Pole goals 2018

[elysepopplewell]

In the depths of a ~dark~ ~dark~ place in 2017, I accepted a friend's request to join her for a free pole dancing beginners class. I put my deposit down at the end of the lesson for the next 7 weeks!

Now, I've completed Beginners Pole, Intermediate 1 Pole....and I'm about to begin Intermediate 2. And now I'm in the bright light of a ~happy~ ~happy~ place!

This "term" (there's 6 in a year) I've signed up for two classes at Intermediate 2 pole level, and one...wait for it...wait for it...twerk class.

Every Monday and Tuesday night I'm going to be working on my strength and balance and flexibility. When the term starts I'll create some specific goals for moves, flexibility, confidence, etc.

Stay tuned!

[Joseph41]

Awesome. I'd imagine this requires pretty crazy strength. Looking forward to your updates.

[K888]

Good luck with your pole fitness, Elyse! I'm glad that it's giving you so much happiness!

My cousin took it up a year or so ago and the stuff she's learnt is so impressive - I think she just got herself some aerial silks to do cool stuff with!

[brenden]

Count the bruises.

[elysepopplewell]

omg fam thanks for the support!!

Some sad news...they moved the twerk class to clash with one of my pole classes!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! GRRRRRRR
But never fear, I still have my two pole classes. One starts tonight, stay tuned.

[Joseph41]

omg fam thanks for the support!!

Some sad news...they moved the twerk class to clash with one of my pole classes!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! GRRRRRRR
But never fear, I still have my two pole classes. One starts tonight, stay tuned.

Sorry the times didn't twerk out for you. Go well tonight!

[K888]

Sorry the times didn't twerk out for you.

I snorted.

Enjoy the class, Elyse!

[elysepopplewell]

Sorry the times didn't twerk out for you. Go well tonight!

hahahahahahahaha
ahahahaha
hahahahaahahahaha

----

anyway.

So last night I show up, feeling super comfortable and keen like always. Then when I go over to my class I realise: this isn't the class I've always been in! This is a new class (my normal class is on Tuesdays) so everyone knows each other already and I'm the outsider!! I couldn't believe how much this was shaking me, but I was instantly nervous to be on the outside. Somehow I was really acutely aware of this though, and managed to rake it in and channel it into motivation. So even though this all happened within about five minutes of my being there, it was really important to me and I'm super glad I could overcome that.

As soon as we started warming up I was deceased but I revived pretty quickly when my new teacher said lets practice inversions and inverted Vs. And I've never been able to do these really gracefully, usually there's a whole lot of struggle street to flip up into the positions, but I stood there and thought "don't be the weak link in the new class" and on first go, I got both the inversions and inverted Vs instantly. I couldn't believe it, I'd never been able to do them before. So I'm low key dying of happy. Then the teacher says to try it on the other side, and I'd never done that before. So I was like ooooh ghee this is an issue. I tried it and was super unco and not strong enough with my left arm, and so I told the teacher I needed an amendment to the move to ease into it. She told me what to do, and despite it still being quite tricky, I got it. So the first 40 minutes of the class was pure me being amazed at how much I was doing despite being certain I wouldn't be able to get these things for a while, especially after the break.

Then the last thing we tried was new, a one leg hang. We just tried it from the ground (unsafe to do it two metres high first go lol) and my teacher was really patient and came around to help us with "conditioning" which is where you get used to the pain and stretched-skin feeling from ground level before you commit to doing it with your full body weight. I'd never done conditioning before in my other class, it's not my other teacher's style. So I feel super happy that on Mondays I have this teacher who is very into teaching step by step, and then on Tuesdays I have my "throw into the deep end" teacher so I can move into those things more confidently.

Anyway, I felt super happy and loved my life when it was all over. I even made a protein powder smoothie when I got home (new year new me)

I'm at the library where IMGUR IS BLOCKED ON THE WIFI?? So when I get home I'll post a picture of an inversion I did last night.

I have pole again tonight and am super super keen!
But for now I'm at the library to finish my lecture slides...so serious stuff to do now

[elysepopplewell]

Ok so this is an inversion! You stand next to the pole with one arm gripping it and the other hand across your body to hold on. Your outside leg kicks up above your head and grabs on, then your left leg follows. Next thing you know you're upside down and when you grip enough (ouch) you can let go! This used to take me about 40 seconds of struggle, but last night it took all of ten seconds

[brenden]

Amazing, congrats!!

[elysepopplewell]

Delayed post!!

Second night in a row of pole is a 100% killer. Things that I probably had the energy to do ten times in a row to get perfect on Monday, I only had half the strength for on Tuesday. My skin was raw in the same spots as the day before and my muscles are acccccching!!!

To be honest it was a bit of a bummer after Monday night's high, but feeling how sore I was on Monday (and today...and probably tomorrow) means that growth must be happening so that's fantastic My arms were so sore I couldn't pull up my undies in the morning.

If I can get to the gym this weekend I'm going to do some more (but light) arm/shoulder exercises to "top up" the work from earlier in the week...but don't want to be too sore for Monday. Is this how the muscle thing works? I really don't know lol

Happy!

[brenden]

As far as “topping up”... the additional benefit will probably be minimal . You would already have worked enough to ‘make gains’ in that area and, if you’re looking to gain strength for a particular sport - doing that sport more is the best way to go about it. (Hooray for pole twice a week!)

But if you want to do more, feel free. (Ideally on Friday, even if you’re still slightly sore. The most important thing is to be fully recovered by your skill session [pole], which is way more important than your weights session)

ALSO, if you’re wanting to supplement pole with gym work, vertical pulling movements (I.e., pull ups, chins up, and neutral grip chin ups in particular) are probably your best investment over direct arm/shoulder work ). I’m absolutely not advising you to only do vertical pulling at the gym (balance is key!), but that’s the type of movement that will most benefit pole-strength.

[elysepopplewell]

As far as “topping up”... the additional benefit will probably be minimal . You would already have worked enough to ‘make gains’ in that area and, if you’re looking to gain strength for a particular sport - doing that sport more is the best way to go about it. (Hooray for pole twice a week!)

But if you want to do more, feel free. (Ideally on Friday, even if you’re still slightly sore. The most important thing is to be fully recovered by your skill session [pole], which is way more important than your weights session)

ALSO, if you’re wanting to supplement pole with gym work, vertical pulling movements (I.e., pull ups, chins up, and neutral grip chin ups in particular) are probably your best investment over direct arm/shoulder work ). I’m absolutely not advising you to only do vertical pulling at the gym (balance is key!), but that’s the type of movement that will most benefit pole-strength.

That's really good to know! It would be a dream to be able to do a pull up - I think that's when I can officially say I've made it!!!
I'm going to look into some apps/online programs for stretching and flexibility too. I think it's soothing but also important for pole so I might add that into the work out!

[brenden]

You’ll be able to do a pull up really soon, the way you’re going!

[elysepopplewell]

Ok fam so we back with some photos yet to come (imgur simply DOES NOT WORK when I'm using my hotspot on the train).

So, last Monday had to miss pole for the AN lectures (no regrets) but I could make it on Tuesday which was great because I got a new trick, the outside leg hang, which is NOT a comfortable move and tbh hurts a fair bit. I have a serious bruise just above the underside of my knee on my left leg!

Everyone in my Tuesday class is really cheering for each other because we all started back in beginners together.

Then on Monday this week I had my other class, which we don't really do a lot of talking in and some of the girls take it quite seriously, but everyone's really friendly. And I tried a move called a queen (which I didn't get a photo of!) for the first time and, I got it! First go! Then I got it again, second go!
But I couldn't keep doing it after that because the skin under my leg was raw.

Then last night I had pole again and unfortunately still really sore in the same spots with some decent bruising!

Stay tuned for piccies!