[trickivix]

Will try to break it down: First you'll have to consider which side you need to invert on. I'm assuming you can do a twisted grip aysha? If you lower arm in the aysha is the left, you will need to invert on the left side of the pole (pole is on your right). Invert into an inside leg hook, your inside arm stays on the pole, if you have wide shoulders, I'd recommend rotating your grip inwards so it's not wrapped around the pole too much (otherwise you can get stuck when you try to extend out). Let go of your outside arm and reach down past your head, thumb down towards the floor – I suggest looking down at where you are grabbing as being upside can be a bit confusing, make sure the arm is extended and strong, you'll soon need to put a lot of weight on it. From there, start with tucking your legs in towards your body before you extend your legs out in a straddle – I find it's better for balancing. In the same movement, you will want to try to extend your body away from the pole (this is where your shoulder can get stuck). Due to the way your arms are positioned, your body will just naturally want to rotate into a standard twisted grip aysha. Hope that helps 🙂

[trickivix]

The difference between the doing the split grip and forearm grip compared to the elbow grip is that you can split your legs and have your torso close to the pole, however, the best way to do elbow grip is to move your torso away from the pole. You need to feel resistance in the elbow pit that is keeping you from falling away from the pole. If you are too close, you won't have enough resistance and you will rely purely on your lower arm to keep you up. The tutorial polergirl is refering to is:

http://aerialamy.com/blog/2011/07/12/tuesday-tips-elbow-grip-ayesha/

polergirl has pretty much covered it, the only thing I can add is that you upper arm (the elbow grip one) should be wrapped around the pole fairly close to your knees (once you've caterpillared up), the arm will be at an angle, not parallel to the floor.

[trickivix]

Would probably be easier if you posted a video or photo of yourself in the hold? A few tips (without knowing exactly what you are already doing) would be to make sure your bottom wrist isn't twisted in any way, when you are looking down at it, your forearm and hand should be aligned. Another tip is to make sure you don't use momentum to swing your legs up, you should lift so that you slowly put pressure on the arms rather than sudden pressure when you reach the point you want to hold. For me, I don't actually grip with my underarm, the pole is positioned at the base of my bicep and I am using a pulling motion with the top arm, while the bottom arm is doing the pushing motion. And my bottom elbow will be digging into my waist.

In addition to all this technique talk, I'd say you may have a case of tendonitis. The symptoms sound about right – the moment you release the hold (especially if you release it quickly) pain will shoot up your arm. I had this when I was learning how to handspring. I wasn't taking no for an answer and I got tendonitis instead…

[trickivix]

Another common spot for injuries is the ribs.

As for the muscles, I'm like veena, I think muscles are sexy. I combine pole with a lot of weight training and I wouldn't say that I look manly. However… the only muscles that I've gained that I'm not too keen on are the upper traps.

[trickivix]

Oops! I don't think that came out right – I meant that with true grip dead lift you may need to have your hands further apart than a true grip handspring (non-dead lift). I found that what helped me be able to pull myself up with the little push was to have a straighter top arm than what I would have had for the handspring. Hope that helps anyway 🙂 and good luck!

[trickivix]

I was just practising yesterday with true grip using the concepts from Dakota Fox's youtube for twisted grip: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AmbZS_46LaQ

She breaks it down into two sections – 1. From the floor standing side on to pole, pushing away with your arms, then tilting your hips toward the ceiling and sort of just hanging there. 2. Feet on floor, hips tilted to ceiling, lift one foot up and give yourself a little push with the other foot to do the handspring. Then you just have to put the two together, which is the hardest bit.

I was able to do both 1 and 2 with true grip but can't quite put them together yet. Although, I can't hold an Iron X yet either, so if you can already do that, you'd probably have more luck than me. But I definitely think her tips could help 🙂 The only thing that I should point out for true grip is that your arms might need to be further apart than what you are used to for a normal handspring.

[trickivix]

Haha that's right Ekinkah, the only way your personal trainer friend will help get rid of your back pain is by making the rest of your body sore!

[trickivix]

It seems that there's a perception that chiros only "crack". My chiro is also a sports chiro and he spends most of the time massaging and relieving tension in my tight muscles. He gives me all types of strengthening exercises, stretches and warm up advice for pole and I haven't had an injury where he hasn't been able to fix and be so exact on how long it would take to heal (if I do the exercises he recommends).

Ekinkah, I think when sensual was saying PT, she means physical therapist/physiotherapist which you are already seeing… I think aussies normally refer to personal trainer as PT so not sure if you misunderstood?

[trickivix]

I go to the gym a lot so I do a lot of weights there. I work my back and shoulder area doing all types of rows (seated rows, upright rows, barbell rows), reverse flies, lateral raises, chin ups, etc. If you have some dumbbell weights at home, you should google the exercises, most of them you be able to do at home. Youtube have some good tutorials to help make sure your technique is good and that you're activating the right muscles. There's always a "cheaters" way (like with pole) and doing it incorrectly can lead to injury and will slow the development of the muscles.

If you have a pole at home, you can do a thing my studio calls pole tucks – holding the pole like you are going to invert, but instead of inverting, just slowly lift your knees to your chest and slowly back down. Try doing it without touching the floor. Just remember to keep the shoulders back and activated. Another good one for the back on the pole are like pull ups – place hands above head but don't extend too far and pull yourself up while squeezing your shoulder blades together, hold the squeeze at the top. Don't jump into it, really pull yourself up and then slowly lower your body.

Yeah I know, I don't know what the qualifications are overseas but you need to do 5 years of uni in Australia which is the same as a physio but there are only four universities in Australia that offer the chiro degree, whereas physio is offered at four universities in Queensland alone.

My chiro doesn't need x-rays but you can take one in if you want. I know of other chiros that require an x-ray first. So… up to you… x-rays can be expensive though.

haha I know what you mean, it's good to know you're not the only one that's falling apart.

[trickivix]

Sorry, just re-read your comment about the vertabrae not being aligned. Different to what I have described… I would still see a chiro though…

[trickivix]

Hi Ekinkah, I was hoping you were from Australia – chiros have a bad name overseas but I know first hand that chiropractors in Australia are real medical practitioners that do as many years studying as other medical practitioners. I'm on the Goldy and go to a really good chiro in Broadbeach. He has fixed me from many pole ailments.

Does it hurt when you take a deep breath? From what you have described, it sounds like you may have misaligned ribs. Something I got a few times about a year ago from pole. It is when the rib is not sitting properly in the socket within your spine. At first it just feels a bit annoying, but it will keep agitating the back muscles until it becomes inflamed and incredibly painful. When it is adjusted back, it will stay very painful for a couple of days as the inflammation settles and you will need to be careful as the cartilage that normally holds the rib in place will be torn and weaker. You may need to take a couple of weeks off pole.

It is normally caused by incorrect technique or weak muscles. So for inverting, it would mean that you are either not pulling your shoulder blades back and down when doing this move, or you are relying on momentum to get up and putting sudden pressure on your back, or your back muscles are not strong enough (or fatigued) to hold your weight. After getting this, I become very particular about technique and strengthening muscles with weight training because the pain was so intense, I didn't want it to happen again.

Anyway, let me know if you'd like the name of my chiro 🙂

[trickivix]

I agree, just keep at it and the skin will toughen up again 🙂

[trickivix]

Dynamic stretches is a good way to start, but static stretches is fine as as long as you don't hold for long. The reason why they say that static stretches would decrease the amount of power is because static stretches that are held for a long time (say 30 secs) will actually tear muscle fibres. Which is also what happens when you do strength exercises. So you're wearing out your muscles before you even start poling… My preference would be to do an aerobic type warm up combined with dynamic stretches, at the end of the warm up, I do quick static stretches (holding for a few seconds each) to lengthen the muscles a little.

[trickivix]

I too suggest shooting star. I actually learnt it from a side V but I think shooting star would have been easier because the pole is already pretty close to where you want it to be against your inner leg. For either one, it's really about trusting yourself to flip over, push your hips forward and snapping your legs shut (very painful at first).

[trickivix]

I'm guessing S.G is straight edge? There are definitely different body positions. As you mentioned, there is the hollow body with the Ayesha which will pull your butt away from the pole, creating a triangle. The straight edge you are closer to the pole, some people have the pole to their side, others have the pole directly in front of them. You can do any grip with both moves – elbow, split, forearm, twisted, cup… each rely on different muscles to help hold you up.

I started practising my Ayesha pretty much as you described. I started with the elbow grip, got my arms in position and slowly pulled my butt away from the pole while lowering my knees to a tuck until I felt stable enough in my grip to let go of my legs. If you can balance in a tuck, you’ll be fine to straddle the legs.

I found the straight edge was trickier to hold as it doesn't have that offset balance between butt and legs. You're pretty much doing a handstand in the air. I would suggest strengthening your grip (whichever grip you choose) through Ayesha first and learn to go from Ayesha to straight edge, bringing your body in as you move into straight edge… but that's just me. I know people who found it easier learning it the other way around…

Hope that helps https://www.studioveena.com/img/smilies/icon_e_biggrin.gif