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It's pretty unlikely that you won't ever fall, especially as you start getting into more intermediate and advanced moves. Scary, but you just get back up and try again. As long as you are safe, i.e. using a spotter or some sort of crash mat or both with new moves until you are totally comfortable with them, you will minimalize injury. I've fallen several times–once out of a butterfly when I was first learning it, and to this day I'm still not sure what happened–I was on the pole and then suddenly on the ground. I think I stupidly let go with my leg or something, but it happened so quickly I really don't know.

I had two falls recently within the past couple of weeks; one was from a shoulder mount (which I have done about 8 million times,) and jarred me but didn't really hurt anything, since I feel onto carpet and wasn't very far up. I always, always automatically just flip my hair out of the way, but for some reason I didn't do that this time, so when I pulled up into the SM, I had a slippery mass of hair instead of a nice grippy shoulder waiting, and needless to say I did a nice little drop right onto the floor. It was just one of those duh moments that happen sometimes.

The other one happened yesterday night, from a superman; I had just scrubbed my pole down really good with alcohol, which makes it pretty grippy for a few moves, and when I tried to transfer over into a superman from a side v, my thigh skin stuck in placeand instead of slipping right into it like usual, I lost the hold and came down awkwardly, though on my feet luckily. The superman is a newer move for me, but I'm to the point where I'm perfectly comfortable performing it, I'm just polishing it a bit and trying to get my thighs used to the burn, so basically it was just another oopsie move.

Don't stress too much about it–like I said just be safe, and if you do fall, just know that it happens to pretty much all of us, regardless of ability.

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Empy–ow! Yikes.

Yes, the ideal is definitely to be able to stretch all the way out and be able to walk in a circle without hitting anything–that's what I initially did to make sure I had plenty of room when I first set up my pole, but when you have multiple poles that's usually not an option. Just set them as far apart as you can, and if you don't have much space, you guys may just have to take turns on certain moves that require more room.

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bebealles–ow ow ow ow ow!

Ha ha ha Veena–as much as most of the men in our lives would probably like to imagine that pole dancing turns us into these super sexual creatures that want to do it all the time because we are so in touch with our sexuality now, little do they know that the pole is actually sneakily undermining their libidos…there have been nights when I'll barely let my boyfriend look at me, because my thighs are so bruised/pole burned from practicing new moves for hours that I don't even want him getting the faintest idea to put some moves on me. Sex for pole dancers must go something like this: "Fine honey, but don't touch here, here, or here. Ow! Not there either. No, I'm not getting on top–rolling over might chafe my thighs. You know what, I'll just lie here in fetal position and you figure something out."

slw1977–Holy crap, can you imagine trying to explain that? I would probably just lie and say I jumped from a burning building or something and accidentally landed in the splits on concrete. lol I always wonder what I'm going to say if I injure myself poling, especially if it's in kind of an odd way–I really don't want to have to go the hospital or a doctor's office and explain that I smashed my hoo ha because I was joking around and wildly humping my pole.

I actually need to schedule a physical pretty soon, and I was thinking the other day how bad it's going to look to my doctor if my thighs haven't healed by then; I have a good-sized bruise and several burn marks from practicing the superman.

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I always thought of asexual as relating more to absolutely no interest in sex? Maybe I'm wrong–I just remember seeing a news story (60 Minutes or something like that,) on it once, and if I remember correctly, that's what they were getting at. I don't think it's necessarily that asexuals aren't attracted to either men or women, just that any relationships they are in whether gay or straight are not of a sexual nature. If I'm interpreting that correctly, anyway.

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Don't let anyone let you feel like crap for not forgiving her for whatever she did. I know we're supposed to forgive and forget, yadda yadda yadda, but after a while constantly forgiving someone who continuously screws you over is just stupid. Your feelings should matter too.

Does the rest of your family feel the way you do and they're just not very confrontational, or do they think you're overreacting or something?

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I feel ya'…I really do. There are several people at my workplace that I absolutely can't stand, but of course in the working world sometimes you have to set personal feelings aside to maintain your professionalism. They way I handle it at work is that I just don't speak to the people I don't like unless I absolutely can't avoid it as part of my job; when I do have to speak to them, I keep it short and to the point, don't chit chat, joke etc., I just deal with whatever I have to (without being blatantly rude of course,) and then go on with my day. If you don't want to cause waves in your family I would handle your situation in a similar way. However, if you think the way she's acted doesn't even deserve that, then I say just stay away from her whether other family members like it or not. I don't know what she's done, but I as well as my mom and my sister do not speak to my dad's side of the family anymore after a giant family feud that came about because they basically treated us (particularly my mom and sister) like absolute crap. I said my piece to them and then cut them out of my life for good; I don't need that kind of crap in my life–it's too short to waste it on jerks.

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Unless it's just a different move by the same name (which is a possibility, since it seems like there are as many pole move names as there are pole studios,) the Teddy is considered an advanced move; Veena has it listed under her advanced section, and I've never seen it placed any lower than at least upper level intermediate.

This is what I'm picturing:

https://www.studioveena.com/lessons/view/4d418b5f-164c-47a1-8758-18020ac37250 

Even basic inverts are intermediate moves because they require good upper body and core strength to execute, so if your studio is teaching them to students who have only had a few classes, that's bad news; someone's going to get hurt. The vast majority of people, unless they have some kind of background in gymnastics or some other kind of athletic sport that relies heavily on strength, will not be able to invert right off the bat.

Oh, and an early congrats on your new pole! Exciting, isn't it? I've pretty much made up my mind to switch over to an X-pole from my Lil' Mynx, so I'm psyched about getting a new one. Now I just have to decide which finish I want.

 

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Yikes; you learned a teddy after only 10 or 11 classes? And inversions for students who'd only taken one previous class? With no crash mats? Yeah; definitely just get Veena's lessons. They are amazing and have cleared up several moves that I struggled with. (I'm a DIYer since the nearest studio is three hours each way, and Veena's lessons have been invaluable. And they are a great deal.) That studio is seriously just begging to get their asses sued off. I say stay far, far away. There are too many people who don't know what the hell they're doing teaching pole.

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Yeah, I'm pretty sure I would block that memory if it had happened to me. Ouch.

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'Girl please if I tried to go topless I would have an eye full of saggy boobiees in ymy face apon invert lol! THAT ain't happening either hahahahaha!! '

There are some advantages to having A cups–I couldn't get a face full of them upside down if I tried. That actually reminds me of a friend of mine doing floor work–she had such large breasts after having a couple of kids that her breasts would literally get in the way when she tried to do something. She was on her back one time doing some move, and the suckers like flipped up somehow and I hear 'Ahh, help, I'm suffocating!' I didn't even know they could do that! LMAO

Chemgoddess, ewww–I feel you on the bottle of alcohol. What you just said reminded me of something horrible, but it is a reminder to any of us who publicly pole to always, always sanitize the pole somehow –although you can't really wash off what this girl did. I was lurking on stripperweb one time as I am prone to doing, and I was reading some thread about all the horrible things strippers have seen, and one girl posted about how she worked in an all nude club, and one time a girl went on stage and proceeded to do a pole dance…while she had open, oozing sores on her vag. She literally left pus on the pole.

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Riddlebox, I've done the whole pelvic bone thing–way back in third grade (it hurt so bad I still remember it 16 years later,) when I was playing on the monkey bars. I was standing on the top rung of the little ladder leading up to it and while I was reaching for the monkey bars, I slipped somehow and basically dropped down into a split on that metal rung. Oh dear God–I hopped off and was literally lying in the grass clutching myself. I could have sworn I broke something.

Nymph–I can't imagine having piercings in the lady garden and pole dancing with them in. I just know I would somehow, some way manage to catch them on something and things would tear. https://www.studioveena.com/img/smilies/icon_eek.gif

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LMAO! You guys have no idea how happy I am that stuff like this is just randomly brought up on SV. This is definitely my place; I am a TMI girl all the way.

I actually usually opt for bikini bottoms when I am dancing, and they work great; double lined, they don't budge, and I've got the necessary leg showing for stuff like hip holds. If I don't wear binkini bottoms, I wear a pair of boy cut panties that I bought specifically for pole dancing, and I wear underwear with them; they have good coverage in the crotch area and so far I have not been able to shift them enough that lady parts would be showing if I wasn't wearing anything underneath them, but they are really thin and I just don't want my lady bits rubbing all over the pole like that; I'd rather have a couple of layers between me and the pole. I am weird about that; I know it's my pole and no one else really uses it, but it just squicks me out. That is why my boyfriend will never, ever, no matter how much he wants to see it, get a full-on naked pole dance. I draw the line at topless; it's hard enough worrying about not getting pole burn on my nipples–I really don't want that area getting chafed!!

Oh, and amcut, you completely crack me up.  

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I am soooo jealous I don't have polers nearby to jam with. It looks like you guys had so much fun. Oh, and I am not at all jealous of some of the incredible demonstrations of flexibility on display; not at all.

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Oooh…interesting challenge, and I haven't done one in ages. I'm just not really sure how to go about it.

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A college degree may give you a slight edge sometimes, but honestly, from everything I am hearing from people, right now it really doesn't matter whether you have a degree or not–the job market is pretty tough right now for everyone. There are plenty of people with even college degrees taking crappy little gas station jobs because they're having trouble finding people that want to hire them. A lot of employers want experience, which people fresh out of college generally don't have. That doesn't mean you should give up hope, just that it will take you longer to find a job than it may have in a good economy.

Webmaster has a lot of really good advice. So does everyone else. Also, in regards to the exotic dancing thing, quite honestly you will have a really hard time finding anything that isn't at least topless. If you can come to terms with that and be ok with it, then do it. If not, and you feel like dancing topless or naked would compromise your morals, don't do it. The money is not worth feeling like crap about yourself and what you are doing.  

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I believe I remember reading in a past thread that if you contact Itac2, Peter (I believe that's his name, anyway,) is really good about sending samples if you're not sure which level to try. Doesn't hurt, anyway.

I have the level 4 because they had a video on their site of a pole dancer doing some tricks in between being interviewed, and she said she used level 4 and could still spin and everything. Frankly, I don't know how she did that unless she was on a spinning pole–I cannot spin at all wearing the level 4 because I stick so much, even when I put a teeny, teeny amount on. While it does work in that my hands are much drier, I find that it comes off on the pole and leaves some pretty nasty residue on it that causes my hands and legs to catch when I slide down, which doesn't make for a graceful dismount. Also, it wears off pretty quickly, which is the problem I have with all grip aids. The thing is, no matter how good the product is, everyone is different and what works for someone else may not work for you, so it's pretty much just trial and error until you find something that jibes with your body chemistry. I know quite a few professional polers (Karol Helms, for instance,) love itac2.

I'm going to be trying the Tite Grip next, actually, since I've heard a lot of good things about it. I am very sweaty as well and have had a lot of trouble trying to learn combos because I can't grab the pole and do aerial inverts because my hands just keep slipping and sliding. You might want to give the Tite Grip a shot too.

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I think it's an interesting idea. While I can't remember the first CD I ever actually bought, I do remember the first one I got as a kid. I still have it and listen to it, actually.

And I totally think you should dance to the Spice Girls. LMAO

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What Veena says is so true it's not even funny. You will find so much contradicting advice out there, that, again like Veena said, the best thing is to listen to your body. If you feel like you need a day off, take a day off. If you feel like you can stretch everyday, stretch everyday. Just make sure you aren't experiencing a lot of pain when you stretch–it will be uncomfortable, especially if you're really inflexible, but if you're experiencing actual pain, you are pushing your muscles too hard and you need to back off before you injure yourself.

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Coincidentally enough, yesterday I just purchased two of the Valentino brothers' e-books. They are very well-laid out and not at all difficult to follow. If you've ever done any yoga, you should recognize most of the stretches. I just started them yesterday, so obviously I can't tell you how my progression has been with them, but I did get a lot of good stretching in and the routine ended up being a lot more intense than I expected it would.

Also, for floorwork I posted a thread a while back with several videos I found that were either all floorwork or mostly floorwork with a few tricks here and there:

https://www.studioveena.com/forums/view/Floor_Work_Videos_2010-12-27_000632 

Hope this helps.

 

 

 

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LMAO @ the hitch pole. I kind of want one, just to see the looks on people's faces.

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Penny, for some reason it cracks me up that you say 'goober.' Maybe because I haven't heard anyone really say it since I was little–that was what my dad would call my sister and I if we were being weird. I kind of miss that word. lol

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Back injuries seem to be pretty common for people who kick up into inverts. It is very important to engage your abdominal muscles in any type of exercise you do, but particularly during lifting exercises, because this protects your back. If they are using momentum to get into an invert, chances are they're not paying any attention to their abs, so it doesn't surprise me that people are coming away with hurt backs.

I wish instructors wouldn't teach a kick up as a precurser to lifting–instead of teaching students to kick up if they're not ready to lift, they could be using that time to go over strength training that could help their students properly lift into an invert.

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Thanks for the looking at the feet tip–I will definitely have to remember that when I start attempting it.

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I enjoy dancing to Nine Inch Nails–Physical, Hurt, Sunspots, Reptile, With Teeth and Piggy are all good songs from them. AC/DC also always puts me in the mood to dance for some reason. Let Me Put My Love Into You, Ride On, Black Ice, Hells Bells, War Machine, Got You By the Balls, to name a few.

Puscifier rev 22:20 is also a good song if you want to work on slow dancing. I like the Saw II soundtrack version the best.

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Congats! Great job! I will probably be working on this one sometime this year, although I have to admit I am a bit intimidated by it because balance is not my strong suit AT ALL.