Strength & Conditioning for pole 9781916131002

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POLE STRENGTH & CONDITIONING FOR

NEOLA WILBY

STRENGTH & CONDITIONING FOR POLE

Neola Wilby

Copyright 2019 Neola Wilby. All rights reserved. So much hard work, sweat, sacrifice - and, yes, actual tears - went into writing and producing this book. I created it to share the magic of Strength and Conditioning with the pole world, so I encourage you wholeheartedly to spread the word of those concepts and ideas with your pole besties - and to whoever will listen! But please, please don’t steal it. Please don’t copy the actual words, images or sections of this book and please don’t share the electronic copy with others. For the avoidance of doubt... except for brief use in a review, no part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means - electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise - without the written permission of the author. Cover photo by the Image Cella Anatomy illustrations by Tiffany Slaybaugh Davanzo MA, CMI Comic book illustrations by Mona’s Comics Strength and Conditioning for Pole by Neola Wilby, ISBN: 978-1-9161310-0-2 For information about the author as well as access to the Pole PT’s online strength programmes for pole dancers, please visit www.thepolept.com

Acknowledgements

A huge thank you to... Simon Hooley at the Image Cella for the incredible front cover shot. That photograph was taken when I first built my website, thepolept.com. You perfectly captured my vision with one click. I don’t think there could be a more perfect image for this book. Mona’s Comics for creating the fun and awesome comics in this book, and Tiffany at Slaybaugh Studios for the beautiful anatomy illustrations. Emily Scherb, The Circus Doc, for unwittingly becoming my book writing mentor and giving me the inspiration and kick up the butt I needed to get this book to print. World Pole Dance Senior Champion 2018, Heidi Hildersley-Lyle, for being my pole model and for making that photoshoot so fun, even if I did make you do a one-armed pole climb after six hours of shooting. You love a challenge, though, right? Joanna Nicholas for pioneering the much needed scientific research into pole dance biomechanics and physiology that helped to make this book possible. You are a trailblazer and I hope this is just the beginning. My adorable parents who always believe in and support me, no matter what whacky direction life takes me in. Finally, my boyfriend, Nev. This book would not exist without you. I realise that my passion for this project and my coaching business in general frequently takes over your life, too. Through it all, you remain the greatest best friend and team mate I could ever ask for. There is a magic between us that I hope will last forever and I am pathetically grateful to you for everything you do.

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Contents INTRODUCTION HOW TO USE THIS BOOK

8 11

PART 1 – THE PART WITH ALL THE THEORY 5 REASONS TO PROGRAMME YOUR TRAINING FOR POLE THE ENERGY SYSTEMS OF POLE POLE SKILLS MUSCLE IMBALANCES IN POLE ACTIVE V PASSIVE FLEXIBILITY EATING FOR POLE

14 29 35 43 49 54

PART 2 – WHAT IT TAKES TO BE A POLE NINJA (BENCHMARKS & EXERCISES) SHOULDER & BACK MOBILITY

71

SHOULDER FLEXION SHOULDER ROTATION SHOULDER EXTENSION SHOULDER ABDUCTION / ADDUCTION THORACIC ROTATION THE THING ABOUT TWISTED GRIP

75 94 105 110 114 120

LEG & HIP MOBILITY

134

UPPER & LOWER BODY STRENGTH

184

CORE STRENGTH

248

WRISTS & GRIP

284

POINT YOUR TOES!

311

HIP HIP HIP HIP

FLEXION EXTENSION ABDUCTION / ADDUCTION ROTATION

UPPER BODY PUSHING & PULLING LOWER BODY SQUAT & HINGE FLEXION / EXTENSION LATERAL FLEXION ROTATION WRIST EXTENSION WRIST FLEXION ULNA / RADIAL DEVIATION PRONATION / SUPINATION GRIP STRENGTH

5

137 151 162 172 188 225 253 271 277 287 291 294 300 305

PART 3 – POLE ANATOMY & STRENGTH PROGRESSIONS LEG GRIPS DEADLIFTS ISOMETRIC HOLDS POLE PULLING PROGRESSIONS

323 348 384 417

PART 4 – HOW TO BUILD YOUR PROGRAMME HOW TO BUILD YOUR PROGRAMME

420

EPILOGUE REFERENCES

442 443

The important legal bit! This book is designed for information purposes only and your use of it is at your own risk. You should always consult your physician or other health care professional before starting a fitness program, including the one you can create by using this book, to determine if it is right for you. Please remember that I am a strength coach, not a physiotherapist. If you are injured or recovering from injury, some of the exercises in this book may not be suitable for you. Please always take the advice of your health care professionals seriously. Pole may be hardcore, but ‘no pain, no gain’ is NOT a mantra that I support. If you feel pain or discomfort when performing any of the tests or exercises covered in this book, please see a physiotherapist or other health care professional. You only get one body – be kind to yourself, look after it and it will allow you to continue your passion of poling for many years to come!

Introduction I was working as a personal trainer, fitness instructor and fitness writer when I stumbled upon pole. I thought I was pretty strong back then. In fact, I WAS pretty strong. But all those hours, weeks, YEARS spent hustling in the gym had not prepared me to spin, climb, invert and point my toes for pole. As it turned out, the new challenge in front of me was exactly the thing (I never even knew) I was looking for, which would fill the hole that (I never realised) had become so gaping in my life. The truth is I’d lost my mojo for fitness. As much as I loved coaching and helping people, working with the well-intentioned but, ultimately, vanity-motivated section of the population – who wanted a quick-fix boot camp to ‘tone up’ their bingo wings or lose 12lb (like, immediately) for the holiday season – had led me down a career path that wasn’t exactly stoking the fire of my enthusiasm. As a writer, too, I’d kinda run out of ideas for the articles I was being paid to write for the fitness industry. Everything I wanted to say had already been covered a zillion times, from every possible angle. There are only so many ways you can rehash the same tips on how to squat and deadlift before you want to face plant your keyboard. After my first pole class, I ran – nay, sashayed – home, stuck the kettle on and went to work, researching my exciting new hobby: how the hell do I go about getting strong for pole? Because what I’d been doing was clearly not gonna cut it. I found hundreds of awesome and inspirational pole-ebrities to follow on Instagram. I found THOUSANDS of videos and blog posts on how to execute the overwhelmingly huge catalogue of pole moves that have been invented by the worldwide creative collaboration of awesome that is the pole community. But I found very little in the way of solid strength and conditioning advice for pole dancers. Since that day, I have dedicated my every waking moment to creating that thing that I was searching for and couldn’t find. I upgraded my personal training qualifications to become a strength and conditioning coach so I could coach athletes and understand more about sport-specific training. I qualified as a pole instructor and started teaching pole. I took additional nutrition qualifications as well as prenatal certifications so I could better advise this incredible population of (mostly) female pole ninjas. I set up my own website – thepolept.com – so I could focus on building my own business and write about this incredible thing that had caught my attention, instead of writing the same tired content for other businesses’ fitness blogs. 8

Most importantly, I began to create a database of strength and conditioning progressions for pole and started coaching pole dancers all over the world through my Pole PT app. Since then, I’ve coached hundreds of pole dancers, from the USA to Europe, the Middle East and Australia. I’ve been a part of so many pole journeys and experienced all the highs and lows that entails. I’ve witnessed many, many happy ‘nailed it’ moments, learnt a lot about myself as a coach and been inspired by every single one of my clients along the way. My writing mojo came back in bucketloads, and the best (if slightly daunting) thing was that I wasn’t regurgitating those same old fitness articles any more. I was writing about brand-new concepts. Researching plyometric training for pole dancers, breaking down the shoulder mobility required for a twisted grip handspring, discussing how important anti-rotation strength is for pole dancers – I was applying all the fitness concepts I knew inside out, but to something completely different, in a way that had not been done before. Most mainstream sports have been studied and dissected by scientists over the years, but when I set about creating my own strength and conditioning benchmarks for pole, I had no scientific normative data to help me. There was no PubMed guidance on the energy systems that pole dancers use, the biomechanics of pole moves or the strength and mobility standards of professional pole dancers, but I was pulling knowledge from relatable sports where I could – studies on climbers, gymnastics, dance and other overhead sports. Since then, with the growth of pole and aerial sports in general, studies have finally started to pop up. I have eagerly pored over each one, always seeking out ways to continually adapt my training approaches to ensure I was doing the best I could for my clients. Am I insane, you might fairly wonder? Well, if I wasn’t before, I most certainly am now. There is nothing quite like the discovery of your life’s passion to instil in you the hair-greying, wild-eyed delirium of working 70-hour weeks month after month, year after year. But, in the wise words of Alice, all the best people are! And this is the thing I love most about coaching pole dancers: it takes a special kind of person to take on the challenge of pole. Coaching a pole dancer is a world away from coaching a ‘general population’ client who wants to lose 6lb for their wedding and needs you to drill sergeant their ass back into their size 10 jeans, stat. We are drawn to pole because we are, well, let’s face it, a little bit weird. We’re the ones you’ll find upside down in the corner of the gym, too easily distracted from our prescribed 5 x 5 sets of squats and instead trying to figure out how we can invert on the treadmill or train our splits on the gymnastics rings. 9

In short, we are the epitome of extra. If you’re reading this book, I can safely assume you are a pole dancer. That means you are tenacious. You have to be! It means you step outside your comfort zone and conquer fears regularly. It means you are innately ambitious, kinda ‘quirky’, optimistic and love a challenge. Every pole dancer I have ever worked with is made of the same awesome sauce! And if you’ve been training pole a while, it means you have also learnt the power of consistency, patience and self-love. For that, you will be handsomely rewarded, not just with physical strength, but an inner badass that only another pole dancer can truly understand. Working with pole dancers, I have been privileged to meet some of the most inspirational men and women I have ever come across, and I am eternally grateful to you all. So, this book is for you: the badass poler, whoever you may be, whatever your style of pole and whatever your level. Whether you are a beginner, an instructor or professional athlete, I hope this book helps you to be even more kickass than you already are.

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How to use this book A well-designed strength and conditioning programme reflects the characteristics and skills of an athlete’s sport, as well as the muscle groups used, mechanical forces involved and energy systems utilised. Just like Lewis Hamilton’s strength coach will programme exercises specific to Formula 1 - like neck strength drills so he can handle the 5Gs of force his body will face on the racetrack - and golfers like Tiger Woods train rotational movements to help with their downswing, pole athletes can benefit from pole-specific exercises that will help us to achieve the movements and shapes we need to make on the pole. Pole is such a new sport that it is only now, years on from the first classes taught by our pioneering pole foremothers, that research is emerging into its impact on our bodies. Only now are strength and conditioning coaches beginning to pull together this information to create sport-specific programmes that will help pole athletes excel. This book sets out a framework from which you can create your own pole-specific training programme, based on your unique goals and individual level. It includes performance measures so you can benchmark your starting point and monitor your progress, and provides you with all the pole progressions and ‘off-the-pole’ exercises you’ll ever need on your way to becoming a pole ninja. It also explains the sports science theory behind WHY this programming works and how to approach your training in the most optimal way so you can perform your best on the pole.

THIS BOOK IS DIVIDED INTO 4 PARTS: In PART 1, we get to nerd out on the science behind the programming. We’ll talk about the concepts of strength and conditioning and how they apply to pole dance. We’ll cover topics like overtraining, cardio, skill training and how training for sport can be applied to pole. Grab a cuppa for this one – let’s get our geek on! In PART 2, we will look at each different element of our pole dancer bodies in turn, from shoulders and overhead movements to pointing our tootsies. Each section analyses the different movements we need our bodies to be able to achieve to be a kickass pole dancer. This section includes exercises, performance measures and tests for each element so you can see where your strengths and weaknesses are. The results of these tests will help you choose the exercises for your programme. PART 3 is where we delve a little deeper into how the movements in Part 2 apply to individual pole moves. This is also your database of ‘on the pole’ strength and conditioning progressions. In PART 4, we put all the theory into practice. Here, we start to pull everything together so you can create your own, individually tailored training programme to help you nail your pole goals! 11

In this Ebook, where you see the play symbol, you can click the exercise images to watch a video with detailed instructions and cues. Please note, this interactive feature may not work on some e-readers. But you can also find the videos at www.thepolept.com/videos using the video library password ‘Poleninja’.

Those ‘must have’ pole tricks The idea is that you work methodically through the complete framework for pole-specific programming provided in this book, completing the performance measures and using the results to create a programme that is unique to you, incorporating any specific pole goals you have. If you have a burning desire to target a specific move, or you need to achieve a particular move for a competition – that elusive deadlift brass monkey, for example – then by all means, skip ahead. Flick through the book, find the relevant exercises that specifically target that movement pattern and incorporate more of those exercises into your training to help you get there. BUT if you do this, please make sure you follow the relevant progressions to get to those exercises. You will miss out on so much if you simply cherry-pick the exercises and ignore the other elements required for a well-rounded training plan. The programmes you can create using this book are designed to ensure your training is balanced, to help prevent muscle imbalances and overuse injuries – and, importantly, to help you go through the important process of layering, slowly strengthening not just your muscles but also your tendons and ligaments. This gradual progression is the safest and surest way to build strength and skill in any sport. Pole is a particularly special beast in that it incorporates so many different aspects of strength, and the movement patterns we use are extreme and often unique to this sport. Please don’t cheat yourself out of creating that solid foundation before progressing onto the Instagram-able stuff.

All killer, no filler There are no filler exercises in this book – every single one either relates directly to a specific pole move or is a foundation/progression for a more advanced exercise that DOES directly relate to a pole move. If there is no obvious related pole move for an exercise, its purpose is muscle balancing/injury prevention or progression. Ready to take your pole training to the next level? Let’s do it!

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PART 1 THE PART WITH ALL THE THEORY

5 REASONS TO PROGRAMME YOUR TRAINING FOR POLE

“Hey, Neo, whatcha workin’ on at the moment?” Me: “Wellllllll, let’s see… I’m working on flexibility for my bird of paradise... and making my Russian split more splitty. And putting my Allegra into that new combo... annnnd that different machine gun entry. And grooving the movement pattern for that holly drop… “Erm, handstands. Bridge drop backs. Chest stand? Front splits. Middle splits… oh, and then there’s that awesome new trick I saw on Instagram last week! And don’t forget that amazing pole combo I had in a dream last night that’s gonna win me Miss Pole Universe one day.” And that’s not even the half of it! I know you can relate. We polers are a determined, feisty, ambitious bunch. Most of us have a ‘working on it’ list as long as the Lord of the Rings trilogy. It can be overwhelming. With so many different movement patterns to master, we must somehow learn to prioritise and manage the never-ending stream of flexibility and strength goals that pole demands. Training without a programme is like throwing everything against the wall and seeing what sticks. It’s not a strategic long-term plan, and it won’t get you the best results. Organisation and consistency – as dull as they may sound – are what will bring the fastest and safest progress when it comes to building strength and bossing at pole. Throughout this book, we’re going to talk about how you can better organise your training to improve your pole performance. But I’m not just here to hurl a bunch of exercises and training protocols at you. Instead, I want you to learn and understand the theory of training for sport and WHY this method of organising your training will make you better at pole faster. Once you understand the principles behind exercise programming, applying them to your own training is magically simple. Should you ever find yourself in doubt about where to go next with your programming, wondering why you’ve hit a plateau or feeling impatient about your progress, please think back to the 5 reasons in this chapter. These are the long-established, scientifically studied principles of fitness that dictate the important theory behind the strength and conditioning programming in this book and why it works. If you are ever lost in a training rut, these ‘reasons’ are the clues that will help to guide you back to progress town. Before we dive in, I want to first explain the most important concept underpinning these ‘reasons’: General Adaptation Syndrome. General Adaptation Syndrome explains how our bodies respond to stress. In an attempt to make this oft-overcomplicated principle as simple as possible, here it is in comic strip format:

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Phase 1: Alarm If we apply training stress – whether it’s through pole training, lifting weights or cardio – we put our bones, joints, muscles, soft tissues, heart, lungs and nervous system under stress by pushing them in new or more demanding ways than they are used to. In response to this stress or ‘overload’, your body will first go into a state of ‘alarm’. You know that feeling when you try a new HIIT workout, the first time you squatted heavy or your first pole class? I’m talking walking down the steps sideways the next day like a crab feels. Your body is in a state of alarm. You’ve overloaded it with a level of activity it’s not used to. The struggle is real.

Phase 2: Adaptation BUT if you continue to apply that same stress over time and do it gradually, in a sensible, progressive way, your body is clever. It responds along the lines of: “Oh, we’re doing this on the regular now, huh? Well, we’re gonna need some bigger guns for this job and some more muscle fibre recruitment up in here!” It will start to adapt. It will start to make changes to your bones, muscles, heart and lungs to enable it to cope with this new stress you’re subjecting it to. 16

This is called the ‘resistance’ or ‘adaptation’ phase – your body is learning how to manage the stress and maintain homeostasis as best as it can.

Phase 3: Super compensation Eventually, if you continue with this progressive overload, your body doesn’t just adapt to deal with it, it actually gets a step ahead of itself and it OVER compensates – it overadapts! This is the phase of adaptation called ‘super compensation’. THIS phase is where you’re at the peak of your performance – this is the phase athletes try to ‘hit’ when they go into a competition to perform at their absolute best. Because what happens next, if you just continue to hammer your body with the same stress, is that eventually you will reach the final stage: exhaustion.

Phase 4: Exhaustion Due to prolonged stress, your systems get overwhelmed and can no longer cope. Those adaptations you have been making will start to plateau and can even reverse.

REASON 1: PROGRESSIVE OVERLOAD Programming your training progressively is simply a way of creating the right balance for the above adaptations to take place. It ensures that you are applying enough stress at the right level and progressing it appropriately so that you are applying ENOUGH stress to your body for it to make adaptations, while ensuring that you simultaneously don’t overload it TOO MUCH and end up in the exhaustion phase. If you compete, it also means you can organise your training around your competitions to try to hit that super compensation phase at the right time – so you will be at your strongest and most kickass on stage. Athletes usually have long-term programming in place that spans an entire year or more, and their training cycles are built around their competitive schedule. However, the same principles underpin ALL training programmes – whether you are a recreational poler working on your own personal goals, or you are performing on the world stage.

Progressive overload in pole dance? Following a progressive programme means that you increase the overload you are applying to your body gradually over time. As your body adapts, you slowly increase the load so it keeps having to adapt and grow. This principle of ‘progressive overload’ is key to making strength adaptations, and it’s easy to apply when working with weights in a gym setting... 17

We can easily progressively overload a movement by gradually increasing the weight on our barbell over a period of time: you join the gym, and on your first training session, you’re weak as a kitten. You find squatting with just the empty barbell pretty tough going. You follow a progressive lifting programme and each week add a little more weight to that bar. As the weeks and months go on, you’ve inched that weight up until eventually you can squat your own body weight – and more! The gradual increase of weight on the bar each week is the gradual overload that your body is responding to. Your body adapts to the new weight ➡ you get stronger ➡ you add more weight ➡ your body adapts ➡ you get stronger... you get the idea! This is the magic of progressive overload in its simplest format. But how do we apply progressive overload in pole to ensure we keep getting stronger when we don’t have a barbell to gradually add more weight to? Body weight exercises like those that we do on the pole can be progressed in many ways, including: • Increasing load by adjusting body positioning/increasing lever length; • Adding instability; • Moving from bilateral to unilateral movements, where one side is taking more load than the other.

Pole progression example: increasing lever length/weight As a strength coach, I follow progressions like this for all the key movements that I use in my programming (both off the pole and on it), and the concept is painfully simple: start at the beginning and build up through the progressions as you get stronger. As you’ll no doubt discover, in reality, it doesn’t always work in such a linear way, but it’s a very good general guide and an extremely effective way to programme and gradually progress your training. There are many other ways to progress exercises that we will discuss later in the book. For now, just remember that gradual progression is part of the bigger picture and is crucial for progressive overload and adaptation. This is one of the reasons why having a progressive programme (and sticking to it) is so important.

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REASON 2: OVERTRAINING! TOO MUCH OF A GOOD THING? “It becomes an obsession!” I’ve used that sentence in so many conversations with beginner polers, and I mean it in the best possible way: that ‘obsession’ converts to commitment and dedication – and you’ll need both in bucketloads to succeed at pole. But at the same time, channelling that enthusiasm and walking the line between bossing it on the pole and wearing yourself so thin that you end up burnt out—or worse still, injured—is a difficult balancing act. It’s like trying to stay the kind of drunk at a party that makes you confident, witty with strangers and weirdly kickass at pool, without going that glass of wine too far into ‘booty pops on the pool table’-kinda drunk. It’s a thin line to walk. “But too much pole?” I hear you cry! “Is there really such a thing?” Overtraining is very easily done in pole. Why? Because we just can’t help but get sucked in when we’re THIS – I’m making that universal hand gesture for very small things, complete with squinty face and high-pitched voice to emphasise the smallness – close to nailing THAT move. You’re a pole dancer so that type-A, goal-driven part of your brain means you won’t quit until you’ve cracked it. You try it over and over again, and before you know it, you’ve spent 3 hours in the studio, repeating the same move over and over again like a toy monkey banging a cymbal. If you’re prepping for a competition, the risk of overdoing it is even greater as you go into cymbal-banging mode on your routine or individual combos, refining them to the point of perfection. The combination of intense strength training and establishing complex new movement patterns is hard on our central nervous system. But because pole is so fun, we don’t realise we’re getting tired until we try a move we’ve done a million times before and our body just says “Nope, not today, Susan” – cue major “I’ve lost my pole powers” panic! Remember that ‘exhaustion’ phase we talked about above? Yup, we’re in exhaustion phase territory here! ‘Overtraining syndrome’ is ultimately a collection of symptoms that athletes can experience if they push their body beyond its ability to recover. The symptoms are emotional, physical and behavioural, and include feeling exhausted, irritable and sluggish, finding it difficult to concentrate, a weakened immune system, constant DOMS (muscle soreness), depression, insomnia, increased injuries and decreased performance. There isn’t a definitive test for overtraining syndrome, and some experts have questioned whether it’s even possible for recreational exercisers (as opposed to professional athletes) to suffer from it. But if you’re feeling wiped out, keep picking up every bug going, are training harder than ever but not seeing results (especially if you’re training for a competition) and 19

old/new injuries are starting to niggle, then whether you have the ‘official athlete’ version of overtraining or not, it is highly likely that your training programme is physically and psychologically getting ahead of your body’s capacity to recover. Not only does overtraining put you at an increased risk of injury, but full recovery can take 3 to 8 weeks of rest. So if the idea of entire weeks/months away from the pole sends you into a cold sweat, it’s better to avoid overtraining in the first place than have to take a complete timeout from poling. Avoiding exhaustion/overtraining is not just about making sure you are progressing at a gradual pace so your body has time to adapt as you go along, it is also about recovery. This is why the recovery strategies that follow should be just as much a priority in your programming as your carefully thought-out, progressive training programme itself.

Get your beauty sleep! Strength gains are not made in the gym or on the pole. Like all good things, you get them in bed. When we sleep and rest, our bodies get to work on all the damage we have done to them during our training sessions, repairing our muscles and restoring balance. The next time we train, if we have allowed adequate time for this recovery process to take place, we should be even stronger than before. Everyone is different, but 7 to 9 hours of sleep per night is usually optimal for adequate recovery. Athletes often get even more Zs than this to ensure they stay on top of their game.

Eat on point If you are not fuelling your body with the right balance of carbs, protein, fats and the micronutrients it needs to function optimally, it will affect your recovery in a big way. That balance is different for everyone and depends on your body composition, your lifestyle, the training you’re doing and your physique goals (if you have any). We will talk a little more about nutrition later.

Deload! Deloading is a well-established training principle among professional athletes. Basically, it means taking regular scheduled breaks from intense training, allowing your body to recover and come back stronger. For most of us, it just means a week off the pole and a change from our usual exercise regime every month or so. During deload, we might do some stretching, yoga, take walks, go for a swim or other active recovery activities – but we stay away from any of our usual heavy lifting and intense pole training. 20

If you’re a pole addict, avoiding overtraining often requires a complete change in mindset. If your body is crying out for a break but you struggle to stay away from the studio, try not to view ‘rest and recovery’ as ‘doing nothing’. I know there’s nothing worse than twiddling your thumbs and daydreaming of that new combo you’ve mentally nailed, but try to relax and remember that recovery is a crucial part of your training. If you want to progress, it should form a big part of your pole ninja master plan!

Relax! Our autonomic nervous system is responsible for regulating our bodies’ unconscious processes (things like breathing, keeping our heart beating, digestion, and repair and rebuilding). It has 2 main systems that operate within it: the sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous systems. You might know these 2 different modes as ‘fight or flight’ (sympathetic) and ‘rest and digest’ (parasympathetic). It is when we are in the relaxed ‘rest and digest’ state that our bodies can get to work sending out all the hormones and neurotransmitters needed to rebuild our muscles, bones and soft tissues. In other words, this is when we recover from our workouts. If we are constantly on high alert (ie stressed), then our bodies do not have a chance to recover from and adapt to the training we are doing.

‘Fight or flight’ mode is not a bad thing. It is in full flow when we train. It helps us perform by instructing our bodily functions to act in a way that will support what we are doing, 21

turning off processes we don’t need, like digestion, when we are upside down mid-Ayesha. It also focuses our body’s attention on directing oxygen to the muscles that are working by increasing heart rate, breathing, and dilating our blood vessels. This is the automatic stress response that sparks adaptations when done gradually and progressively. The problem is that when training time is over, we have a tendency to live our lives in this ‘fight or flight’ mode, thanks to work stress, road rage and a multitude of First World problems. So anything that helps you to relax and get into a chilled state will also help to give your body the time it needs for recovery. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve actually scheduled in massages, Epsom salt baths, yoga and meditation as part of my clients’ programmes. As pole dancers, we excel in being extra, but sometimes, less really is more. If your strength coach is telling you to take a chill pill and ordering a bubble bath, stat, take that advice and consider your ‘me time’ a vital part of your progress to becoming a pole god/goddess! Tracking recovery Simply having a good work-life balance, sleeping well and having some downtime in your daily routine is usually enough to ensure adequate recovery for most people. But if you have a particularly stressful lifestyle and want to measure and track this in a more accurate way, you might want to try using a heart rate variability app. Heart rate variability (HRV) is not your heart rate but the time difference between successive heartbeats, which changes throughout the day, depending on whether you are in that ‘rest and digest’ state or ‘fight or flight’ mode. If you track your HRV daily, over time, it will give you an indicator of how well recovered you are from your workouts. You can even programme your training around it – if you test your HRV each morning and find it is lower than usual, it may indicate that you are not well recovered from your previous workout. You can then adjust your training plans for that day, either giving yourself more rest time or reducing the volume/intensity of your planned workout so you can keep the balance right, reduce the risk of staying too long in ‘fight or flight’ mode and prevent overtraining. Pretty cool, huh?

Train smarter, not harder I know, I know, you want your Iron X/side splits/rainbow marchenko/*insert other lofty pole goal here* and you want it NOW! You look at professional athletes and think “They train for hours every day’, I must beat my *lofty pole goal* into submission by training it EVERY. SINGLE. day! No pain, no gain. Initiate beast mode – RAAAHHH!” 22

But please believe me when I tell you that this isn’t how athletes train. Professional athletes are lucky enough to have physios on hand for soft tissue release, acupuncture, ice baths and injury management. They are able to train so hard and so frequently because they have professional coaches making sure they prioritise their recovery just as much as their training. They have no additional job stress, long commutes or boozy nights out to recover from – training is their job and their entire life! They also usually have a long history of progressive training under their belts that has allowed their body to adapt, over many years, to this volume of training. If you want to progress, you can’t go beast mode on the pole every day. Like an athlete, you must plan your training in a balanced and sensible way, incorporating rest days, mobility work and active recovery. Following a programme instead of winging it means you can look at the bigger picture, load intensity gradually using well-thought-out progressions, incorporate deload weeks and recovery strategies to keep you on the right track, and set up your pole progress and physical health for the long term.

REASON 3: SPECIFICITY The principle of specificity dictates that you will only get good at what you train. This is why sport-specific programming is so important. Put another way, if you want to get good at climbing the pole, you need to climb the damn pole! If you can’t climb the pole then you need to break down that movement and train in the aspects of it that will help you build the specific strength and flexibility needed to achieve it. Any other training that is not specific to climbing will NOT help you get better at climbing. Running, for example, will help improve your overall conditioning (which could help other aspects of your training, like building aerobic endurance for a routine), but it will not develop your skill at climbing, nor will it help you develop the muscular strength and endurance needed to climb the pole. However, this does not mean that there is no place for general strength and conditioning work in pole training. In fact, all sport-specific programming is built on a foundation of ‘general preparatory exercises’. This foundation is extremely important to create a solid base on which you prepare your body to train for the specifics of pole dance in a progressive way, layering strength and skill without overloading your tendons, ligaments and muscles, and injuring yourself. Ultimately, if you want to get good at pole, your training should be specific to pole. BUT, because of Reason 1: Adaptation and progressive overload, we know we can’t just jump straight into the good stuff, right? We need to build our pole ninja bodies up slowly and gradually, from that good base of solid movement patterns, mobility and basic strength. 23

In an ideal world, we would begin our foray into pole training with a foundation of general preparedness. During this period, we would focus on absolutely bossing our general movement patterns – basic pushing, pulling, core control, squats and lunges – and ensuring we have the proper mechanics and mobility to perform these basic movements perfectly, because every other movement we do on the pole (and in life) stems from these primal movement patterns. If we cannot perform them well, we have an uphill battle when it comes to achieving more advanced movements and, worse, we put ourselves at higher risk of injury. In this ideal world, once we had mastered the basics and got stronger, our training programme would progress, gradually becoming more and more specific to the shapes and movement patterns we use in pole, with the ultimate in specificity being preparing for and competing in a competition. The theory looks something like this:

There is a reason why general preparatory exercises form the base of this pyramid. It is the foundation on which we can build our movement patterns safely and effectively. As we improve, we make our training more specific. We also start with a higher volume of general preparatory exercises, and as our training becomes more specific and more physically demanding, the volume of those exercises in our training is usually reduced accordingly. Let’s look at an example, taking one of the most popular pole goals on the planet as our very specific movement goal: THE IRON X.

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OVERVIEW During this phase of training, exercises in the athlete’s programme don’t usually replicate the movements of the sport itself but instead establish and support a solid general foundation of good movement.

GENERAL PREPARATORY EXERCISES

EXERCISES THAT MIGHT BE INCLUDED Iron X requires a high level of pulling, pushing and core strength. A good foundation would include exercises that will ensure we: 1. Are strong at basic pulling and pushing movements both horizontally (eg press-ups and rows) and vertically (eg overhead pressing and pulling); 2. Have a good foundation of core strength (eg are able to engage our core, and hold a solid plank and side plank with correct technique); and 3. Have the necessary mobility to achieve the position (eg overhead shoulder mobility drills).

As the athlete progresses, exercises become more specific to their sport. At this point, they will start to train SPECIFIC some of the physiological PREPARATORY systems that are used in the EXERCISES sport a little more.

For example, grip training, adding rotational movements to those basic rows using a suspension trainer, or adding more instability to core exercises that will replicate a little more the physiological demands of what we do on the pole.

Here is where it really starts to get specific and we SPECIFIC begin to replicate the actual DEVELOPMENT movement patterns used in the sport. EXERCISES

The athlete starts to build on all that preparatory work and apply it to the specific movement pattern of the Iron X. Here is where our ‘onthe-pole’ Iron X progressions come in!

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COMPETITIVE EXERCISES

COMPETITION

Becoming even more specific, the actual movements used in the sport are trained.

Practising the full Iron X, strengthening and perfecting the lines and building an athlete’s Iron X movement vocabulary so they are able to transition in and out of it from a range of different positions.

The ultimate, most specific Practising Iron X as part of way of training pole is a routine and nailing it on competing or performing a stage. routine. Running that routine and practising it is about as specific as it gets!

It is all very logical, right? However, as we know, real life rarely gives us the benefit of logic, especially when it comes to pole dance. Because pole is such a new sport, we don’t have the advantage, like most mainstream sports, of dedicated training facilities that will take us on as youngsters and build our bodies over time through these phases to make sure we develop things in the proper order. Most of us have stumbled on pole in our adult life, many of us without an athletic background, and some without any training experience at all. In fact, many of us have actively avoided the gym and other forms of exercise – the fact that pole gives us a way to work out that doesn’t require treadmills and cable machines is part of what caught our eye in the first place, right? But in our quest to try to nail the latest Instagram trick without adherence to these longestablished ‘best practice’ ways of building up our movement patterns and strength over time, we skip the most important step of all – developing that solid foundation on which everything else is built. This is why it is so important to work on our foundation, even if the reality is that we are doing this at the same time as our skill specific training on the pole! Having a programme to stick to will ensure that you don’t miss out any of the important aspects of being a strong, well-rounded athlete, as well as incorporating the more specific on- and off-the-pole exercises that will get you to your pole goals.

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REASON 4: YOU CAN DO ANYTHING, BUT YOU CAN’T DO EVERYTHING You know that pole move you worked your ass off for, nailed 4 years ago and haven’t trained since? There’s a reason why you can’t do it now without relearning the movement pattern and taking some time to rebuild the strength and conditioning to do it, and that reason is the principle of reversibility. The principle of reversibility tells us that, unfortunately, ‘use it or lose it’ is a real thing. If you stop training, all the awesome adaptations your body has made in response to that training will reverse. This reversing process can begin within a relatively short time away from your regular routine. Research indicates that approximately 10% of strength is lost after 8 weeks of inactivity, but 30 to 40% of muscular endurance is lost during the same time period. I know, it’s unfair as hell, but this is why you must continue to use the pole superpowers that you have created. If you don’t, the principle of reversibility will snatch it from you just like Kryptonite reduces Superman to a mere mortal. The problem is that there are so many different aspects to pole training that it’s just not possible to train everything all at once FOREVER. With the right programming, it is possible to go into a ‘maintenance’ zone where you can hang on to the adaptations you have made. Structuring your training cleverly means you can work on a specific pole goal (let’s say the shoulder mount) for a period of time, then switch up your training focus to another goal (let’s say Iron X), while you maintain the strength, conditioning and flexibility you built up for your shoulder mount. Magic.

REASON 5: YOU ARE A UNIQUE AND SPECIAL BUTTERFLY! It’s important to remember that this programming thing is not set in stone, and it looks different for everyone! How much training you can handle, whether you can train twice in one day, how many rest days you need etc all depend on many, many factors, including:

Your physical age, current level or ability and ‘training age’ (ie how long you have been poling and/or training in the gym) Someone in their early 20s will usually be able to recover from their workouts a lot faster than someone who has just started training in their late 40s so those 2 people might need different amounts of recovery time and will be able to handle different volumes of training. 27

If someone has already been training pole for 10 years, that person will be able to handle a much higher training volume (ie they’ll be able to spend more time training on the pole) than someone who just started pole a couple of years ago, because that person’s body has had a massive 10 years to adapt to the unique movement patterns of pole.

Nutrition and recovery If your nutrition and sleep patterns are on point, you’ll be able to recover properly and adapt faster so will be able to handle a higher volume of training than someone who does not eat to fuel their training or doesn’t get enough sleep/has a stressful lifestyle.

Genetic differences Some lucky genetic unicorns are just naturally better able to handle training and adapt to it faster than others. For example, one of the important ways genetics plays a part in athletic performance is in relation to how our bodies build and utilise muscle fibres. Our muscles are made up of many, many individual muscle fibres, and those muscle fibres come in 3 different types: Type 1, known as ‘slow twitch’, and Types 2A and 2B, known as ‘fast twitch’. The fast-twitch fibres contract quickly. They are powerful but only for a short time. They are needed for explosive movements, speed and power, like flips and dynamic drops on the pole. The slow-twitch fibres, just like it says on the tin, contract slowly. They generate less power but can do it for a longer time. These muscle fibres are used more for executing long, controlled pole combos and isometric holds. Our muscles contain different ratios of these fast- and slow-twitch fibres. The ratio will determine whether a certain muscle is a fast-twitch, power- and speed-oriented muscle or not. Studies have shown a link between a certain gene (ACTN3) and the ratio of fast-toslow-twitch muscle fibres. Athletes with a certain genetic make-up are predisposed to have a higher percentage of fast-twitch muscle fibres and are therefore more likely to excel in sprint or power-oriented sports. This means that some humans are genetically set up for speed and power, while others may have to work much harder for it. So if you think you’re just ‘not built’ for fonjis or casually ‘popping’ into a Marion Amber, you might be right. But it doesn’t mean you can’t train to improve the dynamic aspect of your movements and fulfil your own personal genetic potential. The principle of individuality is why you can’t just ask someone else what training programme they are following and do the same thing – we’re all different and will respond differently to different routines and intensities of training. We really are all special and unique butterflies so we need our own individual master plan to get us where we want to be. 28

THE ENERGY SYSTEMS OF POLE

Over the past decade, the popularity of pole has exploded like an Olga Koda flying spreadie, but as a fitness activity and competitive sport, pole is still in its infancy. We do not have the benefit, like most mainstream sports, of years of scientific research into the impact pole has on our bodies, but it’s an exciting time for the science of pole – new research is beginning to emerge from the sports science community. Still, at the time of writing this book, I know of only 2 published research studies on the physiology of pole. As these new studies are released, personal trainers and strength coaches like myself finally have something more concrete to base our pole athlete programming on to make it as specific as possible to the sport of pole. In this chapter, we will discuss some of the findings of this research and how it influences the way we programme our training for pole.

OUR 3 ENERGY SYSTEMS Without getting too ‘sciencey’, there are 3 metabolic pathways or ‘energy systems’ our bodies use to produce energy to power our muscles when we exercise.

Energy system 1: the ATP-CP system When we need to produce energy rapidly for a brief but very intense movement like a power spin, fonji or flip around the pole, we call on our ATP-CP system to generate the energy for that movement. This system provides the maximum power output possible, but it can only sustain this level of energy production for 10 to 12 seconds. This is why it is virtually impossible to perform these kinds of movements continuously for more than 10 seconds or so. If you’ve ever tried to do this, you’ll notice your ability to produce power simply drops – it’s not possible to sustain these kind of maximal movements without some recovery time in-between.

Energy system 2: the glycolytic system The glycolytic system kicks in when we perform high intensity movements – like long, hard combos up the pole. Again, this system will only power our muscles for so long – from 12 seconds to about 2 minutes. After 2 minutes, again, fatigue will start to set in and our body will need to switch to the final energy system in order to recover.

Energy system 3: the aerobic system The aerobic energy system comes into play for sustained low to moderate activity lasting longer than 2 minutes, like floor work. 30

ATP-CP

1 to 12 seconds

Explosive/max power

Power spins, fonjis and flips

GLYCOLYTIC

12 seconds to 2 minutes

High intensity

Intense combos up the pole

AEROBIC

2 minutes to 2 hours

Low to moderate

Floor work

Throughout the 3 to 4 minutes of a pole routine, we will usually dip in and out of all 3 of these energy systems, using the ATP-CP and glycolytic systems for high intensity combos and power moves, and the aerobic system to recover in-between. Studies on the physiology of pole help us to understand the balance of these different energy systems when we pole and how we might be able to boost our performance by improving their efficiency.

PHYSIOLOGICAL DEMANDS OF A POLE DANCE ROUTINE An Italian research paper was published in 2017 in the Journal of Sports Medicine and Physical Fitness which investigated the physiological demands of running a competitive pole routine. Unfortunately, it was only a single case study (meaning there was only one participant in the study), but its findings are pretty interesting, nonetheless. Researchers monitored a pole dancer’s heart rate, blood pressure, blood lactate levels (and more) as she performed a national competitive level pole routine that lasted 3 minutes, 30 seconds. The results of the study show just how hard our heart, lungs and bodies have to work in a typical pole routine. In the study, the dancer’s average heart rate throughout the performance was measured at 93% of its max and peaked at 96%. Her blood lactate levels were very high both throughout and after the performance - higher than the levels usually recorded for competitive female gymnasts. Lactate is a by-product of the glycolytic energy system. Given the high levels of lactate produced, it seems that this was one of the predominant energy systems being used by the dancer.

PHYSIOLOGICAL DEMANDS OF A POLE DANCE CLASS Another study conducted in Australia by the world’s first ever Doctor of Pole, Joanna Nicholas, was published in the Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research in 2018. This study looked at the physiological demands of a standard 60-minute pole class. This time, 14 pole students were studied, and the standardised class was repeated 3 times. The class followed a structure that most of you will find familiar: 31

• 15-minute warm-up; • 20-minute skill-based section (individual pole tricks/spins); • 20-minute routine-based section (pole combos combined with floor work to music); • 5-minute cool-down. Researchers measured heart rate, rate of perceived Exertion (RPE – the dancers’ subjective rating on a scale of 1 to 10 of how hard they felt they were working), calories burned; oxygen consumption (the oxygen consumption/uptake per kilogram of body weight, which is a good cardio-respiratory system measurement), blood lactate volume (lactate is produced during anaerobic exercise), and metabolic equivalent of tasks (METs), which is a measure of exercise intensity (for reference, 0.9 METs is the amount of energy expended during sleep, while running an 8.5-minute mile has a MET value of around 11.0). Averages and peak rates were calculated for all these elements. At the end of the table below, I’ve also included measurements from the Italian single dancer study.

HEART RATE (HR)

131 bpm WHOLE CLASS

SKILL BASED PART ROUTINE BASED PART

COMP ROUTINE (ITALIAN STUDY)

RPE

6.4/10

CALS BURNED PER MIN (ENERGY COST)

4.7 kcal

OXYGEN CONSUMPTION (VO2)

16.0 ml/kg

Peak 188

127 bpm

BLOOD LACTATE

3.1 mM

METS

4.6

Peak 3.7 mM 7.2/10

4.4 kcal

Peak 21.5 ml/kg

2.8 mM

4.3

8.4/10

5.3 kcal

Peak 29.6 ml/kg

3.1 mM

5.2

Peak 170 136 bpm Peak 183

93% of max HR Peak 97% of max HR

8.5/10

N/A

N/A

(Nicholas et al., 2018) 3.5 mM N/A after the warm-up Peak 10.7 mM (5mins postroutine)

(Ruscello B, et al., 2017) 32

BUT WHAT DOES IT ALL MEAN, BASIL? The metabolic equivalent for the pole class (4.6 METs) is comparable with ballet or modern dance (4.8 METs), gymnastics (4.0 METs) and low-impact aerobic dance (5.0 METs) (Nicholas et al, 2018). It means that an advanced level, 60-minute pole dance class can be classified as a moderate intensity cardio-respiratory exercise, according to American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM) guidelines. Fun fact: if we pole for 30 minutes or more at least 5 times a week (for a total of more than 150 minutes per week), we will satisfy the ACSM recommended activity levels for improved health and cardiovascular fitness. Yay, pole! The studies also indicate that routine training – and in particular performing combinations (e.g. sections of a routine) or a full routine – has a much higher physical demand than other components of pole training. In the group class study, energy cost, peak VO2, METs and RPE were all higher in the routine section of the class. The Italian study also indicated extremely high energy demands when performing a routine. This is important for exercise programming for a couple of reasons. Firstly, if we want to work out at a higher intensity (eg if we want to create a higher calorie burn for weight loss), we could look to incorporate more routine training into our schedule to achieve this. Secondly, understanding which energy systems we use when we pole means that we can replicate these stressors in our training to improve how those energy systems function, and so improve our bodies’ ability to recover and tolerate the demands of those stressors. In this way, we can make the energy system training we do super-specific to pole. If we know that running a routine puts a high demand on our glycolytic pathways, we can train to specifically improve those pathways to make them more efficient, improving our ability to complete long combos, our performance in competition and the speed at which we recover between training.

CARDIO FOR POLE? There’s a reason why cardio training is as universally hated as comic sans. It hurts, it’s sweaty, it’s frickin’ hard work, and it’s a proven fact that time actually slows down as soon as your heart rate goes over 90 bpm. Yup, cardio is indeed hardio, but given the high cardiovascular demands that pole dance clearly places on our bodies when performing routine-based choreography, improving our cardiovascular systems to cope with this demand may be a necessary evil for pole dancers, especially if we want to compete at a high level. However, we can programme cardiovascular work into our training in a really pole-specific way by replicating the demands we put on our body in a pole routine. Running at a steady pace on a treadmill for 60 minutes will utilise the aerobic energy system only. If you are not very well conditioned then it will help to improve your aerobic 33

base and general fitness (which you will need before tackling more advanced cardio training protocols), but given the significant energy demands of pole, ultimately, this kind of cardio training is not really going to improve your performance on the pole. If you want to make it through an entire pole routine without pausing mid-flow to gasp for air, you will need to make your cardiovascular training more specific to what you want to achieve. Instead of watching the clock as you casually jog for an hour on the treadmill, you could make your cardio session much shorter and divide it into 4-minute bouts (the same length as a typical pole performance). During those 4-minute periods, try alternating between allout max effort (eg medicine ball slams), high intensity intervals (eg fast pace rowing) and low intensity ‘recovery’ periods (eg steady pace rowing). This workout structure replicates the energy demands of performing a pole routine much more. This is how we can make our cardio training sport-specific! Of course, if you want to make your cardio training SUPER sport-specific, you could actually do those 4 minute bouts on the pole. The problem with this, though, is that pole is a skill-based sport and, let’s be honest, we’re all just a teensy-weensy bit obsessed with it so we already spend a huge amount of our training time on the pole. Replicating the cardiovascular demands of a pole routine but OFF the pole means we can recreate the same physical adaptations we need to improve our pole performance, but without adding additional stress and risking overtraining/injury. It’s another tool in our arsenal that we can use to stay on that tightrope of progression without overtraining, leaving our ‘on the pole’ training time free for improving our skill and strength on the chrome. Because shoulders are a high-risk and already overtrained area for pole dancers, a typical approach might be to use lower-body exercises for this kind of training (eg simple athletic movements like speed skaters, sprints and high knee runs, which will also help to improve speed and agility). We will talk more about how you might programme this kind of training in a later chapter.

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POLE SKILLS

By now, you’ll have realised I could talk the tail off a mermaid when it comes to the importance of strength and conditioning for pole, but we cannot ignore the fact that pole is a heavily skill-based endeavour, too. Even the strength of Thor and Hercules combined won’t make you a good pole dancer if you don’t also have an in-depth understanding of the movement patterns of pole dance and the skill to use that strength in an efficient way. And like learning any physical skill, there is no magic shortcut to getting ‘good’ at pole dance – it takes many, many hours of practice to perfect. It requires dedication, hard graft and, ultimately, time spent on the pole!

Repetition is the mother of skill Learning a skill like pole requires a significant amount of repetition, but the professional polers you see in those immaculately executed clips on YouTube have spent many years conditioning their bodies – their muscles, ligaments and tendons – to withstand the extreme stresses of that repetition. If you dive head first into the skill part, without building a solid foundation of strength, those muscles, tendons and ligaments won’t be robust enough to handle the stress that the repetition of learning a skill requires. This is why pole instructors talk of progressing gradually in a logical way through a syllabus. It’s why your instructor will refuse to teach you an Iron X on week 8 of your beginner’s pole course. It’s the reason I believe that all pole athletes should build general strength off the pole so that they can be a better, safer, hardier pole dancer in the long term. This really all comes back to that principle of progressive overload that we discussed in the ‘5 Reasons’ chapter. You cannot rush perfection. But when it comes to programming training, if we look at the way the human brain and central nervous system are set up to acquire new skills and learn movement patterns, we CAN be sneaky about how we arrange and approach our training to give that learning process a boost – like hitting the Fast & Furious NOS button for our pole performance. ZYOOOOOOOOOOOOMMM! Let’s take a little look at how we go about learning a new skill and how we can optimise our programming for ninja skill acquisition.

THE 3 STAGES OF MOTOR LEARNING Whenever we learn a new skill – be it riding a bike, juggling, knitting or trying to bag that latest pole move doing the rounds on Instagram –we go through 3 phases of skill development. 36

Stage 1: Cognitive stage The first stage of learning requires A LOT of conscious thought. Remember that very first, tentative invert as a beginner? Not knowing which way is up, what your name is, how to breathe… and whose leg is that?! This is the ‘cognitive stage’, where the movement we are learning is clumsy, inefficient and unsure. We’ve all been there – lots of flailing, floppy legs and ugly feet. Our bodies don’t fully understand the movement pattern yet and our attempts at repeating it are inconsistent. When you watch back that video of your first front hook spin and can see yourself literally counting your steps – “1, 2, 3… hook leg, hips forward…” – and really thinking about the movement so much that you can almost hear the cogs turning as you progress from one part of the movement to the next—this is the unavoidable awkwardness of the cognitive stage. And it doesn’t just apply to beginners. Even experienced pole dancers will go through this first cognitive stage to some extent when learning a completely new move or sequence, especially when doing it on the ‘side that shall not be named’.

Stage 2: Motor stage With continued practice, our brains eventually wire new neural associations and start to develop motor programmes for the new movement patterns. When people talk of ‘muscle memory’, this is usually what they are referring to. It is not the muscles that ‘remember’ a movement, but the neural pathways for that movement that our central nervous system remembers. At this stage, the movement becomes more fluid, and less energy is required to execute it, as our brains start to understand where we can leverage momentum and where we can conserve effort. It’s at this stage that we can start to polish the move and tidy up the finer details – like improving the lines, pointing the toes, regulating our breathing and relaxing our facial expressions.

Stage 3: Autonomous stage With disciplined long-term practice, we can achieve the final stage of skill acquisition – when the movement becomes automatic. No real conscious thought is required to execute the move – the motor programmes for that move are now hardwired into our long-term memory. Without having to consider what our limbs are doing, we free up our attention to focus on other things, like remembering the next move in a combination or even talking while performing it (props to our awesome pole instructors, who have clearly reached the 37

autonomous stage when they can chat through contact points, muscle engagement and exit strategies while performing a flawless Allegra) – perfection has been achieved! Professional pole dancers with many, many years of practice under their belt have achieved this level of mastery with all the different aspects of pole – not just for hundreds of individual tricks and spins, but across all the many transitions, grips and skin contact points, enabling them to make combinations seem effortless and graceful.

SPEEDING UP THE PROCESS So, how can we use what we know about skill acquisition to better plan our training and speed up the process of learning to pole dance like a pro, even when we may feel as uncoordinated as a giraffe stepping off a waltzer? When it comes to organising and planning your training, there are a few ways you can help this skill acquisition process along.

Tip 1: Practise new skills at the beginning of your training session Learning new skills that are still in the cognitive stage (the one that requires lots of conscious effort) is exhausting for our central nervous system, so trying to practise these moves in a state of physical exhaustion at the end of your training session isn’t going to be productive. It’s best to practise new skills at the beginning of your training session, while your body and brain are still fresh. And make sure you warm up first! A progressive warm-up not only helps to protect your muscles from injury, but it also primes your neuromuscular system for optimal learning and performance. When you’re in a more fatigued state, at the end of your training session, that’s a good time to practise the moves you’ve already completely mastered – this will help to further solidify those skills.

Tip 2: Get out of the #nailedit Instagram pic mindset We’ve all been guilty of this ‘instant gratification’ approach to pole dance, where you consider a move ‘nailed’ once you’ve managed to take a picture of it for social media, however ungraceful the entrance and exit of the move. You know... the ones where your mate has to pass you a foot, or hold you in place until the last moment and grab you again in a mad panic as soon as the photo has been taken. Yeah, yeah, don’t pretend you’ve never done it. 38

Having an ever-growing ‘want list’ of moves is one of the fun things about pole. And those photos and ‘nailed it’ moments are one of the reasons why I, personally – being the hideously goal-driven monster that I am – fell in love with pole. Don’t get me wrong, that ‘pass me my foot’, heavily spotted phase is usually a fairly normal part of the process of learning a new pole trick. But too much focus on ‘ticking off ’ moves from your list without taking time to truly understand each movement will not give your body and brain a chance to go through those important stages of skill acquisition. Instead of getting that picture and moving immediately on to the next trick, strive to dominate that new move. You want to OWN that flatline Scorpio – not just be able to grunt, swear and squeak your way into it for a photograph. If you’re a massive social media hound, try to get into the habit of posting videos instead of (or as well as) photos – it will force you to improve your entry and exit, and really help you to hone your technique. Accept that you will not be able to do this in a single session – moves will take many weeks, months, even years of practice. Remember that it’s mastery of the movements that will make you a great pole dancer. NOT getting a move once for an Instagram photo and then moving on to the next thing.

Tip 3: Stop avoiding those moves you suck at I know it’s hard to force yourself out of your comfort zone to practise those moves you don’t enjoy. But if you suck at superman and don’t practise it, your body’s motor programmes for that move will never develop beyond the cognitive stage. It will always require conscious effort and always look sloppy. In other words, unless you practise it regularly, your superman will look like crap! If there is a particular move or type of grip that is a weak point for you, take that as a huge, flashing, neon-pink arrow pointing at it as an area where you need to focus your efforts on your route to awesomeness. If there is a strength and/or mobility reason contributing to that, then work on improving that off the pole. You can come back to training the pole skill once you have improved the specific strength and flexibility elements of it. Great athletes make a dedicated effort to turn their weaknesses into strengths and plug any gaps in their skill set. This is an approach I wholeheartedly agree with.

Tip 4: Practise conscious proprioception Kinaesthesia (proprioception) – or body awareness – is the internal sense of our body positioning in space. When we are poling, our brains subconsciously process a ton of sensory information, which is primarily visual (checking our position in a mirror or looking up to see which leg is where) and touch (the feel of the pole in our hands and on our skin), to determine where our limbs are in space. Our brains are constantly processing all these signals and making tiny adjustments to our positioning to keep us balanced and gripped on to the pole. Pole is extremely tactile in this way. 39

All of this processing happens when we’re doing everyday activities, too, but it takes place subconsciously. When you are trying to learn a skill that involves hanging upside down from a metal pole by your knee pit, this process requires a lot more conscious effort. As a beginner, when first learning a leg hang, for example, you might understand the general feel of the move, but only enough to know ”Yes, I’ve got enough grip, I feel safe” or “nope, I’m sliding down to my death”. More advanced pole dancers have extremely well-honed proprioceptive awareness in this move. The feeling of whether or not they have grip isn’t something they have to consciously consider any more. It’s automatic. Of course, this body awareness comes with practice, and improves as we move through the 3 stages of learning, but proprioceptive awareness is a mental skill you CAN develop. How? By actively trying to be aware of what the move feels like when you get it right, and how different it feels when you do it wrong. When learning a new move, consciously consider how it feels, and ask your instructor and fellow students how it feels to them, too, as they might help you to understand minor tweaks in body positioning that can make a massive difference to a pole move. With this conscious effort, you can correct and improve your moves much faster than if you just go through the motions and keep trying and trying without success. Worse still, if you keep repeating an incorrect movement pattern over and over again, that incorrect pattern will eventually become the learned motor programme for that move (which, trust me, is very frustrating to have to unpick later).

Tip 5: Visualise moves and transitions when you’re off the pole Once you understand the movement pattern of a move or combination, and what it feels like to do it correctly, you may be able to improve your performance of that movement simply by visualising it in your mind when you are not training. Google ‘Visualisation for sports performance’ and you’ll find a Sunday-Bumday-butt-load of info on this. You can practise this mental rehearsal at any time. When you are settled and free from distractions is best – at bedtime, bath time or even on the train on your morning commute. Visualise performing the movement you are working on in as much detail as possible, including how the movement feels – the feel of the pole against your skin, the muscles that are working, the music playing in the background, the sounds and smells of the studio etc. It might sound crazy, but visualisation is an extremely powerful technique, and it is used by many professional athletes to improve performance, so it’s well worth looking into, especially when it comes to performing a routine.

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Tip 6: Practise random skill combinations When experienced pole dancers watch a combo they’ve seen on Instagram, their brains process that combo in a completely different way to a beginner poler’s. To a beginner poler, the way a dancer went from an outside leg hang to an inside leg hang, to an Ayesha may seem like witchcraft – “Whoa, what just happened? Rewind!” But an experienced poler will watch that combo and know instantly which discrete pole skills they need to execute the combo. They’ll see outside leg hang, hip hold, leg switch, split grip, twist to Ayesha – simples! They’ve practised all those individual skills a hundred times over. They have strong motor programmes for each one so learning the combo is simply a case of making minor adjustments to combine them in a new way. A less experienced poler lacks the cognitive understanding of those individual moves to be able to process the combo in the same way. And when they try it on the pole, those individual pole skills are not yet hardwired so they will need to repeat the pattern many times before getting it right. With this in mind, make sure you dedicate a certain amount of your training time to practising the main foundation movements of pole dance – like climbs, basic leg hangs, hip holds, horizontal transitions and ALL the different grips! Get to know these foundation moves inside out! It is only with practice that those movements will become automatic. To truly excel at pole, we need to learn not only these discrete skills – individual spins, tricks and techniques like climbing, inverting and different grip positions – but we also need the skill of linking multiple discrete skills together to form combos and ultimately perform a full routine. Think of it this way: basic grip positions and fundamental spins, tricks and poses are the words that form the language of pole. To combine those words together into fluid sentences (combos) and then to master them enough to create poetry (routines), you must first grasp the basic vocabulary. Later in this book, we will look at the progressions you can use to master those individual core elements. But once you have learnt these individual moves, you will need to practise the skill of linking them together. And one of the best ways to get really frickin’ good at an individual move once you’ve got it down pat is not to keep repeating that individual move over and over again, but to practise going into it from as many different moves as possible, and exiting it in different ways. In other words, build familiarity not just with the move, but how to transition in and out of it in multiple ways. There is a fun game you can play to incorporate this kind of random skill practice into your training: write down all the moves you’ve completely mastered on individual pieces of paper. Fold and shuffle the bits of paper and pull out 3 random moves at a time. Your job is 41

to combine those moves together on the pole. The randomness can throw up some bizarre orders, but it will force you to be creative and accelerate your understanding of those moves to a whole new level.

Tip 7: Film your training and self-critique Filming your practice and watching yourself back in-between attempts at a move is a really useful tool to speed up skill acquisition. Let’s face it, given how fond we polers are of recording our practice on our phones, I probably didn’t even need to suggest that! But it’s so useful, I’m including it on this list anyway. When practising a new move or combination, hit record, perform the movement once or twice, then watch it back and let your inner perfectionist go to town. What could be improved? Could you smooth a transition by adjusting your leg positioning? Are you pointing your toes the whole time? Analysing your movement in this way will help you see things you might not be aware of while you are performing it, especially if you’re still in the first 2 phases of learning the movement. Tweak and repeat until your inner perfectionist is happy, but bear in mind that this process may take a long time – don’t try to fix everything in a single session! Remember that as a pole dancer, you must constantly walk the tightrope between the necessary repetition of learning a skill and the need to have balance in your training to prevent overuse and injury.

Tip 8: Aim for progress, not immediate perfection We need to go through those 3 stages of learning to reach the point of perfection, but remember that the first 2 stages of the process are fraught with imperfection! You cannot rush the process and so to learn effectively, it’s vital that you let go of the fear of failure. Effective practice isn’t about getting it right first time. Our errors are important as they constantly guide us down the path to correct execution so embrace every failure along the way and learn everything you can from those failures – it will keep you moving forward. Getting ninja-level good at pole is a long-term mission. There are so many different moves to learn and, beyond that, an infinite number of ways in which those moves can then be linked together. It will take many, many years to get to the same level of mastery as your favourite pole stars. Ultimately, you must have patience, young Padawan. Trust the process, and with dedication and experience, you will get there. In the meantime, learn to love and celebrate all the little wins and learn as much as you can from the failures along the way!

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MUSCLE IMBALANCES IN POLE

Because we all have a dominant side, muscle imbalances from pole training are as common as a pair of Pleasers at a pole convention. I have dedicated a whole chapter to them in this book because muscle imbalances can impact everything: your posture, mobility, flexibility and performance. They may also be the cause of that nagging pain you’ve been pretending doesn’t exist, and they can also put you at an increased risk of injury. It’s not just a pole thing either. Imbalances are common in all sports: basketball players have a dominant shooting side, golfers only swing one way. Tennis, baseball, hockey – they all involve predominant use of one side of the body. In all of those sports, smart athletes and their coaches incorporate specific imbalancecountering exercises into their training programmes to prevent injury and stay on top of their game. Why should pole be any different? And before you ask, it’s not always quite as simple as ‘just train both sides’. We don’t expect a tennis player to start playing matches with their non-dominant hand mid-season so why would we ask a pole dancer to run their competition piece on both sides as part of their competition prep? ‘Do everything on both sides’ is not always possible – and it doesn’t address some of the less obvious muscle imbalances that are not necessarily caused by pole, but may be underlying due to our lifestyle and the way we move generally. Those imbalances can be amplified by our pole training and can put us at just as much risk of injury as training asymmetrically.

What is a muscle imbalance? A muscle imbalance can be either a difference in strength, size or flexibility between different muscles and muscle groups. In pole, when we refer to muscle imbalance, we’re usually talking about the telltale lobster arm look that comes from only practising your ‘good side’ so let’s look at how to avoid this kind of muscle imbalance first.

Train both sides? You’d think that the good side/bad side imbalance is easy to avoid – just train both sides, right?! The reality is that this is easier said than done. What if you skipped the whole ‘train both sides’ thing when you first started and now you feel like you’re just too far down the rabbit hole? Or what if you just never managed to ‘land’ a trick on the other side, despite your best efforts? What if you are running a routine for a performance or competition and don’t want to risk overtraining by doing it on both sides? It is completely normal that you may only be able/want to perform certain movements on one side. In these cases, variations or progressions of the movement you are training can be really useful to help even out the impact of that imbalance. This means training a 44

progression or variation of the move on your ‘other’ side, even if you can’t or don’t want to complete the full movement on that side. For example, when you train your invert to chopper on your dominant side...

Full invert to chopper ...but are unable to do this on your non-dominant side, you can use a conditioning exercise for that movement on your non-dominant side, like the stability ball chopper, to help balance things out.

Invert to chopper conditioning

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Avoiding muscle imbalances from routine repetition When my clients are running a routine for a competition or performance, we will look at ways we can balance out the one-sided repetition that practising a routine entails. Of course, I would not ask them to perform the entire routine on the ‘other side’ – especially not close to their competition! For many of my clients, that would not only be physically impossible, but it would also put them at great risk of overtraining, especially if they are still establishing the movement patterns of those moves on their non-dominant side, as this is not only incredibly physically demanding but also places a big drain on the central nervous system. On top of the physical and psychological demands of competing, it is unrealistic and potentially dangerous to expect pole athletes to do this. Instead, I usually write out a list of the moves used in my clients’ routines, so we can incorporate some exercises that will use the opposing muscles and help to balance out the repetition of practising their routine without them executing the full movements. Using stability balls is one of my favourite ways to do this. If you are running a routine, it is a great way to start to address the repetition of performing a movement on one side without adding too much additional load and stress to your body.

Opposing muscle imbalances and relative stiffness There is another kind of muscle imbalance that is just as important for polers but which is not as immediately obvious as one Popeye forearm and one that’s a little more Olive Oyl. A muscle imbalance can also be created if opposing muscle groups are not trained evenly. Most muscles have an ‘antagonist’ – an opposite muscle, for example: your bicep and your triceps; your quads and your hamstrings. As one muscle tenses and shortens, the opposing muscle lengthens. Do a bicep curl. Oh, g’wan, give me the gun show! Now, think about what is happening – your bicep has tightened and shortened, and the opposite muscle – your triceps – has lengthened. If one muscle is stiffer or much stronger than the other (and the opposing muscle is therefore easily lengthened by the pull of the stronger/tighter muscle), inefficient movement patterns and faulty joint alignment can start to creep in, increasing the potential for injury. To give you an example, if you trained your chest all the time but did no upper back work, your pecs would eventually become dominant and stronger than their opposing muscles on the upper back. Over time, the imbalance might cause forward rounding of the shoulders as the pecs get stronger and overpower the upper back muscles.

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This is a common muscle imbalance that can develop from pole training as we tend to repeat movement patterns like inverts and pulls that repeatedly use the same muscle groups. And because most of us don’t engage and activate our back muscles like we should, we end up underusing the lower traps, rhomboids and shoulder-stabilising muscles. The tight pec and lat muscles – which are both internal shoulder rotators – can overpower the opposing muscles that are responsible for external rotation, and we end up adopting a forward rounded stance. Training in that internally rounded shoulder position only serves to increase the imbalance, potentially reducing our range of motion and putting our shoulders into a less than optimal position for proper movement mechanics. The flexibility and relative stiffness of our muscles can also impact on adjacent muscles and joints. This is because our bodies will always find ‘the path of least resistance’ when it comes to creating movement. If one muscle group is ‘tight’ or ‘stiff ’, our bodies compensate by allowing a less stiff adjoining muscle group or joint to create the movement instead. For example, if our lats are stiff and we try to perform a movement that requires our lats to lengthen, like bringing our arms overhead, our body will find resistance in our tight lats and instead search for an easier way to get there. If our core muscles are not braced and are relatively less stiff than our lats, compensatory movement will usually come from losing our core engagement, flaring the ribs and arching the lower back.

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Avoiding muscle imbalances Muscle imbalances are unique to each athlete and depend on what movements we do regularly on and off the pole, as well as other things like lifestyle, past injuries and general posture. As previously mentioned, a common issue for pole athletes is overuse of the pecs and lats, and underuse of the rhomboids, lower traps and other shoulder-stabilising muscles. That particular muscle imbalance can be addressed by building strength in the rhomboids and lower traps and improving scapular mechanics, combined with mobility, foam rolling and stretches to loosen up the tight pecs and lats. Improving body awareness and ensuring you’re firing the small stabilising muscles and not just letting the bigger, stronger muscles take over will also help to ensure you are engaging your shoulders with proper scapular control. A lot of the mobility drills we will look at later in the book can help to build this awareness and control. Making sure that your programme is well balanced and includes exercises for opposing muscle groups will not only help to prevent injury but allow you to develop more balanced strength so you can safely progress to more advanced levels in pole. For example, spins, climbs, inverts and holding ourselves up the pole all involve a vertical pull of some kind. We can balance that out by incorporating vertical pressing exercises in the gym to work opposing muscle groups. This obviously depends on what moves you tend to repeat in your training and where your strengths and weaknesses lie. When we come to build your programme later, we will think about how to achieve this balance a little more. The programmes you can create by following the steps in this book will produce a generally balanced programme, because I have made sure that you will be covering all of the basic movement patterns of pushing, pulling, squatting and hinging at the hip. The tests in Part 2 will help to identify where tightness or lack of strength might be holding back your progress and give you an indicator of the main areas you need to focus on to create more symmetry and avoid defective movement patterns that could be putting you at risk of injury. But this book can only ever be a general guide – you must always be aware of your own training and adjust things as you go along to take account of your own body and its unique mechanics.

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ACTIVE V PASSIVE FLEXIBILITY

To avoid confusion, for the purposes of this book, when I refer to ‘passive flexibility’ (or ‘passive range of motion’), I mean the range of motion you can access when you use something – maybe a hand, the floor, a strap, a prop – to help you into a stretch. For example, a seated forward fold will demonstrate your passive hamstring flexibility, as you are using the floor to assist you into the stretch.

Passive hamstring flexibility with the floor to push against When I refer to ‘active flexibility’ (or ‘active range of motion/mobility’), I mean the functional range of motion you can access without external assistance. This is based on movement and control – your ability to get your body into a position without needing to use outside force – ie without a wall, a strap, a pole or a hand to pull you into it.

Active hamstring flexibility in the air 50

We will be returning frequently to this idea of active flexibility throughout the rest of this book, and I want to ensure, before we continue, that you understand the important difference between active and passive flexibility and why active flexibility is so crucial to pole dance.

The problem with passive flexibility Let’s say you’re on a flexi mission. You’ve been diligently incorporating lots of lovely split stretches into your training, propping your leg up on any available surface at every opportunity. You know the drill— you’re waiting for the kettle to boil in the staffroom, leg casually extended on the worktop, and Barbara from accounts comes in, looking more confused and irked than ever. Erm, it’s for the splits gains, Barbara – deal with it. But that passive flexibility you’ve been hustling for won’t always transfer seamlessly to your pole moves. The ability to do a flat pancake stretch on the floor may make for an impressive party trick, but it doesn’t necessarily mean you’ll see your Pleasers fly past your head when you attempt a dramatic, Cleo-the-Hurricane-style reverse grab straddle. And getting touchdown on your front splits on the floor doesn’t mean you’ll be able to get that perfectly flat Jade. If you only train passive flexibility and you take away the resistance of the floor from both of those stretches, all of a sudden, your flexibility will seem a little less spectacular.

Why we must strengthen what we stretch! I’m not saying passive flexibility is pointless. Far from it. If you can’t get passively into a position, you ain’t gonna be able to get into that position WITHOUT assistance, either. Passive stretching has its uses. It can get your body used to being in a new range of motion. You’re sending signals to your brain to say “Hey, I’m okay here, we’re not gonna break, we got this,” and bit by bit, your body and brain will allow you to reach further into those positions. But you will find that if you ONLY work on your passive flexibility, and don’t also train the strength associated with that stretch, you will only ever be able to obtain those flexi positions passively. That means you won’t be able to reproduce them on the pole, AND you’ll only be able to reach them when you have spent a lot of time warming up and building up to the stretch. Remember that when one muscle lengthens, its opposing muscle shortens. If we work on the strength of the shortening muscle, AS WELL AS the flexibility of the lengthening muscle, this will help us to bring the lengthening muscle into its end range position without needing outside assistance to get it there.

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Left: Passive stretch of hip flexors on back leg, using bottom hand to assist stretch Right: Active stretch of hip flexors on back leg, using strength of glute to hold leg in position

Active flexibility for injury prevention Training strength around our flexibility is not just about performance. Think about the front leg in the Russian split pose opposite. If I can only get into this position passively and have no active strength or engagement there, forcing it into this position on the pole while it is also contracting hard to support my entire bodyweight is probably not going to end well. What’s more, when we stretch passively, once a muscle has reached its maximum length, if we continue to push through that stretch, we may no longer be stretching just our muscles, but our ligaments and tendons, too. This is why regular and intense stretching can cause the connective tissues around our muscle and joints to loosen, making them weak and vulnerable to injury. Putting this kind of stress on our ligaments and tendons is bad news for the stability of our joints and increases our risk of injury. Getting into that Bendy Kate chest-stand might look cool for a photo shoot, but it really isn’t worth tearing a ligament or tendon for, trust me. Instead, if you take time to build strength in and around your joints, tendons and ligaments to support the increased range of motion you are building with your passive stretching, it will allow you to transfer those flexi moves onto the pole more easily AND more safely. This balance of stretch vs strength (passive vs active) is even more important for those with hypermobility and those working on oversplits and other advanced contortion stretches. If you have a big range of passive motion at a joint, whether it is through hours and hours of dedicated stretching or because you are just naturally flexible, strengthening around that joint will keep it safe and reduce injury risk. 52

Actively working in your full range of motion also means your body will be more prepared if things go wrong and give you a greater margin for error. If you don’t quite nail that Spatchcock and end up accidentally putting your joints into a strange and wonky place, the stronger you are in those end of range positions, the better your body will cope with those inevitable pole clangers.

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EATING FOR POLE

Walk into any gym – whether it’s a traditional, clanking bodybuilding hangout, a spit and sawdust powerlifter’s paradise or a ‘go hard or go home’ CrossFit box – and I guarantee that between the clatter of metal on metal and the testosterone fuelled grunts of effort, you’ll hear the unmistakable sound of a mixing ball being vigorously bashed about inside a protein shaker. Bodybuilders and weightlifters are exposed early-on in their training lifestyle to the nutrition side of strength training (even if it may be of the ‘bro-science’ variety). ‘Whey protein’, ‘BCAAs’, ‘glutamine’ and ‘anabolic window’ – these are all every day terms in gym culture. But protein shakes in the pole studio? It’s not something you see (or hear) all that often.

Polers need protein just as much as powerlifters As far as your body is concerned, strength training in the gym is no different to strength training on the pole, and our bodies need the right nutrition for growth, maintenance and repair if we want to perform at our best. Nutrition is such a huge (and often overcomplicated) topic that, frankly, it is beyond the scope of this book. But what you eat plays such an important role in your body’s ability to recover and how well it responds to training that it’s impossible to write a book on strength and conditioning without some discussion of it. I thought long and hard about how to approach nutrition in these pages. The trouble is that as much as the diet industry wants to sell you a pre-packaged, catchily titled ‘diet to end all diets’, there is no one ‘correct’ answer when it comes to nutrition. I’d really love nothing more than to offer you a simple, one-size-fits-all ‘Eat for Pole’ nutrition plan. But I cannot in all good conscience sell you something that simply does not exist. What I CAN tell you is that the answer to eating for both general health AND to support your pole training goals in the long term will not be found in a cabbage soup detox, ketogenic Paleo challenge, or in any other fad diet that, at best, you cannot sustain for more than a few weeks and, at worst, takes away your enjoyment of the very important social aspect of eating and encourages an unhealthy relationship with food. I’ve coached enough people to know one simple truth: instead of looking for a ‘quick fix’ solution to nutrition and trying to cut out entire food groups or eating only between certain hours of the day, if we take the time to establish some really (boringly) simple fundamental nutrition habits, those habits will last a lifetime. Once you have those habits in place, tweaking your diet to better support your training becomes magically simple. I can’t tell you how many times I’m asked questions like “Should I switch white bread for brown bread?” “Should I stop eating after 7pm?” “Is keto the best diet for fat loss?” “Will fasted cardio save me?” You know, the finer details of diet like nutrition timing and counting macros! But when I ask those same people to write me a food diary for a week, their diet looks like a hotchpotch of shop-bought sandwiches, biscuits in the office, missed meals, wine, takeaways and not much in the way of nutrient-dense food. 55

And when I ask them questions like “Do you get at least 7 hours of sleep a night?” and “Do you drink 2 litres of water every day?”, they do not even have these very fundamental aspects of their diet and lifestyle in place. My point is that whether the slice of toast you have for breakfast is white or brown or whether you eat your carbs before or after your training are inconsequential details when looking at diet and lifestyle as a whole. In strength and conditioning terms, it’s like trying to Iron X when you can barely hold a side plank for 30 seconds. It’s always a good idea to learn to walk before we can run – and the same applies to nutrition.

Counting calories and macros When I first started coaching, I would give every single one of my clients a calorie and macro breakdown. This would give them a daily calorie count to aim for, as well as recommended macro goals (grams of protein/carbs/fat in a day) based on their body composition, activity levels and goals. I thought I was being helpful and although I still love the simplicity and science behind this approach, I came to realise that it was a short-term solution to a long-term problem. Yes, if you get your calories on point, you will likely succeed with your initial body composition (weight loss or weight gain) goals, and it’s also a good approach for high performance athletes who need that ‘edge’ in competition. But for most recreational athletes who are simply looking for a way to be and feel healthy, and fuel their training with a method that fits their busy lifestyle, it is probably not the best starting point. Nobody wants to count calories forever so this can only be a short-term solution at best – and more importantly, this approach overlooks the most important aspect of nutrition: the ‘nutritious’ part! Let’s say you want to lose weight. You have a daily calorie goal and you stick to it. Religiously. You start to check every packet before throwing something in your supermarket trolley. You’ve looked at MyFitnessPal on such a frequent basis that you could absolutely slay on Mastermind with ‘calories in foods’ as your specialist subject. Shopping, weighing your food and looking at MyFitnessPal now take up a large percentage of your free time, but, hey – it works! You lose weight. Magic! But 2 important things are being overlooked in this scenario: 1. You may have nailed the ‘energy in/energy out’ equation. That’s great for weight loss, but food is not just energy (calories), it is nutrients, too! When it comes to eating for health and performance, HOW and WHAT you are eating is just as important as HOW MUCH you are eating. Are you eating the nutrients, vitamins and minerals that your body needs to build, repair and function at its best? Are you drinking enough water so your body can carry out its processes and deliver those nutrients to where they are needed? Are you getting enough rest and recovery time so your body has the chance to actually digest and process those nutrients? 56

2. Can you eat this way forever? Is it sustainable? Do you have a healthy relationship with food? How do you cope with eating in social situations? What happens when you inevitably have to stop counting calories? Even for athletes – where fine-tuning nutrition plays a much more important role in performance – I still feel uncomfortable giving out detailed calorie and macro targets before ensuring that we have some underlying fundamentals of nutrition nailed down first. In the pages that follow, we will run through these fundamentals. Got the basics nailed? Well, you, my friend, are a nutrition rock star! If you are looking to gain an edge in your performance then by all means begin to drill down into the finer details of your diet, like macro counting, nutrient timing and supplements. But if you still have some work to do on the basics, I would highly recommend spending some time on them before moving on to more advanced nutrition performance strategies.

How and what you are eating before how much Just like building a solid foundation for pole, having a solid base of good nutritional habits is important. If you can nail the fundamentals, then calorie counting, macros and other performance-enhancing nutrition techniques are quite often not even necessary at all.

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STEP 1: HOW YOU ARE EATING Are you eating slowly and mindfully? How do you eat your meals? Do you sit down at the table, focus fully on the food that you have lovingly prepared and savour every mouthful, sipping water and taking your time to enjoy it? Or do you eat in front of the TV with fork in one hand, phone in the other, shovelling in mouthfuls like Chunk chomping down on ice cream in The Goonies? This may not seem like the most important thing in the world, but if we do not eat slowly and mindfully, it prevents us from tuning in and understanding our bodies’ satiety cues. Our bodies release hormones to let us know that they have what they need and we can stop eating, but it takes about 20 minutes for that signal to travel from our tummies to our brains. Eat slowly and allow your body time to process what is happening and you will probably find that you don’t need to eat as much. It also means you will appreciate and enjoy your food much more, which can have a huge psychological impact on our cravings and our emotional relationship with food. Do you have a solid routine around your meals and snacks? How do you decide what to eat? Do you think ahead and plan your meals for the coming week, preparing what you can in advance and pre-empting the ups and downs of your week? Or do you find yourself... skipping meals because you are too busy, eating takeaways or ready meals from the supermarket because you finish work later than planned and are too exhausted to shop and cook, or grabbing a sausage roll from Greggs because you are so hangry after a 3-hour shopping trip that you cannot walk another step without food? This doesn’t have to mean meal prepping like a demon every Sunday for the week ahead, but it does mean planning your meals and snacks ahead of time and taking some time to ensure you have the right ingredients to hand for those meals and snacks. No matter how good our intentions are, we will always reach for the most convenient things when life gets busy. Making sure you have planned ahead and that those convenient things are nutritious and not just a constant stream of biscuits and pizzas – or, often just as bad, an empty fridge – is a very simple but extremely important habit to adopt. Are you getting enough recovery so your body can rest and digest? Our bodies have a lot of work to do behind the scenes to convert all the food we eat into energy, and to process and transport the nutrients in that food around the body to where they are needed most. When we eat – let’s say a chicken stir-fry – our bodies need to break down that meal. They need to transport the vitamins from all the lovely veg to the parts of our bodies that need it. They must extract the protein from the chicken, convert it into amino acids and transport that around our bodies to rebuild and repair our tissues. They must extract the energy from the noodles and deliver it to our fuel stores. And they must dispose of the waste.

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The digestive process is controlled by our autonomic nervous systems. Our bodies do a lot of this processing when we are in a state of rest. When we are stimulated or stressed (whether that is because we are running on a treadmill, road raging on our daily commute or enjoying back-to-back meetings at work), our bodies usually press pause on a lot of this behind-the-scenes digestive labour. When our parasympathetic nervous systems are activated (our ‘rest and digest’ mode), our bodies can take time to process what we eat through the gastrointestinal tract. If we don’t have any time in our day when we actually chill, our bodies can struggle to process our food. In other words, the levels of stress you have in your life can impact on your digestive function and your body’s ability to utilise the nutrients you are feeding it. Ensuring you set up good sleeping habits so you are consistently sleeping 7 to 9 hours a night and including recovery activities in your schedule like those discussed earlier is a good start to ensure you do not end up overtraining and exhausting your nervous system. It can then continue to function optimally. Are you eating in response to emotions? Emotional eating is a common scupper-er of our best intentions. It is absolutely natural, healthy even, to attach emotions to food – food plays an important role in social gatherings, it can remind us of people, places and special moments. Even just the smell of some foods can set off a trip down memory lane – and, of course, who doesn’t feel intense pangs of joy when experiencing the gooey inside, crispy outside texture of a hot/cold chocolate brownie and ice cream? It is normal to have these kinds of emotional responses to food, but if those emotions are impacting on how and what you eat – if you find yourself balls deep in a tub of Ben and Jerry’s at 3am, you eat when you are bored, have intense feelings of guilt around your food choices or you use food/not eating as punishment for uncontrollable outbursts – then working on understanding and learning to control those emotions, instead of using food for that, will be infinitely more beneficial than counting calories or ‘going Paleo’.

STEP 2: WHAT YOU ARE EATING Food contains both micronutrients (ie vitamins and minerals) and macronutrients (ie protein, carbs and fat). Our body needs both types of nutrients, in a good balance, to function optimally. Some foods are rich in nutrients that support and help our bodies to function and rebuild. And some foods are very poor in these nutrients. It’s important that we are eating enough of the nutrient-rich foods to give our bodies what they need to perform and function at their best. Compare the 2 snacks below, for example. Blueberries are bursting with nourishing nutrients. A cup of them will give you a good amount of potassium, a range of vitamins and minerals, particularly vitamin C and some others not listed in the image (like vitamin K1). They are low in fat and calories, contain fibre and are rich in antioxidants. 59

Cookies, on the other hand, are high in calories and fat, high in salt and usually contain industrially manufactured trans fats. They contain virtually none of the vitamins that our bodies need to function at their best. This is why cookies are viewed nutritionally as ‘empty calories’.

A quick look at nutrients Micronutrients There are many, many micronutrients. The table below gives just a few examples of what our bodies use some of those vitamins and minerals for. And just so the importance of micronutrients for performance (and not just for general health) really hits home, I’ve picked some that can have a direct impact on our pole dancing.

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MICRONUTRIENT

FOUND IN

INVOLVED IN

POLE CONSEQUENCES

Vitamin A

Dark leafy greens, orange/red/ yellow veg and fruit

Immune system and other important bodily functions. Can impact on skin’s moisture levels.

Too much can cause rough/dry skin. But too little can cause dry skin, too! Having the right balance of vitamin A might just stop you reaching for the grip aids so often!

Vitamin C

Colourful fruits and veg

Building collagen, improving iron absorption. An antioxidant.

If we don’t get enough vitamin C, we may suffer from slow structural repair – hello, pole kisses!

Calcium

Dairy, dark green veg

Transmission of nerve impulses, muscle contractions and hormone secretion.

Not getting enough calcium can result in muscle stiffness and cramps, which can impact on our flexi moves or make those toe-point charlie horses even more painful!

The above table contains just a few examples, but highlights the impact a well balanced, nutritionally rich diet can have on our pole dance performance. Macronutrients Protein – We all know how important protein is for growth and repair. Just like powerlifters using protein to repair their muscles after a heavy lifting session, we polers need to ensure we’re eating enough protein to repair and rebuild in order to continue growing and getting stronger on the pole. But protein has other jobs to do, too – like transporting substances throughout our bodies and playing a role in hormone levels. We need it to function properly! Not getting enough protein in our diets will reduce our athletic performance, slow down our recovery from training and even lower our immunity levels. It can cause fatigue, lead to overtraining and ultimately impair muscle growth, which is bad news for strength gains and overall body composition, too. Fat - As the most energy-dense macronutrient, fat not only provides us with energy, but it also supports our metabolism, affects hormone production and immunity, and is used in the absorption of vitamins, too. Fat is satiating (it helps us feel full between meals) and has many other benefits when 61

consumed in moderation. As we already know, some foods are more nutrient-dense and beneficial to our health than others, and the same applies to the fats in our diets. Industrially produced fats like trans-fatty acids and hydrogenated fats should ideally be kept to a minimum. ‘Healthy fats’ – like Omega 3s and monounsaturated fats from whole foods like nuts and seeds, olives and avocados – should form the bulk of the fats in our diets, as these are most useful for our bodily functions. Carbs – We convert carbohydrates to glucose and use it as energy. We need glucose to survive – in fact, our brains alone need 130 g of glucose a day! We will usually get this from our diet in the form of carbohydrates, but if we don’t eat enough of these (I’m looking at you, my keto friends), our bodies – such clever machines – can produce glucose themselves, provided we have enough fat and protein in our diet. Again, just as some foods are nutrient-dense and others not so much, the same applies to the carbs we eat.

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Complex carbohydrates from whole foods like vegetables and whole grains are digested more slowly, usually keep us fuller for longer and bring with them the added benefits of vitamins, minerals, fibre and water, like the yams in the image above. Simple, refined and highly processed carbohydrates are digested more quickly. They are not as satiating (so we don’t feel full after eating them), and they don’t come with the added benefit of nutrients. Instead, they are usually loaded with industrially produced trans fats, preservatives and flavourings.

Habits to aim for Bearing all of that in mind, when it comes to WHAT you are eating, there are some solid fundamental goals to aim for. Drink 2 litres of water every day Ensuring you are properly hydrated is a game changer. Our bodies need water to function properly, and not drinking enough can impact on our athletic performance and energy. Don’t overlook this simple but super-important aspect of your nutrition. Eat at least 5 portions of fruit/veg daily Remember all those micronutrients we need to function optimally? The best way to get them into your diet is to eat a wide variety of different fruits and vegetables. Aiming for 5 portions every day is a good goal. When it comes to choosing your veggies, the fresher the better! And choose the most colourful beauties you can find – they usually contain the most nutrients. Eat mostly nutritious, whole, minimally processed foods This is really where we ensure that we are eating more of those nutrient-rich foods and fewer of those nutrient-poor foods. If 80 to 90% of your diet is made up of whole, minimally processed foods, 63

then you are probably in a good place in terms of ensuring you are eating the right things to support your training and give your body the nutrients it needs.

STEP 3: HOW MUCH YOU ARE EATING Once you are eating the ‘right kinds of things’, ensuring you are eating them with a wellbalanced ratio between carbs, fat and protein is a great goal to aim for. That ratio can vary, depending on many factors, including your activity levels, your weight, your personal tastes and your weight loss/gain goals. If you want to get down to the exact grams and look at different ‘macro splits’, there are many different methods you can use to calculate these figures. But rather than starting to weigh food and count grams of macros, I prefer to adopt a much simpler approach based on portion sizes, where possible. There are various ways of doing this – the Eatwell Plate is a popular one, and Precision Nutrition have another really helpful method, which uses your hand as a guide for eyeballing portion sizes. This kind of approach is a great way of understanding and managing your macros without obsessively weighing foods and checking in to MyFitnessPal every 2 minutes. Remember: an exact science, it ain’t! General portion sizing guidelines merely allow you to take an educated stab at where you should be and give you an easy way to do it. They are just a starting point. From there, you will need to monitor your energy and recovery levels and tweak those daily guidelines to find what works for your training schedule and any aesthetic goals you might have.

Earn your way to the top of the pyramid! Of course, I could write an entire tome on this subject alone. I’ve simplified my approach to nutrition for the purposes of fitting it into a single chapter of this book. Everyone wants a quick and easy answer to their problems. ‘Lose 10lb in 10 days’ is infinitely more exciting than ‘eat slowly and mindfully and establish a good eating habit for life’. But the truth is that if you spend some time working through the pyramid above and mastering those basics, I truly believe that will be enough for most of you reading this book – and you’ll never need a crash diet again. If you get to the top of that pyramid and find that you still need to refine things a little more – whether that is to gain that extra ‘edge’ in your athletic performance or to change your body composition – THEN this is the point when you should start to fine-tune your nutrition and look at more detailed strategies like macro counting, weighing food, nutrient timing and supplements. Once you have all the basics in place, adopting those advanced strategies often only requires a few manageable tweaks to your diet and lifestyle, and not a huge overhaul! 64

PART 2 WHAT IT TAKES TO BE A POLE NINJA (BENCHMARKS AND EXERCISES)

In this part of the book, we will look at each area of the body in turn and discuss the different patterns of mobility, flexibility and strength required to be a successful pole dancer. We will follow the same basic structure for each aspect of movement: • An explanation of the movement pattern; • Why it is important for pole dancers; • How you can test your own flexibility/mobility/strength in each area to identify your strengths and weaknesses; • Exercises specific to that category of movement – we will use these to build your programme. Where these exercises are not listed as progressions, it means they can be mixed and matched to create variety in your programming, but we will discuss how to do this in Part 4.

As you work your way through this part, you may wish to simply read and digest the information in its pages, and save the tests for later, or you may wish to complete the tests as you go along. You may want to complete ALL the tests, or you may prefer to focus on the areas you know are your weak points. Whichever approach you choose, I strongly encourage you to take as many of the tests as possible, for 2 reasons. Firstly, it will set a ‘starting point’ benchmark so you can review and track your progress. Secondly, it will help you to identify weak areas and therefore determine which exercises to prioritise in your training. Outside of this book, you’ll find hundreds of alternative tests that coaches use to measure and track the progress of their athletes. The tests I have highlighted are those that I have found most useful when working with pole dancers, and they cover the key areas in which we need to excel on the pole. The benchmarks I use are based on normative data, where it was available, from gymnastics, circus and overhead athlete research, combined with my own experience of working with pole dancers and my analysis of the biomechanics of pole. Please be aware that there are inevitably some limitations to self-assessment. Filming the tests on your phone and taking measurements from screenshots is never going to give a 100% accurate result. There may be discrepancies in the angle at which you film, the method you use to take your measurements, and the points you use to calculate the angles. However, these tests are not meant to be a substitute for an in-depth physical assessment, but just a simple method to monitor your progress. Keep your testing conditions consistent, and the results will give you a good representation of where you are and a simple way to track your progression as you work towards your goals. Please make sure you warm up before taking the tests – 5 minutes of any activity that will get your heart rate up a little will do the job – jog on the spot, skip, or dance around the house like a maniac to your favourite jam! On the following page, you will find a movement screen table – this is a template you can use to record your scores for each test. We will come back to these scores later when we start to build your programme.

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THINGS YOU’LL NEED TO TAKE THE TESTS: • • • • • • • • • •

Tape to mark a line on the floor; Wooden dowel (a broom handle will do!); Measuring tape; Stopwatch; Piece of chalk; Pole (for the pulling test); Medicine ball if you wish to take the upper body speed and power test; Phone or camera to film the tests; A kind friend or confused passer-by to help you; Some way of measuring the angles on your photos - search for protractor apps on your phone!

The screening benchmarks in this chapter are just a guide to help you pinpoint where you are in the grand scheme of things. The important thing is that you measure your starting point in each area so you can track your progress. Your goal is to improve on these scores over time.

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MOVEMENT TEST RESULTS SHOULDER & BACK MOBILITY

Test 1: Overhead flexion in neutral

ANGLE:

Test 2: Overhead flexion with external engagement

ANGLE:

Test 3: Internal and external shoulder rotation

EXTERNAL ROTATION LEFT: INTERNAL ROTATION LEFT: TOTAL RANGE LEFT:

EXTERNAL ROTATION RIGHT: INTERNAL ROTATION RIGHT: TOTAL RANGE RIGHT:

TOTAL RANGE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN LEFT AND RIGHT: Test 4: Shoulder extension

ANGLE:

Test 5: Thoracic ANGLE LEFT: rotation ANGLE RIGHT:

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LEG & HIP MOBILITY

Test 6: Passive hamstring flexibility

DISTANCE:

Test 7: Nerve tension

NERVE TENSION Y/N

Test 8: Active hamstring flexibility

ANGLE LEFT:

Test 9: Active hip extension

ANGLE LEFT:

Test 10: Active hip abduction

ANGLE LEFT:

Test 11: Internal and external hip rotation

INTERNAL ROTATION ANGLE RIGHT:

ANGLE RIGHT:

ANGLE RIGHT: ANGLE RIGHT: EXTERNAL ROTATION ANGLE RIGHT:

INTERNAL ROTATION ANGLE LEFT: EXTERNAL ROTATION ANGLE LEFT: STRENGTH & POWER

Test 12: Pushing strength

NUMBER OF REPS:

Test 13: Pulling SCORE: strength

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Test 14: Upper body power

DISTANCE:

Test 15: Lower body power

DISTANCE:

CORE STRENGTH

WRISTS & GRIP

Test 16: Core strength in flexion/ extension

ANGLE:

Test 17: Core strength in lateral flexion

TIME:

Test 18: Core strength in rotation

TAPS:

Test 19: Wrist extension

ANGLE LEFT:

Test 20: Wrist flexion

ANGLE LEFT:

Test 21: Ulna and radial deviation

ULNA DEVIATION ANGLE LEFT:

ANGLE RIGHT: ANGLE RIGHT: RADIAL DEVIATION ANGLE LEFT:

ULNA DEVIATION ANGLE RIGHT: RADIAL DEVIATION ANGLE RIGHT: Test 22: Wrist pronation and supination

PRONATION ANGLE LEFT: SUPINATION ANGLE LEFT:

PRONATION ANGLE RIGHT: SUPINATION ANGLE RIGHT: Test 23: Grip strength TOE POINT

LEFT LBS/KGS: RIGHT LBS/KGS:

Test 24: Toe DORSIFLEXION ANGLE LEFT: point and ankle PLANTAR FLEXION LEFT: mobility DORSIFLEXION ANGLE RIGHT: PLANTAR FLEXION RIGHT:

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SHOULDER & BACK MOBILITY

First, let’s geek out a little bit (just a little) on the biomechanics of our shoulders... Shoulders are probably the most talked about body parts in pole – and with good reason! We need our shoulders to be highly mobile in order to contort ourselves gracefully around the pole. Our shoulder joints allow us to do this because they are freakin’ AMAZING! They are the most mobile joints in the human body – we can move our arms in pretty much any crazy direction we choose. But all this mobility comes at a price – it means our shoulder joints are inherently unstable, so they require a lot of extra support (ie strength) from the musculature around them to ensure control and stability. And because we also spend a lot of time hanging our body weight from our shoulders in crazy positions, we need our shoulders to be REALLY strong in those end ranges of mobility. If we are lacking in the necessary shoulder strength or movement mechanics to perform the extreme positions that pole demands, our body has a habit of finding other (more dysfunctional) ways to achieve them, which puts us at a greater risk of injury, too.

SHOULDER & BACK MOBILITY

Research into musculoskeletal injuries (Nicholas et al, 2019) has confirmed that the shoulder is, indeed, the most frequently injured area for pole dancers (around 22% of injuries reported in that study were shoulder related). Those injuries were primarily intrinsic (strains or sprains caused by incorrect technique, muscle weakness, lack of flexibility, or biomechanical imbalance) and insidious injuries (gradually built up over time). Therefore, the training approaches we have already discussed – i.e. focusing on proper technique, gradually building up strength and flexibility, keeping our training balanced and avoiding overuse - are all key to reducing injury risk. Screening our shoulders to ensure we have the necessary mobility, strength and movement mechanics for certain moves before we start to train them on the pole is another effective way of keeping injuries at bay. In this chapter, we will consider the biomechanics of our shoulders and introduce some of the screening tests we can use to identify our limitations and track our progress.

Shoulder movements The shoulder is a ball and socket joint, which is what gives our arms all that lovely mobility. It means we can move our arms in multiple planes of motion: we can bring them out in front of us and move them overhead (flexion); we can take them behind us (extension); we can bring them out to the sides or pull them tight to our bodies (abduction and adduction); we can also rotate our arms internally and externally; and we can take our arm in a full circular motion, too (circumduction).

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SHOULDER & BACK MOBILITY

Head and shoulders above the rest! Because we’re pole dancers and we’re as extra as a Lady Gaga Met Gala entrance, we don’t often perform these movements in isolation on the pole. And because our apparatus is vertical, when we’re cutting shapes on the pole, it is rare that both arms are doing the same thing at the same time! If one area of our shoulder strength or mobility is limited, it can affect our ability to pole in many (often not immediately obvious) ways. To truly excel at pole and reduce our risk of injury, we must address every aspect and work on our weaknesses so we are strong in every detail. In this chapter, we will look at each of these shoulder movements in turn and discuss how each one plays an important part in the sport of pole. You will also start to identify the weak points in your own shoulder mobility and strength that may be restricting your pole performance and/or putting you at risk of injury. Once you have identified these areas, you can work on improving them in your training programme.

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SHOULDER & BACK MOBILITY

Example of multiple shoulder movements on the pole: internal rotation of top arm, flexion and abduction of both arms in an Iron X

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SHOULDER FLEXION Why is shoulder flexion so important for pole dancers?

SHOULDER & BACK MOBILITY

Shoulder flexion

Flexion is the movement of bringing our arms directly out in front of us and raising them overhead. Because we have our arms directly overhead A LOT in pole, this position is particularly important for pole dancers. Having our arms overhead is a complicated business. If we do not have the necessary strength and mobility to get our arms directly overhead (180 degrees of flexion), our body will compensate for it in other dysfunctional ways.

Let’s look at handstands as an example... Hands up if you wanna handstand! Yes, yes, yes! *Waves hands in the air like teacher’s pet with all the answers.* Me, me, me! I’m pretty sure some sort of handstand variation is on every poler’s trick wish list, and as you’ll find out later on, I LOVE programming handstands for pole dancers! But many people struggle with the handstand position due to a mobility or strength restriction in the flexed (overhead) position. In the picture below, hopefully you can see how my wrists, shoulders and hips are stacked pretty much in a straight line. 75

Shoulder flexion SHOULDER & BACK MOBILITY

In lieu of the necessary shoulder mobility to get this straight line (180-degree) position, the back will usually arch to compensate, the ribs will flare, the shoulders may jut out, and the body will likely take an angle that looks more like the red line shown above. I use this handstand example because it is easy to see the deviation from the ‘correct’ line, but the same applies to any other pole move where we have our arms overhead. This means all those pretty back bend moves...

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Shoulder flexion SHOULDER & BACK MOBILITY

...the Ayesha where we form a straight 180 degree line from our bottom hand to our hip...

...and, of course, ALL THE SPINS! To achieve these moves, we first need the mobility to get our arms into this 180-degree 77

overhead position, and we then need the strength to hold our body weight there. But that’s not all. To achieve this overhead position safely and reduce risk of injury, we also need good shoulder mechanics. To explain this, we need to look a little more closely at the physiology of the shoulder.

SHOULDER & BACK MOBILITY

Shoulder flexion

A closer look at the shoulder Thanks to computers, desk jobs, smartphones and tight pecs, we have a tendency to internally rotate (round the shoulders forward). This is one of the reasons why, in the fitness industry, we love to cue the opposite when we exercise: EXTERNAL rotation. If you’ve heard cues like ‘break the bar’ while using a barbell, ‘elbows forward’ in pull-ups, ‘screw the hands into the floor/spread the floor with your hands’ while doing press-ups, or heard of the concept of ‘creating torque’ through the shoulders, these are all common cues for external rotation. These cues help to set the humerus in its optimal position – its rightful home and where it operates at the top of its game and puts minimal stress on the soft tissue around it: in the centre of the shoulder joint with maximum space around it for movement. Let’s do a quick experiment so you can feel and understand the difference between internal and external rotation of the shoulder. With your arm by your side, bend it to 90 degrees and then rotate the hand out to the side (external rotation). Maintaining that angle with the elbow, bring the arm out to the side and start to raise it overhead towards your ear as I’m demonstrating in the image below.

Now, try the same thing again, but this time, bring the arm into internal rotation so your hand is rotated inwards, towards your tummy. Again, maintaining that elbow and shoulder position, try to do the same movement you just did: bring the arm out to the side and towards your ear. 78

Shoulder flexion SHOULDER & BACK MOBILITY

Couldn’t get as far on that second one, huh? Feel kinda jammy in the shoulder when you got to a certain point? This is because, when the arm abducts (moves out to the side and overhead), we naturally externally rotate the humerus. Without this external rotation, the structure of our shoulder joint restricts that overhead movement. When you internally rotate your arm, you decrease the space available in the shoulder joint (the ‘subacromial’ space) where the rotator cuff tendons live. This is why the externally rotated position is favoured in most movements - it reduces the risk of our rotator cuff tendons being squished by the bony structures of our shoulder.

The rotator cuff is the group of muscles primarily responsible for creating movement and stability around our shoulder joint. The rotator cuff tendons (which attach the rotator cuff muscle to the bone) are shown on the image above. 79

SHOULDER & BACK MOBILITY

Shoulder flexion

When we lift our arm towards shoulder height or above, that ‘space’ in the shoulder joint is decreased even more, and another important thing needs to happen in order to create optimal space for those rotator cuff tendons: the scapula (shoulder blade) has to rotate upwards.

If your arm is overhead and you are squeezing the shoulder blade ‘back and down’, you are essentially fighting against this upward rotation of the shoulder blade and therefore restricting the proper mechanics of your shoulder joint. If you train handstands, you’ll often hear the cue of ‘shrugging at the shoulders/pushing the ground away’. This is to help support that scapular upward rotation. In pole, when you are taught to ‘engage’ the shoulders, you will probably think of the ‘down and back’ action of squeezing your shoulder blades together, but when your arms are 180 degrees overhead, excessively squeezing the shoulder blades ‘down and back’ can be counterintuitive to this scapular upward rotation. Having the scapula in that upwardly rotated position, while also engaging the shoulders in an externally rotated position, is what you should be focusing on when your arms are overhead. This can be extremely difficult to achieve and often requires many weeks and months of coaching and drilling of movement patterns so that your body (and brain) understand exactly what that engagement should feel like OFF the pole, before being able to replicate it ON the pole. The importance of this external engagement is why I like to measure overhead shoulder mobility (flexion) in both a neutral and an externally engaged position.

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TEST 1: OVERHEAD FLEXION IN NEUTRAL Sit with your back against the wall with your legs tucked. The tucked position is important because it puts the spine into a flexed position and prevents you from ‘cheating’ by arching the back.

Keep your elbows straight and hands in line with your shoulders (try not to take your arms wide as you lift them). Video this movement from the side and take a screenshot at the furthest point you are able to hold your arms straight for 3 seconds, without changing your rib/back positioning. This is the angle you will measure as shown in the image below.

SHOULDER & BACK MOBILITY

Shoulder flexion

Engage your abs – keep your ribs down and lower back against the wall. Bring your hands out in front with palms facing each other and then bring them overhead as close to the wall as you can.

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GOAL Because that 180-degree position is so crucial for so many of the moves we do in pole, this is our goal for this test. RESULT

Less than 180 degrees

Muggle

180 degrees or more

Pole ninja

TEST 2: OVERHEAD FLEXION WITH EXTERNAL ENGAGEMENT For this test, the positioning is the same as above, but this time, you are going to see how high you can lift your arms while engaging your shoulders in an externally rotated position. Turn your palms and elbow pits to face the ceiling, and lift your arms towards the wall, maintaining that engagement and keeping your arms straight. Video this from the side and take a screenshot at the furthest point you are able to hold your arms straight for 3 seconds while maintaining that externally rotated position.

SHOULDER & BACK MOBILITY

Shoulder flexion

ANGLE

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SHOULDER & BACK MOBILITY

Shoulder flexion

Keep a close eye on your elbow positioning here. As soon as your elbow starts to rotate out to side, you are losing your external rotation engagement – take the measurement at the furthest point you can reach before your elbow rotates to the side.

GOAL Don’t be surprised if your range of movement here is much less than in the first test. That is normal – especially if you are not used to training the externally rotated position overhead. In my experience of testing and training this position with many pole dancers, reaching around 160 degrees and above is achievable with good strength and body awareness. ANGLE

RESULT

140 degrees or less

Poor

140 to 150 degrees

Muggle

150 to 155 degrees

Average

155 to 160 degrees

Good

160+ degrees

Pole ninja

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SHOULDER FLEXION EXERCISES Below are the shoulder flexion exercises you can use to build your programme later. I recommend a combination of neural mobility drills, active mobility exercises and passive stretches for the best results. We’ll discuss how to build workouts with these exercises in Part 4. Click on the exercise images to watch a video with more detailed instructions.

SHOULDER & BACK MOBILITY

Shoulder flexion

Neural mobility exercises Foam roll lats

Mobility roll pecs Foam rolling the ‘tight’ muscles that can restrict our overhead shoulder flexion, like our lats and pecs, acts like a ‘mini massage’. This helps to ease that tension and tightness, allowing us to access a greater range of movement. If we then work in this newly opened range of movement with our active mobility exercises, over time this leads to mobility gains.

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SHOULDER & BACK MOBILITY

Shoulder flexion

Foam roll upper back

Mobility roll upper traps

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SHOULDER & BACK MOBILITY

Shoulder flexion

Mobility roll lower traps and rhomboids

Roll with a single ball against the wall, following the red line shown on the image above.

Active mobility exercises Front raise with band This exercise can be progressed by using a dumbbell instead of a resistance band, but you won’t need to go heavy to feel a challenge here.

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SHOULDER & BACK MOBILITY

Shoulder flexion

Overhead arm lifts in neutral

With the arm extended, first push forwards (upwardly rotating the shoulder blades), then lift up towards the ceiling. If you find this exercise easy in the quadruped position above, you can progress it to the more challenging child’s pose position shown in the image below. The child’s pose position puts our spine into a flexed position, so we cannot ‘cheat’ and use the lower back.

Once comfortable here, you can then advance to the externally engaged position in the next exercise progression.

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SHOULDER & BACK MOBILITY

Shoulder flexion

Arm lifts with external engagement

Once you have mastered the above movement with the shoulders in a neutral position, progress it by moving to an externally rotated position, keeping the elbow pits facing the ceiling. You want to be working right at the end range of your ability, so when this exercise becomes easy, make sure you are challenging yourself by pushing further into that really difficult to hold range – that’s where the good stuff happens!

If you need to, you can further progress to doing this exercise lying tummy-down on the floor.

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Hanging drill

Shoulder flexion

I first saw the awesome Dr Emily Scherb of The Circus Doc using this exercise and have found it incredibly useful for helping clients understand what it feels like to engage in an externally rotated position with the arms overhead. Hold a dowel or broom handle and slowly bring it up overhead, keeping your core engaged (ribs down) and elbow pits pointing behind you to maintain external engagement at the shoulders. It can be done with an underhand (easier) or overhand (more challenging) grip.

SHOULDER & BACK MOBILITY

Keep an eye out for the elbows rotating!

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SHOULDER & BACK MOBILITY

Shoulder flexion

Wall angel

Bringing your elbows away from the wall in this exercise should help to create a posterior tilt of the shoulder blades. Slide your hands up the wall as far as you can while keeping the back of the hand in contact with the wall. Wall slide

Bring the foam roller to the wall above your head, keeping the elbows pointing forwards and parallel. If you can get there comfortably, challenge yourself by slowly sliding the roller up the wall, maintaining that elbow positioning. Do this one in front of a mirror - your elbows might not be doing what you think they are doing! 90

SHOULDER & BACK MOBILITY

Shoulder flexion

Serratus slide

Weighted pull overs

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Passive stretches Pec stretch on pole This pec stretch is a modification of the popular ‘doorway stretch’, using the pole to ‘pin’ the humerus in position. Keep your shoulders down and back for this one!

SHOULDER & BACK MOBILITY

Shoulder flexion

You might not feel a huge stretch here, but trust that it is working! This is a great stretch to add at the end of a pole class, too!

Lat stretch on pole Push away from the pole to deepen the stretch - another perfect one to include after your pole training, too!

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Wall downdog

Shoulder flexion

Resist the temptation to arch the back here - keep the core engaged (ribs down) and actively push into the wall while you stretch.

SHOULDER & BACK MOBILITY

Dolphin with external rotation

Position your hands on the wall so your thumbs are pointing up towards the ceiling. Push the chest through and aim for a straight line from elbow to hips - use a mirror or film on your phone to check your positioning! 93

SHOULDER ROTATION Why is shoulder rotation so important for pole dancers?

SHOULDER & BACK MOBILITY

Shoulder rotation

We’ve already talked a little bit about rotation, and although externally rotated is the most stable position for our shoulders, we often use an internally rotated position in pole, too.

The table top split above, for example, requires us to internally rotate the shoulder to position the bottom arm.

Pole is unusual in that we quite often rotate our arm one way, but isometrically press the opposite way. For example, in the Pegasus opposite, my top arm is internally rotated, but I’m squeezing the opposite way (into external rotation) to secure my grip on the pole. 94

Shoulder rotation SHOULDER & BACK MOBILITY

Because we twist and rotate so much on the pole and put all our body weight into those positions, a limitation in either internal or external rotation or strength will greatly impact on our ability to pole safely and increase our risk of shoulder injury. Joanna Nicholas’ study on musculoskeletal injuries in pole dancers confirmed that loaded internal shoulder rotation is the primary contributor to injury onset (Nicholas et al, 2019), so screening for internal shoulder rotation is particularly important, especially if you want to use moves that require a twisted grip. In fact, the whole twisted grip debate is so crucial that I have dedicated an entire section of this book to it and set out some additional ‘twisted grip screening’ recommendations which you can find later in this chapter.

TEST 3: INTERNAL AND EXTERNAL SHOULDER ROTATION To test rotation, lie on a bench with your back flat against it. Engage the abs and keep the ribs down. Take one arm directly out to the side in line with the shoulder then move it down slightly just a couple of inches. Bend the elbow to 90 degrees. You want the forearm to be off the side of the bench so the bench does not block your movement at the end of your range. Keeping the back of your shoulder in contact with the bench, slowly rotate the arm forward, moving the palm of the hand as far as you can towards the floor before the shoulder begins to move away from the bench. This measures your internal rotation. 95

Shoulder rotation SHOULDER & BACK MOBILITY

Then reverse that movement to bring the back of the hand towards the floor, again as far as you can without lifting the upper arm away from the bench. Maintain the 90-degree angle of the arm throughout the whole test. This measures your external rotation. Film this from the side, and screenshot the furthest point you are able to reach and hold for 3 seconds in each position so you can measure the angles, as indicated in the images above. We want to measure both directions from the starting point and also add these 2 angles together to get a ‘total range’ angle.

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In the example above, my internal rotation is 53 degrees and my external rotation is 105 degrees. This gives me a total range of 158 degrees. You will need to do this for both sides so you can also compare your left and right angles.

GOAL

SHOULDER & BACK MOBILITY

Shoulder rotation

We will record and track each individual aspect of rotation, the ‘total range’ of rotation and also the difference between our left and right sides.

Total range of motion and symmetry There have been numerous studies on the shoulder rotation of overhead athletes, mainly carried out on baseball players. Baseball pitchers move through a high degree of force from an external to an internal position when they pitch, and although the movement mechanics of baseball are very different to pole, we still move through these extremes of rotation with our arms overhead, often with a high degree of force and usually in a weight-bearing position. So until we have more relevant guidance, we can use these overhead athlete studies as a point of reference. For the general, non-athlete population, a total range of 160 degrees is ‘normal’, but for overhead athletes, the total range is usually closer to 180 degrees, so we are aiming for this higher end for our total range of motion. Complete symmetry between our left and right sides is rare, especially because the onesided nature of our sport means we polers are a wonky bunch, but you are aiming to have both sides (left and right arms) within 5 degrees of each other in your total range. Again, this benchmark is taken from studies on overhead athletes who tend to have increased external rotation and reduced internal rotation in their dominant arm, but if the total range side-to-side difference is within 5 degrees, this is considered ‘normal’ for this population of overhead athletes (Cools et al, 2015). MEASUREMENT

GOAL

Total range

170 to 180 degrees

Total range difference between left and right arms

5 degrees or less

Internal vs external rotation The ‘normal’ range of 160 degrees of total rotation is usually made up of around 90 degrees of external rotation and 70 degrees of internal rotation, but, as mentioned, this ratio of external-internal rotation usually differs between dominant and non-dominant arms in overhead athletes. 97

The ‘normal’ 180 degrees of rotation in overhead athletes is typically closer to 130 degrees of external rotation and 50 degrees of internal rotation on the dominant arm, and 120 degrees of external rotation and 60 degrees of internal rotation on the non-dominant arm.

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Shoulder rotation

Because we use an internally rotated position so much in pole and bear our whole body weight on it (twisted grip and tabletop grip – I’m looking at you guys), I prefer to see this ratio closer to the 110 to 120 degrees of external and 60 to 70 degrees of internal range, but until we have more scientific data to go on, this really is a guesstimate, but it is a good rough guide. ROTATION

GOAL

External rotation

110 to 120 degrees

Internal rotation

60 to 70 degrees

SHOULDER ROTATION EXERCISES Below are the shoulder rotation exercises you can use to build your programme later. I recommend a combination of neural mobility drills, active mobility exercises and passive stretches for the best results. We’ll discuss how to build workouts with these exercises in Part 4. Click on the exercise images to watch a video with more detailed instructions.

Neural mobility Use the foam rolling drills listed for Shoulder Flexion above, PLUS the mobility rolling exercise below can be useful if your internal rotation is limited.

Mobility roll posterior shoulder Tightness in the posterior shoulder can restrict our internal rotation mobility. Rolling the the back of the shoulder can help to relieve some of this tightness and increase our range of movement. If we then work in this newly opened range with our active mobility exercises, over time we can build increased mobility.

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Active mobility exercises

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Shoulder rotation

Internal rotation with band

External rotation with band

For both of these exercises, keep your elbow close, but slightly ahead of the midline of your body - avoid squeezing your arm tight into the side! Keep everything still as you rotate the arm and maintain a 90 degree angle at the elbow.

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Shoulder rotation

Lateral internal rotation with band

Lateral external rotation with band

In the above exercises, we are working internal and external rotation with the arm abducted. Keep the elbow in line with the shoulder with the arm bent at a 90 degree angle. Try to maintain that elbow positioning as you pull the band forwards/back.

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Shoulder rotation

Internal rotation isometric press into blocks

External rotation lift offs

The above two exercises should be performed as a sequence. This sequence is very intense for the shoulders, so if you are new to this movement, don’t push too hard – let your body gradually adjust over the weeks while you build intensity here. Bring your arm out to the side at a 90 degree angle, with the elbow also bent at 90 degrees. You need to find the end range of your passive external rotation, so use an object – like a yoga block - and play around until you find the highest point you can prop your hand in this position, with your elbow still on the floor. If you can’t get your hand onto a block – your end range position may simply be the floor and that is fine – you can do this exercise without a block! Once you find the position, create tension by squeezing everything – including the legs, 101

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Shoulder rotation

glutes and engage the core. Keeping the elbow down, push with your hand, trying to rotate the hand into the block. You are not pushing through the whole forearm like a pec dec, but trying to rotate and push through the hand while keeping elbow down. This is your isometric press. Hold for a count of 10 seconds and slowly increase the intensity during that 10 second count. The second exercise works in the opposite direction. Create the same tension and rotate the arm the opposite way – lifting your hand off the block and keeping your elbow down. Hold the hand off the block for a count of 5. I usually do 5 sets of these lift offs and they should feel tough! You should only JUST be able to lift off the block – if you are getting a few inches of clearance then find a higher object so you are only just able to lift. Internal rotation pulls

These pulls mimic the top arm pull we use in a twisted grip handspring. They can be used as a way of prepping our shoulders and getting used to the feeling of pulling in the internally rotated position so we can understand what should be engaging in this movement before we start doing it on the pole. The first version above is an adduction pull in internal rotation and the second one is a front pull from flexion towards extension. 102

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Shoulder rotation

I-T-Y with rotation

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The above exercise takes your shoulder through both internal and external rotation, first with the arms slightly extended (by your side or just behind you), then with them abducted (out to the sides), and finally with them overhead, all while maintaining your core engagement and balance on the ball - this makes it a great combo for prepping your shoulders for pole.

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Shoulder rotation

Passive stretches Use the passive stretches listed for Shoulder Flexion above, PLUS the additional stretch below can be useful if your internal rotation is limited. Crossbody horizontal adduction stretch

Raise your arm in front of you at shoulder height then bring it across your body, holding gently at the elbow with the opposite hand. To feel more of a stretch, you can bend the elbow. You should feel this stretch at the back of the shoulder.

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SHOULDER EXTENSION Why is shoulder extension so important for pole dancers?

SHOULDER & BACK MOBILITY

Shoulder extension

Shoulder extension is the movement of bringing our arms behind us. We use it in pole for all those ‘closed’ versions of tricks where we have to grab a leg or foot behind us...

...and of course for any iguana-based moves.

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If your hip extension flexibility is good but you struggle with closed moves, or you feel like a T-rex trying to find the pole behind you when setting up for an iguana, your shoulder extension mobility may be a limiting factor.

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Shoulder extension

TEST 4: SHOULDER EXTENSION Lie on your tummy and hold on to a wooden dowel (a broom handle works!) with your palms facing the ceiling. Keeping them straight, lift your arms up behind you as high as you can manage. Film this from the side and take a screenshot at the furthest point you can reach and hold for 3 seconds so you can measure the angle, as shown in the image below.

Shoulder positioning in extension When you come into the end range of your extended position, there should be a balance between the forward tipping of the shoulder blades and the extension of the arm. You don’t want the whole movement to come from your shoulder blades tipping forward, but equally, you don’t want it to come from the extension of the arm alone with no shoulder movement at all. If you can see and/or feel that your shoulder extension is coming from one of these extremes, you might benefit from having a hands-on physio examination to take a closer look at your shoulder mechanics.

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GOAL

Shoulder extension

The angle that is considered good for ‘normal’ non-aerialists is 45 to 60 degrees. According to an (as yet unpublished) study on circus artists by physiotherapist, Carlie Huberman, most professional aerialists are able to acheive around 90 degrees of extension. The starting point for the iguana deadlift from the floor requires around a 45-50 degree angle and the advanced iguana plank position we use in pole requires around 90 degrees of shoulder extension, so this will be our end goal. ANGLE

RESULT

Below 45 degrees

Poor

45 to 60 degrees

Muggle (minimum for iguana deadlift)

60 to 75 degrees

Average

75 to 85 degrees

Good

85 to 90 degrees

Pole ninja (minimum for iguana flag)

SHOULDER & BACK MOBILITY

SHOULDER EXTENSION EXERCISES Below are the shoulder extension exercises you can use to build your programme later. We’ll discuss how to build workouts with these exercises in Part 4. Click on the exercise images to watch a video with more detailed instructions. Resisted shoulder extension with band Secure the resistance band under your feet to create an anchor point. Keep a slight bend in the knees and core engaged as you pull the band directly behind you. The band adds resistance to the movement of shoulder extension, helping you to build strength here.

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Pull from shoulder extension with band

SHOULDER & BACK MOBILITY

Shoulder extension

This exercise works the opposite direction - pulling from a position of shoulder extension into the direction of flexion.

Shoulder extension lift off

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Shoulder extension

Reverse plank

In iguana-based moves, we are usually pulling in extension so this push in extension can be a good ‘muscle balancing’ exercise to include if you are working on your iguana!

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Why is shoulder abduction and adduction so important for pole dancers? Abduction is the movement of bringing our arms out to the sides and adduction is the opposite - bringing them in towards our body. In my experience, it is very rare that restrictions in abduction and adduction mobility are a limiting factor for pole dancers so I have not included a specific test for them here. However, strength in both abduction and adduction is still important. When we invert, we need to be strong to adduct our arms (squeeze them towards our sides) - we use primarily our lat muscles for this.

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Abduction & adduction

SHOULDER ABDUCTION AND ADDUCTION

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Abduction & adduction SHOULDER & BACK MOBILITY

We also need to be strong in a position that combines both abduction and flexion for moves like the Iron X and flag. Note that the top arm in our flag position is isometrically pulling in the direction of adduction, even though it’s in an abducted position, so although strength and mobility in abduction is important, strength in shoulder adduction is really key for a lot of pole moves.

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Abduction & adduction

SHOULDER ABDUCTION AND ADDUCTION EXERCISES Below are the shoulder abduction and adduction exercises you can use to build your programme later. We also work in abduction and adduction in many of the other shoulder and upper body exercises covered in this book, so I have included only a couple of additional abduction and adduction isolation exercises below. We’ll discuss how to build workouts with these exercises in Part 4. Click on the exercise images to watch a video with more detailed instructions. Shoulder adduction with band

Shoulder abduction with band

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Abduction & adduction

Lateral raise

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THORACIC ROTATION

SHOULDER & BACK MOBILITY

Thoracic rotation

Why is thoracic rotation so important for pole dancers? Thoracic rotation is basically the rotation of our upper back. I realise we are deviating a little from the shoulder here, but I’m including thoracic rotation in this section of the book because if we don’t have enough of it to achieve certain moves on the pole, it is usually our super-mobile shoulder joint that will pick up the slack and take the flak. Thoracic rotation is therefore an important component of shoulder health and injury prevention. We need a good amount of this rotation for any pole tricks where we are twist our body around the pole, like ballerina type positions.

If you are unable to create enough rotation from your thoracic spine, when you reach the top arm for the pole behind you, your shoulder will be more internally rotated than it needs to be. But this is not the only reason thoracic mobility is important. Coupled with overhead flexion, it is the only other test I use for measuring back flexibility! In my experience, most back-bending woes can be fixed by improving hip extension, overhead shoulder mobility and/or thoracic rotation. 114

TEST 5: THORACIC ROTATION Sit on the floor with your knees tucked and a wooden dowel across your shoulders - a broom handle works! Keep as much contact as you can between your shoulders and upper back and the dowel at all times.

SHOULDER & BACK MOBILITY

Thoracic rotation

Slowly rotate one way as far as you can go, without letting that shoulder dip away from the dowel. Then go in the other direction. Keep the weight even in your hips and don’t let your body bend to the side or shift backward or forward.

You will need a kind friend to hold your camera for you, because you need to screenshot and measure the angle from above, as shown in the image below.

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GOAL A good range for a ‘normal person’ is 45 degrees, but the amount of rotation you need to be able to achieve a ballerina-type move is closer to 90 degrees, as we need to rotate our torso maximally in order to reach the pole behind us. So this is our ultimate goal for this movement.

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Thoracic rotation

ANGLE

RESULT

Less than 45 degrees

Poor

45 to 60 degrees

Muggle

60 to 70 degrees

Average

70 to 80 degrees

Good

80 to 90 degrees

Pole ninja

It is normal that pole dancers tend to be a bit unsymettrical in this test, but if there is a significant difference between your right and left sides (10% or greater), you may want to look at addressing this imbalance in your training programme.

THORACIC ROTATION EXERCISES Below are the thoracic rotation exercises you can use to build your programme later. I recommend a combination of neural mobility drills, active mobility exercises and passive stretches for the best results. We’ll discuss how to build workouts with these exercises in Part 4. Click on the exercise images to watch a video with more detailed instructions.

Neural mobility exercises Use the foam rolling drills listed above in the Shoulder Flexion section.

Active mobility exercises As with any exercise, remember that you shouldn’t be just absent-mindedly going through the motions with these movements. Instead, take your time to think about what is happening during the movement. What are your shoulders doing? Are they engaged and active? Is your core still engaged? I put this reminder here because thoracic rotation exercises in particular can feel ‘easy’ if not done correctly. Try to keep your hips square as you rotate your torso and, with the arm that is pushing the wall/ground, think about that push coming from the shoulder - aim to keep the ‘pushing side’ scapula in a neutral or slightly protracted position. The same cue applies to all exercises in this section. 116

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Thoracic rotation

Thoracic rotation with band 1

Thoracic rotation with band 2

Performing the banded thoracic rotation against the wall should be your start point, however, note that in this standing position, your hips are free to come along for the ride. Progressing this movement to the quadruped position above increases the difficulty because it puts your hips in a much more fixed position, isolating the thoracic rotation.

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Thoracic rotation

Thoracic rotation push through

Here, we are performing the same thoracic rotation, but pushing through from the opposite direction. Thoracic rotation with stability ball

Adding a stability ball to the thoracic rotation adds an additional shoulder stabilisation challenge for the arm that is pressing into the wall. This is perfect for pole dancers as we often have to rotate while maintaining shoulder engagement. Really focus on that ‘push’ coming from the shoulder and try to keep the hip bones pointing forwards as you rotate the upper body. 118

Passive stretches Seated twist

SHOULDER & BACK MOBILITY

Thoracic rotation

The seated twist is such a lovely stretch think about elongating the spine, opening the chest and keeping the shoulders back!

Revolved side angle pose

The revolved side angle pose is a fantastic yoga stretch for thoracic rotation. Make sure you are keeping the chest open and shoulders back - don’t trap the elbow in front of the knee if you cannot maintain engagement of that bottom shoulder!

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THE THING ABOUT TWISTED GRIP Twisted grip is so often discussed (and demonised) in pole that I thought it deserved an entire section of its own. Twisted grip is a weird position that isn’t commonly seen outside of the pole and circus world, and there isn’t much in the way of scientific research on it. Needless to say, when I wrote about this topic for my blog, my own research on it kinda spiralled outta control, ending with me consulting physios and conducting my own slo-mo biomechanical analysis of different handspring grip positions… so… yeah… I kinda geeked out a bit back there.

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Twisted grip

Very quickly, before we get on to the good stuff… We pole dancers just LOVE to overcomplicate the names of moves (seriously, don’t even get me started on the inside/outside leg hang, Scorpio/Gemini debate) so just so we’re clear about the terminology here… When I say ‘Ayesha’, I mean the end position (inverted straddle), and with ‘handspring’, I’m talking about the dynamic movement to get up into the Ayesha position straight from the floor. And here is the difference between the 3 main grip positions for Ayesha that we will discuss in this chapter:

We good? Good! Now, back to twisted grip! Ayeshas, handsprings, Iron X and handspring deadlifts: these are the kind of pole goals that every pole dancer dreams of achieving. I’ve worked with many pole dancers on these exact goals in my personalised programmes with great success, but one thing has held me back from launching ‘preset’ programmes for these kinds of moves: the bad rep of twisted grip! Research into the biomechanics and injury risks of pole dance is still only just starting to 120

emerge from the scientific community, but after Sarah Scott’s awesome analogy (pitching twisted grip as the chocolate cake of pole dance) went ‘pole world viral’ (if you haven’t seen it, check out her YouTube!), there definitely seems to be a wider sense within the pole world that ‘twisted grip is baaad, mkay’.

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Twisted grip

This has since been confirmed by Joanna Nicholas’ pioneering scientific research into pole dancing injuries (Nicholas et al, 2019). When I started teaching pole, I chose not to teach twisted grip to my in-person pole students. Even though most of my online clients favoured twisted grip for Ayesha and handspring movements, I had always strongly encouraged them to learn true and cup grip and supported them through the process of starting to incorporate more of these grip variations into their training, too. The problem was, I felt a little uncomfortable about my unease with and avoidance of twisted grip. As a strength coach, my aim in life is to make my clients stronger, to ‘do no harm’ and to help them become as robust and injury-proof as possible – hence my approaching twisted grip with caution. BUT, ultimately, my main goal must always be to prepare my clients for the demands of their sport. Because that sport includes twisted grip, I began to realise I was really doing them more of a disservice by avoiding it. As a strength coach, it isn’t my job to dictate the demands of my clients’ sport. If I were coaching a tennis player, I wouldn’t be forcing them to use their non-dominant hand for serving. I wouldn’t be telling them that diving for a ball that’s heading for the baseline should be avoided because it’s risky for their shoulders. Instead, I would be helping them to balance out that unilateral movement they do with off-the-court conditioning. I would be helping them to build strength and stability in their shoulders that will enable them to perform the extreme movement patterns they need to excel at their sport. To me, pole is no different. As long as pole remains a performance sport and an art – by which I essentially mean it is visually ‘entertaining’ in the same way as ice skating, dance and circus – whether you are performing on stage, competing or just plain filming tricks and combos for your Insta account, pole dancers will always look for moves that give the illusion of floating and make an audience go WOW. Part of the magic of that is making difficult moves look effortless. If that means utilising a physically less demanding grip position, you betcha people will do it, especially if they can’t manage the alternative. Twisted grip is the elephant in the room. Even if we keep looking away, that giant, trunkswinging efalump ain’t going anywhere. So I decided to grab that elephant by its unwieldy trunk and look it square in the eye. This section is the result of my one-woman mission to explain exactly why twisted grip has such a bad rep, to debunk some twisted grip myths, and to compare the biomechanics of the handspring/Ayesha in all 3 grips. I hope it will help you to appreciate this misunderstood grip a little more. 121

Twisty = internal rotation The main reason twisted grip handsprings are considered ‘risky’ for the shoulders is the top arm and all that internal rotation.

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Twisted grip

Take a look at the top arm movement in the handspring. We’ll come back to the bottom arm shortly!

Top arm angles in twisted grip handspring Notice a few things that are going on with my top arm: • It starts in a slightly extended (ie arm slightly behind me), abducted (ie arm out to the side) position at about a 120-degree angle from my torso and internally rotated; • It ends flexed slightly in front of my body, at about a 90-degree angle to my torso, still in that internally rotated position; • It remains straight and internally rotated throughout the whole movement. Essentially, from a biomechanical point of view, when we handspring, we are taking the top shoulder through circumduction (a combination of flexion, extension, abduction and adduction), all in an internally rotated position. It is this internal rotation that puts the ‘twisty’ in twisted grip. As we’ve already discussed, the externally rotated position is the most stable for our shoulders, especially when our arms are overhead. Twisted grip puts our arm into the less optimal INTERNALLY rotated position, which really is the main reason why it has such a bad rep.

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As we know, internal rotation makes the space in the shoulder joint smaller, which can mean that our rotator cuff tendons are more likely to come into contact with the bony structures of the shoulder. It can also put a lot of stress on the front of the shoulder, which is much less supported by musculature than the back of the shoulder, so is more vulnerable to injury. However, like all extremes of movement, if our shoulders are properly conditioned to handle this position, there is no reason why we can’t perform this movement safely.  

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Twisted grip

Think back to the principles of fitness we discussed in the first part of this book and the importance of slowly layering and progressing movements over time to build strength. Now, consider how we usually go about learning twisted grip, which tends to go something like this: We learn to Ayesha, then we start to work on handspring technique, at which point we repeat that movement pattern over and over again, flinging our bodies into the air like we are one of those squeezy wooden acrobat toys that has been possessed, until we eventually nail it. Then we continue to repeat that movement in ever more demanding ways by starting to work on more advanced moves like Iron X and deadlifts. Sound familiar? The problem is that we get so busy trying to see if we CAN that we never stop to consider whether we SHOULD. Without first assessing whether we have the necessary mobility to achieve a twisted grip handspring/Ayesha safely, and without slowly and progressively developing the appropriate strength and conditioning to do it BEFORE we start to fling our entire body weight into that position, we are setting ourselves up for failure and injury. In my opinion, it is this lack of gradual strength and conditioning combined with overuse that leads to the rotator cuff issues that are often laid at the door of twisted grip. The previously discussed injury study highlighted that although the internally rotated position was the number one cause of shoulder injuries in pole dancers (6 out of 21 shoulder injuries reported), the injuries caused by the twisted grip Ayesha/handspring (3 out of 6) were all related to overuse. Remember that when we train progressively, our muscles, ligaments and tendons adapt to handle the stress of the movements we are doing. This takes time. And our ligaments and tendons, which don’t have the same blood supply as our muscles, take even longer to strengthen and thicken. It takes approximately 10 weeks of regular resistance training to start to strengthen our tendons – and even longer for them to thicken. If we overload a movement pattern too quickly, our tendons may be unable to adapt quickly enough to cope with the demand being placed on them. The rotator cuff tendons can then become irritated and inflamed, making it very difficult for them to glide smoothly through that subacromial space we talked about earlier, especially if that space is decreased due to internal rotation and/or poor overhead mechanics. Before we look at a better approach to training twisted grip Ayeshas and handsprings, there are a few other interesting biomechanical points I want to explain. 123

1. An overhead position? We’ve established that internal rotation combined with an overhead position is not the most optimal set-up for our shoulders. However, in the Ayesha position, although the top arm IS internally rotated, it isn’t actually overhead, but in front of the body (in flexion) at about 90 degrees.

Obviously, without the appropriate kinaesthetic awareness, shoulder strength and stability, putting your arm into an overhead AND internally rotated position and then flinging your body about is probably not going to end well. But it’s worth noting that the twisted grip Ayesha itself does not put that internally rotated top arm into the more complicated overhead position.

SHOULDER & BACK MOBILITY

Twisted grip

And in the handspring movement, the only time we actually have that internally rotated arm overhead is in the start position. Even then, it is not fully overhead – only at about 120 degrees.

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What’s more, we use an internally rotated position in many other pole moves, too.

SHOULDER & BACK MOBILITY

Twisted grip

For example, the bottom arm in a tabletop grip:

The top arm in a flag grip:

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Twisted grip

And the top arm in a dragonstail:

In fact, the aforementioned injury study identified that half of the shoulder injuries caused by use of the internally rotated position were caused by use of the twisted grip shoulder mount and reverse grip, so it’s important that we don’t lay all the blame at the feet of the twisty Ayesha and recognise that internal rotation is more widely used in pole than we might first think. It is also important when considering screening for twisted grip that we don’t overlook the key aspects of movement mechanics that can also contribute to the risk of injury, in addition to the internal rotation of the shoulder.

2. Forearm pronation Because our arms are pretty clever, we are able to pronate (internally rotate the forearm) 126

while keeping the shoulder externally rotated. If we have mobility restrictions in this forearm pronation, it means that more of the internal rotation required to hold a twisted grip position will have to come from the shoulder.

SHOULDER & BACK MOBILITY

Twisted grip

Notice in the twisted grip flag position how much of the rotation in my top arm is actually coming from my forearm rotation, rather than my shoulder.

3. The bottom arm The bottom arm in the full bracket position is super important, too. Our bottom arm in a twisted grip handspring is NOT internally rotated – it’s externally rotated (yay!) BUT it DOES end up overhead! In the handspring, it actually moves from a place of flexion (in front of the body) and kinda abducted (slightly out to the side and overhead) at around 135 degrees, but ends fully overhead at about 180 degrees.

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Bottom arm angles in twisted grip handspring We already know that when the arm is overhead, the scapula needs to upwardly rotate to create the optimal position for our shoulder joint. This is why the ‘down and back’ cue is not massively helpful when our arms are overhead. So in the same way that we exaggerate the shoulder shrug in a handstand by pushing the floor away, we need to push the pole away with the bottom arm in a handspring. That push should come from the shoulder, not from the elbow/wrist, so that we are actively engaging the correct muscles around the shoulder joint to support that position. The bottom arm position doesn’t change much whichever grip you use – whether you are in twisty, cup or true grip, the arm always ends up fully extended overhead. So this applies whichever grip you use. The problem with twisted grip is that because your top arm is straight, you can essentially ‘cheat’ and just hang from the top arm/shoulder without much engagement there. And even if you ARE actively engaging and pulling with that top shoulder, because the arm is straight and internally rotated, it can be difficult to get a good balance between the push with the bottom arm and the pull of the top arm.

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Twisted grip SHOULDER & BACK MOBILITY

If our ‘pulling’ arm isn’t pulling its weight (see what I did there?), then we’re essentially dumping all our body weight into the bottom arm while it is 180 degrees overhead. And if our bottom shoulder is not set up to handle overhead movements properly, it’s not good news for the rotator cuff tendons on that bottom arm! When we use true or cup grip, we usually have a bend in our top arm and are much more easily able to balance out that push-pull ratio.

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4. Thoracic rotation

SHOULDER & BACK MOBILITY

Twisted grip

Thoracic rotation is important, too, particularly for ballerina type positions and reverse grab movements. If we are unable to fully rotate our torso around the pole, our super mobile shoulder joint can end up picking up some of the slack instead.

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Cup grip is king!

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Twisted grip

Cup grip is the broccoli that cancels out the chocolate cake of twisty, because it essentially overcomes most of the ‘issues’ of twisted grip.

The top arm is in a neutral position throughout the movement = no internal rotation or forearm pronation issues! The top arm doesn’t start in an overhead position. Obviously, this depends on how you set up for your cup grip handspring, but in my experience, twisted grip is usually taught with your body positioned directly in line with the pole (so your top arm is slightly overhead), and cup grip is taught with your body slightly to the side of the pole (so your top arm is about 90 degrees from your body at the starting point). This removes the more complicated ‘overhead’ part of the movement for the top arm. The top arm is bent, which allows much better engagement and control of the top arm and shoulder, prevents you ‘hanging’ on that top shoulder and creates more balance between the ‘push-pull’, taking some of the strain off your bottom arm! Yay, cup grip! Similarly, true grip doesn’t have the internal rotation of twisted grip and still allows you to bend that top arm in an externally rotated position, but one of the main reasons I prefer cup grip over true grip is the wrist positioning. We will talk more about wrists later, but note how my top wrist is in a neutral position in the cup grip handspring above and in the true grip handspring below, my forearm is rotated (supinated).

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Twisted grip SHOULDER & BACK MOBILITY

This is why the true grip Ayesha places a higher demand on our wrist mobility, and the pull position of cup feels much more ‘natural’ because it puts less rotational force on the wrist and forearm.

Preparing for twisted grip In conclusion: • Throwing your body through positions where you have no active strength, stability and awareness is a recipe for injury, especially if you have a pre-existing shoulder condition, but we have the capacity to be strong in all of the positions that the handspring movement demands – in all 3 grips; • Twisted grip can be just as ‘safe’ as any other grip, provided you have the necessary strength and stability and have properly primed your rotator cuff to cope with that internally rotated movement; • If you are going to do any kind of handspring, you need your shoulders to be strong and stable enough to reach the positions of the movement actively and with as close to optimal shoulder positioning as possible. This applies equally to the bottom arm as the top one.

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Twisted grip screening STEP 1: SCREENING TESTS Before beginning training for internally rotated movements on the pole, I would recommend that you are able to achieve the minimum standards below. Overhead mobility =

Twisted grip

1. at least 180 degrees of motion in Test 1 (overhead flexion in neutral); and 2. at least 160 degrees in Test 2 (overhead flexion with external engagement). Internal shoulder rotation mobility = able to reach between 65 to 70 degrees in the internal shoulder rotation part of Test 3. Forearm pronation = at least 80 degrees of forearm pronation in Test 22. Thoracic rotation = at least 80 degrees of thoracic rotation in Test 5. Strength =

SHOULDER & BACK MOBILITY

1. at least 21 taps in Test 18 (Closed Kinetic Chain Stability Test). 2. at least 30 press ups in Test 12. 3. a score of 4 or more on Test 13 (pulling strength). If you do NOT meet the minimum strength and mobility requirements above, spend some time improving these areas before moving onto the stage below.

STEP 2: TWISTED GRIP CONDITIONING If you DO meet the strength and mobility standards above, spend some time building strength and setting up the correct movement mechanics to condition your shoulders and prepare your muscles, ligaments and tendons to handle the twisted grip position. This requires slowly building strength in the internally rotated position without overloading it with too much, too soon. Use the exercises in this chapter and gradually increase the intensity (over weeks and months) to eventually incorporate assisted twisted grip positions on the pole, like those using resistance bands and stability balls, to build your strength there before fully loading the position with your entire body weight. When you finally start to incorporate fully loaded twisted grip manoeuvres on the pole, build the volume gradually! Start with just a few twisted grip-based moves or attempts in each training session, and build this volume up over time, allowing your body to adjust.

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LEG & HIP MOBILITY

LEG & HIP MOBILITY

Without geeking out TOO much on anatomy, our hip is ball and socket joint that allows us to move our legs in 3 different planes of motion. We can lift our legs out in front and behind us (flexion and extension), we can move them out to either side (abduction and adduction), and we can rotate them inwards and outwards (internal and external rotation). As always, we pole dancers don’t like to do things by halves, and we rarely use these movements in isolation. All the pretty shapes we make on the pole require us to use these different elements of our hip mobility in sync. If one part of our hip motion is restricted, it can affect our pole performance in many (often not immediately obvious) ways. To become well balanced, versatile and resilient pole dancers, it is crucial that we address every area – and, especially, that we work on our weaknesses so we are strong in every detail. We will look at each hip movement individually so we can understand how each one plays a part in the shapes we create on the pole. We will also identify the weak points in our own hip mobility and strength that may prevent us from being able to achieve the beautiful lines and extreme shapes of pole dance. The benchmarks in this chapter are just a guide to help you pinpoint where you are in the grand scheme of things. The important thing is that you measure your starting point in each area so you can track your progress. Your goal is to improve on these scores over time. Reducing the gap between passive and active flexibility is always the ultimate aim.

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LEG & HIP MOBILITY Example of multiple hip movements on the pole: external rotation, abduction and flexion of top leg, internal rotation and extention of bottom leg in Allegra position 136

HIP FLEXION Why is hip flexion so important for pole dancers?

LEG & HIP MOBILITY

Hip flexion

The movement of bringing a leg out in front of us is called flexion, and we do a helluva lot of it in pole. You need good flexion in your front leg for any front-split-based moves and any pike-based positions, too.

Flexion requires a combination of hamstring flexibility and the corresponding strength in our quads and hip flexors to get the leg there – and hold it there!

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Hip flexion LEG & HIP MOBILITY

Joanna Nicholas’ injury study identified hamstrings as the second most common injury site for pole dancers, caused primarily by front split positions. The hamstring injuries reported in this study were predominantly acute (resulting from a single traumatic event), rather than gradual onset or overuse and typically as a result of overstretching / lack of flexibility (Nicholas et al, 2019). To reduce this injury risk, screening our hip flexion and ensuring we are strong in this movement at the end range is extremely important. The tests below both measure our hamstring flexibility with the leg directly in front of us. Of course, we need our hamstrings to be flexible in a straddle position, too, which requires hip abduction as well as hamstring flexibility - we’ll come back to abduction shortly!

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TEST 6: PASSIVE HAMSTRING FLEXIBILITY To test our passive hamstring flexibility, we are going to use a basic ‘sit and reach’ test. Please note, this test does not fully isolate hamstring flexibility because some spinal flexion (forward rounding) is also involved. However, it is a simple test to take and one that can easily be repeated with minimal equipment to measure progress over time.

Stack one hand on top of the other and take a deep breath. As you exhale, reach forward between your legs as far along the floor as you can. Keep your fingertips aligned – don’t reach one hand ahead of the other! Do 3 practice runs, then take your measurement on the fourth attempt. Measure the distance between the line and your fingertips. You can also video this test from the side and take a screenshot of your furthest point so you have a visual reference for comparison as well.

LEG & HIP MOBILITY

Hip flexion

Measure a piece of tape about 12” long and stick it on the floor to form a line. Sit on the floor with both legs out in front of you and your heels touching the line, at either end of the tape.

GOAL Normative data for this test suggests that a ‘good’ measurement for a ‘normal’, non-poling human is around 6 to 16cm for men and 11 to 20cm for women. But because pole requires such a high level of flexibility, this is only really a starting point for pole dancers. In junior level female gymnasts, a score of around 29cm has been recorded as an average (Thomas et al, 2013), and in young male competitive gymnasts, around 25cm (Irurtiaa et 139

al, 2010). In my experience, a distance of around 21 to 30cm will stand you in good stead for achieving most intermediate to advanced level pole moves, with most professional level polers being able to achieve 30cm or more.

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Hip flexion

DISTANCE – TAPE TO FINGERTIPS

RESULT

Unable to reach tape (less than 0cm)

Poor

0 to 10cm

Muggle

10 to 20 cm

Average

20 to 30cm

Good

Over 30 cm

Pole ninja

TEST 7: NERVE TENSION TEST The sciatic nerve is the thickest nerve in the body, and it runs from the lower back all the way to the toes. The nerve can get ‘stuck’ on surrounding structures and restrict hamstring flexibility. Try the forward fold position shown in the images below, once with your feet flexed and once with them pointed.

If it feels easier and/or you can reach further with your feet pointed than with feet flexed, this is an indicator that neural tension may be holding back your hamstring flexibility. Nerves don’t like to be mobilised in the same way as muscles, so it’s important to take this test. If you know that nerve tension may be an issue for you, you can include mobility exercises to work on this in your programme.

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TEST 8: ACTIVE HAMSTRING FLEXIBILITY To test your active hamstring flexibility, we will use the ’active straight leg raise’ test. Lie on your back and bring one leg up as high as you can towards your torso, keeping the leg straight. The other leg should also be straight and remain in contact with the floor.

LEG & HIP MOBILITY

Hip flexion

Video it from the side and take a screenshot at the furthest point where you are able to hold the leg for at least 3 seconds. Measure the angle as indicated in the image below.

‘True’ hamstring flexibility? When we test our hamstring flexibility using the test above, we might ‘cheat’ by allowing our hips to tuck under, giving us a little extra range of motion that isn’t technically coming from our hamstrings. This is why it is important to keep the opposite leg down on the floor. To isolate the hamstrings a little more, you can do this test with an ab mat or a rolled-up towel under your lower back, which will force your hips into an anteriorly tilted position (slightly arching the lower back). It will prevent you from tucking your hips under and flexing your spine. However, as long as you are consistent about which test set-up you use, you will be able to track your hamstring flexibility progress either way. I usually ask my clients to do this test WITHOUT the towel/ab mat because it is more easily repeatable. Most people don’t have an ab mat kicking around, and the positioning and size of the towel can impact on the 141

consistency of the test so, for simplicity, I opt to do it without. Whichever version of the test you use, consistency is key!

GOAL A good ‘normal person’ measurement is considered to be around 80 to 90 degrees for this test, but because we ultimately want to be able to perform our full splits actively in the air, we’re aiming for somewhere closer to 120 degrees. Because front split positions are the primary cause of most hamstring injuries for pole dancers, I would recommend a minimum 120 degree result on this test before attempting any pike or split based moves on the pole.

Hip flexion

ANGLE

RESULT

Below 80 degrees

Poor

80 to 95 degrees

Muggle

95 to 110 degrees

Average

110 to 115 degrees

Good

115 to 120 degrees

Pole ninja

LEG & HIP MOBILITY

HIP FLEXION EXERCISES Below are the hip flexion exercises you can use to build your programme later. I recommend a combination of neural mobility drills, active mobility exercises and passive stretches for the best results. We’ll discuss how to build workouts with these exercises in Part 4. Click on the exercise images to watch a video with more detailed instructions.

Foam roll hamstrings

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Hip flexion

Foam roll glute max

LEG & HIP MOBILITY

Nerve flossing

Neural mobility exercises Use this exercise if your testing indicated that nerve tension is an issue for you! Our nerves do not like to be ‘stretched’ with long passive holds. This exercise puts the sciatic nerve ‘on tension’ at one end and ‘on slack’ at the other. It is important to alternate between the 2 positions to ‘floss the nerve’, rather than holding the movement.

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The purpose of this exercise is to create ‘space’ in the hip capsule and improve blood flow there, which can help to reduce tightness, speed up recovery and increase mobility over time when combined with active mobility work.

Active mobility exercises Leg lifts in pike

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Hip flexion

Banded hip flexion

This exercise can be done one leg at a time, if working both legs at once feels too challenging. It can be progressed to a very advanced level by simply leaning the torso forward, and it can be regressed by moving the torso backward. Keep your back flat!

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Hip flexion

Leg lifts in straddle

As a modification, this exercise can also be done one leg at a time and can be progressed and regressed in the same way as above. Leg lifts over yoga blocks

The challenge here is to keep the hips in position as you lift the leg up and out to the side (your whole body will want to turn with it!). Although you can increase the difficulty of this exercise by increasing the height of the blocks, a better progression is to lean the torso further forward - but only go as far forwards as you can while keeping the back flat. 145

Front leg lift off chair Stand tall in front of a bench or chair and rest your foot on top of it. Keeping the hips square, core engaged and leg straight, lift the foot off the chair for small pulses or longer timed holds.

Keep the chest lifted and leg as straight as you can!

Stability ball wall hold

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Hip flexion

If the chair is too high, find a lower surface like a bench or sofa.

One of my favourite exercises for active hamstring flexibility. If you want to avoid a ballto-the-face splat, you really can’t ‘switch off ’ your leg engagement in this exercise, even for a second.

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Hip flexion

Front split sliders

Actively moving in and out of a splits position with control and muscular engagement is crucial for pole dancers. This is a fantastic exercise for this. You can perform the same movement using floor sliders if you don’t have a suspension trainer. Note this exercise works hip extension of the back leg, too!

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Passive stretches Forward fold

Straddle stretch In your pancake stretch, keep the legs active by engaging your ‘side butt’ to externally rotate from the hip - think about rotating your legs so your knees point out to the sides, rather than letting the knees relax in towards each other. Keep the back flat and chest open - aim for ‘tummy to floor’ rather than ‘head to floor’!

LEG & HIP MOBILITY

Hip flexion

Keep your back flat, chest open and tail bone lifted as you fold over the legs.

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Hip flexion

Straddle stretch with rotation

Variations of the pancake straddle stretch folding over one leg (first image above) and adding thoracic rotation (second image above). Hamstring stretch with strap Use the strap to help you reach a deeper stretch, but never force the stretch and keep the leg active!

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Hip flexion

Hamstring pnf stretch (hold-relax)

Have a friend help you bring your leg into your end range of passive flexion. You will then alternate between holding the stretch and actively pushing into the resistance of your partner. After each active push, your partner should be able to gradually increase the passive stretch. I usually hold the passive stretches for around 20 seconds and the active pushes for 6-10 seconds. This can also be done (less effectively) with a strap if you don’t have a friend to help you! Stretch reflex and PNF stretching PNF stands for ‘proprioceptive neuromuscular facilitation’. It is an advanced method of stretching that alternates stretching of the muscle with an isometric contraction. The reason it is so effective is because contracting a fully stretched muscle against resistance inhibits our natural ‘stretch reflex’. This stretch reflex is an automatic muscle contraction in response to stretching. If we can switch off that contraction, it allows us to stretch a muscle further than we usually could. Magic! A couple of pointers on PNF stretching Contrary to what you might think, you don’t need maximum intensity for the stretch and contraction. Aim for an intensity level of around 5 or 6 out of 10 for both the stretch and the contraction. For smaller muscle groups, dial the intensity down even more - around 3 or 4 out of 10 on the intensity scale.

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HIP EXTENSION Why is hip extension so important for pole dancers?

LEG & HIP MOBILITY

Hip extension

Hip extension (bringing the leg behind you) is important, not just for the back leg in splits positions, but also for back bend positions and any other move where we have our leg behind us – which is quite often in pole!

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Hip extension LEG & HIP MOBILITY

Hip extension requires flexibility in our hip flexors and quads and corresponding strength in our glutes to get our leg back behind us – and hold it there!

TEST 9: ACTIVE HIP EXTENSION It is tricky to measure hip extension without ‘cheating’. When we take a leg behind us, we have a natural habit of creating that movement by anteriorly tilting the hips (tipping the hips forward and arching the lower back). The aim should be to create the movement of hip extension using the power of our glutes, and not the muscles in our lower back. Keep this in mind when doing the test - and also when performing the exercises that follow! For this test, you need to lie face down on a bench, with the crease of your hip at the edge of the bench. Keep your abs engaged, ribs down and spine in a neutral position. Straighten one leg and squeeze your butt to lift it behind you as high as you can, making sure you don’t cheat by adjusting the hip or lower back position!

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Hip extension LEG & HIP MOBILITY The first image above is what it looks like when I’m incorrectly using my lower back. The second image shows the measurement when I’m only extending from the hip and using my glutes to lift the leg, instead of my lower back.

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Hip extension LEG & HIP MOBILITY

GOAL The 180-degree angle of a front split is actually created through a combination of different movements. If you can achieve full range hip flexion of around 120 degrees, plus about 20 degrees of hip extension, when this is combined with around 30 degrees of extension from the lumbar spine, it is enough to create a flat split. This is why, to achieve the awesome splits shapes you need to make in pole, you are aiming here to reach that 20 degrees of extension actively. If you do not have that 20-degree range, then you will rely (more than necessary) on your lumbar spine to pick up the slack, which will not only put you at greater risk of injury, but it will mean that those elusive ‘perfect’ lines are much harder to achieve. ANGLE

RESULT

Neutral

Poor

0 to 10 degrees

Average

10 to 15 degrees

Good

15 to 20 degrees

Pole ninja

Open vs squared hips In pole dance, we use an ‘open’ position for most of our splits – it gives us a few more degrees of movement so we can create better lines, and gives the illusion of more flexibility. 154

But I prefer to test and train in the ‘squared hips’ position because this requires more ‘true’ hip extension and is therefore the best way to improve flexibility and strength for that movement.

LEG & HIP MOBILITY

Hip extension

In addition to the test above, I also like to continually track my clients’ hip extension in both a square and open split position by regularly photographing the 2 positions demonstrated in the image below.

Standing splits with open hips / Standing split with squared hips For the squared hips position, make sure you keep both hip bones parallel, in line with each other and pointing towards the floor. Film the movement on your phone from the side and screenshot the highest point you are able to hold for 3 seconds in both the square and open position. Do this regularly alongside your measurements, and over time, it will provide another good visual record of your progress.

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HIP EXTENSION EXERCISES Below are the hip extension exercises you can use to build your programme later. I recommend a combination of neural mobility drills, active mobility exercises and passive stretches for the best results. We’ll discuss how to build workouts with these exercises in Part 4. Click on the exercise images to watch a video with more detailed instructions.

LEG & HIP MOBILITY

Hip extension

Neural mobility exercises Foam roll quads and hip flexors

TFL mobility peanut

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Banded hip extension

Hip extension

The purpose of this exercise is to create ‘space’ in the hip capsule and improve blood flow there, which can help to reduce tightness, speed up recovery and increase mobility over time when combined with active mobility work.

Active mobility exercises

LEG & HIP MOBILITY

Dynamic lunge

From a lunge position, squeeze the glute of the back leg and lift the back knee off the floor. Try to straighten that leg without adjusting your hip or body positioning. To make this easier, reduce the angle of your initial lunge position by bringing the back knee further forwards.

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LEG & HIP MOBILITY

Hip extension

Hip extension glute isolation

Begin working on this exercise from a raised surface like a bench (image 1 above). The extra clearance from the floor gives you some additional room to work into your end range if you cannot yet perform this movement from the floor. Once you are comfortable here, you can progress to the floor using a yoga block to lift your hips a little higher (image 2 above) and eventually you can remove the yoga block (image 3 above).

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Wall splits Come into a forward fold position, with the feet about a foot away from the wall. Lift one leg and take the foot to the wall behind you. The top leg should be straight – if it isn’t, come a little further away from the wall.

LEG & HIP MOBILITY

Hip extension

Keeping the hips as square as you can, lift the foot away from the wall and hold for a count of 5 seconds. If it feels easy, you can start with the feet closer to the wall.

Front split sliders See Hip Flexion section for details!

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Passive stretches

LEG & HIP MOBILITY

Hip extension

Lunge

Couch stretch Take the knee close to the wall, with the back of the foot against the wall. You can place a mat on the floor to make this more comfortable on your knee! Take the other foot out in front and walk the foot forward until you have the knee directly above the ankle. Squeeze your butt and tuck the hips under to feel the stretch down the front of the thigh and hip. If this feels comfortable, you can lift the arms overhead and lean back towards the wall, but don’t arch the back - keep those hips tucked under! If this is too difficult, lean your torso forwards more and use yoga blocks to support some of your weight. 160

LEG & HIP MOBILITY

Hip extension

Front splits stretch

Square splits using yoga blocks for support The front splits stretch obviously includes both hip extension and flexion, so only include it when you have worked on both elements in your training session! Use yoga blocks to keep your body upright and your hips square to the front. Don’t ‘push’ into the stretch – only go as far as it feels comfortable, it should not feel painful. Use the blocks as support to hold some of your body weight with your arms. Keep the legs active! Instead of trying to relax into the stretch, think about squaring the hips by bringing the hip bone of your back leg into line with the front one, squeezing the thigh on the front leg and the butt on the back leg. As you get lower and lower in this stretch, you can reduce the height of the yoga blocks.

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HIP ABDUCTION (& ADDUCTION)

LEG & HIP MOBILITY

Abduction & adduction

Why is hip abduction so important for pole dancers? We do a LOT of hip abduction in pole, from middle splits to, well, basically ALL the spreadies! The straddle position we use so often in pole combines flexion with abduction (and rotation, too).

A full middle split position is only used at very advanced levels of pole, but it is practically impossible to do even the most basic of pole movements without a decent straddle! Abduction requires flexibility from the adductor muscles and corresponding strength in the glute med to lift the leg out to the side and hold it there. In a straddle, our legs are also in a position of flexion so we need hamstring flexibility and quad/hip flexor strength for the straddle position, too. The external rotation of the leg is created by our hip rotator muscles.

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Abduction & adduction LEG & HIP MOBILITY

What about hip adduction? I have not included a test for hip adduction (the opposite of abduction – i.e. squeezing the legs together) because mobility here is not a common issue for pole dancers. However, the action of adduction IS very important for pole. We need strength in adduction to squeeze the legs together and grip the pole in pole sits, laybacks and Titanic positions. That adduction is usually combined with some internal rotation, too, to help us secure our grip on the pole.

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Abduction & adduction LEG & HIP MOBILITY

Although we aren’t testing it, I have included strength exercises below for hip adduction. If you particularly struggle with pole sits and laybacks, you may need to include a higher volume of hip adduction strength exercises (and/or work on your hip rotation) to help you plug that gap.

TEST 10: ACTIVE HIP ABDUCTION Lie on your back and keep your core engaged as you move one leg at a time out to the side, keeping the knees pointing straight up towards the ceiling (don’t rotate the leg or allow the hips to move!). Take a video from above and screenshot the start position and the furthest point you were 164

LEG & HIP MOBILITY

Abduction & adduction

able to reach on each side. Then measure the angle from your starting point with your feet in line with your hips, to your end point, as indicated in the image below.

GOAL A ‘normal’ range of motion here would be around 30 to 40 degrees. The bigger your range, the wider and more dramatic your spreadies will be! Studies of elite ballet dancers put abduction range at around 55 degrees (Hamilton et al, 1992) so somewhere above 50 degrees is going to be our pole ninja goal! ANGLE

RESULT

Below 30 degrees

Poor

30 to 40 degrees

Muggle

40 to 50 degrees

Good

50+ degrees

Pole ninja

Of course, for our straddles, we combine this abduction with flexion and external rotation, so it is important to develop our range of motion in all three of these areas, to achieve our ultimate goal of wider and more spread-tastic spreadies.

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Abduction & adduction

HIP ABDUCTION AND ADDUCTION EXERCISES Below are the hip abduction and adduction exercises you can use to build your programme later. I recommend a combination of neural mobility drills, active mobility exercises and passive stretches for the best results. We’ll discuss how to build workouts with these exercises in Part 4. Click on the exercise images to watch a video with more detailed instructions.

Neural mobility exercises Foam roll adductors

Active mobility exercises Resisted hip abduction with band

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Abduction & adduction

Glute med isolation

With the above exercise, the aim is to isolate the glute med muscle that lifts your leg out to the side, so try to keep the hips square to the floor and don’t ‘tilt’ them to achieve the movement. The movement will probably be quite small – that’s normal! Begin with a standing position (image 1) and progress to a quadruped position (image 2). This can be progressed even further by moving to a child’s pose position.

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Abduction & adduction

Middle split sliders

This is one of my favourite exercises for building strength - actively moving in and out of the end range of abduction with control and muscular engagement. You can do this exercise using floor sliders if you don’t have a suspension trainer. Resisted hip adduction with band

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When we grip the pole between our legs and squeeze them together into adduction, we are usually also performing another movement at the same time. This exercise helps to combine the movement of knee flexion and extension with the isometric adductor squeeze – a great one for pole climbing strength and awareness! Adductor squeeze hip lift

LEG & HIP MOBILITY

Abduction & adduction

Adductor squeeze with knee flex

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Abduction & adduction

Again, combining an isometric hip adduction squeeze with the core engagement required for the hip lift is a good conditioning exercise for co-ordination and can be useful for moves like lifting back up out of a straight leg layback – where we must maintain that adductor squeeze while working our core.

Passive stretches Adductor stretch against wall Here, you can allow gravity to assist your stretch - but keep that side butt engaged and actively work to open the legs, instead of just relaxing here.

Adductor stretch with strap You can use a strap to deepen this stretch. Make sure your opposite hip stays on the ground and doesn’t come along for the ride! Don’t force the stretch and keep your legs active!

Frog stretch

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Abduction & adduction

Adductor pnf stretch

Just like the hamstring pnf stretch we covered earlier, you can use the ‘hold-relax’ technique for your adductors. If you don’t have a partner to help you with this, you can use your hands to create resistance for the isometric press as demonstrated in the image above. Middle split stretch

Start in a seated straddle with quads and side butt engaged! Keep that engagement as you lift yourself up and walk your hands forward, bringing your chest towards the floor. Your ankles, knees and hips should all be in line, so shift your hips forward as far as you need to get that straight line. Your back should be flat, not rounded, with your knees pointing straight forward and core engaged! To come out of the stretch, keep everything engaged as you walk your hands back and come slowly back into the seated straddle. 171

HIP ROTATION Why is hip rotation so important for pole dancers? Our legs can rotate inwards (think knees turning towards each other) and outwards (think knees rotating out to the sides). We need a good range of this rotation to enable us to achieve certain positions on the pole.

LEG & HIP MOBILITY

Hip rotation

We often need to internally rotate from the hip to create lines, like the top leg in a bent-leg dragonstail...

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Hip rotation

...or to secure our grip on the pole, like in a seahorse grip.

In particular, rotation in both directions helps us to secure our leg grips. We will talk more about the anatomy of leg grips in Part 3, but in an inside leg hang, for example, the leg is externally rotated, but we are squeezing in the OPPOSITE direction (into internal rotation) to secure our grip on the pole.

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Hip rotation

Similarly, with a cross knee release, our bent leg is externally rotated, but we are squeezing isometrically into internal hip rotation to maintain our grip on the pole.

In my experience, where clients tend to struggle with moves like the inside leg hang, crossknee release and brass monkey, it is usually a lack of internal and/or external hip rotation mobility and strength that is holding them back. Rotation also plays a part when it comes to reaching our end ranges of flexion, extension and abduction, so if our rotation is lacking, it can impact on our splits and straddles, too. The movement of external hip rotation comes primarily from our hip rotator muscles. Internal hip rotation comes mostly from the adductor muscle group.

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TEST 11: INTERNAL AND EXTERNAL HIP ROTATION Lie on your tummy with your knees in line with your hips. Bend one leg and move the foot one way, as far as you can without moving the knee out to the side and without lifting your hips. Then take the foot the opposite way. Keep your hip bones pressing into the floor!

LEG & HIP MOBILITY

Hip rotation

Take a screenshot at your start position and at the furthest point you can reach on both sides so you can measure the angle, as shown in the images below.

A good ‘normal person’ range of motion is around 45 degrees of external rotation and 40 degrees of internal rotation. Ballerinas usually have a much greater degree of external rotation because they use the externally rotated ‘turnout’ position so much in ballet. An average of 52 degrees of turn out from the hip has been measured in professional ballerinas (Hamilton et al, 1992). I’d love to see some research on this, but I would not be surprised if, like ballet dancers, pole dancers have a greater degree of external rotation, too, because we use it for so many pole moves. Not only do we externally rotate from the hips to create lines, but we externally rotate for leg hangs, genies, horizontal transitions... the list goes on! It’s very difficult to pole without external rotation! However, we need strength in internal rotation to secure our grip, so unlike ballet dancers, we do utilise internal rotation, too.

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The amount of internal and external rotation required for the leg grip positions we use in pole and to aid our end range straddles and splits is probably around 45 degrees of external rotation and around 40 degrees of internal rotation, so we will use this as our benchmark here. ROTATION

GOAL

External

45 - 50 degrees

Internal

40 degrees

Below are the hip rotation exercises you can use to build your programme later. I recommend a combination of neural mobility drills, active mobility exercises and passive stretches for the best results. We’ll discuss how to build workouts with these exercises in Part 4. Click on the exercise images to watch a video with more detailed instructions. Glute med mobility peanut

LEG & HIP MOBILITY

Hip rotation

HIP ROTATION EXERCISES

Neural mobility exercises Mobility peanuts are a great tool for targetting more specific muscles than the foam roller - you’ll be able to get a much deeper ‘massage’ than you can with the roller. Here, we are working through rotation while maintaining pressure with the peanut on the glute med muscle, to release tension there and help get the muscle primed for action. 176

Foam roll hip rotator

Hip rotation

This is essentially a less intense version of the glute med mobility peanut drill above. I usually use this exercise first with my clients, until they are accustomed to foam rolling before introducing the deeper peanut version.

Foam roll adductors See Hip Abduction and Adduction section for details.

LEG & HIP MOBILITY

Active mobility exercises Straddle rotation

Make sure you squeeze the quads tightly and then try to rotate the entire leg in and squeeze the glute med (side butt) to rotate it out while keeping the hips still. Once you get comfortable with this exercise, it is a great warm-up drill!

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Clam shells

LEG & HIP MOBILITY

Hip rotation

Clams work external rotation with the legs in a bent position, similar to how we have them for a leg hang or brass monkey leg grip.

Internal hip rotation tabletop Here, we are working the opposite direction (internal hip rotation), again with the knees bent, but with the back supported by the floor.

Internal hip rotation side lying The tabletop position above can then be progressed to a much less stable side lying position which is more challenging and begins to bring our hips away from a position of flexion and into extension.

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Internal hip rotation in bridge

LEG & HIP MOBILITY

Hip rotation

Finally, you can progress the above internal rotation exercises into a fully extended bridge position. Being able to engage our glute max and glute med and rotate the hip while in this extended position is extremely important for the stability of our hips when we’re in the air.

External rotation with band Here, you can use the band to add resistance to the extenal rotation movement. Only move as far as you can before your hip begins to lift off the floor!

90-90 front leg lean over (external rotation) Note this is not a passive stretch - the exercise requires you to lean forwards as far as you can over the front leg and then actively press the leg into the floor to lift the torso back up. For the 90-90 progressions below, you are attempting to actively work in the end range of your mobility by bringing your leg into your end range passively (using your hand), then removing the support of the hand and holding the position for 5 second counts. If you are unable to lift from your passive end range, you can lean out to the side to make the exercise easier. 179

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Hip rotation

90-90 back leg hold and release (internal)

90-90 front leg hold and release (external)

Clam shells with resistance

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Adding resistance at the ‘open’ position of the clam allows you to work from the externally rotated position and press into internal rotation. If you struggle with inside leg hangs, this is a really useful exercise that replicates some of the mechanics involved (pressing into internal rotation from an externally rotated position). Make sure you focus on the rotation and not just squeezing the legs together.

LEG & HIP MOBILITY

Hip rotation

Hip rotation with knee flexion

This exercise combines knee flexion (squeezing the yoga block to hold it in place) with rotation. This mimics the action required for our leg hangs, where we are often squeezing the pole behind our knee to secure our grip on the pole (working the hamstring), while also rotating at the hip.

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Passive stretches 90-90 stretch

Butterfly stretch

LEG & HIP MOBILITY

Hip rotation

Bend both legs to 90 degrees with the front knee in line with the front hip and the back knee in line with the back hip. Keep the torso upright and use the floor or a yoga block for support if you need it.

Bring the feet together and drop the knees out to the sides. Keep the back flat and actively engage the side butt to open the knees as wide as you can. You can deepen the stretch by using the elbows to add a little weight.

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LEG & HIP MOBILITY

Hip rotation

Pigeon pose

For this pose, instead of having the front foot tucked in close, try to maintain a 90 degree angle with the front leg, even if it means you have to raise that hip on to a yoga block for support, as shown in the image above.

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UPPER & LOWER BODY STRENGTH

As we work through this chapter, remember that the first aim of our off-the-pole strength progressions is to build strength in the basic movement patterns of pushing, pulling, squatting and hinging from the hip. Once we have a good level of strength in the basics and have mastered the movements, our goal is to progress the exercises in order to gradually make them more specific to pole.

THIS IS ACHIEVED IN 3 MAIN WAYS: BILATERAL

UNILATERAL

Firstly, we progress bilateral movements – ie both sides of the body working in the same way – to unilateral movements where one side of the body is working differently to the other. On the pole, it is rare that both sides of our bodies are doing the same thing at the same time so this unilateral element is incredibly important.

UPPER & LOWER BODY STRENGTH

STABLE

UNSTABLE

The second way we will progress exercises to make them more pole-specific is by adding instability. Of course, taking a movement from bilateral to unilateral is a form of this. However, instability can also be added to bilateral movements, for example, by using a stability ball or suspension trainer. Because we must stabilise our bodies on the pole against a multitude of forces from different directions, this kind of stability training is perfect for building pole strength. SAGITTAL PLANE

MULTIDIRECTIONAL

Our body moves in 3 planes of motion: the sagittal plane, the frontal plane and the transverse plane. Most movements that we traditionally do in the gym take place in the sagittal plane. These are typically flexion and extension type movements like lunges and front raises. Sideways movements, like side-lying leg raises and star jumps (ie abduction and adduction movements), take place in the frontal plane. And the transverse plane is where rotational movements happen, like thoracic rotations and other internal and external rotation movements. Pole is multidirectional, and we move our bodies through all of these planes of motion when we’re on the pole so it is important that our gym training reflects this. Instead of spending too much time in the gym working in a linear way, once we have mastered the basics of pushing, pulling, squatting and hip hinging, taking our movements outside of the traditional sagittal plane is a good way to get strong for pole.

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UPPER & LOWER BODY STRENGTH

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UPPER & LOWER BODY STRENGTH

UPPER & LOWER BODY STRENGTH

Upper body push & pull

UPPER BODY PUSHING AND PULLING Why is pushing and pulling strength so important for pole dancers? Pole dance requires a constant interplay of multiplanar pushing and pulling. We do a HUGE amount of vertical pulling on the pole: spins, inverts, climbs, static poses – they all involve a vertical pull of some kind!

Vertical pull on the pole (spin) / Vertical pull in the gym (hang position) We also need to be strong in horizontal pulling, particularly so we can maintain good scapular positioning and proper shoulder engagement when inverted on the pole.

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Upper body push & pull UPPER & LOWER BODY STRENGTH

Horizontal pull on the pole (Chopper) / Horizontal pull in the gym (bodyweight row)

Chopper with and without correct shoulder/back engagement As we progress through beginner and intermediate levels in pole, we are usually gradually building up our pulling strength by learning to spin, climb and invert. But once we get UP the pole, and especially once we get upside down and move to hands-only poses, we need to be strong not only at pulling, but also at pushing. 189

UPPER & LOWER BODY STRENGTH

Upper body push & pull

This is because many of the intermediate tricks and manoeuvres we do up the pole require both a push AND a pull. This pushing and pulling is almost always unilateral (one-sided), ie we are usually pushing with one arm and pulling with the other.

Vertical push on the pole (Ayesha) / Vertical push in the gym (overhead press)

Horizontal push on the pole (Eros) / Horizontal push in the gym (press up) A gradual build-up of pulling strength comes from training pole through beginner levels, but if a pole dancer has ONLY trained on the pole and not in the gym, they have not usually worked through the same gradual progressions to develop their pushing strength. In my experience, it is this lack of pushing strength that frequently creates a roadblock for intermediate-level pole dancers.

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UPPER & LOWER BODY STRENGTH

Upper body push & pull

What’s more, it might surprise you to know that in Joanna Nicholas’ injury study on pole dancers, overhead pressing movements like handstands accounted for the same number of acute shoulder injuries as the use of twisted grip (Nicholas et al, 2019). Could this be because we are not conditioned enough for overhead pressing movements? Or because we have an imbalance between our pulling and pushing strength? It’s certainly a possibility. In order to keep our joints, muscles and soft tissues healthy and reduce the risk of muscle imbalance and injury, we are always striving for balance in our training. Of course, it depends on the kind of moves we are practising on the pole, but if we are regularly spinning, climbing and inverting (all vertical pull exercises), we should be incorporating some overhead pressing exercises to work the opposing (antagonist) muscles. This counterbalances all that vertical pulling and helps us to create more symmetrical strength and mobility.

TEST 12: PUSHING STRENGTH This test is pretty simple: just count how many push-ups you can do in 60 seconds. However, set-up is crucial! If you cannot do a full push-up with correct form, your score is 0. Half reps or sloppy form reps do not count. Be strict with yourself ! Place your hands on the floor directly beneath your shoulders and extend your legs to come into a plank position. Engage your core, squeeze your glutes and maintain a neutral spine position throughout the test. Bend your elbows to lower the chest to the floor, thinking about keeping your elbows in to the sides of the body, rather than allowing them to flare out to the sides. If you lose your plank positioning (watch out for the back arching, head dipping or hips hiking up), don’t count that rep. Rest whenever you need to throughout the minute.

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UPPER & LOWER BODY STRENGTH

Upper body push & pull

GOAL Above 45 reps is usually considered excellent in the ‘normal’ population. For athletes, the level is usually higher (60+ reps). Women are often tested in a modified push-up position (knees on the floor), and normative data is usually split across different age groups. However, to keep things simple, and given the significant strength demands of pole and our pole ninja ambitions, we are aiming for a high standard in this test. NUMBER OF PUSH-UPS IN

RESULT

1 MINUTE 0

Poor

1 to 15

Muggle

15 to 30

Average

30 to 45

Good

45 to 60

Pole ninja

TEST 13: PULLING STRENGTH To test our pulling strength, we will use the pole. Your starting point is a seated straddle position at the base of the pole. Our ultimate ‘pole ninja’ goal is to climb 11 feet using only our arms (arm over arm), while keeping our legs straight, in a straddle, at a 90-degree angle of flexion. If you are not quite at pole ninja level yet, the easier option is to use a double arm pull, and to come into a pole sit between pulls. Film your attempt and give yourself a score based on the criteria below.

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UPPER & LOWER BODY STRENGTH

Upper body push and pull

GOAL I have adapted this pole climb test and scoring system from the Rope Climb Test used in the Gymnastics Functional Measurement Tool (Sleeper et al, 2012) to make it more specific to pole. To achieve ‘pole ninja status’, advanced pole dancers should be aiming for the full 10 points on this test. RESULT

SCORE

If you are unable to lift off the floor, even using both arms in a double arm pull

0 points

If you manage to start the climb using a double arm pull and a pole sit, but are unable to finish the full climb, or are unable to do it while keeping the legs at a 90-degree angle and completely straight

2 points

If you can complete the climb using a double arm pull, pausing in-between each pull to grab legs onto the pole in a sit, maintaining a 90-degree angle with the legs and keeping them completely straight

4 points

6 points If you are able to start the climb using arm over arm technique, but are unable to make it to 11ft 8 points If you can complete the arm over arm climb in one go, but are unable to keep the legs at a 90-degree angle and/or are unable to keep the legs straight If you can complete the arm over arm climb in one go, maintaining a 90-degree angle with the legs and keeping the legs completely straight

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10 points

HORIZONTAL PUSH EXERCISES Below are the horizontal pushing exercises you can use to build your programme later. We’ll discuss how to build workouts with these exercises in Part 4. Click on the exercise images to watch a video with more detailed instructions.

UPPER & LOWER BODY STRENGTH

Horizontal push

Hands elevated push-up

The first horizontal push progression is an elevated press-up. I prefer this regression for the press-up over the usual ‘knees on the floor’ modification because the elevated movement is simply an easier version of the full press-up. Because your hands are higher, you are shifting some of the weight away from your upper body, but otherwise the movement is exactly the same. With the ‘knees down’ press-up, you are not really performing the same movement because the core stability demands are significantly different. You can perform the elevated press-up with your hands on a wall if you need to, and aim to gradually reduce the height of your hands as you build strength in the position.

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UPPER & LOWER BODY STRENGTH

Horizontal push

Push-up

A few cues that apply to all of these horizontal pushes: • In your start position, think about rotating the elbow pits forward to create external engagement - maintain this engagement throughout; • Don’t flare your elbows wide - keep them close to your body; • Don’t allow the shoulders to round forwards at the bottom position - maintain engagement of the upper back; • Maintain your plank position throughout the whole movement - keep everything engaged - your abs, glutes, legs - everything should be squeezing; • Keep the neck in line - don’t dip the head towards the floor! Feet elevated push-up

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Just like the hands elevated press-up shifts your body weight to your lower body, the feet elevated progression shifts more weight to your upper body. You can progress this further by adding instability with your feet elevated on a stability ball or using a suspension trainer.

UPPER & LOWER BODY STRENGTH

Horizontal push

Unilateral push-up progression

Using one yoga block, you are aiming here to put only light pressure on the yoga block so you have one side working more than the other. You can then follow the same progressions as above, using just one arm instead of two.

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VERTICAL PUSH EXERCISES Below are the vertical pushing exercises you can use to build your programme later. We’ll discuss how to build workouts with these exercises in Part 4. Click on the exercise images to watch a video with more detailed instructions. Overhead press with band

UPPER & LOWER BODY STRENGTH

Vertical push

The band provides a light resistance and gives you the opportunity to focus on technique and proper movement mechanics before moving on to more heavily weighted variations.

Kneeling bottoms up kettlebell press

The kneeling position helps to eliminate the tendency many people have to overcompensate with the lumbar spine (arching their back to get the weight overhead, rather than using their shoulder). Also, the kettlebell being upside down creates extra instability, which helps to switch on the stabilising muscles of the shoulder.

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Standing bottoms up kettlebell press

UPPER & LOWER BODY STRENGTH

Vertical push

Once comfortable with the kneeling version, you can progress to the standing version which places a higher demand on the core muscles.

Plank to downdog

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Once you have mastered the mobility and stability required for overhead pressing, you can begin to make your overhead pressing more pole-specific. Moving from a plank position (pushing horizontally) to a downdog position (pushing vertically), is a good way to start this. Focus on keeping engagement at the shoulders throughout the movement and particularly think about the external rotation engagement in the downdog position. Yoga press up

UPPER & LOWER BODY STRENGTH

Vertical push

The yoga push up progresses this horizontal to vertical push by adding a push up at the start of the movement. Because we often transition from a horizontal to a vertical push in pole, I love this exercise for drilling shoulder engagement while transitioning between positions.

One arm downdog

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The one armed downdog exercise mirrors the movement pattern of the bottom arm in a handspring. The goal is to focus on taking the shoulder from the position of a lateral push to an overhead push, while rotating the torso. Although it is the torso that is moving, you must maintain core engagement and keep the shoulder and arm active and engaged throughout the movement. You are aiming to end in the down dog position with the arm pressing overhead, the scapula upwardly rotated and shoulders engaged in an externally rotated position.

UPPER & LOWER BODY STRENGTH

Vertical push

Windmill

I usually start clients off with the kneeling version above and progress to the standing version below once they have mastered the movement pattern.

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UPPER & LOWER BODY STRENGTH

Vertical push

Turkish get up

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The Turkish get-up is a fantastic exercise that combines overhead pressing with core stability while moving from a horizontal to a vertical push position. You are essentially keeping your shoulder in a strong, stable position while moving your body through different planes of motion – pretty similar to what we have to do on the pole, huh? This is quite a complicated movement so take your time to learn the movement pattern before adding weight. As a regression, you can perform a ‘half get-up’ where you only come up into the seated position of the get-up, instead of coming all the way up to standing. L-handstand

UPPER & LOWER BODY STRENGTH

Vertical push

Let’s face it, we spend most of our time on the pole upside down so being able to keep our shoulders in a strong overhead position while pressing overhead, holding our body weight there and being upside down is perfect for building not just upper body strength, but also core strength and body awareness. I usually start my clients with this L-handstand variation, first using a bench and then a wall. L-handstand press

The L-handstand press is an advanced overhead press that is a regression of the full handstand press-up. You will need a really solid L-handstand and a strong overhead press before building up to this one!

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Vertical downward pushing I have included this set of L-sit progressions here because, although the L-sit is an intense core and hip flexion exercise, I group it with my vertical push exercises. Unlike the overhead pushes above, this time, you are pushing DOWN in a vertical plane.

UPPER & LOWER BODY STRENGTH

Vertical push

This is essentially the opposite to the pull that we use on the pole in iguana. Where possible, I like to include some form of pushing in each plane of movement, and this is a good exercise to include in your programme, particularly if you are doing a lot of iguana-based moves on the pole. Tricep dip You can progress this exercise by extending one leg. Keep your butt close to the bench!

L-sit tuck You can use yoga blocks for these progressions, if you do not have push up bars. For this progression, keep the knees bent and feet flat on the floor. Press through the blocks to lift the hips directly up off the floor. Think about externally rotating the arms so the elbows point behind you and elbow pits point forwards. Keep the chest lifted, to stop the shoulders rounding forwards.

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L-sit tiptoes

L-sit one leg straight

From the position above, you can then progress to lifting one leg - putting more weight into your upper body and also challenging your active hamstring flexibility.

UPPER & LOWER BODY STRENGTH

Vertical push

Once you are comfortable with the tuck position above, you can begin to take more of the weight into your upper body by coming onto your tip toes. All the same cues apply.

As above, Think about externally rotating through the arms so the elbows point behind you and elbow pits point forwards. Keep the chest lifted, to stop the shoulders rounding forwards.

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HORIZONTAL PULL EXERCISES Below are the horizontal pulling exercises you can use to build your programme later. We’ll discuss how to build workouts with these exercises in Part 4. Click on the exercise images to watch a video with more detailed instructions.

UPPER & LOWER BODY STRENGTH

Horizontal pull

Bent row

As a weighted exercise, it is possible to progress the bent row by gradually increasing the weight you use. However, once you have established a good solid base here, moving on to the suspension trainer pulls below will allow you to make your horizontal pulls a lot more pole-specific. Suspension trainers are a fantastic tool for building pole strength. Using your own suspended bodyweight and gravity as resistance is EXACTLY what we do on the pole, so when it comes to sport-specific training for pole, it doesn’t come much more functional than this. And because suspension trainers destabilise any movement we do on them—whether it’s a bicep curl or a plank—we have to constantly engage our core muscles to control our movement and stabilise our body against all of the destabilisation caused by the movement of the straps. This ability to stabilise the body against multi-directional forces translates directly to our performance on the pole, so you can see why I love suspension training for my pole dance clients.

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This exercise can be progressed by adjusting your body positioning - the more horizontal you are, the harder this exercise will be!

UPPER & LOWER BODY STRENGTH

Horizontal pull

Suspension trainer row

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Horizontal pull

Open pull

With the open pull, you are beginning to take this movement out of the sagittal plane by adding a rotational element. This movement is similar to the pull we need for the cup grip handspring, which is also a pull with a torso rotation.

Split pull

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The split pull incorporates a unilateral element in that one hand is pulling up while the other is pulling down, though still on a horizontal plane.

UPPER & LOWER BODY STRENGTH

Horizontal pull

The split pull position is not dissimilar to the hand position we use for split grip moves on the pole. On the pole, one hand is pushing while the other is pulling, but being strong and able to stabilise our shoulder, core and hips in this position has a lot of transfer to our split grip positions.

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VERTICAL PULL EXERCISES Below are the vertical pulling exercises you can use to build your programme later. We’ll discuss how to build workouts with these exercises in Part 4. Click on the exercise images to watch a video with more detailed instructions.

UPPER & LOWER BODY STRENGTH

Vertical pull

Band pull overs - bent arm

The band pull over works a similar movement pattern to the shoulder mount, so it’s a good pull exercise to include if you are conditioning for your shoulder mount. I like to use the above bent arm version specifically for shoulder mount conditioning, but this can be progressed to the straight arm version below. Band pull overs - straight arm

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UPPER & LOWER BODY STRENGTH

Vertical pull

Assisted chin up

For the vertical pulling progressions above and below, the pictures show me demonstrating either a chin-up position (palms facing me) or a pull-up position (palms facing away). Most people find the chin-up position easier. It is also easier to engage the shoulders in an 210

externally rotated position with the palms facing in so I would suggest working through the progressions below in a chin-up position and then moving on to work through the same progressions in a pull-up position.

UPPER & LOWER BODY STRENGTH

Vertical pull

There are a few key technique cues to bear in mind for all of these pulling exercises: • To maintain core engagement throughout the move, you are aiming for a ‘hollow body’ position, with the hips slightly tucked under and feet just ahead of you. This body position should not change throughout the movement; • You are aiming to keep your shoulders engaged in an externally rotated position throughout the whole movement so keep your elbows pointing forward (don’t flare them out to the sides); • Visualise pulling the bar down to you, rather than trying to lift your chest up to the bar. This cue should help you keep the movement tight, as it should be, and prevent you leaning back too much; • Work through the full range! Your pulls should start and end in a full (engaged) hang position. When you do your pull-ups, if you are arching your lower back, leaning back a lot, flaring your elbows or unable to lift through the full range from and to a full hang position, move to an easier regression and focus on these technique points until you have them absolutely nailed before moving on. The hanging drill in the Shoulder Flexion section should help you to understand the correct hanging position for your pull-ups so include this in your warmups! Assisted pull up

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Chin up / pull up hold

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Vertical pull

UPPER & LOWER BODY STRENGTH

Vertical pull

Chin up negative

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What is a ‘negative’? Training negatives (otherwise known as ‘eccentric’ training) is a technique used to push muscles past their normal point of failure. It’s popular with bodybuilders and those grunty gym types clanking weights around and clogging up the squat rack, but it is useful for building pole strength, too. As an example, let’s look at a super-simple movement: the good ol’ bicep curl.

UPPER & LOWER BODY STRENGTH

Vertical pull

The ‘concentric’ part of the bicep curl is the bit where you lift the weight towards your shoulder – the bicep muscle shortens as you do it (welcome to the gun show… pow, pow, pow). When you lower the weight back down (and the muscle lengthens), this is the ‘eccentric’ (or ‘negative’) part. Here’s the interesting bit: our muscles are stronger in the eccentric (lowering) part of the movement. In fact, our muscles can handle up to 1.75 times more weight through the eccentric movement than they can handle during the concentric lifting part. If the max weight you can bicep curl without keeling over like a penguin watching an aeroplane is, say, 10kg, you might actually be able to handle lowering over 15kg. Even though you wouldn’t be able to lift the 15kg weight, you’d be able to lower it no probs. So the way I would train negatives with a bodybuilder or someone doing general strength training in the gym would be to physically help them lift the 15kg weight into the top position (remember, they can’t do that bit alone) so all they have to do is the lowering part of the exercise (the eccentric/negative bit). That, my pole friends, is ‘eccentric training’ – otherwise known as ‘training negatives’. Challenging the muscle on that eccentric part of the lift forces the body to use more muscle fibres. We are putting greater demand and stress on the muscle than we would from doing the lifting movement with a lighter weight. Over time, that stress forces the muscle to adapt, which equals muscle growth and strength! By training the negative part of the exercise, you’ll eventually be able to lift a heavier weight on the concentric part of the movement, too. Training negatives works in exactly the same way with body weight exercises like pull-ups and pole moves: if you’re not strong enough yet to perform a pull-up, you can train the negative of that move to build the strength you’re lacking for the full movement.

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UPPER & LOWER BODY STRENGTH

Vertical pull

Pull up negative

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Vertical pulling from below When we pole dance, we don’t always pull from above our heads. When we are inverted, we often pull in the opposite direction, from below – and sometimes from a position of shoulder extension. The exercises below work the ‘pull’ in this flipped direction. Inverted pike

UPPER & LOWER BODY STRENGTH

Vertical pull

The easiest way to come into an inverted position on rings is from a bent arm pull, with the legs tucked. After you have tipped backwards, you can extend the legs into the pike position demonstrated. Think about keeping the shoulder blades retracted, so your back is flat and not rounding forwards.

Inverted hang

From your inverted pike, you can extend the hips and come into a plank position. This Batfink hang is a great exercise to improve core strength and body awareness while inverted. Try and keep the shoulder blades in neutral, maintain a hollowbody position and keep everything engaged - glutes, legs, and core!

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UPPER & LOWER BODY STRENGTH

Vertical pull

Skin the cat progression 1

For these skin the cat exercises, we are working in shoulder extension (with our arms behind us). The full skin the cat is an advanced movement, but the progressions here are useful for working on pulling in extension. Make sure your shoulder extension mobility is at a high level before working on these progressions! After coming into an inverted pike, continue threading the hips through (you can bend the knees). Setting the rings close to the ground allows you to bring your feet to the floor for safety and confidence building while you get accustomed to the movement. Skin the cat progression 2 Once comfortable with progression 1, you can move to a partial version of the full movement, extending only to where it feels comfortable – and where you know you can reverse back out of the movement safely, without extending fully.

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Vertical pull

Skin the cat full movement

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UPPER BODY SPEED AND POWER

UPPER & LOWER BODY STRENGTH

Upper body speed & power

Why is upper body speed and power important for pole dancers? Being strong is one thing, but it is quite another to be able to use that strength in a dynamic and explosive way. Flips, tumbles, dynamic drops and fast grip switches all require fast, explosive muscle contractions and agility. If you admire the acrobatic side of pole dance, and aspire to flip and jump on and off the pole, parkour style, you will need a high level of athletic speed and power. We will look at how to train for speed and power later, but in this section, we will consider how to test and measure our improvements in this more advanced aspect of pole dance.

TEST 14: UPPER BODY POWER You need an 8lb medicine ball for this test. Feel free to use a different weight. As long as you are consistent and always use the same weight, you will be able to track your progress.

Sit with your back against a wall and hold the ball at chest level. Using only your arms, without any additional body movement, propel the ball as explosively and as far as you can in a straight line, without moving your back off the wall. You will need a friend to help mark where the ball lands so you can measure the distance from the wall. Do 2 practice throws and 3 test throws. Use your best throw as your score.

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To give you some points of reference, a high score for ice hockey athletes throwing an 8lb ball is 6.2m (NHL Entry Draft Combine Results, 2013), but the average score is around 5m. Obviously, ice hockey is a completely different sport to pole, but it gives us an athletestandard power level to use for guidance. In other studies, college football players using a 5lb ball threw an average of 7.9 – 8.8m (Aussprung et al, 1995) and female college athletes from various sports threw a 5lb medicine ball an average of around 2.7 – 3.7m (Salonia et al, 2004). DISTANCE

RESULT

0 to 3.5m

Poor

3.5 to 4.5m

Average

4.5m to 5.5m

Good

5.5 to 6m+

Pole ninja

UPPER & LOWER BODY STRENGTH

Upper body speed & power

GOAL

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UPPER BODY SPEED AND POWER EXERCISES

UPPER & LOWER BODY STRENGTH

Upper body speed & power

Below are the upper body speed and power exercises you can use to build your programme later. We’ll discuss how to build workouts with these exercises in Part 4. Click on the exercise images to watch a video with more detailed instructions. Power work should only be introduced when you are working at an advanced level. We will talk more about progressing to this level when it comes to designing your programme later.

Plyometric press up progressions Narrow - wide press up jump

Begin with hands shoulder distance apart. Squeeze the glutes and engage the core. Lower the chest towards the floor and when you reach the bottom position, push explosively through the hands so your hands momentarily leave the floor. During that brief air time, quickly take the hands into a wide push up position and repeat. Don’t land with straight arms - make sure you bend into the press as you land, to absorb the impact. Maintain your plank position throughout and move as quickly as you can while keeping good form. 221

Depth press up jump

Upper body speed & power

Set up two raised platforms on the floor, just wider than shoulder distance apart. Weight plates work well for this. Come into a plank position with your hands firmly on the platforms and your bodyweight over the hands. Lower into your press up and as you lift, push explosively, so you get enough air time to switch the hand position to between the platforms.

UPPER & LOWER BODY STRENGTH

Lower straight into your next press up as you land, before exploding into the next press again, to land back onto the platforms. As above, make sure you land with soft elbows – don’t try and land with the arms straight. Maintain your plank position throughout. If you find the lift back up too difficult, you can just do the first part of the exercise, then reset and repeat. To make this harder, you can gradually increase the height of the platforms.

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Medicine ball progressions

Overhead slam

This exercise, as with all the medicine ball throws in this section, can be progressed or regressed by changing your body stance – for example, kneeling provides the sturdiest and easiest base, you can then progress a throw to a standing position and then to standing on one leg. You can also begin to add in a rotational element by ‘rolling over’ from the side.

UPPER & LOWER BODY STRENGTH

Upper body speed & power

Chest throw

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Upper body speed & power

Rotational slam

With all our medicine ball throws and plyometric push up progressions, our aim is to develop the pushing strength we have built from exercises like push ups and bench presses to build more explosive and athletic power here.

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Why is leg strength so important for pole dancers? We talk a lot about upper body strength in pole, which is understandable given how beastly our arms, shoulders and backs need to be to lift and hold our bodies on the pole. But leg strength is vital, too. If we look closely, we can see that most of the demands we place on our legs when we pole dance are based around the primary movement patterns of squatting and hip hinging.

UPPER & LOWER BODY STRENGTH

Lower body squat & hinge

LOWER BODY SQUATTING & HINGING

Cupid position on pole / lateral squat pattern in gym

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Lower body squat & hinge UPPER & LOWER BODY STRENGTH

Genie position on pole / squat pattern in gym

Russian split position on pole / single leg deadlift pattern in gym Of course, the forces are different – we’re side-on to gravity in the pole moves above. And the points of contact are different. When we squat, our feet are on the ground; when we genie, our feet are in the air and our contact point with the pole is behind the knees. However, being strong in a basic squat position means that our hips and legs should feel 226

UPPER & LOWER BODY STRENGTH

Lower body squat & hinge

pretty comfortable and powerful there. Leg-specific pole moves are not the only things that benefit from training legs in our off-the-pole workouts. The usual ‘leg day’ exercises we do in the gym (like deadlifts) don’t just isolate our leg muscles. They are compound movements that increase overall muscular strength, working the core, entire posterior chain and grip strength. Being strong in these compound movements has a direct impact on our athletic attributes, speed, power, overall performance on the pole and injury risk. The stronger our legs (particularly our hamstrings in a lengthened position, which is the second most commonly injured area for pole dancers), the more robust they will be against this risk of injury.

TEST 15: LOWER BODY STRENGTH & POWER We will use a simple vertical jump test for the leg strength and power benchmark. This test is widely considered to be one of the best predictors of lower body power and overall athleticism and is very easy to execute. First, stand side-on to a wall with a piece of chalk in the hand closest to the wall. Keeping both feet flat on the floor, mark with the chalk the highest point you can reach with your arm overhead. Then, still standing side-on to the wall, push off from both feet and jump as high as you can, marking the wall with your piece of chalk at the highest point you can reach. Repeat the test 3 times, and measure the distance between your starting point and your highest chalk mark.

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GOAL An ‘excellent’ score for gymnasts on this test is usually over 59cm (Sleeper et al, 2012).. Because pole acrobatics is not too dissimilar from gymnastics, we will use this as a rough guide for our benchmarking.

UPPER & LOWER BODY STRENGTH

Hip hinge

DISTANCE

RESULT

Less than 26cm

Poor

26 to 36cm

Muggle

36 to 47cm

Average

47 to 59cm

Good

59+ cm

Pole ninja

HIP HINGE EXERCISES Below are the hip hinge exercises you can use to build your programme later. We’ll discuss how to build workouts with these exercises in Part 4. Click on the exercise images to watch a video with more detailed instructions. There are 2 different positions we will use for ‘hip hinge’ movements in the gym: the hip bridge and the deadlift. I have included progressions for both movements, and I do like to use them both with my clients. I either cycle between the deadlift and the hip bridge at different ‘phases’ of my clients’ programmes or use both movements if their programmes include enough gym sessions to do them both in the same week. Both are posterior chain exercises, but the hip bridge focuses more on the glutes than hamstrings. Strong glutes are extremely important (and not just for Sunday Bumday reasons). The hip bridge position works the leg with the knee flexed (bent). In pole, particularly for moves like brass monkey grips, we often have our knee bent around the pole with our hip in extension, so the hip bridge movement has a lot of cross over and benefit to our pole dancing.

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The deadlift movement loads the hamstrings in a lengthened position. Because we use this lengthened position so frequently in pole and hamstring injuries are reportedly the second most common pole dance injury, I find this exercise particularly important for both strength and injury prevention.

Hip bridge progressions

UPPER & LOWER BODY STRENGTH

Hip hinge

Cook hip lift

Pulling the knee in forces your spine into a flexed position, which means you cannot ‘cheat’ by using the lower back. It helps to isolate your glute muscle so you can understand what it feels like to activate it without allowing the lower back to take over. Unweighted hip bridge

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Weighted hip bridge (dumbbells / barbell)

UPPER & LOWER BODY STRENGTH

Hip hinge

Single leg hip bridge

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UPPER & LOWER BODY STRENGTH

Hip hinge

Unstable hip bridge

Performing the hip bridge on a suspension trainer or a stability ball adds instability to this move, making it a lot more challenging for our hip stabilising muscles! Unstable hip bridge with leg curl

Adding a leg curl to this movement helps to strengthen the hamstrings in the action of knee flexion while the hips are extended – a movement that is particularly important for the brass monkey leg grip.

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Deadlift exercises Hip hinge with dowel

UPPER & LOWER BODY STRENGTH

Hip hinge

This exercise is to help ‘drill’ the movement pattern of the hip hinge that you will use in your deadlift movement in the gym. You should be 100% comfortable with this movement before moving on to the other deadlift progressions below. You can do this exercise with a broomstick! Take a shoulderwidth stance with your feet pointing forward. Hold the dowel vertically with one hand at your lower back and the other behind your neck. Keep the dowel in contact with your head, thoracic spine and sacrum at all times. With a slight bend in your knees, hinge forward at the hips, taking your butt back but keeping your chest lifted. If you are doing the movement correctly, you should feel it working mostly in your hamstrings.

Romanian deadlift Stand with the feet about hip distance apart. Hold the dumbbells with the palms facing the body. Keep a slight bend in the knees and hinge at the hip to lower the weights, keeping them close to the legs and sending the butt backwards. Squeeze the glutes to reverse the movement and stand. Keep the back flat.

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UPPER & LOWER BODY STRENGTH

Hip hinge

Barbell deadlift

The hip hinge mechanics remain the same, but performing this exercise with an Olympic barbell allows you to add all the weight you could ever need for strength building and progression. Olympic-sized weight plates will also put your bar at the right height for your start position.

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UPPER & LOWER BODY STRENGTH

Hip hinge

Reaching single leg deadlift

The movement pattern of the single leg deadlift is exactly the same hip hinge as a standard deadlift, but moving it to one leg adds a rotational stabilisation element, making it perfect for pole dancers. Weighted single leg deadlift You can see I have a small bend in my knee for this exercise. For ‘general population’ clients (i.e. non-pole dancers), I would usually maintain this bent knee position for weighted single leg deadlifts rather than have them ‘lock-out’ the knees. Because in pole we use a fully straight leg position for moves like cupids and Russian splits, you can progress to straighten the standing leg more once you have built a solid foundation here.

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SQUAT EXERCISES Below are the squat exercises you can use to build your programme later. We’ll discuss how to build workouts with these exercises in Part 4. Click on the exercise images to watch a video with more detailed instructions. I have split the squat-based leg progressions into 2 categories: those in a standard squat position and those in a split squat (lunge). As with the different hip hinge categories, I like to work on both variations with my clients where possible.

Squat exercises Unweighted squat

Squat

Make sure you keep your knees wide throughout the whole squat movement – you do not want them to move inwards towards each other, as shown in the image below.

UPPER & LOWER BODY STRENGTH

This is known as ‘knee valgus’, and it creates a lot of pressure on the ligaments of the knees.

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UPPER & LOWER BODY STRENGTH

Squat

Keep your chest lifted. Aiming for your shins and torso to be at a similar angle is a good general guide.

Goblet squat

The goblet squat is a good place to begin adding weight to your squats and will help groove the movement pattern for the upright torso position discussed above.

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UPPER & LOWER BODY STRENGTH

Squat

Barbell squat

The above images demonstrate the standard barbell back squat. However, when it comes to barbell squats, I prefer to use the front rack position below with my pole dance clients, instead of the traditional back squat because it requires a higher level of mobility and a more upright spinal position.

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Some other benefits of the front squat include: • It is much more challenging than the back squat, so you won’t need to go as heavy. This means you can get the same overall muscle recruitment with less load (and less compressive force on the knees); • It creates less stress on the lower back; • It requires more anterior core involvement; • It helps strengthen thoracic extension; • It promotes body awareness and improved movement patterns; • It is more quad-focused than the back squat;

If you lack the mobility to perform a front squat well, you can use the goblet or back squat while you work on your mobility. Single leg squat off box

UPPER & LOWER BODY STRENGTH

Squat

• It forces you to confront your mobility issues and deal with them. C’mon... you know you should work on your weaknesses, right?

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UPPER & LOWER BODY STRENGTH

Squat

Lateral squat

Single leg squat to bench

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UPPER & LOWER BODY STRENGTH

Squat

Pistol squat

The pistol squat is the ultimate single leg ninja strength move. It is trickier than it looks because it demands a high level of leg strength and stability, but also top notch hip mobility - which includes good active hip flexion to keep that ‘free’ leg lifted. All of these things are demanded of us as pole dancers, so it’s an exercise with a huge amount of transferability to pole.

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Lunge exercises Unweighted lunge We begin our split squat (lunge) progressions, as always, with an unweighted version.

UPPER & LOWER BODY STRENGTH

Squat

Keep your weight on the front heel and try not to use the back leg too much - it should be used for balance only - this exercise is all about that front leg! Make sure you take some time to master the movement pattern before adding weight. Weighted lunge

You can also progress this to a walking version, where you move forwards (or backwards) with each lunge, instead of staying in one spot, which adds a little more of a stability challenge and a little variation.

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Unweighted rear foot elevated lunge Elevating the back foot for the lunge position significantly increases the difficulty of this exercise by removing some of the stability and assistance from the back leg.

UPPER & LOWER BODY STRENGTH

Squat

This exercise can help build dynamic flexibility in the hip flexors, too.

Weighted rear foot elevated lunge

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Isolation exercises for knee extension and flexion Compound movements (that work multiple muscle groups, like the exercises above) should be prioritised in your training programme. They provide the biggest ‘bang for your buck’ when working in the gym and have the most functional crossover. But that is not to say that isolation exercises which target one specific muscle or muscle group are not useful. When it comes to training for pole, isolation exercises can also be useful for targetting specific movements or weak areas. The below exercises show a couple of examples using a resistance band – you can progress these movements to do them on a weighted leg curl and leg extension machine if you have access to them at the gym. Resisted knee extension

UPPER & LOWER BODY STRENGTH

Squat

This exercise works knee extension, isolating the quad muscle. It can be useful, for example, if you struggle with microbends.

The exercise below works the opposite movement – knee flexion - and can be useful, for example, if you want to improve hamstring strength for the outside leg hang or brass monkey leg grip.

Resisted leg curl

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UPPER & LOWER BODY STRENGTH

Lower body speed & power

LOWER BODY SPEED AND POWER EXERCISES Below are the lower body speed and power exercises you can use to build your programme later. We’ll discuss how to build workouts with these exercises in Part 4. Click on the exercise images to watch a video with more detailed instructions. Power work should only be introduced when you are working at an advanced level. We will talk more about progressing to this level when it comes to designing your programme later. I should point out that strength and conditioning coaches typically use explosive movements like Olympic weightlifting and kettlebell swings to train lower body speed and power with their athletes. I have not covered either of these movements in this book. This is primarily because most of the clients I work with do not have access to Olympic weightlifting equipment or lifting/kettlebell coaches to help them learn the intricacies of these practices. What’s more, learning these movements and practising them is very demanding on our central nervous system. Because pole is such a skill-based sport, I am always cautious about adding in such technical movements that would significantly increase the CNS burden on my clients when they usually already have a heavy training schedule. Having said this, I do believe there is a place for incorporating simple kettlebell movements and elements of Olympic lifting in a programme for an advanced pole dancer looking to increase their speed and power. If you are competing at a very advanced level and have access to a good Olympic weightlifting coach, please do not rule out this kind of training! The exercises we will focus on here are a way to drill the movement patterns for safe landings and take-offs so we can develop strong neural connections between our brains and our feet/legs. These movements also help to strengthen our ankle joints so we can safely land all those epic flips, jumps and power moves both on and off the pole. They also assist in improving our athletic performance generally. Power training, especially for the lower body, won’t feel much like pole when you train it in the gym, but improving your overall power will allow your body to produce more force so you can get more time in the air on flips and dynamic jumps. It is just one part of strengthening the system as a whole to make you a stronger, more resilient athlete. It means you’ll be able to land tricks you can currently only dream of. When your power training begins to pay off and you are achieving those epic moves on the pole – it will feel a lot more like pole then, believe me! Some important cues that apply to all jumping and landing drills include: • Don’t let your knees rotate inward when taking off or landing! • Soften the impact by landing on the balls of your feet, and land in an athletic stance with some bend in your knees and hips; • Once you have learnt the basic movement patterns, aim to add power and speed by pushing into the ground on take-offs and moving faster. 244

UPPER & LOWER BODY STRENGTH

Lower body speed & power

Squat jump

Lateral jump

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Lower body speed & power

Bilateral bound

Lateral take off and land

Make sure you ‘stick’ the landing for this! In other words, you should aim to momentarily hold your balance in the landing position before jumping again. 246

UPPER & LOWER BODY STRENGTH

Lower body speed & power

Box jump

Don’t go too crazy with your box height – pick an object or box that allows you to land with your knees less bent than (or at least with the same degree of bend as) when you took off. This can be progressed to single leg box jumps and lateral box hops for advanced athletes.

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CORE STRENGTH

Core blimey Core strength is crucial for pole dance. Not only does it keep the spine in a safe and neutral position while we spin, climb and twirl, but we need superhuman amounts of it to isometrically hold those seemingly effortless but insanely hardcore shapes we love to make on the pole. In recent years, research into how our core works has changed the way we approach core training in the fitness industry. Crunch machines have officially been shunned in favour of more functional core training exercises. Why? Because although endless sit-ups and crunches might be useful for ‘mission: sixpack’, they are not the best way to build a strong core. Our abdominal muscles are primarily stabilisers, not movers. Our anterior core muscles (those muscles at the front of the body, including our abs and obliques) CAN flex and rotate the trunk of the body. But their real purpose in life is to work with the other core muscles (including our back and hip rotators) to stabilise our spine – in other words, to PREVENT movement of the spine, not create it.

CORE STRENGTH

To this end, more productive exercises for strengthening our core focus on preventing unwanted movement of the spine, rather than moving the body through bending, flexing and rotating movements. Instead of sit-ups, Russian twists and side bends, we now more commonly train isometric holds like planks, V sits and hollow body holds for effective core development. Hurrah, progress! However, the spine requires stabilisation in a few different planes of motion—and many people still don’t train in all of them. Because we’re pole dancers (so we’re extra special), we need to stabilise our spines against a veritable boatload of different rotational and gravitational forces. That means it’s extra important that we are strong in all of these planes of motion if we want to boss it on the pole. Let’s take a closer look at what those planes of motion are and why they are so important for pole dancers. The spine can move in 3 main planes of motion: it can extend (bend backwards), flex (round forwards), flex laterally (bend to the side) and rotate (twist to one side). Our core is constantly working to stabilise the spine, preventing these movements from happening and keeping it in a neutral and safe position. This is going on whether we are busting out moves on the pole or simply keeping our body from crumpling into a heap while we wait in line for a Cappuccino and a marshmallow on a stick in Starbucks (shhhh, don’t judge me).

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To help you visualise how your core is working in each plane of motion, let’s look at some examples of common gym movements and how they train each element of core strengtth.

In our plank position, we are mainly using our anterior core muscles to resist spinal extension to hold a straight line (resisting arching our back) 250

CORE STRENGTH

CORE STRENGTH

Obviously, holding our bodies in the air with perfect lines while upside down or hanging from a foot requires a great deal more core strength than walking around in our muggle life. So if we want to pole strongly and safely, we need an epic amount of core strength in all of these planes of motion.

CORE STRENGTH

In a side plank, we are mainly resisting lateral flexion to keep our hips up in a straight line (resisting side bending)

Taking away one point of contact in our plank requires us to resist not only extension but also rotation, as we must resist dipping our shoulder and hip down to the side that now has no support When we’re doin’ our thang on the pole, we don’t use these elements of core strength in isolation, but are usually combining all of them at once.

Open chain movements Pole dance incorporates many ‘open chain’ leg movements where we are holding the pole with our upper body but our legs are moving freely in the air. 251

Most of the core and leg strength exercises we traditionally do in the gym are ‘closed chain’ exercises, meaning that our feet are in a constant, fixed position on the ground as we move – for example, when we squat or hold a plank position.

CORE STRENGTH

CORE STRENGTH

The coordination of upper body, leg and core strength while our legs are moving in the air (especially when our legs are out in front of us) is a particularly common movement in pole.

Because it is so important that we are able to perform this movement safely, with the correct engagement and synergy of the different muscle groups involved, open chain core exercises that incorporate upper body and leg movements will usually form a big part of our core training regime, once we have mastered strength in a closed chain position. Controlling our body position against multidirectional forces is basically EVERYTHING we do in pole. In short, our core needs to be hella strong, and although we must be Hulk strong in anti-extension and anti-flexion movements, we must prioritise anti-rotational and open chain core movements, which are sadly often overlooked in traditional gym plans.

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CORE STRENGTH IN FLEXION / EXTENSION

This element of our core strength is what helps us to keep our body in a straight line, especially when we’re aiming for a parallel horizontal line, like in a shoulder mount flag or iguana flag.

CORE STRENGTH

Flexion / extension

Why is anti-flexion/anti-extension core strength so important for pole dancers?

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CORE STRENGTH

Flexion / extension

Although there are other forces at play, the big burden in the shoulder mount flag is on the anti-extension muscles of the anterior core, preventing the back from arching and the lower body from drooping to the floor.

In the iguana flag above, the weight of our legs and the force of gravity really want us to flex (round the spine forwards), but we must use our torso extensor muscles, particularly our posterior core muscles (erector spinae, longissimus, iliocostalis and multifidi) to resist and keep our spine in a neutral postion. Core strength in extension and flexion is also important for deadlift moves like inverts and shoulder mounts. When we invert, our abdominals work together with our hip flexors to lift our legs in the air. Anti-extension core strength is important to protect the lower back and prevent the hip flexors and back from doing all the work. This movement requires a balance of upper body, hip flexor and core strength – if any one of these areas is lacking, one of the others will jump in to pick up the slack, which can result in dysfunctional movement patterns and overuse injury. 254

TEST 16: CORE STRENGTH IN FLEXION/EXTENSION

CORE STRENGTH

Flexion / extension

I used to use a basic plank test to monitor core strength with my clients. However, I found it had some limitations. In that test, clients had to hold a plank for as long as they could. It really was a test of core endurance, and most pole dancers would score highly in it. I don’t usually have my pole dancer clients hold basic planks in their training for any longer than a minute at a time. Once they are able to hold a perfect plank for 3 sets of 1 minute, we move on to increasing the difficulty of that plank position by incorporating more rotational and stability demands – like removing a point of contact from the floor. Because this instability is more representative of what we do on the pole, so it is a much more productive use of training time (and much less dull) than holding planks for ever-increasing periods of time. Instead, I now prefer to use a variation of the straight leg lift test. This test is a perfect screening tool to check on your inverting core strength and involves an open chain movement – just like we do on the pole. Lie on your back with your arms folded across your chest. Have a friend place their hand just beneath the natural arch of your lower back and lift your legs up to a 90-degree angle. Engage your core and press your lower back into your friend’s hand – they should feel some pressure on it. Keeping your legs straight, slowly lower them towards the floor, maintaining that pressure on your friend’s hand. Take the measurement at the lowest point you can reach before either of the following things happens: 1. You lose the pressure on your friend’s hand; 2. Your tummy starts to dome. Record the test from the side, so you can take a screenshot at the lowest point and measure the angle, as illustrated in the image below.

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Flexion / extension CORE STRENGTH

GOAL Because we must be able to engage the core as soon as our legs leave the floor for the straight leg invert, we are aiming for a score below 10 degrees for advanced pole dancers. ANGLE

RESULT

75 to 90 degrees

Poor

45 to 75 degrees

Muggle

15 to 45 degrees

Average

10 to 15 degrees

Good

10 degrees or less

Pole ninja

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ANTI-EXTENSION CORE EXERCISES

CORE STRENGTH

Flexion / extension

Below are the anti-extension exercises you can use to build your programme later. We’ll discuss how to build workouts with these exercises in Part 4. Click on the exercise images to watch a video with more detailed instructions.

Toe tap Lie on your back with your knees bent. Engage your core and place your hands on your tummy so you can feel what’s happening there. Bring both knees up so they are in line with your hips with your knees at around a 90 degree bend. Maintaining the knee position and keeping everything else still, slowly tap one foot at a time to the floor. You need to be able to perform this exercise without any hip movement or belly doming before you move on to the next progression. Double leg toe tap Progress the above exercise by tapping both feet down at once, again maintaining the knee and hip position – make sure you can perform this exercise without the lower back arching or tummy doming before moving on to the next progression.

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CORE STRENGTH

Flexion / extension

Lying invert

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This movement mimics a basic invert. Lie on your back with your legs extended and slowly drag your heels along the floor to bend the knees and then tuck. Keep your lower back pressing on the floor or in a neutral position – your spinal position shouldn’t change throughout the exercise.

CORE STRENGTH

Flexion / extension

Lying invert (hang position)

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This adds an overhead position to the invert movement. If you are unable to keep the back of your hands on the floor or maintain your spinal position, go back and work on previous progressions before trying again. Once you are comfortable here, you can progress this exercise and prepare for straight leg inverts by performing the movement first with one leg straight and then with both legs straight.

CORE STRENGTH

Flexion / extension

Elbow plank

Stability ball roll out

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CORE STRENGTH

Flexion / extension

Suspension trainer roll out

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CORE STRENGTH

Flexion / extension

Hollowbody holds

If you cannot hold the position with both legs straight without arching the lower back or pooching the tummy, keep one leg bent.

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Hanging leg raise (tuck)

CORE STRENGTH

Flexion / extension

The hanging leg raise combines an overhead pull (and grip training) with core work. You are performing the exact same movement as your floor based lying invert above, but this time from a hanging position without the support of the floor. Begin in a hollowbody hang and control the tuck, just like you did on the floor don’t use momentum! Make sure you have worked through the shoulder flexion progressions and are able to engage your shoulders in the hang position, before adding the tuck!

Ab wheel roll out

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CORE STRENGTH

Flexion / extension

Stability ball pike

This movement can also be performed on a suspension trainer and doubles up as a great overhead pushing exercise, too! V-sit

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Hanging leg raise (straight leg) Perfoming the leg raise with straight legs significantly increases the difficulty of the tucked leg raise.

CORE STRENGTH

Flexion / extension

Begin in the same way - from a hollowbody hang position, but this time keep the legs straight and lift them as high as you can. Controlling the movement. Combining core stability with hip flexor strength, hamstring flexibility and quad strength to keep the legs straight has a huge amount of transferability to pole - especially for moves like straight leg inverts and shouldermounts.

Dragon flag progressions

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Flexion / extension CORE STRENGTH

Bruce Lee’s signature move, the dragon flag, is perfect for building the core strength needed to shoulder mount plank. Begin with the legs tucked and slowly lower to the bench. Progress to perform the movement with one leg tucked, keeping the hips high.

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Flexion / extension CORE STRENGTH

And eventually to both legs straight.

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Twerk it! The pelvic tilt

By this, I mean the tilt that takes our pelvis from a position of anterior tilt (imagine sticking out your booty and tipping the hips forwards) to a position of posterior tilt (imagine squeezing your butt and tucking your pelvis under). This twerk-like movement is important because, in pole, we often move between these two positions – particularly if we are working on ‘hanging’ deadlifts like the handspring deadlift or aerial shoulder mount, where our hips usually begin anteriorly tilted with lumbar extension and we have to tuck into posterior pelvic tilt and lumbar flexion.

Conversely, the reverse of this movement (lumbar flexion and posterior hip tilt moving to lumbar extension and anterior hip tilt) is important for moves where we transition from a piked position into an extended position, like a brass monkey deadlift.

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CORE STRENGTH

CORE STRENGTH

Flexion / extension

Although our core exercises focus on resisting spinal movement (because this has been shown to be the most effective way to build our core strength and stability), I often include additional exercises to build strength and awareness around the movement of the pelvic tilt.

Flexion / extension CORE STRENGTH

Hip tilt on ball

Build awareness and control moving slowly between the two positions.

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Flexion / extension

Resisted cat cow

This exercise takes the hips from a position of anterior tilt with lumbar spine extension, into spinal flexion with a posterior pelvic tilt, with resistance from the band. It is useful for building awareness and control in this movement.

CORE STRENGTH

Handstand hip roll For those woking on advanced deadlifts like the aerial shoulder mount, handspring and flag invert, this exercise can be useful to replicate the hip tilt and lumbar spine movement that we need for these pole moves, combining it with an overhead press.

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CORE STRENGTH IN LATERAL FLEXION Why is anti-lateral flexion core strength so important for pole dancers?

CORE STRENGTH

Lateral flexion

When we pole, we quite often have to stabilise against lateral flexion. It is this element of core strength that will help us to keep our bodies straight in a flag or Iron X position, and help us achieve deadlifts where we lift out to the side of the pole, like a flag invert or handspring.

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When we hold our body side-on to the pole like this, we are using our anti-lateral flexion strength, coming primarily from our transverse abdominis, obliques, quadratus lumborum, and erector spinae, to keep our hips in line and keep our body parallel to the floor.

CORE STRENGTH

Lateral flexion

TEST 17: CORE STRENGTH IN LATERAL FLEXION For this test, come into a side plank position with the elbow directly below the shoulder and your feet stacked, one slightly in front of the other. Lift your hips to form a straight line from the ankle through the hip to the shoulder. Time how long you are able to hold this position. Stop the timer when you are no longer able to hold the position or your trunk/hip position changes.

GOAL As with the plank position, I don’t recommend training side planks for time periods longer than 1 minute (x 3 sets). Instead, once a client is able to achieve a solid 1-minute side plank for 3 sets, I move on to more advanced anti-lateral core exercises. However, if you can hold your side plank with good form for around 2 minutes, this is an indicator that you have a solid lateral core endurance foundation for pole. It is normal for one side to be slightly different from the other in this test, but make a note of any significant differences between your right and left sides so you can address these in your training programme.

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TIME HELD

RESULT

Less than 30 secs

Poor

30 secs to 1 min

Muggle

1 to 1.5 min

Average

1.5 to 2 mins

Good

2+ mins

Pole ninja

Lateral flexion

ANTI-LATERAL FLEXION CORE EXERCISES Below are the anti-lateral flexion exercises you can use to build your programme later. We’ll discuss how to build workouts with these exercises in Part 4. Click on the exercise images to watch a video with more detailed instructions. The on-the-pole stability ball Iron X and flag progressions covered in Part 3 are also great for training anti-lateral flexion core strength while also incorporating a push and a pull on the pole!

CORE STRENGTH

Side plank

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CORE STRENGTH

Lateral flexion

Side plank with leg lift

Suitcase carry

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Lateral flexion CORE STRENGTH

Suspension trainer oblique pike

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Lateral flexion CORE STRENGTH

The oblique pike combines a few different exercises – the start position is a horizontal press (plank position), which moves into a vertical (overhead) press. Bear this in mind when choosing your exercises – it can be used in your programme as both a core exercise and a pressing exercise. It works the hip flexors and core in a similar movement pattern to that needed for inverts and deadlifts, and the side pike adds a rotational element that is awesome for building flag invert strength. Plank with lateral resistance

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CORE STRENGTH IN ROTATION Why is anti-rotational core strength so important for pole dancers? Core strength in rotation is another important aspect of being strong for pole. This is because our apparatus is vertical so we tend to hold on to a fixed point with 1, 2 or 3 contact points. Our bodies are usually supported differently on one side than the other, or supported completely on one side only, so we are constantly fighting against forces pulling us in different directions – especially if we are on spin pole!

CORE STRENGTH

Rotation

It takes a LOT of anti-rotation core strength to fight against that instability and keep the body in a balanced and visually beautiful position.

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TEST 18: CORE STRENGTH IN ROTATION To assess rotation core strength, I use the closed kinetic chain stability test (CKCST). It is a well researched performance measure used in sports strength and conditioning to assess athletes’ shoulder stability and injury risk. Although the CKCST is used as a measure of shoulder stability, it tests our ability to coordinate movement that is generated mostly by the upper body while simultaneously stabilising the core – this is a fairly accurate description of what we do on the pole. Because this test requires us to hold a plank position with one point of stability removed, it has an anti-rotational core component.

You then maintain this plank position as you tap the opposite hand, alternating hands and making sure the hand comes back to its original start position each time (this is why the markers are there). Don’t allow your back to arch or hips to pike up in the air! Time this test, counting the number of taps you are able to complete in 15 seconds. The goal is to tap as many times as possible in 15 seconds without losing your form.

CORE STRENGTH

Rotation

To set up for the test, place 2 pieces of tape on the floor about 3 feet apart and take a wide press-up position with your hands on top of the markers.

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Rotation CORE STRENGTH

GOAL For high level athletes, a score below 21 taps is an indicator of increased shoulder injury risk (Pontillo 2014). Given the extremely high demands of pole, aiming for this 21-tap standard is our goal for this test. If your score is below 21, don’t panic. You can work on improving it in your training programme. A good (and acheivable) goal is to improve your score by at least 3 repetitions each time you test it (every 4 to 5 weeks or so). You can use the exerecises in this section, combined with the shoulder and upper body exercises we covered earlier to improve this score over time. TAPS

RESULT

Less than 15

Poor

15 to 18

Average

18 to 21

Good

21+

Pole ninja

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ANTI-ROTATION CORE EXERCISES Below are the anti-rotation exercises you can use to build your programme later. We’ll discuss how to build workouts with these exercises in Part 4. Click on the exercise images to watch a video with more detailed instructions.

CORE STRENGTH

Rotation

Windsheid wipers

Elbow plank with reach

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To change a plank from an anti-extension exercise into an anti-rotation exercise, what we need to do is wicked simple – simply take away one point of contact with the floor. This creates instability at one corner of our plank so our body has to resist rotation to maintain its hold in a straight line. Placing an object like a kettlebell ahead of you so you can reach and tap it with one hand, is a good starting point. Please note that, before you begin to add anti-rotational elements to your planks, you need to be really strong in your basic anti-extension strength. Work through the anti-extension progressions first, before beginning to add in rotational work!

CORE STRENGTH

Rotation

Clock plank

Superman plank

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CORE STRENGTH

Rotation

Plank with lateral resistance and tap

With a resistance band tied around your waist, removing one hand from the floor creates a significant rotational and lateral challenge for the core. Move slowly with control!

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CORE STRENGTH

Rotation

Anti-rotation chops

This exercise involves a push and pull action while stabilising the core and preventing rotation – so you can see why I LOVE it as core training exercises for pole dancers! This movement can also be performed using a cable machine, if you have access to one. The first one above moves from a high pull to a low push and the second one below from a low pull to a high push. You can progress this by changing the leg positioning from kneeling to a lunge and then to standing.

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WRISTS AND GRIP

Get a grip We’ve been living our entire lives with our ‘head up top’ and ‘feet down bottom’ since we took those first tentative steps towards encouraging open arms and excited gestures at about 12 months old.

WRISTS & GRIP

When we suddenly decide (mid-thirties, in my case) that #lifeisbetterupsidedown and flip that – literally – on its head, putting our entire body weight on our poor unsuspecting hands in handstands, and hanging with our hands twisted around a metal pole, it can be a bit of a shocker for our wrists, which are nowhere near as sturdy and robust as our ankles.

We bend and twist our wrists into all kinds of weird and wonderful positions in pole. If we cannot actively flex, extend and side bend our wrists through a decent range of motion when we are OFF the pole, then if we begin weight bearing in those positions ON the pole, we are setting ourselves up for wrist and forearm pain. Let’s take a look at each position individually so we can assess the demand placed on our wrists when we pole, and why each position is important.

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WRISTS & GRIP

WRISTS & GRIP

WRIST EXTENSION Why is wrist extension so important for pole dancers?

WRISTS & GRIP

Wrist extension

Wrist extension is the movement of bringing the back of our hand closer to our forearm. We use it in handstands and also when we position the bottom hand in most of the standard grips we use on the pole.

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Wrist extension WRISTS & GRIP

TEST 19: WRIST EXTENSION For this test, bring the arm directly in front of you with the palm facing the floor. Keeping the arm and hand straight, bend the wrist to point the palm of the hand forward (like you are making a ‘stop’ sign). Film this from the side and take a screenshot at the furthest point you are able to hold for 3 seconds so you can measure the angle, as shown in the image below - the measurement is taken from your start point (palm facing the floor, wrist neutral) to your end point. Do each hand separately.

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GOAL A ‘normal’ range of wrist extension is 60 to 75 degrees, but because the handstand position we use in pole requires at least a 90-degree angle, this is our goal for this test.

WRISTS & GRIP

Wrist extension

ANGLE

RESULT

Below 60 degrees

Poor

60 to 75 degrees

Muggle

75 to 80 degrees

Average

80 to 85 degrees

Good

85 to 90 degrees

Pole ninja

A note on parallette bars A pair of low parallettes (sometimes called press-up/push-up bars) are a useful tool if you struggle with wrist extension mobility. Holding these bars when doing handstands or any other moves where you usually have your wrists in an extended position (like press-ups and planks) will help keep your wrists in a more neutral position while you work on improving your wrist mobility.

WRIST EXTENSION EXERCISES Below are the wrist extension exercises you can use to build your programme later. We’ll discuss how to build workouts with these exercises in Part 4. Click on the exercise images to watch a video with more detailed instructions.

Hand lift

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Passive stretch: forward lean

WRISTS & GRIP

Wrist extension

Reverse wrist curl

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WRIST FLEXION Why is wrist flexion so important for pole dancers? Flexion is the movement of bringing the palm of the hand closer to the forearm. We end up putting our wrists into a flexed position when we spin. Most often, this flexed position is accompanied by some ulna deviation (side bending the pinkie finger side of the hand), but we will come back to that.

WRISTS & GRIP

Wrist flexion

We tend to put our wrists into flexion at the end of a spin, especially if we have a tight grip on the pole and the body is moving ahead of the hand.

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The amount of wrist flexion we use when we spin shouldn’t be extreme, but if we have a mobility restriction here, it could mean we are at an increased risk of injury, especially when first learning spins, when we are unsure exactly how tight to grip the pole and may end up flexing our wrists more than we need to!

TEST 20: WRIST FLEXION

Film this from the side and take a screenshot at the furthest point you are able to reach and hold for 3 seconds so you can measure the angle, as shown in the image below. The measurement is taken from your start point (palm facing the floor, wrist neutral) to your end point. Do each hand separately.

WRISTS & GRIP

Wrist flexion

For this test, bring the arm directly in front of you with the palm facing the floor. Keeping the arm and hand straight, bend the wrist to bring the palm of the hand towards your body.

GOAL A good ‘normal person’ range for wrist flexion is around 60 to 80 degrees. Aiming to be able to comfortably reach the top end of this range is a sensible goal. ANGLE

RESULT

Below 60 degrees

Poor

60 to 80 degrees

Muggle

80+ degrees

Pole ninja

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WRIST FLEXION EXERCISES Below are the wrist flexion exercises you can use to build your programme later. We’ll discuss how to build workouts with these exercises in Part 4. Click on the exercise images to watch a video with more detailed instructions.

WRISTS & GRIP

Wrist flexion

Wrist curl

Passive stretch: reverse lean

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ULNA AND RADIAL DEVIATION

Ulna deviation is the movement of side bending the pinkie finger edge of our hand closer to our forearm. We use it whenever our hand is grabbing the pole in a baseball grip above us, like in a full bracket grip or spin and in a forearm grip.

WRISTS & GRIP

Ulna & radial deviation

Why is ulna and radial deviation so important for pole dancers?

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Ulna & radial deviation WRISTS & GRIP

Our bottom hand in any full bracket grip position is also usually in a position of ulna deviation.

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When we use a split grip on the pole, we can avoid excessive ulna deviation on the bottom hand by pointing our trigger finger down the pole, instead of wrapping it around the pole. This helps to keep our wrist in a more neutral position, where it is not only less likely to be injured but is stronger, too.

WRISTS & GRIP

Ulna & radial deviation

Avoiding excessive ulna deviation in split grip

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WRISTS & GRIP

Ulna & radial deviation

Radial deviation is the opposite movement – side bending the thumb side of the hand towards our forearm. We use this less in pole than ulna deviation, but we do use it in moves where we have our hands behind us, like a cup grip shoulder mount, and other bridged moves.

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WRISTS & GRIP

Ulna & radial deviation

TEST 21: ULNA AND RADIAL DEVIATION Start with your arms down by your sides, then bend your elbows to 90 degrees. Make a fist with each hand and set your thumbs to point towards the ceiling. Bring the pinkie side of each hand towards the floor, keeping your palms facing each other and your arms and hands parallel. Then side bend the wrists the opposite way. Film it from the side so you can measure the angle, as shown in the images below. Use the knuckle of your middle finger as a reference point and measure the distance from its starting position in neutral to your end range in both directions.

GOAL A ‘normal person’ range is around 30 to 39 degrees for ulna deviation (pinkie-side side bend) and 20 to 25 degrees for radial deviation (thumb-side side bend). Because we are weight bearing in these positions, aiming for the top end of these ranges is our goal. ULNA DEVIATION ANGLE

RESULT

Less than 30 degrees

Poor

30 to 35 degrees

Average

35 to 39 degrees

Good

39+ degrees

Pole ninja

RADIAL DEVIATION ANGLE

RESULT

Less than 20 degrees

Poor

20 to 23 degrees

Average

23 to 25 degrees

Good

25+ degrees

Pole ninja

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ULNA AND RADIAL DEVIATION EXERCISES

Wrist hammer curl

WRISTS & GRIP

Ulna & radial deviation

Below are the ulna and radial deviation exercises you can use to build your programme later. We’ll discuss how to build workouts with these exercises in Part 4. Click on the exercise images to watch a video with more detailed instructions.

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PRONATION AND SUPINATION

WRISTS & GRIP

Pronation & supination

Why are pronation and supination so important for pole dancers? Pronation and supination are the actions of rotating our wrists/forearms. We have to transition between the pronated (palm facing down) and supinated (palm facing up) positions quite frequently when we pole, usually when we transition from one hand grip to another.

Genie with supinated grip / Genie with pronated grip We use pronatation to twist our arm around the pole for the claw grip.

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It can also lead to dysfunctional compensatory movement patterns. For example, when using twisted grip, as we discussed earlier, some of the rotation of the top arm comes from this forearm/wrist rotation. If we are able to pronate our forearm fully, it means we can reduce the amount of internal rotation at the shoulder. If our pronation range is restricted, then more of the ‘twist’ of twisted grip will have to come from the shoulder.

WRISTS & GRIP

Pronation & supination

And we need a good degree of supination for the bottom arm in our split grips and especially for our top hand in true grip. If we have mobility restrictions here, we will end up forcing our wrists into an ‘unsafe’ end range of rotation when we are on the pole, which can put us at an increased risk of injury. Note that the ‘trigger finger’ tip above is also a good way to reduce the amount of supination needed on that bottom hand.

Supination of top forearm in true grip / pronation of top arm in twisted grip

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Start with the arm down by your side. First, bend the elbow to 90 degrees and do a ‘thumbs up’ with the thumb pointing at the ceiling. This is your starting point. Keep the wrist in a neutral position (don’t flex, extend or side bend it!), keep the thumb still and rotate the hand out to the side so your thumb points outwards, rotating as far as you can. Then rotate it as far as you can in the opposite direction. Film this from the front on both sides so you can measure the angles for each wrist, using your thumb as a reference point as shown in the images below.

WRISTS & GRIP

Pronation & supination

TEST 22: PRONATION AND SUPINATION

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WRISTS & GRIP

Pronation & supination

GOAL A ‘normal person’ range is about 70 degrees of pronation (palm facing down) and around 85 degrees of supination (palm facing up). Because the demands of pole dance are so high and we are weight bearing in these positions, we want to ensure that we are reaching the end ranges of these positions comfortably, especially if we want to use twisted grip. PRONATION (PALM FACING DOWN)

RESULT

Less than 60 degrees

Poor

60 to 70 degrees

Muggle

70 to 80 degrees

Good

80+ degrees

Pole ninja

SUPINATION (PALM FACING UP)

RESULT

Less than 75 degrees

Poor

75 to 85 degrees

Muggle

85 to 90 degrees

Good

90+ degrees

Pole ninja

PRONATION AND SUPINATION EXERCISES Below are the pronation and supination exercises you can use to build your programme later. We’ll discuss how to build workouts with these exercises in Part 4. Click on the exercise images to watch a video with more detailed instructions.

Band rotation

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WRISTS & GRIP

Pronation & supination

Hammer rotation

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GRIP STRENGTH Why is grip strength so important for pole dancers?

WRISTS & GRIP

Grip strength

We’ve all had those frustratingly unproductive pole days. You know the ones – when you spend the entire class obsessively wiping and re-wiping your hands with a microfibre cloth like a crazed Mr Burns wringing his hands on overdrive. You clean the pole, you reapply your Dry Hands/Mighty Grip/Tite Grip/iTac (other grip aids are available) before attempting a move, sliding like the last bite of a lemonade lolly off its stick on a hot summer’s day, then repeating the entire process again. We’re so quick to reach for grip aids – myself included. Don’t get me wrong, grip aids are a godsend, and I’m not down with this whole ‘don’t use grip aids, it’s cheating’ mantra that I have heard talk of. We wouldn’t ask a gymnast or an Olympic weightlifter not to use chalk – I don’t see why grip aids are really any different in pole. But if you are having constant grip problems, your issue could be about more than sweaty mitts or living in a humid climate. The truth is, if your grip is weak, ultimately, no amount of grip aid will save you. Grip strength is key to being able to safely and confidently hold poses on the pole, and it’s usually the first thing to go when holding a strength move. I know from personal experience how infuriating a weak grip can be, and it really can hold back your pole progress, but the good news is that, like all strength training, improving your grip strength is incredibly simple. Yay! A strong grip is about more than hand strength. There are a number of different types of grip, all involving different muscles and movements of the fingers, hand, wrist and forearm, and all the muscles and tendons from the elbow to the fingertips are involved. Strengthening these muscles will not only give you a better pole grip, but it will also help to prevent common pole injuries to the wrists and elbows.

The different types of grip There are quite a few different types of grip, and it’s worth getting to know the different movements as it will help you to understand the training drills in this book: Crushing – This one does what it says on the tin. This is the grip you would use to squeeze something between your fingers and the palm of your hand – think crushing a beer can, Spring Break style. We use it a lot in pole and whenever we do strength training that involves holding a barbell, kettlebell or dumbbell. Crimping – Pushing the top of your fingers towards the callous-prone part of your hand (thank you, pole, for our beautiful workman’s hands!). Pinching – This is the grip action of squeezing something between your fingers and your thumb. 305

Supporting crush grip – This is the grip that comes into play when you hold onto something but support most of the load with your fingers – like when you refuse to do 2 trips with the shopping bags from the car. It can also include exercises where you are holding your body weight, like pull-ups and hangs.

WRISTS & GRIP

Grip strength

Open hand support – This is similar to the supporting crush grip, except your fingers don’t quite touch or overlap. Think holding awkward objects, like a 50mm pole (feels like a tree trunk to me!), opening jars and cup grip moves. Extension – Okay, calling this a ‘grip’ is a bit of a misnomer. ‘Extension’ actually refers to the opposite movement to gripping: opening the hand. However, I’ve included it because it is incredibly important to train this movement in addition to the grip training we do, as it will not only give us the strongest jazz hands the world has ever seen, it will train the opposing muscles that we use to grip and therefore help to prevent muscle imbalance and injury. Similarly, although the most important grips for polers are crush grip, supporting crush grip and open hand support, it’s still important to include exercises for all the different types of grip in your training programme. Like all aspects of our training, if we only focus on one type of grip movement without working the opposing and assisting muscle groups, eventually, we put our hands and forearms at risk of muscle imbalance and injury.

TEST 23: GRIP STRENGTH To test your grip strength, you need a piece of equipment called a hand dynamometer. I realise that isn’t something that most of us have kicking around in the kitchen drawer, but because grip strength is such a crucial element of pole, and because you can pick up a basic dynamometer for around £20, I have included this test for those of you who want to track it. Follow the instructions of your chosen dynamometer to perform this test. The test is usually performed with the arm down by the side and elbow bent at 90 degrees. You squeeze the handle of the dynamometer as a maximum isometric effort, and the machine will provide you with your result in lb and/or kg.

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Impact of arm and elbow positioning on grip strength The position of the wrist, elbow and shoulder can impact on grip strength. A 2016 study on grip strength showed that grip is strongest when the wrist is in a neutral position and the arm is straight (Limbasiya et al, 2016).

WRISTS & GRIP

Grip strength

You can test this yourself with your hand dynamometer by performing the grip strength test in different positions and seeing the difference in your results with the arm bent vs straight, and with the wrist in a neutral position vs other positions. You can also see if there is a difference in your grip strength when your arm is overhead. Knowing this can help us to understand why we might feel secure doing some pole tricks but not others. It means we can better analyse our strengths and weaknesses, and figure out where we need to direct our training so we can improve our performance.

GOAL For non-pole dancers, an ‘excellent’ rating for grip strength is somewhere above 84lb (38kg) for females and 141lb (64kg) for males. According to a recent study by Carlie Huberman (as yet unpublished) on circus artists, average grip strength for an amateur female is in the 60lb range, and for professional females, it is closer to 80lb. For men, it is around 70 to 80lb for amateur aerialists and over 100lb for professional male aerialists. Until we have more normative data for pole dancers, we will base our benchmarks on these figures. GRIP STRENGTH MEASUREMENT (FEMALE)

RESULT

Below 60lb (27kg)

Muggle

60 to 70lb (27 to 32kg)

Average

70 to 80lb (32 to 36kg)

Good

80+lb (36+kg)

Pole ninja

GRIP STRENGTH MEASUREMENT (MALE)

RESULT

Below 70lb (32kg)

Muggle

70 to 80lb (32 to 36kg)

Average

80 to 100lb (36 to 45kg)

Good

100+lb (45+kg)

Pole ninja

It is normal for there to be around a 10% difference between our dominant and nondominant sides. I’d expect this difference to be much greater for pole dancers, but if the difference is significant, you may want to work more on strengthening your weaker side to reduce that imbalance and improve your overall strength and performance. 307

When and how to train grip Remember that when we pole, we are grip training! We are also training our grip in the following exercises: • Deadlifts; • Pull-ups/chin-ups; • Hanging leg raises;

WRISTS & GRIP

Grip strength

• Farmer’s walks; • Suitcase carries; • Kettlebell swings. If your grip muscles are too fatigued, it will affect your performance on the pole and can lead to overuse injury, so it’s important not to overdo it. Using the above exercises in your gym routine is a good way to get more bang for your buck and combine your grip training with other movements you are already doing in the gym. But if you feel you need some extra work on your grip, adding a couple of the grip exercises below, twice a week (plus the important muscle balancing finger extension exercise) will usually be plenty.

GRIP STRENGTH EXERCISES Below are the grip exercises you can use to build your programme later. We’ll discuss how to build workouts with these exercises in Part 4. Click on the exercise images to watch a video with more detailed instructions.

Tennis ball squeeze Grab a tennis ball (or any other slightly pliable ball), squeeze it in the palm of your hand and release your grip. The more pliable the ball is, the easier this exercise will be so it’s best to start with a softer ball and work up. You can mix things up by doing short pulses and longer ‘squeeze and holds’ (3 to 5 seconds). Also try squeezing with each individual finger – or thumb and finger, as shown in the image.

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Grip squeeze

When choosing which one to buy, make sure you have one that feels tough but that you can actually get a good squeeze on – it’s important to be able to train the full range of motion of the grip.

Plate pinch

Take 1 or 2 weight plates and hold them for timed intervals with your fingers on one side and thumb on the other.

WRISTS & GRIP

Grip strength

You can buy grippers from most sports shops. They are basically spring-loaded handles that you can squeeze together, and they come in different resistance levels – some of them are CRAZY hard!

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WRISTS & GRIP

Grip strength

Finger extension

This exercise trains the OPPOSITE movement to gripping the pole. I include it as a prehab exercise because if we spend all our time squeezing our hands around a pole, we could end up overtraining the flexor muscles we use to grip, which could cause muscle imbalances, elbow pain and other niggles. This exercise will help keep your grip muscles balanced. Forearm foam roll

This is an awesome way to relieve some of the forearm ‘pump’ we get from gripping the pole. I usually incorporate these exercises at the beginning and/or end of a pole training session. Done regularly, this ‘mini massage’ for your forearms can help to speed up recovery and relieve some of the muscle tightness that can contribute to wrist and elbow issues. 310

POINT YOUR TOES!

But I AM pointing my damn toes! I’ll be honest here. The whole toe-pointing thing remains a constant battle for me. I have always been one of those… let’s say ‘grace-challenged’ polers with zero natural flow and no dance background to tango swoop back on. But, fortunately, like most challenges in pole, it turns out that toe pointing is all about strength. And you know me by now – if I can muscle my way to fake grace and elegance, then you betcha that’s what imma do! Who’s with me?

Strength and conditioning for toe pointing A beautifully arched and pointed foot is like the cherry on top of every single pole trick, spin and pose: the finishing touch that completes the lines of an already badass pole masterpiece.

POINT YOUR TOES!

Increasing strength to perfect lines is something my clients frequently need help with, but, as always, ‘toe pointing for pole dance’ is not a topic typically covered in the ‘Strength and Conditioning for Sports’ coaching manuals. As a result, I’ve done my fair share of anatomical geeking out on the subject of toe pointing. And because this has also been (and still is) a very personal challenge for me, I’ve had my own revelations along the way. Most important of these ‘toe-pointing epiphanies’ was my realisation that there was a HUGE, giant clown-shoe-sized difference between what I was doing when I first started pole (ie when I THOUGHT I was pointing my toes) vs what it feels like to ACTUALLY point my toes. Light bulb moment!

Are your feet doing what you think they’re doing? The problem is, as we walk into our first ever pole class, slapping our big ol’ flat flappers on the floor with every single step like a pair of wet fish, most of us (and I’m definitely including myself on this list) don’t have the faintest idea what it feels like to actually point our toes. In that honeymoon period when pole is new, Gemini and Scorpio are merely star signs, and we haven’t yet discovered the importance of cheeky cut scrunch pants, our instructor will shout across the studio: “Yasssss! Awesome! Now, point your damn toes!” Our feet usually respond immediately by going into LOCKDOWN! If you imagine your feet taking a ride on the Hollywood Rip Ride Rockit… they’re in the front carriage and your toes are gripping that lap safety bar like a boa constrictor! But consider this: if someone asked us to elongate and point with our hand, we wouldn’t clamp our fingers into a white-knuckled death-grip claw, would we? We’d reach long and 312

extend those digits as much as we could, right? Now try to think about that same pointing extension (long-toed) action with your feet… while simultaneously trying to create an arch with your foot AND extending through the entire leg. It’s hard. Really hard. And part of the problem is that we don’t have much dexterity with our feet in the first place. Most of us didn’t give a second thought to what our feet were doing prior to starting pole so now asking them to create a very specific shape they are not used to making is going to take some determined focus and… guess what? Strength and conditioning! Leg day is so last year. I’m calling foot day! So long, claw feet!

POINT YOUR TOES!

POINT YOUR TOES!

No, seriously…

The shape of our feet is determined largely by our bones and, sadly, there’s not much we can change in terms of the bony structure of our feet. But the good news is that the muscles and ligaments of the lower leg and feet also play an important role. So by mobilising and strengthening in the right way, we can improve the look of our foot arch/toe point, even if we don’t have the natural banana-foot bone structure of a ballet dancer. To plantar flex (ie point) the foot requires not only very good mobility in the ankle joint 313

and the tarsal and tarsometatarsal joints of the foot, but also adequate strength at the end range of that mobility. That strength comes primarily from the muscles of the lower leg, particularly the gastrocnemius and soleus (calf muscles) for plantar flexion, and the intrinsic muscles of the foot for producing that aesthetically pleasing dancer’s arch. Exercises for mobilising and strengthening the calves, ankles and feet should help with our toe-pointing mission, and the perfect place to start is by re-educating the mind-muscle connection with our feet and strengthening the tiny intrinsic foot muscles that our brain forgot we even had.

Strong feet, strong poler Not only will training these muscles give us more control of our tootsies when we’re busting our moves on the pole, but strengthening our feet comes with a few additional benefits.

POINT YOUR TOES!

Most importantly, it will improve our balance and create a more stable base for EVERYTHING – from dragging our asses around the supermarket after pole class, to squatting beast mode in the gym, to landing safely out of that ridiculous #serraflip, if we ever get brave enough to try it, that is (nah, me neither). A good range of mobility in the opposite movement to plantar flexion (dorsiflexion) is also important. We need it for landing safely on our feet whenever we come down from the pole or land a flip, and also when we have our feet on the pole, like in a Chinese climb or heel split.

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How our feet move has a big impact on the way the other muscles and joints further up the chain work. Strong feet = strong foundation. Foot day is serious business, pole friends!

TEST 24: TOE POINT AND ANKLE MOBILITY Measure the angle of your plantar flexion and dorsiflexion by lying on your back with one leg extended. Bring the top of the foot as close as you can towards the shin. Then reverse the movement and point the foot as much as you can. Repeat with the other leg. Film it on both sides and take screenshots for both positions so you can mark the angle from your start point in neutral, to your end range position, as shown in the images below.

POINT YOUR TOES!

POINT YOUR TOES!

Use your lateral malleolus (ankle bone) and the knuckle of your big toe as the reference points for the measurements, so you can do the measurements consistently each time you take the test.

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GOAL Ballet dancers have been recorded as having around 10 to 17 degrees of dorsiflexion and around 77 degrees of active plantar flexion (Russell et al, 2010) so this is a good goal to aim for if you want a high standard of toe point and foot mobility for your pole performance. DORSIFLEXION ANGLE

RESULT

Less than 10 degrees

Poor

10 to 13 degrees

Good

13 to 17 degrees +

Pole ninja

PLANTAR FLEXION ANGLE

RESULT

Less than 50 degrees

Poor

50 to 60 degrees

Average

60 to 75 degrees

Good

75+ degrees

Pole ninja

POINT YOUR TOES!

EXERCISES FOR TOE POINTING Below are the toe point exercises you can use to build your programme later. We’ll discuss how to build workouts with these exercises in Part 4. Click on the exercise images to watch a video with more detailed instructions. For our toe-pointing routine, we will first mobilise the soft tissue with some mobility rolling and stretching and then work on joint mobility in both toe pointing and the opposite action - dorsiflexion. Foam rolling: calves

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Passive calf stretch

POINT YOUR TOES!

POINT YOUR TOES!

Pen-penny drill

It might not look or feel like much is happening when you first try this exercise. For a lot of people, especially if you are flat-footed or overpronated, it may feel a bit like to trying to wiggle your nose or twitch your ears (the struggle is real). The idea is to isolate the arch muscles without scrunching the toes. Having to keep your big toe joint pressing down on the coin forces you to take the toes out of the equation and focus on the arch muscles only.

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This exercise: • Helps you understand what the ‘arch part’ of an active toe point feels like; • Teaches you how to isolate and activate your arch muscles so you can start to strengthen them; • Re-establishes the mind-body connection with these muscles that (prior to pole) you never really had to give a second thought to; • Improves the definition of your foot arch = better lines. Yay! If you find this easy (go, you!), you can progress this by standing on one leg only and/or adding some upper body movement (slow twists to tap the wall behind you are good), while maintaining that active arch position.

POINT YOUR TOES!

Resisted toe point

Again, this exercise might look easy, but focus on technique here is absolutely crucial. Remember that creating length through the toes will help to create a line that looks most aesthetically pleasing for your pole moves. If you’re going to stop scrunching your feet like you’re grasping your last fiver between your toes, it’s really important to focus on keeping the toes ‘long’ in this exercise. This exercise: • Helps you understand what the foot arch activation feels like when combined with leg extension; • Re-establishes the mind-body connection with these muscles to help ‘lengthen’ through the toes to create better lines; • Strengthens ankles, calves and feet ‘in the air’, as they would be up the pole (rather than in a standing position). 318

POINT YOUR TOES!

POINT YOUR TOES!

Resisted dorsiflexion

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PART 3 POLE ANATOMY & POLE STRENGTH PROGRESSIONS

Pole strength progressions This part of the book contains progressions for the primary strength-based movements of pole. It does not include spins and is not intended to cover everything. However, our goal when it comes to building strength for pole is to master the basics; the progressions in this chapter cover many of those strength fundamentals, including the ones I am asked about most from my clients. The reality is that I use hundreds of different pole progressions. Trying to cram them all into a single book was a bit like trying to fit 2 weeks of holiday clothes into hand luggage – the zipper wouldn’t budge and I had to sacrifice some sarongs along the way! However, the pages that follow cover the essentials and will hopefully get you thinking about how you can progress/regress the pole moves you are working on in more creative (but logical) ways, even if they are not directly covered here. You can use these progressions to gradually build up your strength for specific moves. You can also use them as general conditioning exercises or for muscle balancing on your nondominant side. We will discuss how to incorporate these exercises into your pole workouts later. The way we progress/regress pole moves to build strength and condition for them gradually is usually achieved in one of the following ways: 1. Changing our body positioning. For example, doing a move with the legs tucked is usually easier than doing it with the legs straight, because it decreases the lever length; 2. Using assistance. For example, using a spotter or a resistance band to help us get through the sticking point of a lift is a great way to build strength when we are unable to perform the lift on our own; 3. Using a stability ball. Either for support (to take some of our body weight) or to progress a move by adding instability; 4. Changing the points of contact. For example, we can make moves easier by using two hands instead of one, or using the floor as an additional base of support. 5. Training eccentrics. We talked about eccentric (‘negative’) training in the gym earlier and this works in exactly the same way on the pole. It is a scientifically proven method of training that basically entails doing the movements we really struggle with in reverse. If you’re not strong enough yet to perform a certain pole lift, you can train the eccentric (negative) of that move to build the strength you’re missing. Want to get stronger to lift into your invert? Then training the negative – ie slowly lowering OUT of your invert – is a very powerful way of doing that. Want to deadlift your pole handstand? Then training the negative – ie kicking up into your handstand and lowering the legs back to the floor as slowly as you can will help you build strength for the lift. 321

6. Training isometric holds. As well as concentric and eccentric movements, our muscles can contract ‘isometrically’. This is where we hold a muscle contraction without shortening or lengthening the muscle. It is particularly important for us to train isometric contractions because we do a huge amount of them when we pole dance. Whenever we are holding a pose still on the pole, we are performing an isometric contraction. It is that agonising moment of pause, teeth gritted, smile starting to curl at the edges, as you pretend pain does not exist until your pole wife takes ‘the shot’, or the judges clock your move in a comp. As well as magically ‘pausing’ pretty shapes mid-air, we use isometric muscle contractions to hold and maintain our grip on the pole – whether that is a leg, hand or elbow grip. We can train our bodies to handle these isometric contractions better by using them in our conditioning. Just like in the gym where you might gradually progress the length of time you hold a plank to build core strength endurance, we can increase the length of time we hold an isometric pole position – whether that is squeezing a basic leg grip or holding a shoulder mount V – to build our isometric strength endurance there. In this chapter, you will find examples of all of these different progression methods.

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LEG GRIPS

LEG GRIPS

Basic knee grip

BASIC KNEE GRIP

The basic ‘between the knees’ grip position is a crucial element used in climbing and inverted moves like the crucifix. Although this grip requires some hip and leg strength in adduction (squeezing the legs together), it is not purely a squeeze between the knees. The grip is achieved through a push and pull action, with the ‘push’ coming from the back leg and the ‘pull’ from the front leg. Think about this push and pull when working on the progressions below as it becomes especially important when performing higher level moves like the upside down caterpillar climb. It is normal when first learning this grip for the back foot to be flexed as this can provide some extra security and grip, but as you become more efficient with the basic knee grip, the back foot can be pointed.

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Basic knee grip LEG GRIPS

Key ‘off the pole’ areas General areas • Hip adduction • Leg strength

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Specific exercises (examples) • Resisted hip adduction with band • Adductor squeeze with knee flexion • Squat progressions • Resisted knee extension • Resisted leg curl

Progression 1: Pole squat on floor

Progression 2: Carousel kick Done correctly, the carousel kick is a great conditioner for the back leg in the basic knee grip. This should not be an upper body pulling exercise - think about pushing with that leg (that’s why it’s called a kick!) at the same time as squeezing the inside of the knee into the pole.

LEG GRIPS

Basic knee grip

A great starting point for conditioning this grip is getting used to the feel of moving our body position while maintaining a good isometric squeeze on the pole, with the support and safety of the floor.

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Progression 3: Pole squat up pole

Progression 4: Floor invert

LEG GRIPS

Basic knee grip

Once you are confident with the pole squat on the floor, you can begin to move it up the pole, which will allow you to focus more on the push and pull of the legs, as well as the squeeze between the knees!

This exercise is the perfect way to train the basic knee grip in an inverted position without having to actually invert on the pole. As well as a great conditioning exercise, it is an important progression for beginners to help build body awareness and understanding of what inverting feels like – and, particularly, where our legs need to go when we get up there!

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LEG GRIPS

Basic knee grip

Progression 5: Caterpillar lifts on floor

The floor based caterpillar lift is another good drill for conditioning the basic climb grip in an inverted position and is especially useful if you struggle with caterpillar climbs up the pole. This one is a little more advanced, particularly because the entry method requires lowering down from a crucifix. If you are not yet inverting, follow the progressions for the basic invert before using this one! Make sure you are not performing this exercise as an upper body push – your hands are there only for support - think about creating the movement primarily with the push and pull of the legs!

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LEG GRIPS

Between the thigh grip

BETWEEN THE THIGHS GRIP

Another important foundation grip, this one also involves squeezing the pole between the thighs, but the positioning of the pole is different from our climb grip. Without our calf and shin on the pole, we no longer have the push and pull of the legs that we used in our climb grip, so this grip relies much more on our strength in hip adduction (squeezing the legs together), but this time we are also squeezing into internal rotation to help ‘lock in’ the grip. This internal rotation comes primarily from our adductor muscles, although in the pole sit position, where our legs are in flexion (90 degrees or more), some of our hip rotator muscles assist with this internal rotation. 329

Between the thigh grip LEG GRIPS Many transitions in this grip, like the ‘laying back’ part of the layback, require us to maintain this squeeze in adduction and internal rotation while dropping our torso back and extending the hips. Maintaining glute engagement for the hip extension while simultaneously keeping that isometric squeeze onto the pole can throw some people off. Once we tip back and our hip flexion goes below 90 degrees, the hip rotators no longer assist with internal rotation, so we rely purely on our adductor muscles to squeeze the pole. If you feel like you lose grip as you lay back, it could be that you need to strengthen the adductors to work without that assistance from the hip rotators and to maintain internal rotation engagement while you extend the hip. Exercises that combine internal rotation with extension, like the ‘hip internal rotation in bridge’ exercise, are particularly useful here.

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Key ‘off the pole’ areas General areas

LEG GRIPS

Between the thigh grip

• Hip adduction • Hip internal rotation • Leg strength

Specific exercises (examples) • Resisted hip adduction with band • Adductor squeeze with hip lift • Hip internal rotation in bridge

Progression 1: Pole sit from floor

The best way to begin conditioning for this grip is with a basic pole sit from the floor. We start here because it is possible to keep the feet on the floor if you are not yet ready to take your whole body weight into the grip. You can hold here for timed intervals to build your endurance in this isometric hold. Progression 2: Pole sit from climb The sit can then be taken up the pole – this doesn’t change the mechanics of the grip, but helps to build confidence by moving away from the security of the floor.

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Progression 3: Layback on stability ball

LEG GRIPS

Between the thigh grip

Let’s face it, laybacks may seem simple in theory, but that feeling of tipping backwards into the abyss must surely make this one of the scariest moves going! Using the stability ball to practice the movement of the layback is one of my favourite confidence builders. Not only does it provide a security blanket, allowing you to strengthen and condition the grip without fear of death, but it also provides a way of practicing laying back (and pulling yourself back up – hello abs!) with some support. Progression 4: Pole sit extension When you are super strong in your pole sit position, you can start to progress it by gradually moving your torso away from the pole, while still keeping an upper body contact point on the pole (top or bottom hand). Don’t begin with the fully extended position demonstrated here – take your time to slowly build up to this, keeping the top hand on at first and trying out different pole sit variations - there are so many to play with! 332

Note that laying back into a sit like the one pictured also involves moving from a position of hip flexion to hip extension, so hip extension and hip hinge exercises will become relevant here, too.

LEG GRIPS

Between the thigh grip

Progression 5: Superman on stability ball

Learning the superman grip is as painful as the layback is scary. The grip feels very different to those covered in the progressions above because we are the opposite way around, but the grip is in the same area and requires the same essential mechanics. Conditioning this position on the ball before doing it up the pole (there are many different entries to try) is the perfect way to build not just strength and confidence but, importantly, the pain tolerance required for this move. As well as the obvious leg mechanics involved, the superman also requires a good amount of mobility and strength in shoulder extension and thoracic rotation, so make sure you work on these areas, too!

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LEG GRIPS

Leg hangs

LEG HANG GRIP

The (inside and outside) leg hang is one of the most important building blocks of pole as well as a beautiful pose in its own right. Master this position and you will unlock a whole world of leg hang variations and combo possibilities. As discussed earlier, hip rotation is important for both leg hang positions. In an outside leg hang, the leg on the pole is slightly adducted, externally rotated and our hamstring is working hard to keep the knee bent around the pole. The other leg is extended away, requiring strength in the glutes and flexibility in hip extension to create a good line.

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Leg hangs LEG GRIPS

In our inside leg hang, the leg on the pole is, again, externally rotated, but the mechanics of the grip are a little different. The inside leg hang requires significantly more external rotation than the outside leg hang, the leg is abducted, in a greater degree of flexion and we are effectively pressing isometrically into internal rotation to secure our grip on the pole, without the assistance of the hamstring that we have in the outside leg hang. Because the inside leg hang requires a greater degree of hip mobility than the outside leg hang, this is why it is technically more difficult to achieve.

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Leg hangs LEG GRIPS

First image: inside leg hang from above / Second image: outside leg hang from above Key ‘off the pole’ areas General areas • • • • •

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Leg strength Hip internal and external rotation Hip flexion Hip adduction and abduction Hip extension

Specific exercises (examples) • Resisted clam shells • Adductor squeeze with flex and extend • Internal hip rotation in bridge • 90-90 isometric holds • Resisted leg curl • Child’s pose hip extension

LEG GRIPS

Leg hangs

Progression 1: Leg hang on floor

Before putting our entire bodyweight into our leg hangs, we can train the grip from the safety of the floor to build body awareness, confidence and condition the muscles, ligaments and tendons for the position. Progression 2: Side plank leg hang

One of my favourite exercises for training the isometric strength element of the outside leg hang, this move also works the oblique muscles and is a great way to progress side planks to make them more pole-specific. 337

LEG GRIPS

Leg hangs

Progression 3: Leg hang on stability ball

Using a stability ball allows us to progress the floor based leg hang by adding some height, dynamics and instability to the movement, making it much more similar to how the move is performed in full up the pole, but with some of our bodyweight supported by the ball. This allows us to really focus on technique and begin to automate correct engagement so we can do it safely up the pole. Focus here on keeping the core engaged, shoulders back and chest lifted throughout the movement. Progression 4: Leg hang with hands on Do not move to this progression until you have followed the progressions for the basic invert and are safely inverting! This progression simply involves keeping the hands on the pole – for confidence and support – before moving to the full version of the move.

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LEG GRIPS

Brass monkey grip

BRASS MONKEY GRIP

The brass monkey grip uses very similar mechanics to the outside leg hang. Just like the outside leg hang, we are externally rotating and gripping the pole by squeezing into knee flexion, requiring strength from the hamstrings. However, the pole is behind the hips, rather than in front of them, our hips are extended, not flexed like they are in the leg hang and our leg is abducted rather than adducted, so there is much more involvement from the glute max (to extend the hips) and glute med (to abduct).

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Brass monkey grip LEG GRIPS

Key ‘off the pole’ areas General areas • • • •

Hip external rotation Hip adduction Hip extension Leg strength, particularly hip hinge movements

Specific exercises (examples) • Banded external hip rotation • Resisted leg curl • Hip bridge variations

You will need to be comfortable with your invert, outside leg hang and butterfly for progressions 2 onwards. Work through the leg hang progressions, the invert progressions and the Ayesha progressions (up to the butterfly), first! 340

You can begin to condition your brass monkey grip on the floor using the side plank leg hold. The position of this move will allow you to get used to extending the hips while squeezing the hamstring to maintain your grip on the pole. Progression 2: Butterfly transition to sit

LEG GRIPS

Brass monkey grip

Progression 1: Side plank leg hang

From a butterfly, thread the back leg through and secure it on the pole before switching the position of the top leg and coming into a pole sit. I find this progression useful for building confidence and body awareness in coming into and then out of the brass monkey into a sit, without lowering down fully into the brass monkey position.

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LEG GRIPS

Brass monkey grip

Progression 3: Butterfly transition to brass monkey

Here, we are simply progressing the above transition by lowering down into our brass monkey from the thread-through. You can then come back out of the brass monkey into the sit position as before. Progression 4: Brass monkey handstand kick up

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Using a handstand flag grip (outside hand on the floor, inside hand in a flag grip) and a controlled swing to hook the inside leg onto the pole allows you to achieve the brass monkey position, while supporting some of your bodyweight with your hand on the floor.

LEG GRIPS

Brass monkey grip

Once you have the leg hooked on the pole, if your leg grip is secure, you can progress this move by removing your hand from the floor. Thinking about rotating backwards into the pole can help you to ‘lock in’ this grip. Progression 5: Brass monkey flag kick up

This progresses the handstand kick up to a full flag position. The exercise is exactly the same, but this time you have less support because your outside hand is on the pole instead of the floor.

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LEG GRIPS

Hip hold

HIP HOLD GRIP

The hip hold is another important building block of pole. As well as being an evil necessity of all Jade-based moves, it must surely be the holy grail of many a pole combo and transition. The grip is secured by squeezing the inside leg onto the pole, primarily using the strength of our quads to keep the leg straight, our adductor muscles to squeeze the leg onto the pole, the hip rotator muscles and hip flexors to bring the leg towards our torso. It’s another ouchie one and requires a good amount of flexibility and strength in hip flexion.

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Hip hold

Key ‘off the pole’ areas

LEG GRIPS

General areas • • • • •

Hip adduction Hip flexion Hip extension Hip rotation Leg strength, particularly hip hinge movements

Specific exercises (examples) • Wall ball hold • Resisted hip adduction with band • Adductor squeeze with hip lift • Deadlift variations

Don’t begin these progressions until you are safely inverting. Follow the leg hang and the invert progressions first!

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Progression 1: Outside leg hang to hip hold

Progression 2: Outside leg hang to pike

LEG GRIPS

Hip hold

This position allows us to get used to the movement and feel of the hip hold (i.e. pain) while keeping most of our weight secured in our outside leg hang.

Progressing the above position by removing the outside leg hang support, but keeping the outside leg close and using it to assist with the grip will allow you to build strength, confidence and pain tolerance.

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Progression 3: Outside leg hang to straddle

LEG GRIPS

Hip hold

Progressing the position again by completely removing the outside leg from the equation puts most of our body weight into the hip hold grip. Of course, we still have some grip here from our arm pit (coming mostly from the lats squeezing our upper arm into the pole). For more advanced hip hold positions, this arm pit grip is removed, so it is important while working on these progressions not to rely too heavily on it.

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DEADLIFTS

DEADLIFTS

Invert

INVERT

Ahh, the invert. It’s usually the first pole trick that can elicit actual gasps and fireworkdisplay-worthy ‘oooos’ and ‘ahhhs’ from our non-pole friends, and successfully nailing our invert is a bit like unlocking ‘mirror mode’ in Mario Kart. You know, the one that lets you play all the cups in reverse? By which, I mean that it immediately opens up a whole new kingdom of pole moves to add to your repertoire (and Instagram, obviously). But while getting upside down is a pivotal moment, I cannot stress enough how important it is to take your time to get the strength and technique of this movement absolutely nailed. Mastering your pole invert will set you up for success later on and help to prevent unwanted movement mechanics becoming a habit that could cause pain or injury later in your pole journey. Inverting is a move you will no doubt be repeating over and over again – and if you’re going 349

to be doing it frequently, you’d better make sure you are doing it correctly!

It started with a kick For many of us, that first invert, as glorious as it may have been, was achieved with a little help from momentum, but kicking up can be a hard habit to break. I understand why people do it and I understand why a lot of instructors teach it that way, but the ultimate goal should always be to perform the move without the help of a kick. Not only is it safer, but it looks a whole lot prettier too. I know the struggle. When I was banging my head against the brick wall that is learning to invert without a kick, I binge-watched tutorial after tutorial, trying to uncover some hidden tip or trick that I must have been missing.

DEADLIFTS

Invert

Almost there, almost there… cue monkey foot scrabbling for contact with the pole. Urgh. Eventually, I discovered what the secret to a no kick invert was. And it is less to do with a magic technique or cue and more to do with one special secret ingredient. The secret? It’s strength. Pure and simple. No tutorial can teach you strength, it must be earned—and that means putting in some training time to build strength in the muscle groups that need to be strong to get you upside down without a kick. It also means training those muscle groups in a way that reinforces the correct movement pattern for a safe, controlled invert. Knowing which muscles to engage, and repeating that movement pattern until it becomes second nature. How do we do that? Through progressions, of course! The lift and tuck of the legs requires hip flexor strength, plus core strength (primarily from the transverse abdominis, rectus abdominis and obliques) to posteriorly tip the pelvis and flex the spine. The legs are usually abducted by the glute med and tensor fasciae latae (unless you are performing the piked version) and externally rotated by the deep hip rotators. If the legs are straight, the quads will also work hard here. This must be synched perfectly with the upper body pulling strength needed to achieve the full movement. The upper body strength comes primarily from the lats to squeeze our arms to our sides (particularly squeezing that inside arm into the pole) and pull in the direction of shoulder extension, the lower traps and rhomboids keep the chest lifted and the rotator cuff muscles keep the shoulders in an optimal position. The biceps keep the elbow flexed until we are ready to straighten the arms – at which point the triceps work to extend the arm (as the biceps contract eccentrically) and help the lats to pull in the direction of shoulder extension. Although we don’t think of the invert as a move requiring flexibility, if your active hip flexion is limited, you may struggle to lift your legs high enough into the tuck position, which will make the ‘tipping back’ part of the move significantly harder to achieve. This is even more relevant for the straight leg invert.

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Invert DEADLIFTS

Key ‘off the pole’ areas General areas • • • • •

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Grip strength Hip flexion Leg strength Anti-extension core strength Upper body pulling strength (vertical and horizontal)

Specific exercises (examples) • • • • •

Wall ball hold Toe taps Lying invert Horizontal row progressions Chin up progressions

DEADLIFTS

Invert

Progression 1: Floor invert

From the safety of the floor, you can invert into various different positions (leg hang, basic invert position and chopper). Because all of these positions are important, I recommend working on all of them! Focus on keeping your chest lifted (avoid rounding the shoulders forwards) and squeezing your belly button to spine to avoid the tummy ‘pouching’ as you lift. Control the movement without using momentum. Progression 2: Invert on stability ball

I LOVE this progression for training the correct positioning for the invert. The ball adds just enough instability to make it challenging, but provides enough support to allow you to focus on technique and engagement. The same cues apply. Again, work on the different variations: chopper, leg hang, and basic invert grip!

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DEADLIFTS

Invert

Progression 3: Pole crunch

This progression focuses on the first part of the invert– the tuck off the floor – and the vertical pulling strength required for the move. You can begin by just lifting one leg off the floor, progressing to a ‘gallop’ where you briefly have both feet off the floor, and slowly build up to taking both feet off the floor at once. As above, keep the chest lifted, try not to round the shoulders forwards and squeeze the belly button to spine to keep the core engaged and avoid ‘pouching’ the tummy!

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Progression 4: Invert negatives

DEADLIFTS

Invert

Once you are able to safely get up into your invert (even if it is by means of a small, controlled leg swing), you can then begin to train the negative – the slow lower out of the invert – this is a very powerful way to build strength for the lift.

If you are working on your straight leg invert, you can do this, firstly with one leg straight and then with both legs straight (either in a straddle and/or with the legs together).

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Whoa – slow down there, tiger!

DEADLIFTS

Invert

When we’re training eccentrics (or ‘negatives’), we need to do the movement SLOOOOWLY. It won’t do anyone any good if you hoik yourself into your invert and then flop out of it with the speed of an Acme anvil falling off a cliff. The movement needs to be controlled so bear this in mind when using eccentrics in your pole workouts, and slow the movement down as much as possible.

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DEADLIFTS

Shoulder mount

SHOULDER MOUNT

The mechanics of the shoulder mount are very similar to the invert. We have the same tuck and lift from the floor, but there are a few major differences which make this move significantly harder. In our invert, we start from a much stronger position. With the pole behind our hips, we receive a little support for that initial tuck off the floor – the pole prevents us, to some extent, from extending (arching) our lower back and gives us a little something to press against. We have some grip support from our inside arm, too. In our shoulder mount start position, our body is further away from the pole. Our spinal position is much less supported and more extended (particularly if we are doing the move aerially from a shoulder mount hang). This is why the shoulder mount is much more demanding for our core (primarily for our transverse abdominis, rectus abdominis 356

Obviously, our hand positioning is different, too. Whereas the invert requires pulling strength with the hands in front of us, in the shoulder mount, we begin with our hands over our head, so our shoulders are in a flexed position. This shoulder and elbow flexion is driven by the biceps and then the lats and triceps work to bring the arms in towards our sides, while our shoulder pushes into the pole to create the grip. As we lift into our shoulder mount V, our lower traps and rhomboids also have to work hard to keep our shoulder blades in a neutral position and prevent our upper back from rounding too much. As always, our rotator cuff is working hard to stabilise the shoulder joint.

DEADLIFTS

Shoulder mount

and obliques) as we have to tuck, in an open chain movement, from a position of spinal extension to flexion.

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Key ‘off the pole’ areas General areas Grip strength Hip flexion Leg strength Anti-extension core strength Upper body pulling strength (vertical and horizontal)

• • • • • •

Hip roll progressions Hanging leg raises Horizontal row progressions Band pull overs Pull up progressions Dragonflag tucks

I would recommend that you have your invert deadlift absolutely solid before moving on to work on your shoulder mount, so follow the progressions for your invert before coming back here to work on your shoulder mount lift. Progression 1: Stability ball shoulder mount V

DEADLIFTS

Shoulder mount

• • • • •

Specific exercises (examples)

The stability ball offers just the right balance of support and instability to recreate the movement of the shoulder mount and allow you to condition for it without doing the full movement. It is important for any shoulder mount movement that you position the pole on the squidgy part of your shoulder (the meat of the upper traps) and not on any of the bony structures of your shoulders. In a fight between bone and pole, pole will usually win! Think about keeping your chest lifted. The elbows are forwards, but try to avoid bringing them together as this is counterintuitive to keeping the chest lifted and shoulder blades in a neutral position.

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Progressing the above move by starting to bring the legs onto the pole. With both your knees and shoulder on the pole, the spine is flexed and your body is in a tight ball. This exercise helps to train your body to understand what it needs to do when it actually gets up to the pole and what this this feels like.

Progression 3: Shoulder mount tuck on floor

DEADLIFTS

Shoulder mount

Progression 2: Stability ball shoulder mount invert

Tucking from the floor allows you begin the lift in a position where your spine is flexed, rather than extended, so it is less demanding on the core, allowing you to focus more on the upper body elements of the movement. Being close to the floor also takes out some of the fear element, so you can concentrate on technique and condition the movement pattern from a safer position.

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DEADLIFTS

Shoulder mount

Progression 4: Assisted shouldermount

This is a great way to train the full movement pattern with a little extra help. The resistance band will give you some assistance to help you through the sticking point of the lift. It can be a bit tricky getting the placement of the band just right, so play around with the positioning to find the ‘sweet spot’. Having the band higher on the pole will give you more assistance. Over time, you can reduce the height of the band or use a lighter resistance band to gradually progress this exercise. Make sure you control the lowering part of the movement just as much as the lift – the slower the better!

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Progression 5: Shoulder mount negatives As always with our deadlifts, working the movement in reverse is a crucial and super effective way to build strength.

Shoulder mount

To get into the start position for your shoulder mount negatives, you can either use a very controlled leg swing and spotter to help you up, or you can get into the shoulder mount tucked position from a basic invert.

DEADLIFTS

Begin lowering in a tuck and progress to one leg straight and then both legs straight, to build strength for the straight leg shoulder mount.

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DEADLIFTS

Handstand deadlift

HANDSTAND DEADLIFT

The pole handstand deadlift is a ninja-looking move if ever I saw one! Although this trick requires a good level of active hamstring flexibility, overhead and core strength, because one arm is pulling on the pole while the other is pressing on the floor, it is much easier to achieve than the freestanding handstand press, but looks just as badass. The handstand deadlift involves an overhead press that requires a good level (180 degrees) of shoulder flexion mobility as well as strength from the serratus anterior and pec major to push the arm into flexion and upwardly rotate the scapular, combined with deltoid strength to flex and press the arm overhead and tricep strength to keep the arm straight. The pulling arm needs to be strong in both internal rotation and extension, as we begin the movement with the arm behind us and internally rotated in a twisted grip. Our lat muscle keeps the arm pulled in to the side of the body and the rhomboid keeps the scapular retracted. Pec major adducts and internally rotates the arm and the rotator cuff works to 362

keep the shoulder joint stable in this position (particularly subscapularis and teres major). The anterior deltoid, biceps and pec major work hard as we move from the position of shoulder extension to flexion.

Core strength, particularly from the erector spinae, rectus abdominis, transverse abdominis and obliques is needed to co-ordinate the lift as our spine extends from a flexed position and we anteriorly tilt the pelvis. Finally, the wrists are extended with the fingers and wrist extensors pushing into the floor.

DEADLIFTS

Handstand deadlift

A good amount of active hamstring flexibility is needed in the start position, to lift the feet of the floor. The quads and hip flexors work hard in this initial position to lift the feet off the floor and keep the legs straight. Then our hamstrings and glutes work to bring our legs up in the direction of hip extension.

Key ‘off the pole’ areas General areas • • • • • • • • •

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Grip strength Wrist extension Shoulder extension Shoulder internal rotation Hip flexion Leg strength Upper body pulling strength Upper body pushing strength Anti-extension and anti-flexion core strength

Specific exercises (examples) • Shoulder extension pull forwards • Inverted hang • Overhead pressing progressions • Stability ball pike handstand • Pike lifts over yoga blocks

Here, we are getting used to the feeling of stacking our weight into the position. This helps build strength and body awareness and gives our ligaments and tendons chance to start adapting to the position, without putting our entire bodyweight into it. Think about pushing through the bottom hand. Remember the scapular upward rotation needed for overhead movements that we discussed in the Shoulder and Back Mobility chapter, and the importance of engaging that shoulder in external rotation.

Progression 2: Handstand tuck from box

DEADLIFTS

Handstand deadlift

Progression 1: Handstand hold from box

Beginning to take our bodyweight away from the box, but keeping the legs tucked allows us to progress the movement and get used to the ‘balance point’ required for the handstand.

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Progression 3: Handstand negatives

DEADLIFTS

Handstand deadlift

Once you are able to get up into your pole handstand (whether through a controlled leg swing or a tuck), performing negatives (slowly lowering the legs) is one of the best ways to build strength for the lift.

You can begin these with both legs tucked and progress to doing them with one leg tucked and then, eventually, with both legs straight. You can also try the movement with the legs straddled instead of together, which changes the dynamics of the move - some (but not all) people find this easier.

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Progression 4: Handstand lift from box

Handstand deadlift

Walk the feet forwards as far as you can and begin to practice the lift with the feet elevated on a bench or box. Over time, you can progress this exercise by slowly reducing the height of the box.

DEADLIFTS

Stacking crash mats as your ‘bench’ and removing a crash mat every couple of weeks will allow you to slowly build strength until you are able to do the move from the floor.

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DEADLIFTS

Iguana deadlilft

IGUANA DEADLIFT

Like the pole handstand deadlift, for the Iguana invert, we are lifting our body in the opposite direction to our invert (lifting our legs backwards from flexion into extension rather than lifting them forwards from extension into flexion). We begin with the arms extended behind us. The initial pull from the floor requires not only upper body strength in this extended and internally rotated position, but also good active hamstring flexibility with strength from the hip flexors to lift the feet off the floor and the quads to keep the legs straight. Floating the legs up, we are bringing our legs from a position of hip flexion into the direction of extension – our hamstrings and glutes work hard to make this happen. We use strength primarily from our pecs and lats, with our anterior deltoid, biceps, pec major and rotator cuff also working hard, to pull the arms from a position of shoulder extension in the direction of flexion. The traps and rhomboids help to keep the scapular 367

retracted and restrict excessive anterior tilt.

DEADLIFTS

Iguana deadlilft

Core strength, particularly from the erector spinae, rectus abdominis, transverse abdominis and obliques is needed to co-ordinate the lift as our spine extends from a flexed position, anteriorly tilting the pelvis and then stabilising the trunk in the final iguana position.

Key ‘off the pole’ areas General areas • Grip strength • Shoulder extension • Shoulder internal and external rotation • Hip flexion • Leg strength • Upper body pulling strength • Anti-extension and anti-flexion core strength

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Specific exercises (examples) • • • •

Shoulder extension pull Inverted hang Pike lifts over yoga blocks Stability ball pike handstand

Progression 1: Iguana negatives (tucked)

DEADLIFTS

Iguana deadlift

If you can get into your Iguana from a layback or using a controlled leg swing and the help of a spotter, you can then tuck the knees and slowly lower out of the position. As with all our eccentric training, this will help you to build strength for the lift.

Progression 2: Iguana negatives (straight leg)

You can then progress to straightening one leg and, eventually, straightening both legs. This will help you to build strength for the straight leg Iguana deadlift.

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Progression 3: Iguana lift from blocks

DEADLIFTS

Iguana deadlilft

As with your handstand deadlift, you can raise the height of your feet to make this move easier and gradually reduce the height each week as you build strength.

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DEADLIFTS

Flag invert

FLAG INVERT

The flag invert (otherwise known as brass monkey invert), has always been a favourite of mine. Unlike the deadlift inverts above that work in the sagittal plane, it is a rotational movement that takes place in the transverse plane. Most of us have less experience in this plane of motion, which is why the difficulty level of this move is much higher than the standard inverts. You’ll need a good brass monkey and a solid flag grip for this move, so follow the progressions for the brass monkey leg grip and the half flag isometric hold before working on this! The flag position requires a good amount of pushing strength from the bottom arm, which is externally rotated and usually begins slightly adducted, but we are pushing laterally in the direction of abduction, working mostly the deltoids and biceps. The top shoulder is internally rotated and pulling the arm into adduction, so the lat muscle and pec major are working hard here, with the traps and rhomboids working to keep the scapular retracted. To lift and hold our body horizontally in the start position and then smoothly ‘swivel’ into our brass monkey position, we need some beast-level anti-lateral and anti-rotation core strength which comes mostly from the obliques, QL and transverse abdominis with rectus abdominis working to maintain a posterior pelvic tilt that keeps our pike position solid as we lift. Once our hips are high, we move from a position of lumbar spinal flexion to extension, so our core must also be strong in this tilt of the pelvis from posteriorly tilted to anteriorly tilted.

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Flag invert DEADLIFTS

With the legs straight, we need good active hamstring flexibility with strength from the hip flexors to keep the legs close to our torso in the initial lift and the quads to keep them straight. We bring our legs from a position of hip flexion into the direction of extension to move into our brass monkey grip – our hamstrings and glutes are mostly responsible for this magic. Key ‘off the pole’ areas General areas • • • • • • • • •

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Grip strength Shoulder internal rotation Shoulder external rotation Shoulder abduction Anti-lateral flexion core strength Anti-extension core strength Upper body pulling strength Upper body pushing strength Leg strength

Specific exercises (examples) • Horizontal and vertical push progressions • Horizontal pull progressions • TRX oblique pike • Pelvic tilt exercises

Progression 1: Half flag tuck lift

Follow the progressions for the isometric half flag hold and, once you are comfortable with your flag tuck hold, you can start to lift your hips up higher than parallel.

DEADLIFTS

Flag invert

At first, this will be a simple lift and lower as shown in the image, but as your strength builds and you are able to lift higher, you will eventually be able to bring the legs to the pole, at first using the back foot to assist, if you need to.

Progression 2: Half flag lift to pole

Once you are able to lift close to the pole in your tucked position, you can then progress it by straightening the top leg.

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DEADLIFTS

Flag invert

Progression 3: Half flag lift negatives

You can perform slow negatives of the lift by getting up into your brass monkey position, tucking the legs and lowering slowly down into your flag. In my experience, many pole dancers struggle with the final part of the flag invert where we move the hips and lower back from a flexed to an extended position. With this progression, we can work this ‘hip tuck’ in reverse to build strength and body awareness here, making sure our core knows what to do to maintain engagement and support our lower back throughout this movement.

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DEADLIFTS

Handspring deadlift

HANDSPRING DEADLIFT

The ultimate deadlift dream move - the handspring deadlift – requires a magical interplay of core, lower and upper body push and pull strength. Our bottom arm pushes, beginning in an abducted position. As we tuck and lift, it ends up flexed overhead in a vertical push (180 degrees of overhead shoulder flexion is required for this end position). The triceps work to keep the arm straight and the anterior deltoids are one of the primary muscles working the push in the bottom arm, as well as the serratus anterior to upwardly rotate the scapular and the rotator cuff muscles, traps and rhomboids to stabilise the shoulder joint. Our top arm is pulling. Other grips and different entries to the handspring require slightly different positioning, but for the twisted grip handspring shown here, it begins abducted and flexed overhead, ending flexed in front of us, pulling horizontally towards our body, using primarily strength from the lats and posterior deltoid. Of course, the shoulder stabilising muscles are extremely important here, too, as discussed previously. Like the shoulder mount deadlift, we move from a hanging position with the spine extended and must use our anterior core muscles (primarily our rectus abdominis) and hip flexors to bring the legs and pelvis into the tucked, flexed position. At the same time, the handspring requires anti-lateral flexion core strength, too, to hold us away from the pole in our hang position and keep our hips and body lifted parallel to the floor as we perform the tuck, this places a huge demand on our transverse abdominis, obliques and QL muscles. Handspring mechanics and the implications of the different grip options are covered in more detail in the Shoulder and Back Mobility chapter. First and foremost, you’ll need a solid Ayesha for this, so follow the progressions for the isometric Ayesha hold before beginning conditioning for this move. You will also need to 375

DEADLIFTS

Handspring deadlift

be scoring highly in the core and upper body strength tests and the shoulder flexion test. Specific screening tests for the twisted grip Ayesha and handspring are considered in the Shoulder and Back Mobility chapter.

Key ‘off the pole’ areas General areas Grip strength Shoulder flexion Shoulder rotation Anti-lateral flexion core strength Anti-rotation core strength Anti-extension core strength Upper body horizontal and vertical pulling strength • Upper body horizontal and vertical pushing strength • Leg strength • Hip flexion • • • • • • •

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Specific exercises (examples) • • • • • • •

One armed down dog Overhead push progressions Pull up progressions Open pull Pelvic tilt exercises Hanging leg raises TRX oblique pike

Being able to work the push and pull of the arms in a grounded position is useful for so many aspects of your pole conditioning. Spending time in this position on the floor allows you to condition the smaller stabilising muscles, ligaments and tendons for the vertical push and pull in a horizontal position, but without putting your whole bodyweight into it, and gives you chance to think about and groove the movement pattern. Push through the bottom arm, thinking about the push coming from the shoulder and try to balance the push and pull to stabilise your body. Progression 2: Full bracket hold on ball

DEADLIFTS

Handspring deadlift

Progression 1: Full bracket hold on floor

You can add height and instability by using a stability ball. The leg position can be altered, too, to make this easier (legs tucked) or harder (legs extended).

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Progression 3: Matrix lift

Progression 4: Band assisted deadlift

DEADLIFTS

Handspring deadlift

This progression works the first part of the lift only, tucking the legs and aiming to lift and lower the hips with control.

Using a band for assistance is one of my favourite ways to condition for the handspring deadlift – it allows you to perform the full movement with some assistance through those troublesome sticking points, so you can build strength and body awareness in the whole movement. Make sure you lower as slowly as you can out of the position, too, for ultimate strength gains.

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For the negative of this move, you will get into your Ayesha position from an invert or by using a controlled leg swing and then slowly lower out of the position, essentially performing the handspring deadlift in reverse. I find that most people prefer to have one leg bent behind and one tucked in front, to help find balance and control between the flexion/ extension parts of the movement.

DEADLIFTS

Handspring deadlift

Progression 5: Handspring negative

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DEADLIFTS

Muscle up

MUSCLE UP

The muscle up is an ultimate pole ninja move. It’s essentially a form of handspring, but instead of lifting through a hang position, where we lead the movement with our legs and core though a hip tuck, we begin our muscle up facing the pole, rotating the body up as one unit with the legs straight, initiating the movement with the push and pull of the arms. Unlike the handspring, we are not taking the hips / lower back through extension and flexion for this move, our hips remain flexed throughout the movement, but it still requires a beastly amount of core strength, primarily from anti-lateral flexion and anti-rotation muscles of the obliques, QL and transverse abdominis to keep the spine in a neutral position as we rotate our body, defying the laws of gravity, into our Ayesha. We need good hamstring flexibility and epic hip flexor strength to maintain a pike or straddle position throughout the lift, as well as quad strength to keep the legs straight. The bottom arm starts bent and pushes, first horizontally, then laterally and eventually into an overhead extension, using primarily the pec major, triceps and deltoids, with the serratus anterior upwardly rotating the scapular and the lower traps, rhomboids and rotator cuff also working hard to stabilise the shoulder joint. The top arm begins either straight or bent (depending on the grip used) and pulls, first vertically from overhead, then laterally and finally ends in the horizontal pull of our 380

DEADLIFTS

Muscle up

Ayesha. This pull works primarily the biceps, lats and deltoids, again with the lower traps and rhomboids retracting the shoulder blade and the rotator cuff muscles stabilising the shoulder joint.

Key ‘off the pole’ areas General areas • • • • • • • •

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Grip strength Anti-lateral flexion core strength Anti-extension core strength Anti-rotation core strength Upper body pulling strength Upper body pushing strength Hip flexion Leg strength

Specific exercises (examples) • Horizontal and vertical push progressions • Horizontal and vertical pull progressions • TRX oblique pike • V-sit

Progression 1: Full bracket slide

DEADLIFTS

Muscle up

This is a conditioning move I use with both intermediate and advanced clients that works the push and pull of the arms while pressing the hips back to lift the legs, using a core engagement and hip compression that is important for the muscle up move.

Progression 2: Muscle up negatives

From an Ayesha position, you can slowly lower out through the muscle up movement to build strength for the lift. You can do this with the legs tucked and progress to doing it with the legs straight.

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DEADLIFTS

Muscle up

Progression 3: Muscle up from Jasmine

In the same way that we used a bench for our handstand deadlift, this progression takes out the initial lift of the move, using a hip hold type grip on the pole to support your weight so you can perform the movement with the hips from a higher position. Progression 4: Assisted muscle up

Getting the band in the ‘sweet spot’ to give you just the right amount of assistance can be tricky, but it’s worth the effort to allow you to perform the full movement, with the band assisting you through the sticking point of the move. 383

ISOMETRIC HOLDS

ISOMETRIC HOLDS

Chopper

CHOPPER

Holding the chopper (sometimes called ‘Aerial V’ – and probably known by a million other names) requires pulling strength coming mainly from the lats and triceps to pull the arms close to our body. Hamstring flexibility combined with hip flexor and quad strength holds the legs straight and close to our torso. Flexibility and strength in hip abduction and external rotation is needed for the straddle (coming mostly from the glute med and tensor fasciae latae), and finally, core strength, primarily from the rectus abdominis, obliques and transverse abdominis helps to maintain the lower back flexion and stabilise the body.

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Chopper ISOMETRIC HOLDS

Key ‘off the pole’ areas General areas • • • • • • •

Grip strength Hip flexion Hip adduction Hip external rotation Leg strength Anti-extension core strength Upper body pulling strength

Specific exercises (examples) • • • •

Straddle rotations Pike lift in straddle Horizontal row progressions Chin up progressions

You’ll need to work through the progressions for the invert deadlift first, however you can incorporate the grounded progressions 1 – 3 below to work on the isometric hold of the chopper position before you are able to invert.

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ISOMETRIC HOLDS

Chopper

Progression 1: Half chopper on floor

Bring your outside foot to the pole and use it to help pull your hips close to the pole. When your crotch is close to the pole, tuck both legs and hold, extending the legs if you can. This progression helps to isolate the feeling of the isometric hip tuck required to hold the chopper. Think about keeping the chest lifted as you hold. Progression 2: Chopper on floor We then progress to performing the above movement without the assistance of the foot. Again, chest lifted to engage the back muscles and prevent the shoulders rounding forwards too much!

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ISOMETRIC HOLDS

Chopper

Progression 3: Chopper on stability ball

Using a stability ball really helps to get the feeling of being fully inverted in your chopper. You can use the support of the ball to hold the chopper position and focus on keeping the chest lifted and back engaged. I would recommend holding for timed intervals to build your strength endurance in the chopper position. Progression 4: Half chopper

This is the same as progression 1, but this time we are doing it up the pole. You’ll need a solid invert for this one, so follow the progressions for the deadlift invert before moving on to this progression.

Once in your chopper position, you can use this to condition the isometric hold by doing timed holds. Make sure you lower out of the move slowly with control, too!

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ISOMETRIC HOLDS

Ayesha

AYESHA

The Ayesha demands a horizontal pull with the top arm that comes primarily from the lats and bicep (when the top arm is bent). The traps and rhomboids keep the scapular retracted. The bottom arm is pushing overhead in 180 degrees of shoulder flexion. The strength there comes mostly from the deltoid, with the serratus anterior working to upwardly rotate the scapular and the rotator cuff muscles stabilising the shoulder. Our quads work hard to keep the legs straight while our hip flexors bring them close to our torso for the straddle position. Flexibility in the hamstrings and adductors, combined with strength from the glute med, quads and hip flexors creates the straddle position. Limitations here can impact on your balance and ability to hold the position. Core strength is required, primarily from the rectus abdominis, obliques, transverse abdominis and erector spinae to stabilise the hips and resist further flexion of the spine. Follow the progressions for the basic knee grip and the deadlift invert before starting to work on this move. You will need to be reaching at least 180 degrees on Test 1 (shoulder flexion in neutral) and 160 degrees in Test 2 (shoulder flexion with external engagement). If you cannot, you will struggle to find balance in your Ayesha. The impact of different grip variations is considered in more detail in the Shoulder and Back Mobility chapter.

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Ayesha ISOMETRIC HOLDS

Key ‘off the pole’ areas General areas Grip strength Shoulder flexion Shoulder rotation Leg strength Hip flexion Hip Abduction Anti-lateral flexion core strength Anti-extension core strength Upper body horizontal pulling strength • Upper body vertical pushing strength • • • • • • • • •

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Specific exercises (examples) • • • •

Vertical push progressions Horizontal pull progressions Stability ball pike lift Windshield wipers

Progression 1: Full bracket slide

ISOMETRIC HOLDS

Ayesha

This conditioning drill helps you to engage the core, hip flexors and quads while coordinating with an upper body push and pull.

Progression 2: Butterfly The butterfly allows you to work on strengthening the push and pull of your full bracket position, while keeping your bodyweight close to the pole and having the support of one leg on the pole. This not only supports some of your bodyweight, but also provides some stability while you to build confidence here. Note that the arm is usually not 180 degrees overhead for this move, so it is much easier than the Ayesha in terms of overhead shoulder mobility.

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Progression 3: Extended butterfly

ISOMETRIC HOLDS

Ayesha

The extended butterfly progresses the butterfly by taking your body weight away from the pole, loading more weight into your upper body and removes some of the stability and security, requiring more core and shoulder stability. This position will usually put your bottom shoulder much closer to the 180 degrees of overhead flexion required for your Ayesha. Make sure you are staying square to the pole and not rotating out to the side!

Progression 4: Inverted D The inverted D, in theory, should be easier than the extended butterfly, because it has both feet in contact with the pole, but the reality is that the extended butterfly usually feels easier because the leg away from the pole can actually help us to find a balance point. We can also allow our body to rotate in the extended butterfly which also helps us to achieve a stable position if we don’t quite have the necessary strength/mobility to get our arm 180 degrees overhead.

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The inverted D, done correctly, requires us to keep square-on to the pole with our arm in that full 180 degree position with a straight line from our bottom hand to our hip, just like in the Ayesha. That ‘square-on’ position is required to hold the Ayesha - if you learn your Inverted D with a lean out to the side, it will not help you build strength for your Ayesha, so resist the temptation to lean out to the side – your head should remain in line with the pole and your ear close to your bottom arm. If this is causing problems for you, check on your overhead shoulder mobility - in my experience, this is the most common problem for those trying to acheive their Ayesha! Progression 5: Ayesha tuck

ISOMETRIC HOLDS

Ayesha

If you struggle to find the balance point in your Ayesha, practicing holding with tucked legs will remove the legs from the equation so you can focus on conditioning the upper body and core strength for the move. Note the alignment of the hip to the bottom hand. You should be aiming for a straight line from the bottom hand to the hip. Most people begin conditioning for the Ayesha with the hips a little closer to the pole – this is usually a core strength and/or a confidence thing – it’s hella scary moving away from the security of the pole, right? But the ultimate aim is for the hips, shoulders and hand to be stacked. Remember that if your shoulder flexion mobility is limited, it will be a huge road block on your route to the full Ayesha, so if you are struggling with this move, check-in on your shoulder flexion mobility - it might be the key to unlocking your Ayesha.

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ISOMETRIC HOLDS

Half flag

HALF FLAG

The half flag position requires pushing strength from the bottom arm, which is externally rotated and usually slightly adducted, but we are pushing laterally in the direction of abduction, working the deltoids and bicep. The top shoulder is internally rotated with the arm in front of the body and slightly abducted, but we are pulling the arm back in towards the pole and our body, so the lat muscle and pec major are both working hard here, pulling in the opposite direction of adduction and extension. The traps and rhomboid work to keep scapular retraction and the rotator cuff helps to pull the shoulder back in the direction of external rotation. The entire core is working to resist lateral flexion and rotation, particularly the transverse abdominis, obliques, erector spinae, rectus abdominis and QL muscle. The glutes are working to keep the hips in line with the torso and the adductor muscles of the bottom leg keep it close to the top leg.

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Half flag ISOMETRIC HOLDS

Key ‘off the pole’ areas General areas • • • • • • • •

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Grip strength Shoulder internal rotation Shoulder external rotation Shoulder abduction Anti-lateral flexion core strength Upper body pulling strength Upper body pushing strength Leg strength

Specific exercises (examples) • • • •

Horizontal push progressions Horizontal pull progressions Side plank Adductor lifts

This is an awesome progression to make your side planks more polespecific! With most of your bodyweight supported by the floor, you can focus on building strength and conditioning the position without overloading it. Try to think about keeping the shoulders back, so they are not rounding forwards too much. Progression 2: Half flag plank on ball

Use the stability ball to support some of your weight but also add some instability to the move.

ISOMETRIC HOLDS

Half flag

Progression 1: Half flag plank on floor

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Progression 3: Half flag tuck

Progression 4: Half flag one leg tucked As you build strength here, you can extend one leg to increase the lever length while keeping some of your bodyweight in the tuck.

ISOMETRIC HOLDS

Half flag

Keeping both knees tucked reduces the lever length of the move, making it much easier.

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ISOMETRIC HOLDS

Meathook

MEATHOOK

The meathook requires core strength primarily in anti-lateral flexion and anti-rotation from the obliques and quadratus lumborum (QL). There is some thoracic rotation involved to turn the chest forwards while the hips remain square to the pole. The legs are piked, requiring hamstring flexibility and strength from the quads and hip flexors to straighten the legs and keep them close to the torso. With the legs flexed in this position, it is possible to support the position with some grip on the pole by squeezing it between the tummy and the top of the thigh. The bottom arm is adducted using strength from the pec major and lat muscle, and the traps and serratus anterior are working hard along with the shoulder stabilising muscles of the rotator cuff to prevent the shoulder from rounding forwards. The forearm is pronated.

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Meathook ISOMETRIC HOLDS

Key ‘off the pole’ areas General areas • • • • •

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Grip strength Hip flexion Leg strength Anti-lateral flexion core strength Upper body pulling strength

Specific exercises (examples) • Rotational push pull exercises • Suspension trainer oblique crunch • Thoracic rotation progressions

Meathook

Progression 1: Meathook on stability ball

ISOMETRIC HOLDS

Using the stability ball is a great way to add some support to this move and it makes for a great general conditioning exercise, even if you are not interested in performing the full meathook move. Begin with both legs tucked (short lever) and both hands on the pole (increased support and stability) and progress to straightening both legs. You can then continue to progress this by removing one hand.

You will need a good invert and a solid hip hold grip before attempting the following exercises.

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ISOMETRIC HOLDS

Meathook

Progression 2: Meathook (two handed)

Keeping both hands on the pole will provide extra stability and support for this move. From this position, you can begin with both legs tucked and progress to straightening one leg and, finally, straightening both legs.

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Eventually, you can perform the move with one hand only, firstly with both legs tucked and then with one leg tucked and one straight, before progressing to the full move.

ISOMETRIC HOLDS

Meathook

Progression 3: Meathook (one handed)

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ISOMETRIC HOLDS

Iron X / Flag

IRON X / FLAG

The human flag and variations of it, like the Iron X, require a huge amount of core strength, not to mention truly ninja-level upper body pushing and pulling strength and shoulder stability. Both our arms are in an overhead position. The pull of the top arm in the direction of adduction relies primarily on strength from the lats and the grip of the top hand determines how involved your bicep gets – cup and split grip allow for a bent top arm, which requires more bicep engagement. The bottom arm push is driven primarily by the deltoids, while the serratus anterior upwardly rotates the scapular and the lower traps, rhomboids and rotator cuff all work together to stabilise the shoulders. Tricep strength is needed to maintain a straight arm position while the quads work hard to keep the legs straight, too. The entire core is working to resist extension, lateral flexion and rotation, specifically the transverse abdominis, obliques, erector spinae, rectus abdominis and QL muscle. The glutes are working to keep the hips in line with torso and the adductor muscles of the bottom leg keep it close to the top leg for the flag version. Follow the progressions for the Ayesha and half flag hold before beginning the progressions below. Your shoulder mobility will need to be absolutely on point for this move, especially in an overhead position. If you plan to train this move in a twisted grip, refer to the Shoulder and Back Mobility chapter for additional twisted grip-specific screening requirements. 403

Iron X / Flag ISOMETRIC HOLDS

Key ‘off the pole’ areas General areas • • • • • • • •

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Grip strength Shoulder flexion Shoulder rotation Shoulder abduction Leg strength Anti-lateral flexion core strength Upper body pulling strength Upper body pushing strength

Specific exercises (examples) • • • • •

Vertical push progressions Vertical pull progressions Side plank with leg lift Plank with lateral resistance Rotational push pull exercises

Spending time in this position on the floor allows you to condition the smaller stabilising muscles, ligaments and tendons for the vertical push and pull in a horizontal position, but without putting your whole bodyweight into it, and gives you chance to think about and groove the movement pattern.

Progression 2: Iron X / Flag on ball Push through the bottom arm, thinking about the push coming from the shoulder and try to balance the push and pull to stabilise your body.

ISOMETRIC HOLDS

Iron X / Flag

Progression 1: Iron X / Flag on floor

You can adjust the positioning of the ball to increase the difficulty of this exercise. A larger ball than the one used here will allow you to get into a more horizontal position.

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Progression 3: Straddle to pencil repeaters

ISOMETRIC HOLDS

Iron X / Flag

Moving between the straddle and pencil position helps you to build strength endurance in the upper body as well as building body awareness and core control switching between the different leg and hip positions.

Progression 4: Pencil lower repeaters

Another great conditioning exercise for the flag. The idea is to keep your body in a straight line with the hips forwards – maintaining a plank position as you lower and lift the entire body as one unit.

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ISOMETRIC HOLDS

Iron X / Flag

Progression 5: Slow lowers in straddle

Bringing the feet close to the pole so the legs are abducted but flexed in front of you is a good way of reducing the lever length of the Iron X. Having the legs flexed reduces the core challenge by putting your spine in a more stable position and keeping the feet close to the pole reduces the lever length. This will require good active hamstring flexibility and hip abduction flexibility and strength. Progression 6: Flag negatives (bent leg)

Lowering through the flag position with one leg tucked reduces the weight of the lever (by bringing one leg closer to your body) and also reduces the core challenge, allowing you to keep some flexion in the lower spine.

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ISOMETRIC HOLDS

Iguana flag

IGUANA FLAG

In our Iguana flag, the shoulders, in extension, are adducted and pulling into the direction of flexion, using primarily the lats, pec major, anterior deltoid and biceps. The rhomboid works to keep the scapular retracted and the lower traps resist excessive anterior scapular tilting while the rotator cuff also works to stabilise the shoulder joint. To keep the body in a straight line, the quads work hard to keep the legs straight, the hamstring and glutes lift the legs in the direction of hip extension and the whole core must work to resist extension and flexion of the spine, this comes primarily from the transverse abdominis, obliques and erector spinae to keep the spine in neutral. A fully horizontal Iguana flag requires a significant amount of shoulder extension (around 90 degrees), so make sure you are able to reach that position in the shoulder extension test and work through the progressions for the Iguana lift before starting to work on this isometric hold.

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ISOMETRIC HOLDS

Iguana flag

Key ‘off the pole’ areas General areas

• • • • •

Shoulder extension pull Inverted hang Skin the cat progressions Stability ball pike Hollowbody hold

Progression 1: Iguana negatives in tuck

In this progression, we are simply reducing the lever length by tucking the knees in and working through the full shoulder extension position slowly.

ISOMETRIC HOLDS

Iguana flag

• Grip strength • Shoulder extension • Shoulder internal and external rotation • Hip extension • Leg strength • Upper body pulling strength • Anti-extension and anti-flexion core strength

Specific exercises (examples)

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Progression 2: Holds in extension

Progression 3: Iguana flag lowers (one leg tucked)

ISOMETRIC HOLDS

Iguana flag

Lowing with the legs piked allows you to slowly build strength in the end range of shoulder extension required for this move, without the weight and core challenge of the full lever, but with an increased core and leg challenge compared to progression 1.

Increasing the lever length by extending one leg, but keeping some of our body weight close with one leg tucked in brings in more of the core strength requirements of this move but without the full demand of both legs straight. Keeping one leg tucked significantly reduces the core challenge by putting our lower back and hips in a stronger position.

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Shoulder mount flag

SHOULDER MOUNT FLAG

In our shoulder mount flag, our shoulders are in a position of flexion in front of our body and we are actively pulling in the opposite direction (towards extension), with the strength for this pull coming mostly from the lats and posterior deltoid. The rhomboids and lower traps work hard to keep the scapular retracted (to prevent the upper back from rounding) and the pec major and lats also keep the arms adducted. We need a huge amount of core strength for this hold, which comes mostly from our rectus abdominis, obliques and transverse abdominis to resist spinal extension. We also need quad strength to keep our legs straight, and power from the glutes to keep our hips in line with our torso. You will need to be confident in your shoulder mount before beginning work on the shoulder mount flag, so follow the progressions for the shoulder mount deadlift first!

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Shoulder mount flag ISOMETRIC HOLDS

Key ‘off the pole’ areas General areas • • • •

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Grip strength Leg strength Anti-extension core strength Upper body pulling strength

Specific exercises (examples) • • • • •

Horizontal row progressions Band pull overs Pull up progressions Dragonflag negatives Hollowbody hold

Holding the position with the knees tucked reduces the lever length and removes a lot of the core strength demands of the move so you can focus on the isometric hold with the upper body.

Progression 2: Shoulder mount flag on ball

ISOMETRIC HOLDS

Shoulder mount flag

Progression 1: Shoulder mount tuck hold

Performing the flag on a stability ball, first with one leg tucked and, secondly, with both legs straight, will help you strengthen the position with some support from the ball.

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Shoulder mount flag ISOMETRIC HOLDS

Progression 3: Assisted shoulder mount

The assisted shoulder mount plank is a way to condition the full movement up the pole, but with the help of a little support from the band.

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ISOMETRIC HOLDS

Shoulder mount flag

Progression 4 :Shoulder mount flag lowers

Here we are extending one leg to increase the lever length and slowly lowering through the flag position. Keeping one leg tucked helps to make the move easier by keeping some of the weight closer to your centre of mass. It also helps you to keep the spine in a flexed position, placing less demand on the core muscles that assist with resisting spinal extension.

Progression 5: Shoulder mount flag tucked This final progression is an isometric hold but, as above, with one leg tucked.

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POLE PULLING PROGRESSIONS

The pulling exercises below are not part of a ‘move’ or trick, as such, but are vertical pulling progressions that you can use either alongside the vertical pulling exercises in the gym, or as progressions for them. I have included them here because they would typically form part of your pole workout, unless you are lucky enough to have a pole in your gym and are able to combine the two!

POLE PULL PROGRESSIONS

Progression 1: Pull hold

Come into a pole sit and hold the pole with palms facing you, release the legs and keep the chest lifted (shoulders back) holding at the top position of the pull. This is an isometric hold that you can do for timed intervals. The hands are uneven in these pulls so make sure you do both sides.

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Progression 2: Pull negatives

Progression 3: Pull in straddle

Sit on the floor with the legs straddled and reach up to take hold of the pole with a slight bend in the arms, palms facing you and elbows forwards. Brace the core and aim to keep the legs at around 90 degrees as you pull the elbows towards the sides of the body and the chest towards your hands. Reverse the movement to lower back to slowly lower back to the floor.

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POLE PULL PROGRESSIONS

POLE PULL PROGRESSIONS

Set up as above to come into your pull hold and then, as slowly as you can, lower until your arms are almost fully extended, keeping the elbows forwards, then regrab the pole with your legs to come back into your pole sit and repeat. Alternate which hand you have on top.

PART 4 HOW TO BUILD YOUR PROGRAMME

This is the part of the book where we tie a ribbon around everything we have learnt and pull it all neatly together to create a programme that: 1. 2. 3. 4.

Incorporates the principles of sport-specific training from Part 1; Is tailored according to your test results from Part 2; Takes into account your pole goals, using the progressions in Part 3; and Fits with your current lifestyle and training preferences.

STEP 1: PLAN YOUR WEEKLY WORKOUT SCHEDULE The strength and flexibility demands of pole are vast. Couple this with the innately ambitious nature of pole dancers, and the struggle is easy to see. It is difficult (not to mention overwhelming and unproductive) to try to fit EVERYTHING into our training plan. What’s more, remember Reason 5 from Chapter 1 - you are a unique and special butterfly? We are all different, with our own unique responses to training stimulus. Some of us can handle a higher volume of training than others, whether that is down to genetics, nutrition, lifestyle, experience or the sheer logistics of fitting in training around careers and family life. The majority of pole dancers reading this book will not be professional athletes. You will have jobs, families and a social life outside of pole. Some of you may be pole instructors who spend your lives at the studio. Some of you will easily be able to handle (and fit in) 5 to 6 training days a week; others may only be able to fit in a couple of training days. As a general rule, to see improvements in strength and flexibility, I would recommend aiming for at least 3 training sessions a week. With my clients, I have achieved the best results by incorporating 2 gym-based sessions a week, 1 pole-based session and 2 short active flexibility sessions, with additional flexibility work incorporated into the cool-downs of the strength sessions and shoulder mobility/pre-hab work included in the warm-ups of every session. In addition, ‘daily drills’ to cover things like wrist pre-hab and toe-point exercises can be useful for those who need it. As an example, that week might look something like this:

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Example weekly schedule MON

TUES

WEDS

Gym

Active flex

Pole

Upper body focus

Leg focus

Daily drills

Daily drills

THURS

REST Daily drills

Toe point Wrist pre- Toe point hab

FRI

SAT

Active flex

Gym

Leg focus

Lower body focus

Daily drills

Daily drills

Wrist prehab

Grip training

SUN

REST

If you are new to pole and/or the gym, it may take you some time to build up to this kind of volume. That is 100% normal and I would absolutely recommend building up to it gradually. If you can only fit in 1 gym-based session, 1 pole session and 1 flexibility workout each week, it will require a little more creativity to fit everything in, and some compromise, but it is still 100% worthwhile. If you already train on the pole 3+ times a week and are wondering how the heck to fit in additional gym work, I would recommend starting by incorporating your shoulder mobility work into your usual pole warm-up, and shortening your pole training slightly so you can include 2 to 3 of your gym exercises at the end of each training session. That way, over the course of the week, you should be able to fit in a lot of what you need without adding too much additional volume. When it comes to rest days and deciding the order of your workouts, again, this is a very personal thing. As a general rule, try to plan in rest days around your heaviest/hardest training days, and to help prevent overloading the shoulders, you can alternate between days focused on upper body and lower body and/or between strength and flexibility days. For those with extremely busy schedules, consider moving to a 10-day training cycle instead of trying to squash everything into 7 days. It will allow you to space your training sessions out more, build in the recovery time you need and still achieve a regular pattern of consistency to achieve physical adaptations through your training.

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STEP 2: CHOOSE YOUR OFF-THE-POLE EXERCISES Your programme should include exercises from each of the categories below. You should be familiar with them; you’ll see they reflect the sections of this book from Part 2.

Shoulder and back mobility

Leg and hip mobility

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Gym exercises

Wrist mobility

Optional (if indicated by your test results that you need extra work in these areas)

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The ‘starting point’ is to aim to balance all of these categories so we are covering all of them and not doing too much of any one category. Using this framework ensures that our training is balanced. However, this must then be tweaked to individualise it to you, in the following ways: 1. If your test results indicate a significant mobility restriction or strength deficit, you may want to include increased volume of the exercises relating to that category; 2. If you have a specific pole goal to achieve, you can include more focus on the specific strength and flexibility categories for that particular move. For example, if your pole goal is iguana, you might want to include extra shoulder extension work to help you achieve it. However, you should still ultimately be striving for balance in your training. If you do take time to focus on a specific area like this, you will still want to train in the opposing movement patterns and to cycle your pole goals regularly so you are not repetitively overworking one category over a long period of time; 3. You may need to increase/decrease the volume of certain exercises in your gym training to balance out the repeated movements you are doing in your pole training. For example, if you are doing a lot of vertical pulling in the form of spins, inverts and climbs, you can reduce the volume of vertical pulling you are doing in your gym workouts to ensure you are not overtraining that category. Conversely, if you are practising a lot of handstands in your pole training, you might want to reduce the volume of overhead pressing in your gym workouts; 4. You may need to make other personal adjustments to customise your exercises, for example, if you are aware of compensatory movement patterns you need to account for or work on, or specific movements you need to avoid to work around past injuries. Your programme should ALWAYS take into account any personalised advice you have received from a physiotherapist or other medical professional. 5. If including exercises from each category results in more training volume than you either have time for or are able to recover from, you can cycle some of the categories by alternating between them each week or each training block. This book purely provides you with a framework – always strive to individualise it as much as you can! When it comes to individual exercise selection, make sure you start at the beginning. Unless you already have experience with a particular movement pattern, choose the easiest progression and gradually build on this over the weeks and months of your programme. Also, keep in mind that there is some crossover between the exercise categories, so some exercises tick multiple boxes. A hanging leg raise, for example, is both a core exercise and a vertical pull.

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STEP 3: BUILD YOUR GYM WORKOUTS My gym-based workouts always follow the same rough structure, and I am sharing that formula here because I‘ve had a lot of success using it. Remember, there are many different ways to organise your workouts so you may need to adapt this pattern to fit your circumstances, particularly if you do not have the luxury of being able to dedicate multiple workouts every week to your off-the-pole training. If you already train 3 to 5 times a week on the pole, you may instead need to find a way to fit in the exercises you have chosen around your current training, incorporating mobility work into your warm-ups and tagging a ‘mini circuit’ of gym-based exercises on to the end of your pole sessions. I have labelled the gym workout structures below with reference to a linear progression method: PHASE 1: ENDURANCE PHASE 2: STRENGTH PHASE 3: SPEED AND POWER

We always start with an endurance-based structure where the volume is high but the intensity is low (this is reflected in high rep ranges and lighter weights). The endurance phase is where we build a solid foundation, before we move to more strength-focused workouts (with lower rep ranges and heavier weights/higher intensity), and eventually we start to add in speed and power work (but this is for advanced athletes only).

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PHASE 1 WORKOUT STRUCTURE ENDURANCE

PHASE 2 WORKOUT STRUCTURE STRENGTH

PHASE 3 WORKOUT STRUCTURE SPEED AND POWER

WARM-UP 3 to 5 mins cardio Shoulder and hip rotations Foam rolling

WARM-UP 3 to 5 mins cardio Shoulder and hip rotations Foam rolling

WARM-UP 3 to 5 mins cardio Shoulder and hip rotations Foam rolling

(3 sets of 10) 2 to 3 shoulder mobility exercises 2 to 3 workout-specific movements

(3 sets of 10) 2 to 3 shoulder mobility exercises 2 to 3 workout-specific movements

(3 sets of 10) 2 to 3 shoulder mobility exercises 2 to 3 workout-specific movements

SUPERSET 1 (3 SETS X 10 REPS) Strength exercise 1 Strength exercise 2

STRENGTH SET 1 (3 TO 5 SETS x 5 REPS) 90 SECS REST BETWEEN SETS Strength exercise 1

JUMPING AND LANDING (3 SETS X 5 TO 8 REPS) 90 SECS REST BETWEEN SETS Lower body power exercise 1 Lower body power exercise 2

SUPERSET 2 (3 SETS X 10 REPS) Strength exercise 3 Strength exercise 4

STRENGTH SET 2 (3 TO 5 SETS X 5 REPS) 90 SECS REST BETWEEN SETS Strength exercise 2

UPPER BODY POWER (3 SETS X 5 TO 8 REPS) 90 SECS REST BETWEEN SETS Upper body exercise 1 (overhead med ball slam or plyo press) Upper body exercise 2 (rotational med ball slam) STRENGTH SET OR TRI-SET (3 TO 5 SETS X 5 REPS) + CORE WORK DURING 90SEC REST PERIODS Strength exercise 1 [Strength exercise 2 (if triset)] + Core exercise

SUPERSET 3 (3 SETS X 10 REPS) Strength exercise 5 Strength exercise 6

CIRCUIT (3 SETS X 10 REPS) Strength exercise 3 Strength exercise 4 Strength exercise 5

CONDITIONING 4-min leg-based movement alternating between max effort and reduced intensity recovery periods (eg treadmill run – 20-sec max sprint/20-sec recovery x 12)

Passive stretch

Passive stretch

Passive stretch

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WARM UPS You will see that the warm-ups always follow a set structure that includes: Cardio-based movement - This can really be any kind of light movement that will get your heart rate up a little. If you are in the gym, the cross trainer (elliptical) and rower are my favourites as they provide more of a full body movement than a bike or treadmill, but as long as you are moving at a light pace and getting the blood pumping a little, those are the most important things. If you are at home, jogging on the spot, skipping or dancing around the house like a maniac are all perfectly good options. Shoulder and/or hip rotations – These can be found in the online video library. Foam rolling and shoulder mobility exercises – These can be found in Part 2. Workout-specific movements - Although we include a lot of our general shoulder mobility work in our warm-ups, the aim of the warm-up is really to prepare our bodies for the work ahead, which is why we also include workout specific movements. These are movements that mimic the weighted movements you will be doing in your main workout. For example, if you are doing squats in your workout, one of your workout-specific movements might be an unweighted or a resistance-banded squat movement. I have not included these exercises in this book, but you can find them in the online video library.

A note on foam rolling/soft tissue release I always include foam rolling/soft tissue release in my workouts. Most of my clients find it beneficial. Plus, research supports its use both as a recovery tool and, when incorporated prior to stretching, as a way to produce greater increases in flexibility than stretching alone. However, the reasoning behind why it works it is a little misunderstood. It was originally thought that foam rolling was a form of self-myofascial release, allowing us to free up soft tissue adhesions by ‘freeing up’ our fascia. However, research has shown that this is not the case. Instead, I prefer to think of foam rolling (whether it is with a foam roller, peanut or mobility ball) as a mini-self-massage. It can help us to relax tight muscles and increase blood flow, and is probably more neurological in nature. One theory is that stimulating a muscle with foam rolling gets our motor neurons firing, and that it is this more activated connection between brain and muscle that is behind the magic of foam rolling. When foam rolling, focus on the areas that feel tight for you, and aim to spend around a minute or more on each muscle group, or until you can feel the tension start to release. Hurts so good? – When foam rolling, a good guide is to aim mostly for the belly of the muscle and avoid rolling joints or bony parts! You are looking for that ‘hurts so good’ feeling of a massage, and it should feel better afterwards. While it can be uncomfortable to say the 428

least, if you feel sharp, sudden pain or it still hurts afterwards, you may be doing it too hard or have an injury that you probably shouldn’t be poking and prodding.

REPS, SETS AND WEIGHTS Supersets and circuits I almost always start my clients with supersets or circuit-based workouts. There are 2 reasons for this: supersets and circuits are one of the fastest ways to work out (and, let’s face it, we have A LOT to fit in), and they are also great for endurance building, which is important for our foundation before we look at more dedicated strength and power-based sets later on. In our circuits, we do each exercise in the circuit, back to back, with no rest in-between (unless you need to rest to maintain your form, obviously). At the end of the circuit, you rest and then repeat the circuit twice more, to make it 3 times through in total. Supersets are basically mini circuits. We do each exercise in our superset back to back, with no rest in-between (again, unless we need it to maintain form). If you choose the exercises for your supersets carefully, you can eliminate the need for rest times between sets by working opposing muscle groups or different body parts in each exercise. This way, the muscles you worked in your first exercise are resting when you are doing the second exercise in your superset. For example: Superset 1 (3 sets x 10 reps) Exercise 1: Row (horizontal pull) Exercise 2: Squat (knee dominant leg movement) Here, we would do 10 rows, immediately followed by 10 squats. We would repeat this 3 times through in total, with no rest in-between. The idea is that when we are doing our squats, the muscles we worked in our rows are getting a breather; and when we are doing our rows, the muscles we worked in our squats are getting a breather. Hence, it’s a really fast way of working out! When we are building our strength foundation and establishing an endurance base, we are aiming for high volume (high rep numbers) and low intensity (low weights/easier exercises). As a general rule, I usually stick with 3 sets of 8 to 12 reps during this phase using these circuit or superset formats with minimal rest. But there are no hard and fast rules on this. I usually begin with 8 or 10 rep sets, increasing it to 12 reps when necessary as an overload progression. However, I keep the reps lower (around 5 to 6 reps) for more challenging exercises like eccentrics (‘negatives’) and isometric holds.

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Strength sets When we move to more of a strength focus, we begin to reduce the volume (the number of sets/reps) and increase the intensity (heavier weights/harder exercises). For strength sets, I usually prescribe 3 to 5 sets of 5 reps, with a much longer rest period (90 seconds between sets), because you want your body to be fully rested and your central nervous system recovered before each set.

Speed and power sets As we build in more speed and power work, we start to introduce jumping and landing drills and upper body power exercises. Because it takes our ligaments and tendons time to adapt to these kinds of explosive movements, we keep the volume of these drills quite low, especially to begin with. For your speed and power work, think high intent, low volume and lots of rest time! These jumping and landing drills should feel quite exhausting because we are REALLY focusing on technique. We have quite long rest periods between our jumping and landing sets because we want our central nervous system to be fresh and to train these movements ‘perfectly’ because this is what will help us to build a robust base for more advanced jumping and landing movements on the pole.

How heavy to lift? When you first begin training with weights, it might take you some time to figure out the right weights to use. If in doubt, start light and then increase the weight after the first or second set if you need to. As a general guide, our goal is to reach a point of ‘muscle fatigue’, not ‘muscle failure’. That means you need to choose a weight that is heavy enough that it will be a struggle for you to finish the last few reps of each set, but light enough that you can JUST finish every rep without losing your form and technique. The last couple of reps should feel really tough (especially on your final set), but if you cannot complete the sets to the end before your muscles give out or your form goes sloppy, you’ve probably gone too heavy! Every week, record the weight you use for each exercise. Next time you do that exercise, you are aiming to either keep that weight the same or increase it gradually (up to 5%) each week. When you start to move to the heavier strength sets in your programme, you will need to build up to your ‘working weight’ in each set by doing some warm-up sets. For example, if you are doing a 5 x 5 strength set of deadlifts and your ‘working weight’ is 60kg, your warmup sets might look like this: 430

Empty bar (15kg) x 10 reps 20kg x 8 reps 30kg x 5 reps 40kg x 3 reps 50kg x 2 reps THEN you would begin your 5 sets of 5 reps at 60kg.

STEP 4: BUILD YOUR FLEXBILITY WORKOUTS The way we approach flexibility training is a little different to the way we train strength. There are 3 components of mobility/flexibility training: 1. Neural mobility exercises – eg foam rolling, nerve flossing; 2. Passive stretches; 3. Active (strength) exercises. Neural mobility work and passive stretches can help us to increase our range of motion. But if we do not also build strength into that new range of motion, the increase is usually temporary and will have little crossover to our pole prowess. Because active flexibility is so important to us, and because we are much more likely to get hurt from being ‘too loose’ than ‘too tight’, I always prioritise active strengthening exercises over passive ones. However, all 3 have their place, and there are different ways of programming them. You’ll note that I usually dedicate entire workouts to leg flexibility, and incorporate shoulder foam rolling and mobility exercises as part of warm-ups. Done this way, it is possible to cover most of the shoulder mobility work we need to do over the course of the week in our warm-ups, without having to add additional workouts for it. I have indicated in Part 2 where flexibility/mobility exercises form part of a series of progressions, but where they are not listed as ‘progressions’, a combination of them can be used. Over time, you will want to vary the exercises you are using in order to keep challenging your body. Some of the movements might ‘click’ and work better for you than others.

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LEG FLEXIBILITY WORKOUT STRUCTURE

LEG FLEXIBILITY WORKOUT STRUCTURE

(FOUNDATION)

(ADVANCED)

WARM-UP

WARM-UP

3 to 5 mins cardio

3 to 5 mins cardio

Hip rotations

Hip rotations

Neural mobility

Neural mobility

ACTIVE FLEXIBILITY CIRCUIT

SUPERSET 1

(3 SETS X 10 REPS OR

(3 SETS X 5 TO 10 REPS OF ACTIVE EXERCISE/15–SEC PASSIVE HOLDS)

3 SETS X [5 X 5-SEC HOLDS] IN END POSITION)

Active flex exercise 1

Active flex exercise 1

Passive hold 1

Active flex exercise 2

SUPERSET 2

Active flex exercise 3

(3 SETS X 5 TO 10 REPS OF ACTIVE EXERCISE/15-SEC PASSIVE HOLDS)

Active flex exercise 4 Active flex exercise 5 Passive stretch and light movement

Active flex exercise 2 Passive hold 2 SUPERSET 3 (3 SETS X 5 TO 10 REPS OF ACTIVE EXERCISE/15-SEC PASSIVE HOLDS) Active flex exercise 3 Passive hold 3 SUPERSET 4 (3 SETS X 5 TO 10 REPS OF ACTIVE EXERCISE/15-SEC PASIVE HOLDS) Active flex exercise 4 Passive hold 4 Passive stretch

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With our flexibility workouts, we build our foundation with an active flexibility circuit that includes passive stretching at the end. Within the foundation phase, I usually begin with 3 sets of 10 ‘pulses’ of the active flexibility exercises and move to 3 sets of 5 x 5-second holds in the end range. Eventually, the workout structure changes to the advanced format, which intersperses passive and active movements. This can be in the form of PNF stretching as per the exercise progressions in Part 2. The idea is to open up your range of motion through passive stretching and neural mobility work and then to work in that new range of motion with the active exercises. The advanced flexibility workout structure is quite an intense way of working out so it is important that your body is already comfortable with the movement patterns and positions before you moving on to this style of training. You can follow this flexibility workout structure for your shoulder flexibility, too, if you have significant mobility deficits to work on that do not show improvement by including the shoulder mobility drills in your workouts alone. However, when it comes to PNF stretches for the shoulders, because you are working much smaller muscle groups, you will need to reduce the intensity of your isometric contractions and stretches (aiming for around a 3 or 4 out of 10 on your intensity scale).

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STEP 5: BUILD YOUR POLE WORKOUT I like to use a circuit format for pole workouts. It’s fast – and fun (well, about as fun as circuits get). POLE WORKOUT STRUCTURE WARM-UP 3 to 5 mins cardio Shoulder and hip rotations Foam rolling (3 sets of 10) 3 shoulder mobility exercises 2 to 3 workout-specific movements SKILL TRAINING – NEW MOVES TO PRACTISE MUSCLE BALANCING CIRCUIT – ‘NON-DOM SIDE’ CONDITIONING (3 SETS OF 5 TO 10 REPS) 3 to 4 exercises STRENGTH/CONDITIONING CIRCUIT – BOTH SIDES! (3 SETS OF 5 TO 10 REPS) Exercise 1 Exercise 2 Exercise 3 Exercise 4 Passive stretch Foam roll: forearms

If we are combining our pole strength workout with some pole play/skill training (ie learning or practising new moves or combos), it is most productive to do this skill training when our central nervous systems are fresh so we always put this at the start of our workout. After that, we move on to a ‘muscle balancing’ circuit of exercises. This circuit is our chance to make up for all those times we didn’t listen to our pole instructor and haven’t been 434

training both sides as diligently as we should. The exercises we choose for this section should reflect what we have been training regularly in our pole classes/pole play workouts/ routine practice. We will do them on our non-dominant side only. Don’t worry if you can’t yet ‘complete’ the full moves on your non-dominant side. Finding a regression for a move that you CAN do on your non-dominant side is still going some way to addressing the imbalance. Use the pole progressions in Part 4 to help guide you. For example, if you have been on a brass monkey invert mission this week, but you have only been doing it on one side and you can’t yet do it on the other, then choose one of the brass monkey invert progressions that you CAN do on the ‘dork’ side and include that in your muscle balancing circuit. The exercises for the strength/conditioning circuit can be based on the pole goal(s) you are currently working on. You will find progressions for most of the foundation movements of pole in Part 4. As always, you are striving for balance. If every exercise you have chosen requires an invert, that is gonna be a whole lotta inverts in one session. Here are some general rules that will help you achieve a balanced pole workout: 1. Don’t include more than 2 exercises that focus heavily on the same movement pattern; 2. Try to alternate the exercises in your circuits between pulls and pushes, upper body and lower body exercises, and those movements that work the anterior core vs those that focus more on the obliques; 3. Isometric holds and pole deadlift progressions are particularly intense for the central nervous system. Keep the volume of these movements low and include greater rest periods if you are using these exercises.

STEP 6: ADD-ONS At this stage, you may have noticed there are some exercise categories that have not yet been neatly slotted into our workout structure. I usually include wrist pre-hab, toe pointing exercises (where needed) and additional grip drills (where needed) as ‘add-ons’. These exercises require minimal equipment and can usually be included as 5 to 10-minute mini ‘daily drills’ sessions that can be done at home, in front of the TV or during work breaks. Including mini sessions like this throughout the week is a great way to fit in additional exercises without adding an extra workout to your week. These short sessions are comprised of a minute or 2 of warm-up movements, followed by just 2 to 3 exercises (usually for 3 sets of 10 reps). Looking back at our weekly schedule example, you’ll see that I have alternated the daily 435

drills, putting the toe pointing drills on the upper body days and the grip/wrist drills on the leg days.

MON

TUES

WEDS

Gym

Active flex

Pole

Upper body focus

Leg focus

Daily drills

Daily drills

Daily drills

Toe point

Wrist prehab

Toe point

THURS

REST

FRI

SAT

Active flex

Gym

Leg focus Daily drills Wrist prehab

Lower body focus

SUN

REST

Daily drills Grip training

STEP 7: BUILD IN DELOAD, TESTING AND PROGRESSION Once you have built your initial workouts, the plan is to run these workouts for 4 weeks, which should be enough time for your body to start making adaptations. You then take a deload week. During deload week, you have a couple of options, depending on how you feel.

Option 1: ‘Everything hurts and I’m dying’ If you feel generally tired, achy, stressed, or your body and/or brain are hinting at you that you need a rest, take a complete break from your usual training. Replace it with light activity like swimming or walking instead, or just focus on doing some light passive stretches and mobility.

Option 2: ‘Where is my rest muscle and how do I flex it?’ If you feel absolutely fine, are still raring to go and don’t feel like you need a break at all, you can instead take a more active recovery week, sticking to your normal workout schedule but just cutting down the volume of your training that week by reducing the number of sets/ reps and/or reducing the weight you are using. At the end of deload week, retake the tests from Part 2 to check your progress, then adjust your programme by progressing some of the exercises, keeping the workout structure (endurance phase) the same for now. Rinse and repeat. 436

In my experience, lots of progress can be made using this ‘endurance’ format. If you are continuing to make progress, you can stick with this workout structure for as long as you like. It is most important to establish a good solid foundation in the basics so we are absolutely bossing our mobility and basic movement patterns in this ‘endurance phase’ before beginning to blend in more strength-focused rep and set schemes – and eventually incorporating speed and power training later. Whichever workout structure you are using, you should still be applying the principle of progressive overload by working gradually through the exercise progressions and/or: 1. Slowly increasing weights on your gym exercises; 2. Switching up rep and set schemes and changing rest periods to increase intensity; 3. Adjusting the tempo of movements. For example, instead of performing an exercise where you are lifting on a count of 1 and lowering on a count of 2, you can instead slow down the movement to a very slow count of 5 – you’ll suddenly find that exercise you found ‘easy’ now poses a much tougher challenge; 4. Pausing at certain points in the movement to build in isometric holds to challenge your muscles in a different way. When working though the progressions in this book, if you get ‘stuck’ at a level, these techniques should help you get you past that sticking point.

STEP 8: THE BIGGER PICTURE! YOUR LONGTERM PLAN + TAPERING WORKOUTS FOR COMPETITIONS When strength coaches write training plans for athletes, they organise that plan over a long time period – usually a year (or longer) – so they can plan over the course of the year when that athlete will be focusing on endurance, strength, or speed and power. The aim is that training is structured within and around these phases to allow for recovery, gradual progression and to take account of any significant life events during the year, and, ultimately, to ensure the athlete ‘peaks’ at competition time. This organisation of training is called ‘periodisation’, and the longer-term plan is known as the ‘macrocycle’. Even if you are not a professional athlete, looking ahead over the coming year and setting an overarching plan (or macrocycle if you wanna be fancy) is still a worthwhile exercise. As we know, it is important to ‘layer’ our training progressively, beginning with more general preparatory exercises and building up to more pole-specific ones. Our macrocycle will help 437

us to plan this gradual progression logically over the course of the year. Because pole covers a kaleidoscope of strength and flexibility elements, it often feels overwhelming, even impossible to try to include every aspect that we want to work on in our training. Viewing our year ahead from a macrocyle bird’s-eye view means we can plan how to cycle between different pole and flexibility focuses over the course of the year in an organised way. It also means we can taper our training for competitions to try to arrive on stage in peak physical condition. There are MANY different periodisation models, but because most of the pole dancers I work with are ‘untrained’ (ie have little or no gym experience), I usually use a linear periodisation model so that is the model that I am sharing with you here. This linear approach means that we spend a lot of time working on endurance and building a solid foundation of strength and flexibility before moving to more of a strength focus and, finally, (for advanced pole dancers) adding in speed and power. Our macrocycle is therefore split between the 3 main ‘phases’: endurance, strength, and speed and power. In reality, there is some overlap between these phases, but in theory, each one gradually builds on the last as our training becomes increasingly pole-specific (and competition-specific). GENERAL PREPARATORY

SPECIFIC PREPARATORY

ENDURANCE

STRENGTH

SPEED AND POWER

High volume

Low volume

Low volume

Low intensity

High intensity

High intensity

If you have a competition, this gradual build-up eventually leads to a ‘competition phase’, which is then followed by a period of post-comp recovery, and then the cycle would begin again. Here is an example of what this might look like over the course of a year:

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This linear example moves from an endurance focus to a strength focus and finally incorporates speed and power work before the competition phase. In reality, most pole dancers will spend longer in the endurance/foundation and strength parts of this process, especially if they were previously untrained and/or have significant mobility restrictions to work on. Also note that, as you progress between these phases, it doesn’t mean that you move every single one of your workouts to the workout structure for that phase. At the end of the endurance phase, you might just start to phase-in one strength-based workout each week, keeping the others in the ‘endurance’ format. You might then build that up to 2 strength workouts a week and 1 endurance workout. As you eventually move on to the speed and power phase, you would probably only incorporate 1 speed and power workout and keep your other workouts in the strength structure. Think about blending in each different element, rather than switching between them rigidly. In any case, speed and power work should only be introduced for those athletes who are experienced and advanced, and who have developed a solid foundation of strength first. As you approach your competition, your workout focus will change. You will be running your competition piece frequently so during this time, you are not training to make strength or flexibility gains, but aiming to maintain the fitness, strength and flexibility you have developed over the year. In your gym workouts, you will want to reduce the volume AND intensity – this means keeping the repetitions low and the weights/difficulty of exercises low, too. You might also reduce the actual number of off-the-pole workouts to balance out the extra pole training you will be doing. Your pole conditioning workouts will be focused on muscle balancing and pre-hab exercises, not learning new skills or building strength. You should also aim to take a deload week on the week leading up to your competition so you arrive on stage fully recovered and rested.

Cycling pole and flexibility goals In my macrocycle example, you’ll also see that I have split the year up to alternate the flexibility focus between front splits and middle splits. This is just an example of how you can rotate your training focus over a period of time. During the front splits part of the training cycle, we are still training middle split movements, but we are keeping those movements to a minimum and doing an increased volume of work dedicated to front split. When our focus changes to middle splits, we reduce the volume of our front split exercises and increase the volume of our middle split exercises. This way, we can maintain our front split gains while we dedicate more time to our middle split. Splits is purely an example here. The same principle can be used to rotate your training focus in any area of your training; it works well for rotating specific pole goals, too. I cannot dictate to you what your plan should be; this example is merely a framework to get you thinking along the right lines. 439

‘Because life’, even the best-laid training plans don’t always run smoothly so although this overarching plan gives you some guidance and direction, it is always flexible. Moving around your deload weeks and adjusting your focus to fit in with holidays, social arrangements, managing injuries and your own motivation levels are all part of the process. Particularly if you are not competing professionally, your yearly plan should simply be a guide to help you stay on the right track, give you some direction over the course of the year, and ensure that you continue to make progress.

YOUR PROGRAMME CHECKLIST Once you have built your programme, you can check it by ensuring you have: Included exercises from all movement categories; Individualised it by: 1. prioritising any particular ‘weak areas’ highlighted in your test results; 2. ensuring you have included exercises that are specific to any particular pole goals you want to focus on; 3. taking account of any mobility or movement pattern limitations that are unique to you; Subject to the above, not over-emphasised or under-emphasised any individual category; Included movements in a variety of planes of motion, so you aren’t just working in the sagittal plane; Included muscle balancing exercises for any repetitive pole moves you are working on; Incorporated rest days and deload weeks; Started with an endurance-based rep and set scheme before moving to strengthbased rep schemes; Started ‘at the beginning’ with your exercise progressions, with a plan to work through the progressions gradually; Set an overall plan that allows you to cycle between different pole and flexibility goals over the course of the year and arrange your training around life events; Tapered your workouts around competitions;

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Scheduled regular testing so you can monitor your progress and adjust your workouts accordingly. If you are ticking all of the above boxes – CONGRATULATIONS! Your programme should be well balanced, progressive and individualised, and reflect the important principles of training for sport that we covered in Part 1.

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That’s all folks! Phew! We made it. Writing this beast of a book has been an EPIC project; this is my passion and it has been my absolute pleasure to share it with you. I hope you enjoyed geeking out with me on all things pole dance, just as much as I enjoyed researching and writing it. If you had a few ‘light bulb moments’ along the way and now have a better understanding of how to structure your training, I will consider that my work here is done. Hopefully, if nothing else, I’ve got you thinking about your own physical strengths and weaknesses and how they relate to the finer details of pole anatomy. As a sport and a fitness practice, pole really is still in its infancy. My wish is that this book and the new research that is being conducted into pole dance is just the start of a conversation about how we can train smarter, reduce injury rates and produce more resilient, stronger pole athletes in the future. One of the things I love most about pole is its collaborative, forward-thinking community and I hope that as a collective we can continue to grow and develop the ideas and approaches discussed in this book. I’d love for you to share your benchmark testing, your training and progress stories that have been inspired or motivated by this book. You can find me at my website thepolept.com, or on Facebook (/thepolept) and Instagram (@ptthepole). Let’s get this conversation started and together we can take training for pole to the next level! There’s never been a better time to be upside down!

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