Pole Dancing: Vertical Fitness 101 - The Basics

So you have decided that you would like to take up pole dancing for fitness. Great choice! Pole dancing is a very challenging sport that will push the boundaries of your body's endurance, muscular strength, stamina, and flexibility. Now that you have purchased your pole you may be sitting there looking at it and thinking to yourself, "Now what?" If you have not taken a class or watched a video on how to do pole dancing moves, you may be at a bit of a loss. Fortunately you can find books, videos, and even classes online. A great site to find books and how to videos online, is one that millions of you already know and trust, Amazon.com. Amazon even sells a great selection of home and professional poles from the leading manufacturers. There are a few people who offer lessons online. Online lessons make it easier to learn at home, instructors can even watch students via webcam and instant messaging software so that they can instruct and correct their students on safety, form, and execution. I am going to take you through the basics of pole dance for fitness so that you can get started on your road to fine physique and peek physical fitness.

Terminology

Address- To address the pole you face your pole with your center line aligned with the pole

Bracket grip- Gripping your pole with both hands facing the same direction. Brackets can either be overhand (fingers pointing away)or underhand(fingers pointing back toward you with your wrists "under" the pole. There are only a few tricks or spins which require this type of hold the more common grip is the half bracket

Half bracket grip- Holding the pole with one hand over and one hand under so that both thumbs are pointing in the same direction. This is the more common grip for most spins and tricks as gravity and centrifugal force require that one arm pulls in toward the pole as the lower arm pushes the body out and away from the pole

Peripheral address- Addressing you pole with your body in profile to your pole. Your body should be aligned with the pole meaning neither ahead of the pole reaching back or in most cases with the pole in front of you so that you are reaching forward for the pole

Spins- rotating with the pole as your axis and sole support, both feet are up off of the ground and all of your weight is supported by the pole and your

Turns- rotating or circling the pole with one or two hands and either one or both feet on the ground

The basics

The first thing that you must do is get familiar with your pole. You want to feel comfortable supporting your weight either in part or completely, using either your hands or legs. It is also easier to learn the body positions for your tricks by doing them in a stationary position rather than trying to learn to do them while fighting both gravity and centrifugal force. It is also important to visualize the trick that you are trying to do before you do it. After you have learned the trick and have grown comfortable with performing the trick you can then perform them without having to visualize first. Practicing your tricks inside your head as opposed to practicing them on the pole will save you falls, strains, sprains, and energy. If you are not good at visualizing things then it may be easier for you to talk yourself through the entire process of each trick mentally before performing them. It really does help to give you a clear idea of what you need to do in order to pull the trick off.

Just learning proper body position and execution for your tricks is probably the most physically difficult part of learning to pole dance. If you are learning in a formal class setting your instructor or class mates can be of great help in correcting mistakes. In formal classes it also helps students that the walls are normally covered with mirrors so that you can watch yourself and thus you can see when your position or form is out of true. At home this is not quite as easy most people do not have mirrored walls in their homes. A great way to get this perspective on your tricks and moves is to set up your camera, either attached to your computer or when you are done recording you can download your videos to either your television or your computer. This allows you to see exactly what you are doing. When practicing alone this is an invaluable aid to improving your pole dancing and correcting errors.

Since pole dancing is a very strenuous exercise it is also important to make sure that you warm up properly and do a cool down stretch after you are done to prevent painful strains and aches from your workouts. Stretching will also help to improve your flexibility. If you are not already in peak physical condition it would also be wise to work on strengthening your hands, wrists, ankles, and your core. There is no special equipment required for this purpose. You can improve the strength in your chest, arms, and wrists by doing sets of pushups daily. You can also work on strengthening these areas by using your pole. A simple exercise to do for both familiarizing yourself with your safe zone and reach, while improving your arm strength, your pectorals, and arms is by doing what I call "pull ins". You have of course heard of or even done pull ups with a horizontal bar, even if it was only in gym class back when you were still in school. To do pull ins what you do is position your feet on either side of your pole while gripping the pole directly in front of you with both hands. Lean back as far as you can, extending your arms fully. You should feel about 1/3 to ½ of your body weight supported on your arms while the rest of your body weight is supported by your legs. Bending both elbows pull your body into an upright position. Youc should be able to touch your chest to those hands. Then release your body back until you are again in the first position. Then from the same position, while leaning back with your weight distributed between both your arms and legs, alternate hands and pull your body in toward the pole with one hand, then extend your arm again and switch hands.

When stepping up into most of your tricks you will use the weight of your legs and momentum built by swinging around the pole and using your body weight to spin your body up onto the pole into whatever position you are trying to achieve. Whenever you are landing a trick or spin it is best to land on one foot and then bring the other one down. This will give you the best form when landing and will help to keep your legs from becoming entangled as you come down. When doing spins you will still be carrying some of the momentum from your turn and thus will still be spinning when you land. That is one of the reasons why it is best to land on one foot instead of two and pivot with the last of your spinning momentum, rather than planting both feet and trying to stop your body from spinning. It also looks prettier and takes you around the pole one-half or a full turn depending on what trick you're landing and how much power you built up going into it.

The following descriptions are based upon both my performing these tricks and watching them performed. Though the instructions may sound complicated, they aren't. They will make more sense to you if after reading the descriptions you log onto youtube.com and watch videos by Felix Cane (the world pole dance champion 2009) you may search her videos either by name or you may type 'World Pole dance championship'. Also watch videos by Jeanine Butterfly (USPDF champion 2009), Alethea Austin (Miss Trixter runner up USPDF 2009), and Leigh Anne Norsi who is currently competing for the 'Pole Dance Superstars' championship. You can search 'pole dance', 'pole dancer', 'pole dancing lessons', or 'pole tricks' on youtube and you will find a treasure trove of videos of pole dancers strutting their stuff and performing some of the most complex and advanced tricks out there, like the "spatchcock" Felix Cane, the "Starfish", or Leigh Anne's "funky monkey". There are a number of excellent pole dancers on youtube, far too many to name. I even have my own youtube channel under the name synnisin where I post videos of my progress with learning and mastering pole tricks. Some of the movements and handholds may feel awkward at first but after performing them a few hundred times they will feel natural and you will do grips and spins that felt odd at first as though they are second nature. Learning tricks seems to become organic after a while, learning and mastering one trick will lead you to another, or the modification of a trick you already know. The only limitations are in flexibility and in your mind. Other than the limitations placed upon you by strength, flexibility, and imagination the sky is the limit and you can do anything, it is this that keeps the activity from ever becoming boring. Choreography is completely open to your interpretation and if you watch some of the videos that are out there on the net you will find women and men who seem to defy gravity with ease, grace, and strength.

Spins

Sit Spin

The simplest of the basic spins is the sit spin. You achieve your momentum by swinging your leg and pivoting your body from a peripheral address to a frontal address. When your body swings in toward the pole, the swinging or free leg will come up directly next to the pole. Do not wrap it around the pole but instead keep both legs straight. Lift the leg you were pivoting on to the opposite side of the pole. You may hold the pole either with your knees or calves with your arms stretched above your head. Your hands will be on either side of the pole also in a very close half bracket position. Your body position is as though you are sitting with your legs outstretched on a floor. You may land this spin in several different ways. 1. You can bend your legs at the knee and simply set your feet down when your spin reaches the floor. 2. You can bend your knees until your ankles are able to grasp the pole in a crossed position similar to that of a fireman's spin but with your body much closer in to the pole. Your arms should be bent at the end of the spin with your body positioned close to the pole. The leg that is on the side to which you are spinning should be positioned slightly to the front of the pole while the back leg should be positioned slightly behind the pole so when you land your momentum will carry your body around as you land opening your legs so you can stand straight up. 3. You may pull your legs all the way in until your feet are below your buttocks and you are in a kneeling position holding the pole between your knees, which is where you will set yourself down when you have exhausted the momentum of the spin. (it is important to hold on to the pole until you have stopped spinning completely so that you don't skin your knees on the floor when you land. You may either stand up or lay your body back until your torso is laying flat, with your legs bent back to either side of your torso, and your back arched. 4. Your fourth popular option is to just ride the spin to the floor and land the trick on your buttocks, where you can then perform floor moves, crawl back to the pole and remount it, or stand and continue with your next move or trick.

A note about momentum

The sit spin is a very simple but versatile move which is easily modified into different poses both up and down the pole. The leg swing is used for the sit spin, the fireman spin, the climbing spin, the open "v" spin, and several others. You can use the swinging of your leg in every angle of pivot around the pole. You will find that with any spins where your head remains upright that building momentum is done by swinging one leg while pivoting on the other foot, and launching yourself onto the pole with the momentum intact, swinging both your legs, or by lifting yourself off the floor and swinging your entire body weight in an arc around the pole. With your body upright and close into the pole you will build less momentum than when you lean into the pivot and swing the free leg larder. The more you lean your body when you pivot the more speed and momentum for the spin you will build. The smoother you mount the pole the more momentum you will carry up onto the pole and into the spin. The more flowing and continuous your movements are the more momentum you will carry up onto the pole as you are spinning. You can slow your turns or break your momentum by hopping or pulling and hooking your legs on the pole as they leave the ground. Allow the weight of your body, your momentum, and your core strength carry your body into position on the pole. If you are using a spinning pole rather than a stationary pole you will find all of these moves much easier to mount, but much more difficult to hold. For a beginner I recommend that you use a stationary pole. You will also get a much better workout from having to make yourself spin around the pole rather than just making your pole spin while you hold or sit on your pole.

Climbing and spinning on your pole

You can use the some leg swing for momentum to start a turning climb up the pole. Your body and leg positions on the pole will continue the corkscrewing twist of the climb only if you carry the momentum up onto the pole with you perfectly. To build a faster momentum for a spinning climb you can build it out of a two handed pirouette. There is a turn commonly called a sitting-turn. It is a two handed pirouette in which the pivot position is low with the leg bent into a squatting position. This gives the dancer the appearance of sitting on an invisible chair. As you begin to turn in the second pivot of the two handed turn, you straighten the leg, giving you more power and momentum in the turn. As you then pivot to your other side with both hands on the pole, instead of burning the momentum off you continue the turning motion until your free leg comes around again. Swing the free leg as hard as you can while pivoting on the other foot. Pull your body into the pole and begin your climb. You will continue spinning around the pole as you climb.

Climbing

Climbing in high heels is nothing like climbing a pole barefooted. Though you may see performers performing in bare feet, judges deduct points if the performer fails to stay up on her toes, or if she uses the soles of her feet or her heels to climb the pole. So how do you hoist yourself up there arm strength alone? No, only gymnasts and people in really great shape can do a vertical climb using only their arm strength. You just need to find some other way of creating that skin to pole friction which will allow you to compress and extend your body up the pole. (think inchworm). You put the leg that is going to support your weight as you start against the pole. You will position your leg as follows: Raise your leg so that your knee is bent. Place your shin against the pole at a slight angle so that the top of your foot is against the pole and your ankle is against the other side of the pole. Lock your ankle joint. The rest of your lower leg should be positioned on the outside of the pole on the opposite side of the pole from your instep. Extend both hands as high as you can reach and grasp the pole with one hand on either side of the pole. The other leg will be in front of the pole with the calf and the back of the ankle creating the friction to hold the pole in the front. When you release the back leg to raise it and lock onto the pole at a higher elevation your front leg and your arms will have to hold your weight until the back leg is in position for another push up.

Straddling your pole

With a vertical pole it is not possible to sit astride your pole as you would on a horizontal bar. So "sitting" on a vertical pole means that unlike sitting astride a horse or a horizontal pole, your weight will be unsupported by anything but your own muscles. You can straddle your pole when doing a sit spin, which some people also call a straddle spin because it is performed while sitting astride your pole. Whether you climb your pole or simply mount your pole from a standing position, straddling is very simple Extend both your arms above your head and hold the pole with one or both hands. Both legs will be opposite one another holding the pole on either side. You can hold the pole with any part of the thigh from the knee all the way up to your crotch. The knees may be bent or held straight. You can also position your legs so that one is slightly higher on the pole than the other, or with one straight and the other bent. Keep in mind that you are only astride your pole if your legs are positioned on either side of the pole while gripping the pole with the upper leg anywhere from your knees up. (Positions like the fireman's spin or the front leg hook are not straddling spins.)

Front leg hook spin

For this trick you will use the pole as your axis while the rest of the body flies free in space supported only by your hands and the inside of the hooking knee. Walk around the pole to build momentum, hold the pole with the inside hand while the outside arm is free. Then swing your leg to further build turning velocity. At the same time bring the free hand in to grasp the pole opposite your other hand. When the leg reaches the pole allow the leg to hook around the pole and grasp the pole with the back of the knee. The following leg can be held out to the side, front, or rear at any elevation, or can simply be hooked in the reverse direction. You may land this spin by either riding it to the ground and landing on your buttocks, or by unhooking the foreleg and setting it down on the floor followed by the back leg.

Lay backs

This is not normally done as a spin on a stationary pole but the place for laybacks both for the purpose of this article and for the order in which tricks are most easily learned. To do a lay back you will climb your pole until you are a comfortable distance to the floor and are in no danger of hitting your head on the floor when you lay back from the pole. When you have finished climbing straddle your pole, with one leg on either side of the pole, grasping the pole between your thighs. To lock your legs closed and hold your body securely onto the pole you must either hook one ankle over the opposite knee while holding your other leg straight out, or you may cross and lock your ankles on the opposite side of the pole from your body. Once you have a secure grip on the pole with your legs, let go of the pole with your hands and lay your body back. You will be hanging from the pole solely supported by grasping the pole between your legs. There are very simply two ways out of this trick. You may either lift yourself back up until you can grasp the pole with your hands again and come down feet first or you may slightly release your lock so that your legs part slightly and lower yourself headfirst (the back of your head first so you cannot spot the floor)either onto your hands and flip back off of the pole onto your feet or lower yourself slowly with your hands on the floor onto the back of your neck and then release your legs slowly so you slide down onto your back.

Back leg hook spin

You will build momentum for this trick by pivoting on one leg as in the pirouette turn. You will begin by walking around your pole with one hand on the pole and the other hanging free on the other side of your body. Once your feet leave the ground you will be fully supported by your hands and by the back of the hooking knee, with your body flying free beside the pole. Walk around your pole with your inside hand encircling the pole with your arm fully extended. Take a quick step onto your inside leg, then pivot on that leg. The free leg will swing around from the hip as you turn. Next, push off with your pivoting foot while pulling your body in towards the pole. Hook the pivoting leg around the pole at the back of the knee. Last lift your trailing leg into the same position on the opposite side of the pole. Your outside arm should be fully extended over your head with your hand gripping the pole. Your inside hand should be lower than the other, grasping the pole at around breast level. Once your body weight is fully supported on the pole this inside hand should be closed snugly against your chest. Your body weight and hand position should hold that hand closed tight until you set yourself back down on the floor. When this trick is fully mounted on the pole your body should be spinning backward with both legs up and your body position as though you are kneeling in mid air. You may land this trick either on your feet or on your knees.

Sun wheel

A sun wheel spin is done much like a back leg hook spin except that it is done one handed. You will build momentum and mount your pole the same way as a back leg hook spin, but instead of holding the pole with both hands you will grasp the pole with only the inside hand while leaving the other hand free.

Jazzman spin

This spin is performed by using momentum built by throwing your body weight into the spin as you mount the pole. You will walk next to your pole with one hand grasping the pole and the other hand swinging free. Lift your inside leg up as high as you can at the hip and hook the back of the knee around the front side of the pole, then bring your back leg up on the opposite side of the pole so that you have your thigh behind the pole. As you hook your front leg onto the pole bring your free hand in to grasp the pole directly below your other hand. When mounted the body will be hanging out from the pole in a sideways posture. The only way to land this trick is to ride it to the floor and land it on your hip.

Fireman's spin

This is a front mount spin in which you build your momentum in the same way that you would for a sit spin or a spinning climb up your pole. By swinging your free front leg from the hip to build momentum and then mounting your pole while still carrying that momentum up onto the pole with you. Instead of grasping the pole between your knees, you are going to grasp the pole between your ankles, with both knees bent and your body in a squatting position in the middle. The front leg will hook the back of the ankle, the Achilles tendon area, onto the pole, the back leg will mount with the shin and the inside of the ankle against your pole. Your body will be out and free swinging except for when you are holding the pole with your hands and ankles. This spin is intended to be landed on your feet by allowing your body to slide down and the momentum of your turn to open your legs away from the pole, with one foot to either side of the pole and your body still in a squatting position.

These are the simpler pole dancing tricks to get you started. You may find these tricks difficult at first but with practice they will quickly become second nature. You will find that often learning one trick will either teach you another or will give you insight into how another trick is done or balanced. There are several other basic tricks that are often taught to beginners, but normally only after they have learned these tricks. The next moves to be learned will be inverted, layback, no-look, and one handed tricks. For the more advanced beginners pole moves you will need to build more strength and a better awareness of where your body and hands are in relation to the pole for doing moves where you either release the pole and hold with your legs, elbows, or even with the pole braced between your ribs and hip, or your release the pole and then grasp it again at a lower or higher point. Remember to be careful and don't push your body too far beyond your limitations because that is how people end up falling, or getting hurt. Also remember to keep a rag or towel handy so that you may wipe sweat or lotions off of your hands and pole to prevent slipping or accidentally releasing the pole due to a poor hold. Exercise caution and good judgment when practicing these tricks, and make sure that if you are learning without an instructor, you log onto www.youtube.com and watch the tricks performed several times, until you can envision the steps leading into and out of each trick.