by anyone, not that one dancer is automatically entitled to it just because I like them the best.