Tag Archives: Pole class

FLOORSOME – Why Floorwork is Awesome

  By bexackland@ntlworld.com • November 20, 2020

We love pole. Fact. We are pole dancers so it kinda goes with the territory. But there is so much more to “Pole Dancing” than just – well – dancing with a pole. The pole is just the 45mm bit in the middle. But look at all that space around it! All that room to move, and flow, to express a million different emotions in a million different ways. Pole tricks are awesome, but do you know what else is awesome? Floorwork. Floorwork is awesome. It’s…. (drumroll please…) FLOORSOME. Here’s why:

You can do it in clothes

For people who are used to working out in booty shorts and crop tops, it can be a real treat not to have to undress to work out. Not because we don’t love being semi naked (haha. We so totally do) but because sometimes it’s bloody freezing, or we just aren’t feeling it. It makes a nice change to be able to wear clothes.

And not only clothes, but super cool clothes. You can pretend you are in Fame, or that bit in Black Swan where they are all cool and edgy in leg warmers and big slouchy tops and infinity scarves.

And then, when you get a bit hot from all the floorf**kery, you can abandon the homeless look and wear seriously hot sexy gear made from little more than straps of elastic and knee pads and electrical tape, rocking what my friend Sarah likes to call the Combat Slut look.

Ms Blackmilk rocks the Combat Slut (TM) look

You don’t have to worry about grip 

The atmosphere at competitions such as Dance Filthy is fantastically relaxed – and I’m sure part of this is the absence of fear about pole grip. You aren’t constantly worrying about sweaty hands, slippy leg grips or covering your body in your own unique cocktail which mixes the exact correct proportions of chalk, dry hands, mighty grip and dew point for your skin. Floorwork requires no handgrip, and you can sweat away like the sparkly unicorn you are.

You can also cover yourself in body glitter or paint on stage (or at home, you be you) and not worry about compromising your pole grip.

And of course, you can use moisturiser, which all polers know is basically like Christmas.

You get to do hairography 

As a pole dancer I have come to terms with the fact that I am never going to look well groomed. No matter how much time I spend making my hair all smooth and glossy I’m pretty soon going to be ruining it by hanging upside down and sweating. But floorwork demands messy hair! Hair flicks, flips, swishes, swinging ponytails galore (I used to have a short bob, and my hair flicks made me look like Sonic the Hedgehog).

Also there’s less danger involved in hairography on the floor than there is on the pole. Your hair won’t get in the way of your grip, and you won’t look like the girl in The Ring when you are upside down – though you may when you are cat crawling your way towards your victim, but this you can style out in a sultry manner. Let’s face it, all the best things in life mess up your hair. You know exactly what I’m talking about.

All the best things mess up your hair

It’s an all-round workout

Incorporating cardio, flexibility, stamina, plus of course a mental workout (which direction do I need to face to land in a machine gun split?) and a creative, expressive workout (how do I convey the story of my epic search for a parking space today to the music of Massive Attack?), floorwork covers all aspects of fitness.

Get your heart rate up, get sweaty, get super fit, get strong, and work on your all round flexibility and muscular endurance, all without actually having to stand up. This is my kind of exercise.

There’s less chance of dying 

Let’s not pretend romancing the floor is without risks – bashed up knees, friction burns, that bit on the top of your shoulders getting all bruised and knarly, kicked in the face with your own heels, catching your body piercings in your hair flips, potential whiplash… and you might still be overcome with fear when learning fish flops, heel kips or any number of crazy insane heel bangin’ hip poppin’ combos. Still, despite all these lovely attributes, there’s still less risk of dying (just).

It’s less likely you will employ the old “just stand there so I don’t die” line when learning floor work. You won’t plummet to the floor from an aerial Marion Amber when you’re a floor dweller, or risk relocating your collar bone with a fonji. It’s only bruising your spine, bashing into the pole head first,  and burning the tops of your feet ( and everywhere else) you have to worry about now. Great!

Me when someone demos a new pole move

Flow, flow flow…

Freestyling on the pole often demands certain movement – you need to get here, to do this move, and you need this hand here and this contact point here. Floor freestyling allows movement to flow, and let’s face it one thing we all want is more flow. Let the music take you where you want to be.

You can pretend you are in a rock video 

You can romance the floor to any music – from blues to trance to hardcore dubstep. But everyone (by which I mean, me) knows rock music is the best – the devil has all the best tunes after all. And rock music and floorwork go hand in hand. Put on the greatest tunes the devil has to offer, get down on the floor, and get turned up to 11 (this advice is also good when having a shower).

Get to embrace your inner (or outer) stripper 

Enough with the “actually, pole came from mallakham/chinese/Indian culture, and actually it was originally done by men”

No, it didn’t. It came from strip clubs and strippers and that’s a fact. You don’t have try to make it socially acceptable by attributing it to men or whatever Asian/eastern/ancient culture you can think of this week.  Respect where pole came from, embrace it and don’t try to hide it. I’m not going to labour this point as there are people out there who have already said it all, a lot better than I can, but just once more for the people at the back: Pole has it roots in the strip clubs, and rather than move the goalposts of pole (goalpoles?) to make society accept it, hold the goalpoles firm and make society change its attitudes instead. Get down on the floor and embrace your hair flickin’, heel bangin’, hip thrustin’, body wavin’ vagina monsterin’ bad self that you are, shamelessly, with love, and with pride.

BEXIITA

In Pursuit Of Handsprings, And Other Advanced Moves

  By bexackland@ntlworld.com • November 20, 2020

Every one in the pole world who knows me well knows how much I struggled with handsprings. I just could not do them.

 I believed it was due to a lack of strength (as strength is not my… Err… Strength) and that my upper body just wasn’t cut out for it. But in truth I think it was largely down to fear – that upside down flipping over thing – and of course, lack of technique.

At every masterclass I went to – and I go to a lot – when we got to the handspring bit, half of me was thinking – oh no. Here’s the bit I can’t do. The other half was thinking – maybe today is the day. Maybe this is the time when someone will spot where I’m going wrong and steer me onto the right track and I’ll nail it. And every time, when I asked “can you have a look at my technique and see if I’m doing something wrong?” They’d say “no, you’re absolutely fine. Just keep practicing” Grrrr. How frustrating.

But they were right. It was just practice. I was hoping for some magic wand moment, where they’d say ah! You’re doing it completely wrong! And the problem would be solved. But pole isn’t always like that. I’m not naturally strong. I have to work at it. And sometimes, hard work beats natural talent, when natural talent doesn’t work.

First handspring. Not shown: victory dance afterwards

It took me 17 months to handspring, from the first time I tried it to managing it, just once. Just four weeks short of a year and a half. However, I have spoken to pole icons, world champions, who admitted that despite their amazing strength and talents and all round awesomeness, it also took them a year and a half to handspring too. If it’s good enough for a world champion, then it’s good enough for me.

What seems to have happened in recent years is that advanced moves – like handsprings – have been “demoted” down the difficulty scale. Girls want to handspring in six weeks. Instructors want to jam those girls up in legs-off positions and photograph them to make themselves look good. It seems to have turned into a race for the super advanced moves, rather than building up to them.

If I had one piece of advice for students of pole, it would be this: SLOW DOWN.

Slow down your moves – less kicking and jumping and more lifting. It will make you stronger and fitter, and improve your technique- which means that when you come to attempt the more advanced moves, you will be ready, and prepared, and able.

Slow down your performing – don’t rush, we want to see what you are doing and appreciate it and feel it. Hold your moves, even if you are not on stage. It will look better, more polished, more beautiful. And if you can hold a gemini or a scorpio with no effort or struggle, then moving from there up to the next move will not be such a stretch. It will feel challenging, sure, but it will feel possible, and most importantly, safe. 

Slow down your pole training – spend time nailing each move, perfecting it and holding it, not rushing on to the next one. I know it’s tempting to want to invert on week one and handspring on week two but THERE IS NO RUSH – You are in competition with no one. You have the rest of your life to spend on this journey. Savour it, enjoy it, and you will be a far better poler for it.

The world of pole has come so far. The moves are crazy now, as these athletes take it to the next level, with gravity defying feats, mind blowing strength and flexibility that would put an elastic band to shame. Those moves are amazing and inspiring. But those moves are not the norm – a handspring is still, in fact, an advanced move. Just because more people can do it now who have been training and learning for a long time, it doesn’t make it any less of an achievement.

For me, I realised that being self-taught and trying to handspring without a spotter probably wasn’t the best way to learn, and I invested in some lessons with a fellow instructor I trusted. Boom – I got that handspring in about 15 minutes with her. A combination of technique, support, time, continuous training and getting over the fear. I was so happy, but not as happy as when I taught a student to handspring for the first time myself. It’s a big landmark, as it is nailing any nemesis move, as is inverting for the first time, as is just getting your feet off the ground, as is just walking into class for the first time. 

It’s all a personal journey. It’s about hard work, support and fun, There are no shortcuts. There is no competition

BEXIITA

Pole doesn’t grow on trees

  By bexackland@ntlworld.com • November 20, 2020

There’s no getting around it: Pole dance lessons are more expensive than most other fitness classes.

Among the Holy Trinity of first questions asked by those interested in starting pole dance classes (“When and where are your classes? What do I wear? How much is it?), the How Much? question is usually the point at which interest fades.

You charge how much for an hour??? 

When I first started pole classes nearly 5 years ago, the lessons were £10 – a very reasonable rate for pole locally, but still twice the price of your average zumba or aerobics class, and this still stands today – wherever you are in the world, and whatever factors affect your local prices, I’m still willing to bet that most pole lessons are considerably higher than your average fitness class.

But pole is not your average fitness class. Here’s what you may think you are paying for:

An hour long fitness class, along the same lines as a zumba class, legs bums & tums or a powerhoop class. There will be a warm up, some bits that make you sweat and ache a bit, then a cool down. You’re charging a lot of money for that!

I see what you’re saying. But in fact, here’s just some of what I’m charging you for:

Firstly, hardware: Studios cost money. Sometimes they are rented spaces, which doesn’t come cheap, especially if the class is small, or there are no-shows. This is why your pole school will thank you for it if you let them know you won’t be making it to class. Sometimes the pole school owns the space, but much like owning your own home, that will still involve a mortgage payment, which will not be small. Even for those lucky few who outright own a space, there will still be business rates, bills, public liability insurance, music licensing and many other costs. So far, no different to other fitness classes, but let’s add on to that the cost of equipment. Crash mats, stretch mats, yoga blocks, stretch bands and mirrors are just the start of it. Your main equipment cost as a school owner will be your poles. Safe, recognised poles are not cheap, and nor should they be. And neither do they last forever – regular maintenance and upkeep will keep your poles safe, but eventually they will need to be replaced. This is one area you do not want your school to scrimp on, and is one of the reasons your classes may cost more than other fitness classes.

On top of that, you are not just paying for one hour’s tuition; in this day and age when time is precious, your lesson will reflect the amount of time your instructor has put into your class – hours of research (OK, watching pole dancing videos on YouTube isn’t exactly a chore, but still…), administrative work that can go on for days, putting together carefully tailored lesson plans that ensure each student’s particular strengths are played to and challenged, plus time spent possibly putting up and taking down poles, all of which eats into your instructor’s working day. We haven’t even touched on marketing, branding, promoting, advertising, website development or hosting events.

But it’s more than just the hardware and time you are paying for in your class cover price. For starters, your instructor should have invested heavily in their own training. This may (or may not) include extensive qualifications and training courses (both in pole and possibly in business skills), but even if it doesn’t, it will hopefully include the not insubstantial costs of their own pole journey – their own lessons, masterclasses, workshops, and primarily their experience – their time honing their craft, sometimes for many years, and their own personal development to keep your classes current and up to date.

Add on to this personal insurance, registration with various recognised bodies and a million other small costs, and suddenly the cost of your lesson becomes hopefully more understandable.

Teaching pole is not a license to print money. Time and again I see people who think this is an easy way to make a living, that you can charge twice the price of any other dance class and rake it in. Wrong, wrong, wrong. As a school it is important not to fall back on the “that’s the going rate” excuse. We need to make sure we are providing value for money.

Many things come into play when setting your prices to your students. I will keep my prices as reasonable as I can. Of course some schools can keep their rates low due to overheads and a thousand other variables. Some costs are fixed, and vary from studio to studio based on circumstances. A larger, better equipped and beautiful studio may charge more than a smaller one. A school whose instructors have an excellent reputation may charge more than another – and bear in mind that that reputation will have been earned with hard work, experience, and many of the factors discussed above. Local economics of course comes into play – prices vary widely throughout the country, in the way that house prices do. But bear in mind that, as with all things, you get what you pay for.

To be an effective teacher, you should never stop being a student. A good pole dance instructor invests time, effort and, yes, money to improving and being the best they can be. It’s what justifies the money we charge to students. Pole does not come for free. Investing in your future is wise.

Yes, pole is more expensive than most fitness classes but when you take these costs into consideration, it begins to represent exhcellent value for money.

Are We Not Drawn Onward, We Few, Drawn Onward To New Era?

  By bexackland@ntlworld.com • November 20, 2020

We pole dancers, are we not drawn onward to a new era of pole moves?

OK, don’t panic. This isn’t really a poetic and pretentious blog topic about the dawning of the age of a million new pole moves. As an English scholar, former journalist and word geek, I kinda have a thing for words. This doesn’t mean I am silently judging your grammar. But it does mean I have things like a “favourite palindrome”. In fact, I have a top three. But my favourite is:

A palindrome, for those not as desperately nerdy and tragic as me, is a phrase that reads the same backwards as it does forwards. You’re checking it now aren’t you? Go on, check it. It really does. Unless I have made a typo which occasionally happens, even with grammar nazis.

But what does all this have to do with pole?

Whilst reading lists of palindromes on holiday (yes that happened), it got me thinking, about things that work backwards as well as forwards. And this applies hugely to pole.

I am a strong believer in training down as well as up. There are so many different forces at work during pole training, from strength and lifting to gravity. We all know how to work up to an invert, lifting, pushing the hips up, using the arms and the core, the change in weight distribution. But what happens when we get there? Do we – or our students – slide down the pole (controlled and steady of course), or do we unhook the legs and go back down the way we came?

I think there is great value in the slide-down-the-pole technique – it is a safe way down (tuck chin to chest, thereby arriving at the floor on your shoulders and not your head); it improves and practices grip, and teaches how to release it a little, but not too much; and it is a reassuring way down for the nervous student, easy for an instructor to spot and a good go-to comfort move for students progressing on to more inverted moves.

However, as students get stronger, I like to introduce “training down”. I don’t mean let go with the legs and *splat*. I mean engaging the core and upper body, and trying to reverse the invert, coming down slowly and controlled. Take, for example, the chopper/overhead straddle/flying V/whatever you call it. Anyway this move:

Now, this move looks great when a poler lifts into it, with straight legs from ground to air. But we also know that’s hard, and it’s much more likely that – certainly whilst learning this move – there will be an element of kicking and/or bent legs going on (I’m not going to get into whether we should or shouldn’t kick into inverts – maybe another day. But suffice to say whether we should or shouldn’t, people WILL kick into this move).

My favourite way to train for the straight leg deadlift into this move is to train DOWN. Take this position as the start, and slowly, slowly, lower down, using the abs, the arms, the shoulders, the back, hell using ANYTHING and EVERYTHING to lower, lower, lower. You may only lower a few inches before *splat*, because gravity will be pushing you down. (Don’t be hard on gravity – that’s gravity’s job. We just have to fight gravity. In a nice, pacifist way of course. Let’s not forget we need gravity for many pole moves) But the more you train this move down, the further you will get.

Now let’s apply the same principle to other moves. Before learning to handspring or ayesha, lower into those moves from an invert. That way you practice the move without relying on momentum. When you are familiar with those positions, then work on training up into them – and don’t just work on lifting up into headstands or handstands – bring them down slowly.  Don’t just kick up into handsprings, come back down in a controlled manner too. LOWER you shoulder mount until eventually you can lift it. Lower your ayesha to the ground until your can deadlift it. If you want to take it further, lower it and HOLD it there, in a shoulder mount planche, or an iron x. Go back up if you like, and lower all over again , you badass b*tch. Get into the habit of lowering EVERYTHING, every invert, every move, instead of taking the *splat* onto the crash mat option.

Remember pole is 90% training and 10% show. The final move will be a great achievement, but that isn’t what’s making you fit. The training towards it is what’s building your strength, your ability and your fitness level. Build training down into your 90% and your 10% will be easier, faster and more awesome. Make gravity your friend, make her your b*tch if you like, but make her work for you. Gravity is a law, and like all laws it can be broken. Some things work just as well backwards as they do forwards. Are we not drawn onward, we few, drawn onward to new era? Yes, of course we are.

BEXIITA

Dos And Don’ts Of Your Pole Class

  By bexackland@ntlworld.com • November 20, 2020

Don’t moisturise

The most basic rule of pole, known by everyone who has taken a pole class: moisturiser is the enemy – you will slide straight off the pole. Say goodbye to soft hands, glossy skin and strokeable thighs. You won’t be needing those anyway. Welcome to a world of calloused hands, rhino skin and flaky shins. Believe me, you’ll be thankful for those tough thighs when you come to learn superman. 

Do respect the times of your class

You might not like the warm up. You might not be a fan of cardio work, or stretching, but the warm up is there for a reason. Turning up late means your body is not ready for the class, putting you at risk of injury. It’s also a distraction for everyone else as you rush in, all fabulous and fashionably late, trailing legwarmers and autograph hunters, or at least issuing explanations about vomiting children or collapsing cats. Of course everyone is late sometimes, and of course it’s not a problem and your instructor should, time permitting, be able to manage your safe warm up, but if it’s a regular thing it might be worth investing in a really big, accurate clock. Like Big Ben, for example. 

Flav is always on time to pole class

Similarly, don’t turn up unannounced 45 minutes early, when your instructor may be holding a private lesson, having a meeting, catching up with paperwork or preparing the studio for your class – unless you are happy to get on the rubber gloves and help. Studios take a lot of work to run smoothly, and there is more admin than you can possibly imagine. If you are going to be early, drop your instructor a text. More often than not, she or he will be happy to hang out and chat, but it’s best just to check.

Don’t adjust the heating or air conditioning 

If you are too hot, or cold, please ask your instructor to adjust the temperature – please don’t do it yourself! If you turn off the heating and we don’t know, then in the classes following yours the studio will be cold. It is important to maintain the correct temperature from a safety point of view – muscles respond to temperature, and cold muscles are more prone to damage. Also, even though you may be too hot, the rest of the class may be cold. You wouldn’t adjust the thermostat in your friends’ house unless you are a weirdo. Ask your instructor.


Do make sure you are paid up or have your money

“Hello barman, I’d like a bottle of Bollinger, a Grey Goose and a packet of cheese and onion crisps please. Only can I pay you next week because I left my purse in the car and I don’t get paid until next week”.

“Why yes! After all I don’t have bills to pay and I’m not offering any sort of skilled expertise or quality product”.

Do I need to say anything else?

Listen: As with all of these points, if you communicate with your instructor, depending on your school’s policy, more often than not an arrangement can be reached. But if you regularly turn up without money, make me chase you for weeks or in the case of one notorious non-payer I once had, actually go to the cash point and “accidentally” only withdraw half the money and then suddenly forget the PIN you entered not 30 seconds ago, you make yourself look untrustworthy, and you are insulting the majority of students who pay on time, promptly and without being chased. That shows respect. And respect gets you a long way. 

Don’t use spray tan

Or should this be “don’t lie about using spray tan”.

Picture the scene: strangely orange student with muddy looking knees, elbows and tell tale tide marks around the ankles is slipping all over the place. 

“Why am I so slippy today?!” she wails. 

“Your spray tan has made your skin slippy, in much the same way moisturiser would. No big deal, let’s work on something that doesn’t require so much grip this week”

“But I’m not wearing fake tan!” she protests.

Oh sweetie. We can see it. We can smell it. It smells like biscuits and wafers. You may have had it done several days ago and your skin may be squeaky clean, but when you work up a sweat, your spray tan comes out of your pores and makes you slip. It’s possible to get a fantastically flawless spray tan rather than a dodgy, speckled, neapolitan ice cream combo of white, brown and furiously scrubbed pink bits, but even the flawless ones won’t help your grip. If you must tan, it’s going to happen. So maybe this should be: Don’t be surprised if you use fake tan and slip.

I don’t use spray tan, this is my natural colour, I can’t even with the fake look

Do share the space

Two to a pole can be great fun. You get to hang out with your pole buddy, learn from each other, share tips, take photos, have a breather in between moves and enjoy all sorts of awesomeness. But no one likes a pole hogger. Respect the space, take turns, but don’t panic about taking your time either. Don’t feel you have to rush through the move so your partner can have their turn. With any luck you’ll fall into a natural rhythm that suits you both. As a rule of thumb, having 2 or 3 goes at a move is about right before swapping. And don’t forget to share any tips you might have with your partner as you learn… but…

Don’t teach

You are paying a not insignificant amount of money for someone’s expertise. That fee is justified by extensive qualifications and training, masterclasses, workshops, experience, training and insurance (amongst other things – for more on the value of good pole classes, read my blog on Pole Doesn’t Grow On Trees here). If you have some helpful tips, please share them, and offer support to your fellow students. But there is a fine line between this and instructing someone based on something you have done before or have seen on YouTube. Your pole buddy may not be ready for it, or may have an injury or an issue which your instructor knows about but you don’t. Don’t be scared to offer help, or spot moves if your instructor has shown you how to do this safely, but remember that you are paying your instructor for a reason. Leave the teaching to them.

Do take care of personal hygiene

This is an obvious one you would think wouldn’t you. And I would like to thank all my lovely sweet smelling students who endlessly apologise when they start sweating in class (that’s what you are meant to do!) and warn me when I approach them to spot them in a move, despite the fact that they don’t smell unpleasant at all.

Let’s get this straight: fresh sweat doesn’t smell bad.  It’s the sign of a hard workout, of determination, the smell of a thousand gyms and studios throughout the land. As a fitness instructor, I’m used to it. It’s normal and acceptable. Here’s what’s not: cheesy feet, bad breath, body odour, a basic lack of hygiene. Honestly? These students are few and far between. But for those few, a quick shower once a day is enough to take care of all these issues. It’s not hard guys. 

Don’t talk when your instructor is teaching

Talking over your teacher makes it difficult for the other students to hear, distracts the instructor and means that you won’t hear what you are being taught either. When the instructor is supposed to be spotting other students in the move they just taught and supervising their technique, you’ll find yourself asking him or her to go through everything again because you missed it, which is disrespectful to those who were listening and who need your instructor’s attention. And if you have just arrived for your class and are waiting for the class before yours to finish, don’t chat all through their lesson and cool down. There are only three acceptable reasons to interrupt your instructor: to ask for further explanation, if it’s snowing, or if a celebrity has just died.  

Do tidy up after yourself 

Drinks bottles, sweet wrappers, used plasters, liquid chalk, cigarette butts outside… students, I love you dearly but I am not your mother. Please use the bins provided and leave the space as you found it. This blog is making me sound like a nagging old bag now. I don’t mean to. Things that are acceptable to leave at the studio: heels, glittery things, sexy shorts, sequins, Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups, your dignity, naked photos of Justin Timberlake. 

Don’t worry about what you, or anyone else, looks like

I don’t care that you have borrowed your boyfriend’s boxers, or the only shorts you have are pyjama bottoms. I don’t care that your T shirt isn’t from MilaKrasna. I don’t care if you are carrying a few extra pounds, or have had eating disorders in the past, or issues with self harming, or stretch marks or scars or any of the things you might be worried about. I just care that you are there. I think that’s an amazing step to take and I will provide you with a safe and non judgmental environment to continue taking those steps. Think about it – are you looking at everyone else and judging them? No. And they are not judging you either, I promise. 


Do take photos 

Taking photos is a great learning tool. It’s the easiest way to track progress, to see how your gemini now varies from your very first one, how much your flexibility has improved, or how much that old hair colour absolutely did not suit you. Photos are also a great communication tool – when you are upside down clinging on for dear life, your instructor’s cry of “leg down! leg down!” is likely to make less sense than those websites helping you with HTML. But with a photo in front of you, your teacher can point to the leg in question, and explain where she would like to see it instead. Ahhhh it makes sense now! Photos are also great when you want to revisit a move but can’t remember the name. “Can we do that one where you’re upside down and your leg is on the pole and the pole is here… or is it there… and the arm is up here somewhere and oh I can’t even remember it now…” A photo here saves everyone’s time and sanity. Plus, it’s always amusing to look at what people are doing in the background. Just don’t get distracted by text messages, Snapchat and Facebook. 

Do listen to your body

If you are ill, stay at home. If you are injured, communicate with your instructor so he or she knows your limitations. If you hurt yourself in class, let your teacher know, but listen to your body. Pole does hurt, it burns and it’s tough, but there’s a normal amount of healthy struggle, and there’s harming yourself. That whole “pain is failure leaving the body” stuff is crap. Your instructor is not a doctor. They can help and advise you, but only you know how something truly feels, and if it doesn’t feel right, don’t do it. Nothing is worth risking injury, not even conquering that nemesis move.

Don’t rush to get ahead 

Pole is a journey. A wonderful journey built on a foundation of core moves. If I had one piece of advice for students it would be this: slow down. Spend time nailing each move, perfecting it and holding it, not rushing onto the next one. I know it’s tempting to want to invert on week one and handspring on week two but there is no rush – you are in competition with nobody. You have the rest of your life to spend on this journey. Savour it, enjoy it, and you will be a far better poler for it.