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Thanks all! ❤️

StrangeFox – welcome! The class went well. It took a bit for my body to remember what to do, but I retained a surprising amount of skill all in all. I didn’t attempt everything, but I was able to do some stuff that I didn’t anticipate being able to do again due a few weeks at least, so that was encouraging 🙂 I actually didn’t bruise, but I definitely had some pretty intense skin soreness after the class. I think I regrew some nerve endings, lol.

As for sexy… I started to, but boy do I have some mental blocks around this! I’ve absorbed a great deal of shame around expressing my sexuality on my own terms – which is exactly why I need to do sexy pole right now. Because the depths of shame is no place to live, and even if sexy pole is emotionally challenging sometimes, it feels *right* in my body to do it. And that’s damn priceless. But yeah it’s going to be one hell of a journey to unwind myself from my mental blocks o__o

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I just recently started going to L’Ru Studio in northern Denver. Only took one class so far, but I like it. I also have a friend who went/goes to Tease Studio, though I heard that one moved recently and I’m not sure exactly where it’s located now.

[kittyface]

I had an experience similar to this, with my right adductor (the one you can see a bit on the top of the inner thigh). I had been experiencing twinges on and off, mainly in one particular move/combo: the apprentice, especially going into it from a cradle spin. I asked another woman in class if that was normal, and she said it was a bit unusual, and asked me if I had injured it before. I was a bit baffled, as I hadn’t remembered doing anything to injure it and told her so, and she suggested the muscle might just be sensitive from overuse (I do some form of pole 5 days a week most weeks). Later (a few months later maybe), I did pull that same muscle from going too far in a pancake stretch. I still feel that twinge in the apprentice sometimes, and I would attribute it to past injury if it weren’t for the fact that that was going on even beforehand.

How often do you pole, and do you do something else that works that muscle a lot on your days when you don’t pole? I definitely want to know the answer to this question too, if it really is just overuse or if it’s maybe something else that I completely missed. I empathize with how frustrating that is, I’m sorry you’re dealing with this right now. I hope you feel better soon!

[kittyface]

I’ve never tried poling in a public park – though I’d love to – but this does remind me of a conversation I had with a former cashier at the neighborhood grocery store. We chatted quite a bit when I was still shopping there a lot, and eventually the conversation went to pole dancing. Turns out he had done it before! Either his sister or his cousin (I don’t remember which) had been an exotic dancer, had a home pole, and had showed him how to do quite a bit on the pole. He also said that she lived in California, where there weren’t many studios and most poles had a home pole, because the “stripper!” stigma against pole dancing is much stronger on the West coast than where I live.

This makes me suspect that the response you’d get poling in a public park would depend a lot on where you live – which country, which area of the country, which area of the city. Are you poling in a liberal city, a conservative town, in a park in the suburbs? In the state where I live (Colorado), I’d imagine most places in Boulder or Denver (especially Boulder) would be good places to pole publicly, the smaller towns not so much. If I were on the West coast, based on what the cashier said, I probably wouldn’t risk it unless I knew the area really well.

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I’m really glad you’re asking for input from polers before making the product!

Personally, I really just want functionality, comfort, and modesty (while still showing enough skin to grip the pole of course) from my pole clothes. While it would be neat for my pole clothes to somewhat coordinate with each other, it’s not that important to me. I agree with everyone about preferring synthetics over cotton.
Also, though I’m happy having fewer sports bras than pole shorts, it’s definitely just as important to me to have good sports bras.

What I want out of sports bras:
– Cups, cups are more supportive than traditional compression sports bras
– Not too restrictive, I hate feeling suffocated by a too-tight sports bra and I don’t like looking in the mirror and feeling like my breasts have disappeared
– Minimal (and ideally no) fabric covering my traps so I don’t slip in shoulder mounts
– No metal or plastic pieces, I’ve bruised my back from doing rolls/shoulder stands wearing basic bras with a plastic clasp (also, while I understand why a lot of women would want a front zipper or clasp, I personally would dislike it as I do a few tricks that involve my sternum on the pole and I don’t want to scratch the pole or myself)

I’m a fairly small-breasted woman (34B), so I haven’t had too much issue putting on and taking off sports bras.

What I want out of pole shorts:
– Full coverage in the butt
– Wide (preferably diamond) gusset, no front seam
– Side tie would be really nice so I can adjust how much “side booty” is exposed for things like brass monkey
– No pucker-butt, that’s an instant wedgie for me!
– No fold-over waistband, it will only ride up my waist and I end up adjusting a lot while I’m on the pole

Also, even if it says hand-wash I’m going to end up machine washing it on a delicate cycle and possibly machine drying it on low heat.

[kittyface]

These could be useful. I’ve found that disposable pads or liners don’t really stick that well once I start sweating, so I’ve always used tampons to work out. I really don’t like tampons, though, they dry me out too much and I’ll avoid them if possible. I like the DivaCup (I’ve also tried the Mooncup but it’s too small for my heavy flow), but it always leaks at least a little bit for me. And yes, I know I’m using it right, but it still does that. Maybe I wouldn’t have to use tampons if I had period panties with a cup?

What really kills me about that article is that the male advertising board told her not to make it a “women’s issue.” Really? It’s INHERENTLY a women’s issue, it directly has to do with WOMEN’S BODIES. But of course, anything that makes us feel disgusted by our own bodies is allowed, anything that helps bring us into alignment with our own bodies’ needs “seems inappropriate.” It’s inappropriate for us to be anything but self-hating servants of men – but we already knew that. Really lays their misogyny bare.

[kittyface]

God, I have the same problem with leg extensions! A number of my tricks end up looking kind of weird because I don’t have good extensions OR pointed toes. It’s like a zigzag where there should be a straight line =P Even if I end up with straight legs, I almost always go into a trick with bent legs and have to straighten them once I get into position. I would definitely be interested to know how you get your beautiful leg extensions as well.

I don’t really understand Periscope, though. Do you have to download something to use it? Is it a website? I may be young, but I’m a social media dummy for sure!

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Hi Cheryl, welcome to StudioVeena! Bear with me, I have a lot of thoughts.

Don’t let size discourage you from doing pole! One thing I love about the pole community is the variety of body types. You have thinner ladies who seemingly dance around the pole like pixies, you have plus-size ladies who dance with equal grace and strength to the thinner ladies. There’s a woman at my studio who usually takes the same classes I do (our schedules are different so she can’t always make it), Novice and Acro-pole. She’s a plus-size lady with quite a lot of strength – I saw her doing straight-leg shoulder mounts recently – and a very good dancer, she won her most recent pole competition and even when she’s practicing spins in class I always stop and notice the grace and style that she moves with. Every body has her own strengths and weaknesses, but being a plus-size lady doesn’t mean you can’t have the strength and flexibility that the thinner ladies have!

If your goal is to lose body fat and build some muscle, pole will certainly help you do that. It’s basically cardio, weights (you’re lifting and carrying your own body weight on the pole), and flexibility all in one exercise! If at a certain point your fitness goal is no longer loss of body fat, but rather staying in shape and just feeling good in the body you have, pole will certainly help you do that too. While I am a thinner lady, I certainly don’t have a gymnast’s body and I’ve had my share of insecurities through the years. Since starting pole dancing, I feel so much more present in my body than I used to, and so much more proud of my body – not just for how it looks, although wearing a sports bra and booty shorts can certainly force you to come to terms with your body’s appearance – but for what it can DO. I never thought I’d be able to do half of what I can now do on a pole! I always used to think of myself as an average girl with slightly below-average physical ability. Now I know how strong, flexible, and capable I really am, and it grows by the day.

Also, I used to have the same problem you do – getting bored of normal exercise. I could not hold a fitness routine for long, and as a result I never really made any gains. I’ve never had that problem with pole! If anything I wish I could do it more than I do now, but if I did I wouldn’t have any rest days =P

Pole really has changed my life, I very much encourage you to try it out if you’re curious about it 🙂 Runemist said everything I would want to say on which type of pole to get. One good thing about home poling is that it’s less expensive than a studio in the end. You may pay more up front than in a studio, but you’ll save quite a bit over time – the amount Veena charges for a year of lessons, I pay in a month at the studio I go to. There’s videos on YouTube as well, but they’re usually not explained as thoroughly and can at times be misleading and overwhelming. I would use YouTube videos sparingly, once you have your feet on the ground (or rather, off the ground) and have a good basic knowledge of pole tricks and spins 🙂

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I’ve never choreographed a routine, but I do a lot of freestyle and have worked out some combos.

Brass Monkey – My novice-level teacher recently showed me how you can go from a brass monkey directly into a Remi sit, which I thought was pretty cool (but will be torture on your ankles if you aren’t used to the Remi). Lift your upper body, hook the knee of your outside leg around the ankle of your inside leg and hook your outside ankle around the pole. Remi! Totally blew my mind, I never connected that before.
I like to go from a brass monkey into a brass bridge, or I also like to go into a brass monkey split that my acro instructor showed me: grab onto the pole (outside hand just above your inside leg, inside hand pretty much just below your butt), extend your inside (hooked) leg up and your outside (unhooked) leg down. I don’t know if I’m explaining this very well, but I can’t find any videos showing what I want to describe =/
I would do Janeiro if I had it, but I’m still working on that one.

Gemini – My favorite thing ever to do from a Gemini is go into a Jade and then drop. You have to make sure you’re high up enough to do this, though, someone in my studio recently got injured doing a Jade drop too far down the pole o.o
I also like to go Gemini -> hip flip -> Superman, and recently, into a Titanic from there. I don’t really know pretty ways out of Superman other than Superman -> Titanic -> shoulder mount, though. Maybe a Superman drop if you have one?

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Thanks for the replies and the encouragement everyone! There’s two classes I attend on the day I go to lessons, the first is a novice-level class and there’s a 15-minute break between that and the acro-pole class. I’ll probably talk to him (or her – my main instructor travels a lot and there’s a woman who fills in for him when he does) in the 15-minute window between classes. I imagine he’ll respond pretty well and accommodate me, since it’s technically a beginner acro-pole class (although we do often do more advanced things depending on the strength/flexibility of the students present that day) and not everyone is at a point where they could really use twisted grip much. I hope so; my schedule doesn’t really allow for me to take many different classes right now and I’ve settled into a weekly routine that’s comfortable for me, so it would be hard for me to take a different class right now.

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I’m sorry that you hit your head! 🙁 Do you have a crash pad or some thick cushions to put up the next time you work with something you aren’t sure of yet?

Do you think maybe you were putting your hands up too high the first time you tried it? I could see that potentially causing some issues with your shoulder slipping and would explain your hands getting in the way of your knees when you go into your brass monkey. It’s also possible the pole was just too slippery at first and you slipped down to the point where you couldn’t reach your legs up past your hands? If you didn’t have any issues with hand/leg position the second time I’d say maybe it was just a grip issue.

[kittyface]

I use a pumice stone in the shower after I pole (though not always if my calluses don’t feel any bigger/rougher) as well as a little salicylic acid to smooth things over a bit more. It’s possible that’s bad for you because it takes off too much of the callus, but I’ve always noticed my calluses are still there, just smoother. *shrugs* I don’t let it sit long, though.

I also moisturize my hands multiple times throughout the day. I’ve never had a problem with hand moisturizer messing up my grip unless I use it *right* before poling. Then again, I have super dry skin and my skin just drinks that stuff up, so it could be different on more oily/sweaty skin than mine. If you’ve used moisturizer and your hands do feel too slick to pole, try using Dry Hands and/or washing with a very drying hand soap before doing anything on the pole.

[kittyface]

I’m glad it came back!

After I first got my shoulder mount, it came and went for a solid month at least, maybe two. It was SO frustrating, since I got a taste and loved shoulder-mounting but just couldn’t do it most of the time! Fatigue is definitely part of it, they’ll certainly go when your body is tired. Don’t be too hard on yourself if a pole move comes and goes sometimes 🙂

[kittyface]

I take classes and don’t have Veena’s lessons, but I had some thoughts about this I wanted to share.

Yes, there are downsides to learning on your own with online lessons – like not having a spot when you need one – but there’s downsides to learning in studios as well, especially for people who are more shy or introverted. I’ve read a number of women here who have had horrible experiences in studios with hierarchical, “keep up or keep out” mentalities, women who have been injured from instructors pushing them too hard (inverts and shoulder mounts on the first day!), and women who just know they don’t learn well in groups. I go to a decent pole studio that doesn’t do these things, but there are still some things about my studio that wouldn’t be for everyone. I’ve gotten new techniques I’ve wanted for ages only to hear someone yell at me to point my toes =P I have the kind of personality where I can laugh at that and brush it off, but I could see that hurting the confidence of someone more shy and introverted.

I feel like some pole studios… well, are frankly really full of themselves, and they think learning from studios is the ONLY way. I’m sorry, but that’s bull$&@#, especially with the amount you would be paying at a pole studio. I pay more for an hour lesson than I would for a month for unlimited lessons on StudioVeena! Why pay large amounts of money for something that just makes you feel self-conscious and doesn’t even help you that much?

Personally, I take lessons in a studio because I know they’re beneficial to me for a number of reasons. I tend to be more extroverted and like the social aspect of studios, I don’t have a viable camera or home pole right now so I know I’ll miss some mistakes I’m making, I tend to be a bit more clumsy and confused anyways and it really helps me to have an instructor talk me through moves I don’t understand. I’m not always aware of what my body is doing. That said, if you don’t have the issues that I do, are more introverted, and have the self-knowledge that you learn better on your own than in a studio… like you said, why not take lessons at home? You’ll have a lot more fun and learn a lot faster that way. I do understand the concerns that your “friends” might have, like you not having a spot when you need one or missing any mistakes you might make without an instructor pointing them out, but those issues can be mitigated with the right steps (like filming yourself and comparing it to the lesson video, posting it here and asking for advice, using a mirror when you need one). It sounds like you know yourself well and know what you’re doing, so their aloofness really isn’t fair.

Oh, and about being taught sexual moves in class – I empathize completely. I would feel unbearably awkward in that situation, since that’s not my style at all and I hate feeling like I’m being made to participate in it. These days I mostly take acro classes so it doesn’t really come up, but you’re not alone in being uncomfortable with that.

tl;dr – you know what you’re doing, so keep doing your thing 🙂

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Honestly, Veena, I was thinking that your prices are an absolute steal for what you offer. I spend more at my studio in a month than you charge for a year of unlimited lessons, especially considering how many sales you run. Makes me wish I had room for a home pole! You are an incredibly dedicated woman and I am so glad SV exists 🙂

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AllysonKendal – Ugh, what a horrible experience! I’m sorry you had to go through that. Yeah, they don’t do an end-of-class freestyle at the studio I go to – sometimes they’ll have a minute or two of choreography piecing together everything we learned in class – and the music they play isn’t terrible, but still isn’t anything I would choose to dance to. I will definitely check out those videos (video didn’t work at all on my phone, but I can watch them now that my laptop is back, yay!), thanks for pointing me to Veena and Stefana 🙂

kulotsalot – I like that idea of doing some passes at it in a more dance-oriented way, I guess that’s what the other girl and I were doing. That’s a lot easier to do in the first class than in the second, since the second class is so advanced and challenging that I’m pretty much purely thinking about the technique and doing it so I don’t injure myself.

The other girl I usually take classes with mentioned that she’s considered starting her own freestyle class at this studio, and I would definitely take it if I could or else talk about having an open pole at this location at a time when I could go (I have a feeling I would know more people there)… I’m just a bit worried about having enough rest days, since I pole 4 or 5x a week as it is =/ Maybe I could do that on weeks when I only have 3 days of work, then I’d consistently be poling 5 days a week and have the same rest days?

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tacha666 – That’s totally true, I wasn’t even thinking about that… people charging ahead and trying to get the “cool” fad tricks before they even have basics down is definitely a problem. Also the whole idea of “fad tricks” seems like BS to me, not every trick is right for every body and every dance style, it is so much more important to have good basics. I see the point now too, I wasn’t even considering that.

[kittyface]

Sorry for the novel of a post, I just have a lot of thoughts on this.

I actually found this exact video 8-9 months ago, before I had gotten back into classes at my local studio. I didn’t know much of anything about pole back then, only that I loved it and wanted to learn more, and I had heard girls say they had learned or wanted to learn from YouTube videos so that’s where I went. I have to admit I didn’t read the description or the comments, I just saw that the video was titled “beginner” and marked it in my phone as “moves I should work on.” This was a little before I had my basic invert, so it definitely made me feel bad about myself that I couldn’t do most of these tricks that were apparently “beginner tricks.” I also feel like that was part of the reason I started working on my aerial invert WAY too soon after I got my basic invert from the ground, which meant I was kicking into it. It’s still kind of a habit for me to kick into aerial inverts, even though I know it’s bad and that I’m strong enough to lift myself into it.

The description does make it a bit better, but it’s still incredibly misleading when the common understanding of “beginner” is very different from how she’s using it. It also bothers me that she says almost every trick begins with an invert. I can think of quite a few advanced tricks that begin with a CAR/CKR, a witch sit, etc. There’s also quite a few beginner (or slightly past beginner but not quite intermediate, at my studio it’s classified as novice level) things that can be done aerially that don’t require an invert. I was recently thinking about how much happier I would have been if I had gone back into classes sooner, since I would have been less focused (and miserable) with trying to get my basic invert and having more fun learning the other stuff that WAS within my ability. If I had read the description, I would have been incredibly discouraged to see her say that. I also can’t believe she says that you’re at beginner level until you have your full front and middle splits. Bodies are so different and flexibility training takes so much time, it just kind of boggles my mind to see someone say that. There’s a ton of advanced stuff I’ve been working on that doesn’t require full splits in any direction, and I think it would have made me feel incredibly hopeless if I had read that, say, a year ago.

I don’t want to be too negative about this, though. I think I see what she was trying to do – I agree with Phoenix, I think she was trying to show how challenging pole dance is by saying in the description that the fundamentals/basics take months or years to learn and take lots of conditioning to be able to do. I give her credit for that, I just think she didn’t communicate that very well in some ways.

I agree with Phoenix that I’ve definitely seen that kind of dismissive “I’ll learn it on YouTube” attitude, and it really bothers me because it’s clear those people aren’t taking it seriously as an art/sport. Obviously not everyone who uses YouTube as a tool for learning pole dance are treating it that way – I saw a video interview with Nicole “The Pole” where she said she primarily learned off of YouTube – but I just can’t shake the feeling that it needs to be approached very carefully. There’s so much on YouTube – and so much crap on YouTube, like the videos that Veena mentioned saying beginners should be able to do XY and Z – that I feel like you have to know something going in to not get lost, hopeless, or injured. I’ve definitely used YouTube videos at times, but I felt like it was the most useful when I had the basics of a move down already and wanted to learn variations. I also feel like even decent tutorials aren’t anywhere near as detailed as a lesson really should be. I know not everyone can afford studio lessons, but it just feels really dangerous to use YouTube to learn a ton of new stuff, since a 3-4 minute video can only tell you so much, and it would be easy to miss something and get injured.

That said, I am so so happy that SV exists as a resource for those who want to learn online 🙂 I don’t have the lessons mainly because I don’t have a home pole and I am NOT comfortable trying new things at work (the poles are a bad width for me, are rarely cleaned, there’s dangly light fixtures on the ceiling above the stage, the floors are plexiglass or something, there’s pressure to get everything perfect on the first try when you’re on stage). If I had a pole at home, though, I would get them in a heartbeat. It’s awesome to see such a detailed resource and such a dedicated woman putting it all out there 🙂

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Hi! I’m a baby aerial artist (just pole so far) in the US who also works as a stripper. I’m curious if you’re considering working in a club, or if you’re just curious to learn more about pole dance in general? Because, while Western pole dance as we know it today did originate in strip clubs, there’s really not all that much of it going on in front of customers most of the time. I’m convinced that most of the development of pole happened in empty clubs full of bored strippers, not in front of crowds of people sitting at stages. Pole dancing and stripping really are separate things at the end of the day.

I second everything skramamme said. Most dancers at all the clubs I’ve worked at do little to no pole work, maybe some basic spins but not much more than that. That said, there are a *few* clubs where you can make some money off your pole work, and where you will probably see some skilled pole work at some point in the night if you go there. They tend to be big clubs in big cities, they tend to have taller poles, and in my experience they tend to have a reputation as being more classy than other clubs in the area. There are a few dancers at the club I work at who regularly make quite a bit off the pole (stage is where I make most of my money), but in my experience you have to get fairly advanced to consistently make money off your pole tricks.

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Sorry I haven’t gotten the chance to respond before now, thank you for all the replies!

@chemgoddess – I’m definitely curious to find like-minded people in the pole community, as Phoenix Hunter explained. There’s so much variety of ages, races and body types that I’ve seen in pole that I was kind of sad to not find much at all on lesbian pole dancers. Trying to search “lesbian pole dancer” on Google just gets you a bunch of porn sites =/ The other unfortunate thing that I saw was a fair amount of casual heteronormativity (things that assume heterosexuality) on various pole blogs and sites owned by straight female pole dancers across the web. I really don’t think any of these women even realized they were doing it, but those things were still jarring and I wasn’t able to get into their work in the same way after that, and it made me feel very alone.

Thank you, I wasn’t aware of those women before! I’ll definitely look them up 🙂

@Rhianael, millonme – I’ve wondered about that too, making people feel weird or like I must be trying to hit on them because I’m a lesbian. In the end, because I want to be open about my life (and also just want any opportunity to bring up my wonderful wife 🙂 ), I am still open about my orientation, and the studio I go to has been good and accepting. At the end of the day, I figure, if a woman *assumes* you’re hitting on her just because you’re attracted to women, that says more about her than you =P

@polekat, Stefana of Light – I’ve known a number of women who have said that, they’re attracted to men but appreciate the female form more. To be honest, I think I said that at one point too before I accepted the true extent of my feelings for women.

It’s really not something I can separate out, myself. My aesthetic appreciation for women, my sexual attraction, my romantic feelings, my general affinity for other women – it all kind of blends together, it’s all part of the same thing for me. It’s like… “Do I want to be with her or be her? Ah, screw it, it’s both” =P The only feelings I’ve ever had for men are feelings of obligation and, when I was younger and didn’t know what lesbianism was, envy that they got to date girls =P (yet that was somehow enough to convince myself that I was bisexual when I was younger… But that’s a different story)

[kittyface]

I definitely empathize with having an imbalanced invert! I have quite a few inverted tricks on my right side, but on my left I can barely get up, and sometimes miss the pole. I’ve noticed that a big obstacle for me on my left is actually pain tolerance – since I haven’t conditioned the skin much on that side, everything burns a lot more and is harder to do. I’ve been trying to get into some of the inverted tricks on my left side through a side climb-jasmine-inverted trick progression in addition to working on my inverts in order to train that skin better and get my body more used to doing a lot of the same things on both sides.

[kittyface]

For sweaty hands, I would recommend Dry Hands – it’s basically liquid chalk and dries on your hands within a few seconds of applying it. This is my go-to when I start sweating.

For dry legs, I have two suggestions. If you like grip products made specifically for pole, I would recommend DewPoint Pole. It’s a grip product that moisturizes the skin, and it worked really well for me when I was having grip issues due to dry skin recently. I applied it once and it worked well for 2.5 straight hours of poling.

My other (cheaper) suggestion is using Aveeno daily moisturizing lotion or Aveeno overnight cream. When I applied these the night before poling, it actually made my skin grippier the next day. The daily moisturizing cream worked pretty well for me, while the overnight cream actually made my skin TOO grippy – which is really saying something considering I have dry skin and live in a dry climate. It might work well for you, though, depending on your skin and climate where you pole. I wouldn’t apply this the day of, since that made me a bit slippery, but I found using it the night before worked well for me 🙂

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@KiwiGirl – That really sucks, I’m sorry =/ I would have nearly cried too, I can do 50s (though I vastly prefer a 45) but there’s no way I could do one on spin. If they have one or two 45s, I would definitely be showing up mega-early to get a 45!

My studio used to have a few 50s in the back, while the rest were 45s. At some point they took out the 50s and now they’re all 45s. They all have static and spin modes, but the default setting is static.

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Hey there Macabre! I feel your pain for sure – I have tiny hands as well, I actually just measured them because I was curious and they’re about the same size that yours are (middle finger just barely passes the 6 inch mark, measuring wrist to tip of middle finger). I’d also say my grip on a 45mm looks about the same as yours.

I’ve been poling for a little longer than 1 1/2 years, and these days my grip feels pretty solid on a 45mm. I can hold a split grip pretty well and I’ve got a good, wide reverse grab spin on a 45 that feels very secure. I use Dry Hands pretty rarely on a 45 (usually only when I start to get pretty sweaty). So there is hope! You will get there!

Honestly, I’m pretty sure the reason my grip feels so secure on a 45 despite the size of my hands is because I’m forced to work with a 50mm pole most of the time (3-4 days of the week, I only get to use a 45mm once a week when I go to lessons). This is a good way to get a solid grip, but man is it frustrating as hell. I’ve actually fallen out of quite a few reverse grabs that I’ve tried on a 50mm, even when I just used Dry Hands and I thought my grip felt solid. I can only hold a split grip for a few seconds before I come sliding down, and I use buckets of Dry Hands all the time whenever I work with a 50mm.

Other than that, your grip strength will grow as you pole, regardless of what diameter you’re using. It will get stronger even if you never touch a 50mm 🙂

[kittyface]

I’ve been lucky enough to avoid big differences in pain tolerance/energy/mood swings. My big thing is that I get AWFUL cramps and extremely heavy flow for 2-3 days of my cycle. I’ll avoid going to work on those days if I can, but sometimes I can’t avoid it. If I had class that day I would probably try to go to a class later in the week instead. It’s definitely best to rest if you can.