I haven’t yet had a moment to talk about getting my splits (or yours!), so here’s a quick sampler until I can give better details about the most effective stretches. Trust me, I’m about as far from a real split as possible, but good news about stretching…it’s working!

Last weekend I made a point to plop down and stretch whenever I had a second to spare. I didn’t go overboard. In fact, I felt stiff from a morning workout and wanted to loosen my limbs gradually throughout the day. This grew into another day or so of 3-4 stretching sessions, and eventually an intermittent ding! in my head that started reminding me to keep up the pace.

A few days later, as we group-stretched at the start of my pole class, I felt the weekend’s progress. Hooray! I hadn’t been able to tell if I’d gained any flexibility while I was doing the stretches, but it took the weekend going by and a day’s rest in between to show that I actually had made steps towards, well, splittier splits. I was pleased to discover that I could do the same pre-pole stretches I did last week, but with much improved flexibility. And guess what? This exhilarating realization made me stretch even harder and longer that day

Like I said, a thorough report—and hopefully a series documenting my progress!—is coming, but if you just can’t wait to get started, take a look at these tips I learned over the weekend:

• Get into a semi-proper position! Not being able to do a full split is not an excuse to use a jagged, half-assed position during stretches. I tried to notice when my knees were bent for instance, sending my legs off in crooked directions. I tried to point my toes at almost all times, and I tried NOT to ease into any stretching positions that just weren’t doing it for me. If I couldn’t feel the stretch, I didn’t bother. In sum, I guess, try to get as close to the real thing as possible without hurting yourself. Don’t cheat with improper form that’s gonna twist your ankle or provide no challenge at all.

• Hold the stretch for longer than you want to, and count. Just as it is with strength training, stretching also requires consistency and endurance. Think about it this way: Let’s say you’re using the machines at the gym, but forget how many reps you did last time, and decide not to count how many you do this time. First of all, it’ll probably take you months of wasted work to increase your resistance because you won’t get stronger if you don’t count and add reps. Secondly, you’ll do yourself a further disservice by not enduring the workout while you’re doing it. Why make a trip to the gym at all if you’re just going to guess about how many reps is enough reps? This same concept applies to stretching. Don’t just get into a stretch and randomly decide when you’ve had enough of it. This is how people underwhelm themselves. Be tough on your body and try to hold each stretch for 30 seconds to start. Now you’ll know when you’re getting better at it and when it’s time to add seconds to future stretching sessions.

• My favorite stretch so far? Okay, I don’t know the name—if it has one, I’ll add it to my upcoming sequel—but until then I’ll try to describe my new favorite stretch:

1. Start on your knees, and sit back (butt on heels)
2. This is a stretch you will do on both sides, so you can start with either leg (but I’ll start with the right). So, straighten your left knee, extending the left leg behind you. Keep this leg flat on the floor (in as close to “splitting” position as you can manage).
3. Now let your right foot (still in starting position) lie on it’s side—outside of the ankle to the floor—adjusting your weight so that you’re not so much sitting on your foot, as you are sitting beside it. Point toes toward your crotch. Can you feel a deeper stretch from this adjustment (especially in your butt)? If not, make your own changes so that you can perform the rest of the steps comfortably.
4. Hold this position. This is part one. Try to keep your back straight and chest out, maintaining good posture as you hold for 30 seconds. You may even want to bring your chest to your right knee part-way through the count to get an even better stretch in your back, and more.
5. Now, Part 2. Extend the right leg forward, in the same way that the left leg is extended back. This will get you close to a standard “split”. If, like me, you can’t already do a split, you won’t be able to “sit” into it with a full extension of both legs, so you’ll find yourself using your hands to hold yourself above the ground.
6. Some people use a half-split variation here where they’ll straighten the right leg, but let the left knee bend and lay to the side just enough so they can “sit”. I prefer keeping my legs straight and trying for the splitting position, my ultimate goal being to one day notice that I’ve gotten my butt to reach the ground!
7. One last note: While holding the stretch in Part 2 (the part where I say to use your hands to hold you up), don’t rely completely on your hands to hold the position. You do want some of that evil gravity to put a pleasant strain on the inside of your legs. It will feel awkward; if someone forced you downward in that position you’d probably tear something, so at first it’ll require the support of your hands to maintain the position—while still maintaining your tendons. During this step you should try to keep good posture, focusing on long legs, a tall upper body, and of course consistent breathing. Try syncing your exhales with your count so you don’t forget to do either.

Alright, that’s enough for now! I hope you can learn to enjoy stretching and splitting as much as I’m starting to. Being able to fling those legs outward with no limits will add sexiness, style, and form to your pole tricks. ‘Cause come on! Who wants to see a pole dancer with creaky, crooked legs? :- P

So true. But make sure your grip is the reverse of Rosie's.

So I can’t do a pull-up. This excellent exercise is one that many people leave out of their routines because they can’t achieve the full, correct motion. Without assistance and consistent training, pull-ups are near impossible—meaning many people have never done even one pull-up, myself included.

What is a pull-up, and why should I do it? The pull-up is not to be confused with the ever-popular chin-up, for which palms face the body in what they call a supinated grip. This grip is the one Rosie assumes to our left; but for a classic pull-up you’ll use a pronated grip, palms faced away. Both positions will give you a great workout, or so I hear. One powerlifting article I happened upon calls the pull-up “a squat for the upper body.”

Both pull-ups and chin-ups target the latissimus dorsi muscle, which is named, in fact, for its status as the broadest muscle of the back. But pull-ups and chin-ups are ubiquitous upper body exercises because they also strengthen a number of assisting muscle groups. These lesser known muscles include those found near your bicep and forearm areas, rotator cuff area, shoulders, back, the shrugging part of your neck, and more.

And what does this have to do with pole dancing? Pole fitness has been touted as an all-over workout experience because of the several muscles involved in each movement. Even beginners’ moves rely on the muscles in the back, shoulders and forearms–all of which can be improved with pull-ups. Plus, improving your ability to do pull-ups will reduce the chance of you straining your arm near the elbow and burning out your shoulder, arm and back muscles.

How can I get started if I’ve never done a pull-up before? If you can’t achieve a full pull-up, you’ll have to train your muscles before you can perform a pull-up on your own. I’m getting started as of today.

• Drop and give me 1/2! To begin training, try starting with what one military fitness article says is like half a pull-up: a negative pull-up. This popular variation of a pull-up requires the “dropping”, or lowering portion of the pull-up, but not the “pulling up” part of the pull-up.
• However, you must resist dropping and dangling. Instead, use a slow, controlled motion to lower yourself into a dead hang. Even though you can’t pull yourself back up yet, negative pull-ups will ready your muscles with this less-difficult approach.
• How should you get into position to lower yourself? You will have to stand on something to be able to reach your chin above the bar (your starting position for negative pull-ups), or else you will need a spotter to assist you.

What’s next? I still can’t do a pull-up!

• Appropriately named, “How to Do a Pull Up When You Can Not Do a Pull Up”, one of the most informative resources I found recommends the flexed arm hang as another method of training. Just the opposite of the negative pull-up, the flexed arm hang focuses on the flexed, “pulled-up” part of the pull-up, not lowering into the dead hang.
• But, similar to negative pull-ups, flexed arm hangs will also begin with your chin over the bar and elbows bent. You will need someone or something to assist you to the top. Once there, the exercise consists of holding this flexed position for as long as possible.
• The article I mention recommends trying for at least 4 sets of 15 seconds each. Importantly, they also say to rest for 2 minutes in between. Just as it is important to rest your arms between intense pole practices, you should also take it easy when attempting new exercises. Check out the article for further info on form and such. They have good recommendations about not swinging your legs, etc.

More: Practice, practice, practice!

• Perhaps the best known variation of a pull-up is an assisted pull-up. Many of us at one time or another have asked someone to hold up our knees so we can try a pull-up with a little support. This works pretty well as long as you give a sincere effort. Don’t let your spotter do all the work. Try to feel the burn in all the muscles we talked about above, relying on that extra set of arms as little as possible!
• Additional exercises, at the gym: You know by now that pull-ups target your lats, so give the lat pull-down machine a go next time you’re at the gym. Check here for what this machine looks like, and here for how to use it. Also, you may have noticed some gym-goers in a bent position like this doing what looks like arm exercises, one side at a time. However, people who work free weights like this are actually doing back exercises, using their lats to hoist a hand weight. These can be done with the weights at the gym, or at home.
• Additional exercises, at home: I love resistance bands! They are convenient for at-home exercising, and can work just about any muscle group. One difficulty in doing the classic Lat Pulldown with a resistance band is finding a place that is sturdy and tall enough to hook your band. If you have a band that is designed to hook into a door frame like I do, then anchoring the middle of the band should be easy. The two ends should hang evenly and loosely from the top of the door, ready for you to work both arms at a time. If you only have a standard resistance band, you can get creative. Here, you’ll find one clever exerciser has wrapped the middle of his band around a tall fence. As with all workouts of this sort, you should keep your back and abs tight, stand tall and strong, and focus on squeezing your shoulder blades together. You really want to use your back muscles (and not your arms–or it’s cheating!) to perform this movement. That way you’ll ready yourself for a full pull-up and endless strength for your pole dancing routines.

I talked recently about bruising, and its role in beginning pole dancing.

Besides the list of “treatments” I decided to try, I also wanted to keep an eye on

• the types and severity of bruising I experienced
• my perception of the treatments
• any correlation between the bruising and the improvement of my skills

This has helped me determine which external factors are most influencing my bruising. So, here’s my update:

Inner thigh bruises: I started experiencing a lot of inner thigh bruising when I began practicing my Pole Sit and Invert in particular. These two tricks require squeezing between the legs, and besides the raw, chafed feeling I got right under my shorts line, I also started getting bruises.

• At first, the bruising here was pretty hearty and multi-colored. However, of all the bruising I’ve experienced, these bruises were the first to become speckled.
• After a week or so of classic-looking bruises between my legs, the bruises started fading into deep purple splotches–sometimes speckles no larger than what looked like individual broken blood vessels. Even when the bruises began to disappear, I started coming home with fresh ones that would immediately speckle; this was an improvement, I think. To me, this seemed a sign that I had started to improve upon my two leg-squeezing tricks, and I no longer needed to grip the pole as violently as before
• Arnica’s effect: In the transition stage between larger bruises and the dark speckles, there were a few nickel-sized, more sensitive, solid-feeling areas that took the longest time to heal. The arnica seemed to reduce the sensitivity of these areas, but did not seem to fade these bruises as quickly as the speckles. The speckles were in most cases darker (but smaller, for sure), so in that sense they took several days to fade, but because they appeared in manageable, spread-out patches, one big smear of arnica gel seemed to work a little faster here.

Upper arm bruises: Probably some of the worst bruising I’ve had yet. These bruises are clearly a result of tirelessly practicing Inverts. The grip for this particular Invert involves gripping the pole in the armpit area. Damn all this squeezing! If I were to let my right arm hang loosely by my side, it was the skin closest to my body that had a rainbowish bruise from elbow to armpit.

• Though the Invert is to blame, this case of bruising leaves me most hopeful. I began practicing the invert at a time when my arms were already exhausted from extra practice and I was too weak and unstable to do a full invert. This Invert involves hoisting yourself into somewhat of an upside down V, and as you can imagine, I had the death grip trying not to fall on my head because of nervous, sweaty hands. But as I got better, the bad bruising didn’t come back at all. Goes to show that learning to be easy, strong, and fluid in your movements will lessen the stress on your body.
• Keep in mind that I also over-practiced this move. The bruising here, I concluded, was perhaps more intense because, for one thing, this was not a trick I practiced from both sides of the pole. I am a righty, and focused on lifting myself upside from the left side of the pole only. This put extra stress on this part of my arm. Secondly, I spent a few days doing this trick dozens of times, over and over, and this is not the typical experience once you become comfortable with a trick.
• Arnica’s effect: This bruising was so intense that it was hard to notice an effect here. If anything, it may have reduced pain and sensitivity over time, as well as create a more immediate cooling (perhaps placebo) effect upon application. The brand of arnica I use is in a clear, gel form that feels nice and cool on the skin, and dries non-stick–so I layer up every few hours without feeling gross.

Shin and calf bruising: Climbing is to blame for a few goose eggs on my lower legs. These bruises were most annoying because of their visibility and intensity. They were also the ones that seemed to re-appear most often, and most intensely. As easy as it has become for me to climb, I’ve had the hardest time avoiding the reinforcement of bruising here.

• Most noticeably, these bruises are harder and more swollen than the bruises on my thighs or arms. The bruises there were colorful, but mostly flat. On the shins however, there was visible swelling and many more hardened and sensitive lumps. These became the biggest problem when I was practicing about three times a week, and would have to climb for multiple reasons, many times. The climbing position was leaving the front of my right shin and my left calf (at the same height) pretty banged up.
• This is just a theory, but maybe this bruising is lumpier and more swollen here because of banging, as opposed to squeezing. My other bruises seemed to occur because of tricks requiring squeezing pressure that broke blood vessels, whereas climbing resulted in a crashing of my legs into the pole. Not only do you need to “jump against” the pole in order to start “climbing” upwards on it, but you also have to keep climbing–so the hard push of my legs into the pole was immediately reinforced with more upward-moving shoves.
• Overall, this set of bruising taught me to give myself a break. The bruising here was most embarrassing because it couldn’t be hidden between my legs or tucked to my t-shirt. If I wore anything other than long pants, you could see the painful-looking, round bruises all over my legs. Because they were so large and swollen, they took longer to heal, yet I would reinforce them at the same rate as the others. This only made the bruises worse. This bad cycle taught me to take it easy with practice, and let the bruises heal completely before I got back on the pole. Not a bad idea if you’re stuck in a rut!

A word about vitamins and supplements: Obviously, it is difficult to discuss the efficacy of vitamins. Though I have tried to stay on top of a daily vitamin regiment that includes a few “bruising solutions”, I can’t give you much other than speculation. Some claim to have “cured” their bruising when they discovered their deficiency of Vitamin C or other supplements. Some swear by a multitude of them–a cocktail of everything from vitamin K to zinc. But this is all I can say…

• Taking vitamins makes me feel like I’ve done something good for myself. It makes me feel good to know I’ve at least tried one of the solutions, and it makes me feel good to know I’m loaded up with nutrients, even if I don’t eat the healthiest that day. (That goes for all types of vitamins, not just those recommended for bruising). For instance, I like knowing that my women’s multivitamin takes care of my so-called daily needs where my diet may be lacking. In this sense, I would recommend vitamins.
• Remembering to take vitamins requires a kind of attention that can feel rewarding. I used to prepare baggies of vitamins to pack with my lunch for work and it would be a pleasant little routine to go through before starting my day. Call me crazy, but I believe in the mental power of health. If you think you are healthy, if you take time to think about your health, and if you enjoy putting thought into your health, you will have a positive experience. For me, choosing vitamins for my hair, my cognition, my bruising, my metabolism, my immunity and more, is all part of being invested in my health. So in that sense, it’s fun!

I hope this has been a fruitful update about bruising and pole dancing. I do want to note that I have not tried the generally more expensive Vitamin K solutions I’ve heard about, so any insider info on those would be appreciated. Also, feel free to let me know about your experiences with learning new tricks, bruises from those tricks, or your own take on bruising solutions.

So long for now!

A Proper Pole Sit

Yes, squeezing your legs together to keep a steady sitting position on the pole feels impossible at first. The weight of your suspended body combined with the inward force of your thighs on the pole causes a tugging on your skin that really stings. Mastering this sit, however, is important for transitioning into some tougher moves. For instance, I’m now working on converting my basic pole sit into a fancier-looking Showgirl Pose; but that’s a different story. Right now I want to focus on Pole Sit and how you (yes, YOU!) can push past the pain just like I did.

Warning: The PoleDanceGirl Blog does not intend to formally instruct anyone in pole dancing. All advice, including the following, is given to supplement one’s own training and experiences, and is meant as informal knowledge only. The PoleDanceGirl Blog is not responsible for anyone’s actions resulting from its content. After all, I’m a beginner too! You should always consult a professional before attempting these, or any exercises. For more about this, see the About page.

If you’ve learned how to Climb already, try making your way a few feet off the ground to prepare for the Pole Sit. If you haven’t learned to climb yet, don’t worry. In my experience, I’ve learned that conquering this move should be done sooner rather than later. You don’t need a whole lot of prior training to start getting used to the way it feels to hold your entire body off the ground.

So, if you haven’t learned to climb, you may have to gently hop or hoist yourself around the pole. You don’t need to be too far above ground. If you’re scared at first, or it feels slippery, hold on by any means you can. Get used to the way it feels to support yourself, to start sliding, to fail, and drop. You will. But when you feel more comfortable, try copying the dancer’s position seen in the first photo. Even if you favor your left side, you may want to begin with your right leg over your left, just because this is a more standard position; just like crossing your legs when you sit in a chair.

Now. Squeeze, squeeze, squeeze! If you take your hands off the pole for just a second (that was all I could stand at first!), and leave the work to the inside of your thighs, you’ll realize how much it hurts. The more confident you become with removing your hands, the more you can challenge yourself to longer sits. I know it sucks, but don’t just wince for the first three seconds and then let go. Hold your pole sit for increasingly long and grueling sessions to push past the pain. I promise it goes away with time. But only after you’ve practiced the position.

DON'T get caught under the spotlight cheating with a toe hook!

Now take a look at the second photo. Did you hook your toe without even noticing? It is totally cheating to hook your toe! Okay, it’s fine if you’re just beginning and need a little support, but if you rely on this hooked toe forever, you’ll never get strong and confident enough to take your pole sit to the next level. I can imagine that some instructors might endorse this toe hook—so I don’t want to contradict anyone’s previous training—but let’s face it; the pole sit is way more impressive without it.

Finally, you can try taking your arms straight out to the side, aiding your balance, and ensuring that you are confident enough to be truly hands-free. Now you can go ahead and jazz it up, making your pole sit a cool-looking trick to use in a beginners routine. Gently sway your arms for a dancey effect or fold your hands lightly on your knees as if effortlessly setting them atop your lap. Nope. Nothing unusual going on here…just sittin’. On a pole. No big deal!

In our culture, unfortunately, pole dancing is tied up with a negative image of strippers and lap dances and other expressions of sexuality. Angry parent Chris Hyde says of Fusion’s pole class, “In this day and age young girls grow up so quickly. I think most parents would be pretty upset if they knew that’s what children are doing” (referring to the pole dancing, I suppose). Though dance teacher and owner of Fusion, Carolyn Armstrong, says parents must sign a consent form for their child’s participation in the course. She defends her class saying, “We don’t do the sleazy side of pole” and that the class is for exercise purposes. But according to The Blackpool Gazette, Hyde and other parents expressed that “there is too much exposure to this kind of thing in magazines, on television and the internet. They don’t need to be taken to a dance studio to be shown these moves too.” Mr. Hyde supposes that exposure to pole dancing will corrupt girls with sexually charged dance moves.

But what about in other cultures? Is it possible to know how people in other cultures would react to their own pole-dancing kids? In a way, yes. The traditional Indian sport of Mallakhamb offers some incite into the cross-cultural comparison of pole performance. Check out this young boy, a former championship participant:

So, the malla in Mallakhamb–the amazing sport you see above–translates as “a gymnast or man of strength”, while khamb means “a pole” , according to my awesome Wikipedia research. The boy in the video above uses a pole to perform some sweet, centuries-old pole-dancing-like moves; but modern variations are also performed on ropes, adding elements of wrapping and tumbling to the unique sport. More youngsters perform below:

These talented, competitively trained children are performing stunts comparable to those taught in pole fitness classes in the Western world. In India, their sport is a clear form of exercise in mental and physical strength; here, parents find the possibility of their children hanging on poles “disgusting”.

Just goes to show that it’s all about perspective. And the existence of such a unique sport like Mallakhamb further proves to skeptics the merits of pole fitness. Now get out there and spread the word!

For more than a month now I’ve been obsessed with finding an affordable pole for my apartment. I do need it to meet certain standards—for instance, it needs to be portable, easily shipped to my place—but no standard is as important as price.

First off, everyone should know that is absolutely worthless to buy a pole with an original price under $100.  These poles, including the Peek-a-Boo and Carmen Electra brands are gimmick poles that aren’t safe for serious pole dancers. I believe the Carmen pole is just the re-named version of the Peek-a-Boo, but no matter which name you see, remember: it’s nothing more than a spring-pole.

It’s my assumption that these poles are made for women who just want to replicate the environment of a strip joint in their homes (using the pole as mere decoration), or to perhaps practice their “grind” on the pole a little; but what they’re not made for is any type of weight-bearing trick. You definitely can’t invert on these poles, and most reviewers have noted problems doing even basic spins. They are gimmicky and too cheap for those of us who need a pole for sport. Even me, a beginner, can say this for certain after just minutes of research.

So what real poles can dancers afford? For weeks I browsed Craigslist.com, and let me say, it’s worth giving this tactic a shot. You might have better luck finding a local seller if you live in California, where many poles are made. It also helps to find a meta-type Craigslist site, or a Craigslist-searching app for your phone that can search multiple cities at a time. Try typing “dance pole”, “Lil Mynx”, or “X Pole” for best results. If you’re lucky, exchanging cash for someone’s gently used pole can be a great way to cut out the time and money it takes to ship a heavy pole—not to mention that the price of a used pole itself is usually less than retail value.

Though I didn’t end up using Craigslist to buy a used pole, I did ultimately find ebay.com to be a great tool for finding almost any pole I could want. But which brand did I choose? X-Pole, Platinum Stages, and Lil Mynx are the three big brand names you’ll hear the most hype about. They all have unique qualities, and have proved to be more than mere joke poles. I’ll post an update soon with some price break downs and some simple comparison. A purchase like this is worth the research, so be sure to get your money’s worth!

Take PoleDanceGirl’s POLE POLL:

Triceps:

Reach behind your lower back with one hand, while the other grips the handle (or end) of the band above your head, palm side up, and elbow bent back slightly. The hand behind your back should grip the rubber of the band wherever a full extension of the other arm’s elbow will cause a favorable amount of resistance. To begin the workout, propel your arm forward, working against the resistance of the band to extend your elbow fully. Then slowly lower your hand back toward your shoulder, and repeat. Change arms.

Shoulders:

To work out your delts, the muscles at the sloping edges of your shoulders, get into a lunging or standing position in which one of your feet pins the center of the band to the ground. Grab the handles at either end of the band, extend arms out to each side, and avoid locking your elbows. Arms shouldn’t be completely straight out to the sides, but rather slightly extended in front of you. When you do a slow and controlled “wing-flapping” motion, up and down, you should never raise your arms higher than shoulder-level. In this repeated motion, you should feel the resistance in your shoulders. Variations of this exercise include a front extension; in this movement, you’ll want to hold the handles (or ends) of your band straight out in front of you instead. With fists nearly touching, raise and lower your outstretched arms together, and again, never go much higher than shoulder level.

Back:

Ever felt a great stretch or gratified soreness right between the shoulder blades? This not-often-accessed area of muscles will definitely perk up during some pole movements. To work out these muscles at home, you can wrap the middle of a rubber band around a strong object (even a friend!) and get into a tall starting position, handles (or ends) of the band in each hand, abs engaged. Raise arms to about shoulder height, palms down. Reach your elbows back, as if squeezing them, and your upper back muscles, together. Slowly push forward again, and repeat. Remember to remain in control of this movement, by focusing (yes, really) on those back muscles, and using only them, to move your arms and the band. No cheating!

(More on this and other important exercises: “Help! I Can’t Do a Pull Up!”)

Core:

Now core muscles are engaged in several exercises already, including those listed above. But some exercises will focus on stability, endurance, abdominal and back strength more than others. This is where you should get creative with your exercise bands, or simply your own body’s resistance. Twisting, bending, and crunching movements often affect the core, but so do long, stable, and outstretched balance movements. Keep a variety of your favorites by experimenting with several movements and keeping a record of which ones you feel good about. Honestly. If an exercise doesn’t mesh well with you, you will be less likely to perform it correctly each week, and will not progress as far as you would with a similar exercise that just feels better. So find alternatives when you need to. No matter what, remember to keep abs strong and engaged during every workout, and of course, to breathe.

Extra resources?

This website, Sportsinjuryclinic.net,  gives many resistance band workouts with video instruction. This site is particularly focused on workouts for injured body parts, but for this, their site’s organization is perfect for picking and choosing exercises useful in pole dancing. Go for their Upper Body and Trunk sections for movements similar to those listed here. They even have wrist exercises–absolutely great for pole dancers!

Alternatives? Of course, bands aren’t your only option for at-home exercising. There are a number of options, many of which require no equipment at all. Just replace the resistance in the bands with the resistance of your body.

But if you would like to try some resistance band alternatives, I can recommend these cheap, at-home solutions: stability and medicine balls, ankle weights, hand weights, and pull-up/sit-up bars. For more on the importance and technique of performing a pull-up, join me here

It doesn’t hurt to be fit or have experience as another kind of dancer, but with dedication, anyone can start from scratch. Building the muscles to support yourself on the pole is part of the process, so you shouldn’t worry about how strong you are in the beginning.

If you’ve given your body the OK to start training, you’ll need to decide your level of comfort. Would you prefer a private instructor, or would you rather blend into the crowd at a class? Will you enjoy classes at a pole studio, or have you been saving up for an at-home pole and a few DVDs?

In-person Instruction- Like most sports, it’s widely recommended that you learn pole dancing with the help of an instructor. A few really impressive pole addicts on YouTube are self-taught, but there is only so much that second-hand research can tell you about safety, the art of technique, and other nuances. Personally, I am enrolled in classes at a women’s gym/studio, and usually attend 2-3 times a week.

Private Instruction- Private pole instructors are perhaps better known to work bachelorette parties, but you may be able to find a local instructor who gives private lessons out of her home, her studio, or who will offer to travel to your home if you have a pole.

Pole at home- A surprising number of reviewers on pole-selling websites said they bought their poles before ever learning a trick. While I would recommend you try pole dancing before making a purchase like that, having a pole at home is a good solution for many people. Beginners will purchase DVDs and books of spins within their skill and strength levels to try the basics on their own equipment.

A few tips to get you going if you’re still not sure:

• Find a studio or instructor. Give them a call, and be persistent. Snatching up spots in beginner classes can be competitive in some areas. If you can’t find anything near you, decide how badly you want your own pole. A basic, but safe pole will probably cost you at least $200, including the fairly expensive price to ship it.
• Go shoe shopping! Many studios suggest (and some require) dance heels. “Stripper” heels or boots give you height on the pole, help to grip the pole, protect your feet while you climb and invert, and help you work out a sexy strut. Before your first class, browse exotic dance apparel (Pleaser is a widely known brand), to get yourself excited, and obligated, to pole dancing. When my first pair of heels was on its way, I couldn’t wait to work out in them (who knew!).
• Watch Videos. A quick search on YouTube for beginning pole routines will give you an idea of the skills you’ll learn over the next few weeks. You can see what kind of clothes and shoes women are wearing, and what their floor work and transitions between spins look like. This video shows two beginners at the Pole 4 All Studio in the UK:

The swollen, discolored wounds that sometimes show up after practice can really deter beginning pole dancers. I, for one, bruise like rotten fruit. I’ll find purple patches on my knees from just about any light bump, let alone the throwing of my body onto a dance pole. Bruising is currently a huge concern for me, especially on my legs and upper arms. Seriously, my fiancé is afraid I look like an abuse victim with my constantly swelling shins. And with winter weather giving way to shorts season, there’s no excuse to keep hiding behind jeans. Here’s what I discovered through hours of desperate research:

• Bruising is supposed to lessen with time. Just as beginners tend to grip the pole too tightly, we also tend to bang ourselves against the pole when attempting moves that we’re not quite used to. I’ve heard that even advanced tricksters will notice fresh bruising while learning a new move. Your overly strained grip and instinct to “hug” the pole will cause more bruising than on a girl who can do the spin or lift lightly, with ease, and without anxiety. Plus, it doesn’t help that when you’re first starting out, you’ll try one move over, and over, and over again (trust me). You’ll often try it from the same side of the pole, straining your body disproportionately. Once you master this move and incorporate it into a routine, however, it won’t have such a harsh impact on the body.

What other “cures” are available for pole bruising?

• Vitamin C – The ascorbic acid provided by Vitamin C supplements promotes healthy growth/repair in your tissues and such. It’s also a strengthening agent of sorts, said to help prevent bruising and more.
• Zinc – Healing and repair properties in zinc are also known to help prevent bruising
• Vitamin K – Did you know that Vitamin K is named for the German word Koagulation? You can guess that this means K helps with blood clotting. Not many people are known to have true deficiencies of K, or the other vitamins listed here, by the way. But some suggest that supplements  can’t hurt the effort.

• Aloe Vera Cream – Rumored to heal cuts and bruises quickly, or at least fade their appearance on the skin.
• Vitamin C Cream – Mine is described on the label as an enhancement to the building of collagen, which has been told to work against future bruising.
• Vitamin K Cream – I’ve found this cream to be way more expensive, on average, than the other two. Maybe there’s something to it. In most cases it’s outright marketed as a fading cream for bruises and marks; might be worth a shot.
• Arnica Gel – Some athletes and dancers recommend it. A few tubes of the flower remedy known as arnica gel were a pretty cheap buy. The impressively non-sticky gel is supposed to help ease the pain in bruised areas while fading their appearance. Apply at least three times a day, the label recommends.

This is my first weekend with the above supplies; I’ve purchased everything except the Vitamin K solutions, which were generally more expensive. I’ve applied arnica gel probably six times now to moderate, speckly bruising on my mid-inner thighs. The other creams have also been applied, especially to the older, more stubborn bruises on my shins. Have seen some fading, but can’t yet determine if changes are from the vitamins or simply the normal pace of healing. Won’t know more until I go back for new bruises later this week.

5/16/2010: Bruising Update