There is no area of pole dancing that causes more controversy than this one, with both sides of the argument shouting just as loud as the other and having just as valid opinions. Dancing in your heels and booty shaking versus pure sport and the possibility of a space in the Olympics. Everyone who's ever touched a pole in their life has something to say about it, and rightly so.
Here's mine.
For starters, I can understand why pole dancers, pole athletes want to see pole dancing as an Olympic sport some time in the not-too-distant future. I think it's perfectly fine to want validation for what you do; to shut up anyone who wants to say "Are you a stripper?" or "You can dance on my pole any time!" before they even get started. But I also think that cutting off one entire side of such a huge and varied community of pole dancers to achieve this is not the way to go.
It's very easy to just push away the sexy side of pole dancing and act like it doesn't exist; to pretend that pole dancing's only ancestor is the Indian Mallakhamb, traditionally performed from 800 years ago solely by men, but I think that is naive. Half of the spins and moves you know today were crafted in clubs by strippers. Pole dancing would never have found its way to a mainstream audience without them. I don't agree in the slightest with just covering my eyes to that and pretending that it never happened, because that invalidates everything they did, and invalidates the pole dancers who aren't strippers, but still love the sexy side of pole dancing.
And then there are the pole athletes; the best of the best whose names you know immediately and as soon as you hear them you can picture them already in your head doing something crazy. The ones who love to body roll and dance in their skyscraper heels and look absolutely amazing while they're doing it. Michelle Shimmy. Alethea Austin. The ones you never see without their heels on like Cleo the Hurricane and Felix Cane. It would be silly to suggest that these dancers are any less valid than purely strength or dance and gymnastics based polers like Sarah Scott, Anastasia Skukhtorova or Bendy Kate.
So that leaves me in a middle ground. I personally don't dance sexy, but that's simply because intentionally dancing sexy doesn't make me feel sexy. I'm not very good at it, so it makes me feel a bit silly. If it does for you, then more power to you, I'm sure you look fabulous. But it doesn't do it for me. Crazy moves and new tricks are what make me feel good. That's what's so great about pole: whatever style makes you feel good, you can do it. That's what it's all about. Feeling confident, feeling empowered and feeling comfortable in your own skin.
As for the Olympics, I just don't want to see it watered down to a point where everyone's different styles are unrecognizable. I don't want to see the creativity vanish in favor of standing on a podium thinking that finally, finally you've escaped that stripper stigma. Because it's not a stigma, it's where your sport came from and no matter how hard you try to deny it, that's not going to go away. It's also nothing to be ashamed of. Strippers aren't ashamed, so why are you ashamed of them?
I don't want to see "you must do these moves" and "you must wear this" and "you must not accidentally flash your upper thigh" because that's not the pole dancing I fell in love with. I fell in love with an art that could be whatever I wanted it to be; I fell in love with being able to learn something different from every pole dancer I came across. I fell in love with the community.
Some people do want that. Some people want rules and restrictions for a truly fair competition. Some people want to be in the Olympics. Some people want the world to see how amazing they are after they've pushed for something for so long that's gone mostly under the radar. And that's okay. Why wouldn't you want to prove yourself to the world and stand up with the gymnasts and dancers and athletes?
But you don't have to compete. You can pole dance your entire life and just do it for fun, so why does it even matter? It matters to me because I don't want the only style of pole dancing that the world takes notice of to be the purely athletic side. If pole dancing is to become an Olympic sport, I want it in all its glory so that every dancer, no matter how they choose to dance, can have a shot at it. I want people to see everything and make a choice for themselves whether it's for them or not. I don't want it to exclude people, because never once in the pole dancing community have I felt excluded. I have always felt welcomed and I think everyone should have that feeling.
I guess the bottom line is pretty obvious when it comes down to it. Dance how you want. Push for pole dancing to be an Olympic sport if you want. Dance in your heels in a club if you want. But don't forget we all have something in common in that we love pole dancing, and we should all get to show the world how awesome we are one day. Simple, right?
Monday, 14 April 2014
Saturday, 1 March 2014
Saria Reviews Flexibility DVDs
I've gathered quite the collection of DVDs so I can improve my strength and flexibility at home and I thought now would be a great time to tell you what I think of them and whether I'd recommend them for different levels of fitness and flexibility. So let's get started!
First up: Cleo the Hurricane's Rockin' Legs and Abs
Cleo is well known for having some of the longest and flexiest legs in pole dancing. She's won Miss Pole Dance Australia 2012 and 2014 with insane splits, earth-shattering heel bangs that look absolutely impossible and a rockin' soundtrack. So how does her DVD hold up?
Rockin' Legs and Abs is intense, there's no other word for it. The warm up alone will have you sweating before Cleo takes you into strengthening exercises for your abs and legs that will make you feel a bit like crying. Leg circles, kicks and raises on both of your legs (you'll learn to dread the phrases "and 8 again!" and "Other way!" before long) will have them feeling like jelly, but there's a great sense of accomplishment when you get through all this craziness and make it through to the definitely more relaxing splits sections.
The Rockin' Abs section is a lot shorter than I would like, although it does feel quite intense when you're doing it. The majority of the DVD is dedicated to your legs and it would be nice to see some more exercises focused on the abs to really get that strength up. Although you won't hear me complaining about the lack of plank.
Lunges, High Kicks and Holds in particular requires quite a bit of room to avoid kicking everything around you and it can be difficult to correctly do these moves and really feel the benefit from them in a small space like mine. As a result, this is my least favorite section even though it's the one I want to see the most improvement in because I just don't have the space.
The final sections dedicated to getting down into your splits offer a number of different ways to stretch, including just holding the position, squeezing your muscles for PNF stretching and other related stretches to help open up different areas of your legs. This is really helpful and I've found my splits improving a lot from doing this on a regular basis.
Cleo is very enthusiastic throughout the DVD and is always encouraging safe stretching, particularly in positions that can be pretty strenuous like straddles and middle splits. She also offers lots of direction including giving you specific instructions on what positions to be in, counting seconds or reps and giving you lots of encouragement, which is definitely needed for such an intense DVD! This is really helpful when you're in positions where you can't always be looking at the screen and when you sometimes forget to breathe during some especially intense stretching.
Rockin' Legs and Abs also has a supportive Facebook community where you can find progress pictures, motivation from Cleo herself and 30 day challenges to really push yourself into seeing a difference in your splits. Cleo also offers some additional stretching and pole tutorials on her website.
Bottom Line: This DVD is a little intimidating for those new to stretching and you might find it difficult to finish the DVD at first. It also focuses very specifically on your legs, so if you're looking to stretch any other areas of your body you won't find it here. I also wouldn't recommend it if you're working through any injuries as it may be too intense.
Rating: 4 out of 5
Next up: Get Bent - Circus Style Flexibility Training by Fit and Bendy
Fit and Bendy provide a series of contortion classes based in West Hollywood and fronted by Kristina Nekyia. They also have a DVD available to buy focusing on all areas of the body that you might want to stretch, from your legs to your shoulders and back for dance, pole fitness, gymnastics or circus training.
This DVD is a yoga-style stretch with Kristina, which right from the off is a lot more friendly and approachable than Rockin' Legs and Abs particularly if, like me, you're rehabilitating any kind of injury and want to keep up with your stretching regime.
The warm up takes you through every part of your body to warm up the muscles and get yourself ready for stretching. It's very gentle and very easy, and Kristina herself says it shouldn't be painful and shouldn't have you feeling anything but warm by the time it's over. This is great for making sure you feel confident that you've warmed up enough to start stretching as by the end of it you're warm all over and feel like you've worked your body from top to toe.
Kristina then takes you through deep stretches for your legs to prepare you to train your splits. Some of these can be a little tough at first and they do feel quite intense, however Kristina offers some alternatives and suggests what you can do if you can't quite reach certain positions. The stretches feel good and they really get you ready for splits, however you only need to push yourself as far as you can and it's a very relaxing way to stretch.
The section for splits does assume that you either have them or you're well on your way to working towards them, which is a bit of a shame. I would like to see some more alternatives for people who are a little further from the ground and some extra attention paid to getting you closer to the floor rather than just getting down into your splits and holding them. This section is also quite quick, but you can repeat it if you'd like.
Shoulder stretches and back stretches are my favorite sections of this DVD as it's an area I really want to improve it and don't usually train. Kristina gives you lots of direction for these stretches and there's a lot of them to stretch different areas of your shoulder and pectoral muscles, which really feels great. She also specifies what you can do to increase or decrease the intensity of the stretch and where you should be feeling it to know you've got it right, which is very helpful.
Training my back flexibility is something that I've always hated because I find it so intense and just don't feel safe doing it on my own. Kristina takes you through a long series of warm ups and working up to a full bridge to make sure you feel confident enough to attempt it, which is fantastic for me. The back stretches are varied and feel excellent. Kristina also gives a lot of direction when you're in a full back bend to keep you calm and ensuring you're in the right position and stretching safely. The cool down also feels great after a lot of back bending.
Bottom Line: This series of stretches feels like an excellent way to train if you've already made some progress towards your splits, however it may not be suitable for people who are a bit further away. The back and shoulder stretches are fantastic in building confidence and training your flexibility in this area.
Rating: 4.5 out of 5
Finally: Felix Cane Pole Dance Mastery Series. Disc 5: Flexibility
Felix Cane is a two time World Champion pole dancer as well as winning Miss Pole Dance Australia. She is an idol to many pole dancers and has even performed in Cirque du Soleil, so to have the chance to learn from her is fantastic.
First of all, the DVD does not give a lot of direction at all. Felix is almost completely silent for the warm up which can make it dificult to follow, especially when you'll spend a lot of time in positions where you can't necessarily see the screen to know she's switched positions. The warm up does its job though, by the end you do feel warm and ready for a stretch.
This DVD is unique in that Felix offers a lot of stretches that I hadn't done before, from different areas of your legs to your shoulders, back and wrists. This opens up a lot of areas of your muscles and it really does feel like a good stretch however, again, there's not a lot of direction. Felix might instruct you on one stretch for example, but then say nothing when you do the same thing on your other leg, such as when to change positions or even sometimes when to come up out of it.
Felix is exceptionally flexible which can be a bit intimidating to follow along with, but she does offer three versions of her more intense stretches, particularly when it comes to splits. She has a normal version which she'll have as the main point on the screen, an easier version in a little box, and a more difficult version in another box, which gives you some variation and the freedom to stretch at your level.
When it came to the back stretching, I didn't feel nearly as confident going into a full bridge as I do when I'm following along with the Fit and Bendy DVD. There are much fewer stretches for your back than there are for your legs and Felix moves into a bridge quite quickly, whereas I feel like I need to work up to it. The lack of direction is also a problem here, particularly when you're concentrating on your bridge and can't see the screen to know when Felix is finished with the stretch.
The shoulder and wrist stretches are good, especially because not many other DVDs focus specifically on your wrists and I find mine to be incredibly weak, so having the chance to build these up is really great.
The DVD also includes some additional stretches in their own section but Felix doesn't really run through these. She shows them off but doesn't hold them, meaning that if you actually want to follow along with these stretches you'll need to pause the DVD, hold the stretch and move on to the next stretch, which is very annoying to do when you're stretching on the floor and away from the remote.
Bottom Line: This DVD offers a lot of interesting stretches but it isn't executed all that well. Felix doesn't have much to say throughout the DVD and it's massively lacking in instructions for how you should feel during the move, a counter for how long you're in it and when to come out, so Felix can sometimes move on before you've realized. Again, it focuses a lot on your legs and skims over other areas. It does cater for all levels of flexibility, though.
Rating: 3 out of 5
First up: Cleo the Hurricane's Rockin' Legs and Abs
Cleo is well known for having some of the longest and flexiest legs in pole dancing. She's won Miss Pole Dance Australia 2012 and 2014 with insane splits, earth-shattering heel bangs that look absolutely impossible and a rockin' soundtrack. So how does her DVD hold up?
Rockin' Legs and Abs is intense, there's no other word for it. The warm up alone will have you sweating before Cleo takes you into strengthening exercises for your abs and legs that will make you feel a bit like crying. Leg circles, kicks and raises on both of your legs (you'll learn to dread the phrases "and 8 again!" and "Other way!" before long) will have them feeling like jelly, but there's a great sense of accomplishment when you get through all this craziness and make it through to the definitely more relaxing splits sections.
The Rockin' Abs section is a lot shorter than I would like, although it does feel quite intense when you're doing it. The majority of the DVD is dedicated to your legs and it would be nice to see some more exercises focused on the abs to really get that strength up. Although you won't hear me complaining about the lack of plank.
Lunges, High Kicks and Holds in particular requires quite a bit of room to avoid kicking everything around you and it can be difficult to correctly do these moves and really feel the benefit from them in a small space like mine. As a result, this is my least favorite section even though it's the one I want to see the most improvement in because I just don't have the space.
The final sections dedicated to getting down into your splits offer a number of different ways to stretch, including just holding the position, squeezing your muscles for PNF stretching and other related stretches to help open up different areas of your legs. This is really helpful and I've found my splits improving a lot from doing this on a regular basis.
Cleo is very enthusiastic throughout the DVD and is always encouraging safe stretching, particularly in positions that can be pretty strenuous like straddles and middle splits. She also offers lots of direction including giving you specific instructions on what positions to be in, counting seconds or reps and giving you lots of encouragement, which is definitely needed for such an intense DVD! This is really helpful when you're in positions where you can't always be looking at the screen and when you sometimes forget to breathe during some especially intense stretching.
Rockin' Legs and Abs also has a supportive Facebook community where you can find progress pictures, motivation from Cleo herself and 30 day challenges to really push yourself into seeing a difference in your splits. Cleo also offers some additional stretching and pole tutorials on her website.
Bottom Line: This DVD is a little intimidating for those new to stretching and you might find it difficult to finish the DVD at first. It also focuses very specifically on your legs, so if you're looking to stretch any other areas of your body you won't find it here. I also wouldn't recommend it if you're working through any injuries as it may be too intense.
Rating: 4 out of 5
Next up: Get Bent - Circus Style Flexibility Training by Fit and Bendy
Fit and Bendy provide a series of contortion classes based in West Hollywood and fronted by Kristina Nekyia. They also have a DVD available to buy focusing on all areas of the body that you might want to stretch, from your legs to your shoulders and back for dance, pole fitness, gymnastics or circus training.
This DVD is a yoga-style stretch with Kristina, which right from the off is a lot more friendly and approachable than Rockin' Legs and Abs particularly if, like me, you're rehabilitating any kind of injury and want to keep up with your stretching regime.
The warm up takes you through every part of your body to warm up the muscles and get yourself ready for stretching. It's very gentle and very easy, and Kristina herself says it shouldn't be painful and shouldn't have you feeling anything but warm by the time it's over. This is great for making sure you feel confident that you've warmed up enough to start stretching as by the end of it you're warm all over and feel like you've worked your body from top to toe.
Kristina then takes you through deep stretches for your legs to prepare you to train your splits. Some of these can be a little tough at first and they do feel quite intense, however Kristina offers some alternatives and suggests what you can do if you can't quite reach certain positions. The stretches feel good and they really get you ready for splits, however you only need to push yourself as far as you can and it's a very relaxing way to stretch.
The section for splits does assume that you either have them or you're well on your way to working towards them, which is a bit of a shame. I would like to see some more alternatives for people who are a little further from the ground and some extra attention paid to getting you closer to the floor rather than just getting down into your splits and holding them. This section is also quite quick, but you can repeat it if you'd like.
Shoulder stretches and back stretches are my favorite sections of this DVD as it's an area I really want to improve it and don't usually train. Kristina gives you lots of direction for these stretches and there's a lot of them to stretch different areas of your shoulder and pectoral muscles, which really feels great. She also specifies what you can do to increase or decrease the intensity of the stretch and where you should be feeling it to know you've got it right, which is very helpful.
Training my back flexibility is something that I've always hated because I find it so intense and just don't feel safe doing it on my own. Kristina takes you through a long series of warm ups and working up to a full bridge to make sure you feel confident enough to attempt it, which is fantastic for me. The back stretches are varied and feel excellent. Kristina also gives a lot of direction when you're in a full back bend to keep you calm and ensuring you're in the right position and stretching safely. The cool down also feels great after a lot of back bending.
Bottom Line: This series of stretches feels like an excellent way to train if you've already made some progress towards your splits, however it may not be suitable for people who are a bit further away. The back and shoulder stretches are fantastic in building confidence and training your flexibility in this area.
Rating: 4.5 out of 5
Finally: Felix Cane Pole Dance Mastery Series. Disc 5: Flexibility
Felix Cane is a two time World Champion pole dancer as well as winning Miss Pole Dance Australia. She is an idol to many pole dancers and has even performed in Cirque du Soleil, so to have the chance to learn from her is fantastic.
First of all, the DVD does not give a lot of direction at all. Felix is almost completely silent for the warm up which can make it dificult to follow, especially when you'll spend a lot of time in positions where you can't necessarily see the screen to know she's switched positions. The warm up does its job though, by the end you do feel warm and ready for a stretch.
This DVD is unique in that Felix offers a lot of stretches that I hadn't done before, from different areas of your legs to your shoulders, back and wrists. This opens up a lot of areas of your muscles and it really does feel like a good stretch however, again, there's not a lot of direction. Felix might instruct you on one stretch for example, but then say nothing when you do the same thing on your other leg, such as when to change positions or even sometimes when to come up out of it.
Felix is exceptionally flexible which can be a bit intimidating to follow along with, but she does offer three versions of her more intense stretches, particularly when it comes to splits. She has a normal version which she'll have as the main point on the screen, an easier version in a little box, and a more difficult version in another box, which gives you some variation and the freedom to stretch at your level.
When it came to the back stretching, I didn't feel nearly as confident going into a full bridge as I do when I'm following along with the Fit and Bendy DVD. There are much fewer stretches for your back than there are for your legs and Felix moves into a bridge quite quickly, whereas I feel like I need to work up to it. The lack of direction is also a problem here, particularly when you're concentrating on your bridge and can't see the screen to know when Felix is finished with the stretch.
The shoulder and wrist stretches are good, especially because not many other DVDs focus specifically on your wrists and I find mine to be incredibly weak, so having the chance to build these up is really great.
The DVD also includes some additional stretches in their own section but Felix doesn't really run through these. She shows them off but doesn't hold them, meaning that if you actually want to follow along with these stretches you'll need to pause the DVD, hold the stretch and move on to the next stretch, which is very annoying to do when you're stretching on the floor and away from the remote.
Bottom Line: This DVD offers a lot of interesting stretches but it isn't executed all that well. Felix doesn't have much to say throughout the DVD and it's massively lacking in instructions for how you should feel during the move, a counter for how long you're in it and when to come out, so Felix can sometimes move on before you've realized. Again, it focuses a lot on your legs and skims over other areas. It does cater for all levels of flexibility, though.
Rating: 3 out of 5
Friday, 24 January 2014
Injuries and Rest Days
Unfortunately, making progress can also come with it's setbacks.
After finally nailing a Spatchcock up the pole a few weeks ago I put a bit too much pressure on my hamstring and it's since been pretty angry at me. I spent the rest of that day hardly able to sit down and struggling to get out of bed, which was a pretty good indicator that I'd pushed myself too far.
So I let it rest for about a week and a half. Then just warming up at my gym, I threw it out again doing a one-handed spin into a sort of straddle, which I love to do. I couldn't even Shoulder Mount into a V that day because it was so raw and painful. Luckily, I had one of the trainers take a look at it and he was pretty confident it was nothing nasty; just the result of pushing a bit too hard and not giving it quite enough time to rest.
I don't rest very well. Especially when I've got video entry for a competition coming up in March that I desperately need to practice for. But at the end of the day, if I keep pushing it I'll only make myself worse and then I won't be able to compete at all.
Not being able to do something you love is the pits. It sucks. But not being able to do something you love for a little bit is a lot better than, say, not being able to do it for years because you pushed through an injury and broke yourself.
So my legs have been totally out of commission. So instead, I've been working on my arms and my back. I got one of the trainers at my gym to give me a bunch of exercises I could do to shake up my workout regime a bit (which mostly consisted of being bad at pull ups and hating everything and lat pull downs on arm day) and I've been happy seeing some progress in those while my legs recover.
It's also been pretty tough for me because I'm usually pretty bendy, when it comes to my good front split at least. For a while there, I could barely touch my toes when my legs were straight because my hamstring didn't want me flexing at all. It would be so easy to get totally discouraged there and not do anything at all and I'm so glad I didn't.
I guess the moral here is resting, no matter how much you don't want to do it, is so important. Resting when you have an injury, even if it's not a very severe one, is even more important, and when you're all fixed up you can go at it twice as hard and nail all those things that are so important to you. And when it comes to being strong, there's always something else to work on while your injured parts focus on healing.
So don't give up!
After finally nailing a Spatchcock up the pole a few weeks ago I put a bit too much pressure on my hamstring and it's since been pretty angry at me. I spent the rest of that day hardly able to sit down and struggling to get out of bed, which was a pretty good indicator that I'd pushed myself too far.
So I let it rest for about a week and a half. Then just warming up at my gym, I threw it out again doing a one-handed spin into a sort of straddle, which I love to do. I couldn't even Shoulder Mount into a V that day because it was so raw and painful. Luckily, I had one of the trainers take a look at it and he was pretty confident it was nothing nasty; just the result of pushing a bit too hard and not giving it quite enough time to rest.
I don't rest very well. Especially when I've got video entry for a competition coming up in March that I desperately need to practice for. But at the end of the day, if I keep pushing it I'll only make myself worse and then I won't be able to compete at all.
Not being able to do something you love is the pits. It sucks. But not being able to do something you love for a little bit is a lot better than, say, not being able to do it for years because you pushed through an injury and broke yourself.
So my legs have been totally out of commission. So instead, I've been working on my arms and my back. I got one of the trainers at my gym to give me a bunch of exercises I could do to shake up my workout regime a bit (which mostly consisted of being bad at pull ups and hating everything and lat pull downs on arm day) and I've been happy seeing some progress in those while my legs recover.
It's also been pretty tough for me because I'm usually pretty bendy, when it comes to my good front split at least. For a while there, I could barely touch my toes when my legs were straight because my hamstring didn't want me flexing at all. It would be so easy to get totally discouraged there and not do anything at all and I'm so glad I didn't.
I guess the moral here is resting, no matter how much you don't want to do it, is so important. Resting when you have an injury, even if it's not a very severe one, is even more important, and when you're all fixed up you can go at it twice as hard and nail all those things that are so important to you. And when it comes to being strong, there's always something else to work on while your injured parts focus on healing.
So don't give up!
Thursday, 9 January 2014
Progress, Progress, Progress...
I think it's so easy to forget how far you've come, especially in pole dancing when there's always something new to learn. You barely have a chance to celebrate getting that new, big move when your brain latches onto something else that you want to be able to do.
Like me, for example. I get down in the dumps pretty often because I still can't deadlift a Twisted Grip Handspring, and I'm still not as close to a perfect Rainbow Marchenko as I'd like to be. 2014 has barely even started and I'm already cracking the whip, trying to nail those pole goals that have been haunting me for months.
It's easy to forget that nearly three years ago I almost chickened out of going to my first pole dancing class because the thought of anybody seeing me in a vest top and shorts made me want to throw up. I was convinced that I'd walk into the studio and everyone would just look at me and go, "Ugh...what are you doing here? Why would you even think you can do this? Get out!"
I had absolutely zero upper body strength. I left that class barely able to move my arms because I'd worked so hard and I spent the next two days shuffling around like a zombie, but I was happier than I'd been in years. I'd gone to that class and I'd had a blast; I'd done spins and even tried to climb when I'd avoided physical activity since high school. That alone was a huge achievement for me.
Last year in April I competed in the Midlands Pole Championships and I won the Intermediate category. If someone had told me two years ago that not only would I have started taking pole dance classes, but that I would get up and perform in front of people in a competition I would have laughed them out of the room. If there's anything I would never, ever do in a hundred million years, that would be it.
Like me, for example. I get down in the dumps pretty often because I still can't deadlift a Twisted Grip Handspring, and I'm still not as close to a perfect Rainbow Marchenko as I'd like to be. 2014 has barely even started and I'm already cracking the whip, trying to nail those pole goals that have been haunting me for months.
It's easy to forget that nearly three years ago I almost chickened out of going to my first pole dancing class because the thought of anybody seeing me in a vest top and shorts made me want to throw up. I was convinced that I'd walk into the studio and everyone would just look at me and go, "Ugh...what are you doing here? Why would you even think you can do this? Get out!"
I had absolutely zero upper body strength. I left that class barely able to move my arms because I'd worked so hard and I spent the next two days shuffling around like a zombie, but I was happier than I'd been in years. I'd gone to that class and I'd had a blast; I'd done spins and even tried to climb when I'd avoided physical activity since high school. That alone was a huge achievement for me.
My first ever pole class...
And about a month later
Last year in April I competed in the Midlands Pole Championships and I won the Intermediate category. If someone had told me two years ago that not only would I have started taking pole dance classes, but that I would get up and perform in front of people in a competition I would have laughed them out of the room. If there's anything I would never, ever do in a hundred million years, that would be it.
I've done two charity shows for my pole school, too. Me, who had panic attacks at the thought of public speaking even just in front of my group of friends, hung upside-down and spun around for three minutes in front of a room full of people. And I absolutely loved every minute of it.
Fast-forward to now, January 2014.
I've been working on my splits for over a year now, trying to improve my flexibility for future pole competitions and routines. On my good side front split, I have an oversplit of 10 inches. My bad side front split and my middle split are both so close to finally hitting the floor. After tearing a ligament in my leg last year I never thought I'd be able to achieve middle splits, but here I am.
I'm working on a routine for the Midlands Pole Chanpionships again this year and I'll be applying for the Advanced category. Later this year I'm also hoping to take the qualifications to be a pole dancing instructor, because it's something I love and something I'm so passionate about. I couldn't imagine doing anything else.
So really, looking back over all this makes it feel kind of silly to worry and stress about what I can't do yet. I've come this far in two and a half years; I've done things that I never in a billion years thought I'd be able to do. I'm not the most confident person in the world now, but if you'd known me before you'd know just how much I've changed.
And two years isn't even a long time. I only started strength training, weight lifting and eating proper, healthy meals last year. Before that I managed to function during pole classes on little more than toast or a sandwich. I don't even know how. But here I am. It's crazy to think that I've come this far.
There's always going to be someone you look up to and think "God, I wish I could do that." One day you will. Even if you've only ever done a front spin, that's one more move than you've ever done and you should be so freaking proud of that. One day you'll look back when you're tired and frustrated because you can't get that new move and you'll realize just how much you've done.
I guess what I'm trying to do isn't brag, I'm trying to say that it's easy to feel stressed and disappointed because there's so many things in pole that you haven't achieved yet and easy to forget all of the things you've already done. I should know, I do it all the time.
So don't count yourself out, because you're an awesome possum and you're going to kick that pole butt =)
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