#learningtopoledanceathome

One unspoken aspect of pole dancing is the stinging sensation on the inner sides of the skin known as "pole burn". This is especially common for beginners on the inner thighs and on th inner upper part of the bicep. It's essential to build the strength in the skin to reduce and eliminate pain and bruising to execute those cool pole tricks. If you are a beginner pole dancer and you have tried your very first pole sit then you know what I'm talking about – the “OW” factor in #polefitness. The reason nobody talks about it is that it’s painful.Pole dancing is a beautiful sport and when we think about pole dancing to feel sexy or for fitness then we think pleasurable positive thoughts. Pole dancing for fitness as well as to have some “me time” to feel sexy are the best reasons to pole dance but regardless of your reasons, developing the strength in the skin to actually pole dance is a sharp reality to deal with.When you start learning to pole dance and you do your first pole sit on the pole, the sensation of the pole between your thighs, tugging on your skin can feel less than pleasant. For those of you, who have never pole danced, please don’t let this scare you because it’s something we all go through and never regret going through. It’s just that every sport has its stressful points. The body has to adjust to the challenge of any sport no matter what you do and in the pole dancing world, your skin must adjust along with your muscular strength.The very first time you do a pole move that requires you to grip the pole dancing pole with the inside of your thighs or inside of the bicep might cause you a little pain. Pain meaning you feel the pole tugging at your skin that causes a painful sensation.There are sensitive nerves in your skin, especially in the sensitive areas like the groin, inner thighs, and inner biceps. So how do you get rid of the pain and bruising from pole burn and strengthen the skin for a pain-free pole dance experience you might ask? There are 3 main things you can do now and in the future to stop the pole burn;Tip 1#: Practice. Those painful nerves will desensitize with time and practice. Nerves will desensitize with time and consistency. Practice your pole moves until your skin has had enough, even if it’s only 5 minutes. This time frame will be different for everybody. Then repeat at least 3 times a week. At about the 6-8 week mark, you will feel better and notice that you can do some pole sits pain-free.There are some exercises you can do to deliberately challenge the strength of the skin and work to desensitize those nerves.For beginners, doing scissor plank pole sits on the pole or down the pole (as shown in the picture to the left) will definitely help the inner thighs strengthen and desensitize. Here is a video tutorial on how to do the Plank Scissor Pole Move =>You can do this by sitting on the pole in a pike position. The gently scissor the legs while rocking the hips from side to side. If the left leg is higher than the right in the scissor, then shift the hips to the right so the left inner thigh firmly presses against the pole, intensifying the grip.Then repeat this action by scissoring the legs so the right leg is high and shifting your weight into the left hip causing the pole to firmly press against the inner thigh of the right leg.Repeat back and forth as many times as you can tolerate it. You will be able to do more repetitions with time.To help desensitize the inner upper part of the arm, use this pole dance exercise (that is also a good ab workout as well) =>Tip 2#: Don't Over stress the skin and use the right gear to protect an existing pole burn Remember, DON'T over stress you skin or cause excessive bruising by doing these exercises. When your skin has had enough, please use an inner thigh wrap with tacky grip and inner arm grip bands to protect your skin so you can keep pole dancing without losing any grip (in fact, you will have better grip with the wearable tacky grip gear).When your skin has had enough stress during your daily pole routine, then move on to practicing other pole moves that don’t tug on the skin like the contemporary pole spin for intermediates (you must own the course to access the contemporary pole lesson >> PoleBody Complete Home Edition - Home Pole Dancing Lessons For Everyday Women).It's important to remember to use the tacky grip gear as an AID not a CRUTCH. You must learn to desensitize your skin and that won't ever happen if you don't attempt to dance with bare skin first. The grip gear is to protect the skin from excessive pain, bruising, and other damage so you can dance longer.Tip 3#: Find Your Sweet Spot for The BEST Grip & Avoid Sweaty Skin Sweat on the skin can cause you to have more friction between you and pole and increase your chances of getting a nasty pole burn. There are pole dancing grip aids for sweaty hands and bodies that are also an antiperspirant. This prevents excessive sweaty and reduces friction on the pole while dancing.To find that "SWEET SPOT" when you have ultimate grip and the least amount of pole burn would be when your skin is at that phase where you are just about to sweat - not full-on sweaty. This point happens when the skin is warmer than normal body temperature and slightly dewy without sweating. Reaching this sweet spot will be different for everybody because we all live in different environments, have different skin types, and possibly dance on a dance pole with various finish types.Experimentation with different grips to find the right grip aid that works for you is important to preventing excessive pole burn.You can get a step by step videos of the best skin desensitizing moves for your skin for beginners in the Home Pole Lessons For Everyday Women Course.Above all, please remember to hang in there and keep trying. Nothing worth having is super easy.

It is even more important for people learning from home to study good posture and form than a person learning in a local pole dancing class because there is no live teacher in your living room telling you what to do or correcting you.When you go to a live pole dancing class, a good teacher will watch you carefully and help you make adjustments to do thing correctly. In the end, it helps you become a better pole dancer fast and look like a professional as well. So, I am going to re-emphasize and build upon the good posture for all parts of your body while pole dancing. When you first learn a pole move, you should strive to understand where to place your hands and legs and at the proper angle in relationship to the pole. You will also need to know points of contact on your skin for grip.If you execute a pole spin with bad form, not only will it look really ugly, but you could get injured. Here is a good example.Let’s say you want to do a Straddle Spin in Full Bracket as shown in the photo.If you lock out the elbow on the lower arm (especially if you are double jointed like me) you could injure yourself doing this spin. It puts too much pressure on the joint. You should feel the back of your triceps muscle against a part of your rib cage with a slight bend in the elbow when you are first to learn the straddle pole spin.Legs should be perpendicular to the pole and the hips tucked under, the lower core pulling upward.Proper posture can be brought into every aspect of pole dance and has long been a part of dancing’s history, especially in ballet.It has been proven time and time again that strategically, with consideration in proper form, executed dance moves not only tone the body a lot better but prevent injury by preventing the joint from extending past what is natural for your body.Holding proper posture is more difficult and will prevent you from pushing into exercises that your body is not ready to do and dance more safely while you learn at home.Each individual will have their own “posture” they can hold and should never exercise beyond what their current ability is to hold proper form while executing exercises, spins, etc. Improve form first, and then move on to a more challenging position.Also, you must learn what to do and not do when dancing on a spinning or static pole. This will further increase your pole dancing success at home.Many people will sacrifice good form for the sake of continuing on with an exercise. A good example of this is when you keep doing crunches when your body is too tired to hold good posture. You start pulling on the neck and lifting your lower back off the floor during your crunches. When these mistakes happen, you are no longer working the muscles that matter and if you aren’t working the right muscles, then your six pack abs will never show up.So, in essence, you could be wasting your time trying to achieve and end goal without proper form.The whole point of doing exercises is to get better at whatever we are doing. Exercises are designed with proper posture so that very specific muscles get used to help you execute dance move. If you cheat and practice with bad form, you run the risk of not only injuring yourself but never truly developing the strength you need to dance with beauty and grace. Good posture and correct form are what makes one dance look beautiful and another dancer look bad while they are dancing the exact same pole dance moves or poses. It doesn't matter if you are simply learning how to descend out of a pole spin with grace or performing the Superwoman Move, it's all so critical, every step of the way.I know it's a lot to take in and remember, that's why taking pole dancing lessons that emphasize proper posture are so important.If haven't learned anything about proper posture while learning to pole dance yet, a great place to start is the most important piece; for pole dancers the #1 posture technique to remember is keeping the shoulders back and down while executing all your pole dance moves. You would be surprised how many people don't do this and that's because bad posture is a plague in society.Sitting behind desks, driving cars, and other sedentary activities promote a rounding forward of the shoulders, also known as the hunchback posture or "primate shoulders". If you are struggling to find a teacher to help you correct this or don't "know" how to feel the right upper back posture I am talking about here, there are two things you can do. Take a ballet class in your local town OR you can buy a good quality primate back posture brace you can wear daily to re-train your upper body to carrying the right posture.Doing this will make a world of difference in your dancing appearance : )