Pole Fitness

Last week I was given the opportunity to perform with a handful of the students and instructors at Zensual’s Pole-A-Ween bash. This event was small, intimate and so much fun. In addition to all of the wonderful performances, there was also fun decorations, cute costumes and lots of love in the room. Great times were had by all! I want to say thank you to Clarissa and the Zensual team for inviting me in and embracing me. I really appreciated the opportunity to perform, grow and get to know you all even better.

Because I was preparing for my competition piece at the Southern Pole Championships (details on my time at that event coming soon!), I didn’t have as much time as I wanted to work on a fully choreographed routine for my Halloween performance, so it ended up being a Halloween FreeStyle. Check out my Wicked FreeStyle performance. Viva La Freestyle!

httpvh://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pftYlnJKVYo

YouTube is being stubborn and has blocked mobile viewing. So, if you’re on a mobile device you can access it here on Vimeo:
[ylwm_vimeo]52695595[/ylwm_vimeo]

Just sharing some fun memories from a BADAZZ weekend spent with my pole brother and friend Josiah BadAzz. He made a visit to Dallas back in April (on my birthday weekend) and we had a blast hanging out and visiting the studios out here.

httpvh://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kcr631BZe6U
BadAzz doing a fun freestyle at Vertical Fitness Dallas

Over this past weekend I had the opportunity to participate in the Xpert Pole Fitness training program, held at the Miss Texas Pole Star convention here in Dallas. This experience was so fulfilling and foundational to my growth and development as a pole fitness athlete. It is definitely one of the best decisions I’ve made for my pole fitness and my overall fitness journey.

I first heard about the Xpert training program from my friend and fellow pole sister – Karen. Hearing about the training and her experience made me want to do the program as well. When I made the decision to invest in the Xpert training, it wasn’t with the intention to become an instructor…rather, my hope was to strengthen my own foundation so that I would have the tools necessary to refine and advance my skills. What I got was that and so much more! The two-day experience was more than just training, it was hands-on interaction. Day one was all about the basics: safety, pole types, grip types, stretching/warm ups and the mechanics of proper spotting for basic pole moves. On day two we focused on intermediate skills and also participated in a hand-on exam and a written exam. The amount of practice you get during the training really helps to reinforce the information we were taking in. In addition to learning from Marlo Fisken (who is amazing) I was also able to observe the teaching techniques and styles of the other participants. More than how to do things, we learned how and why they should be done a certain way. We explored anatomy and the mechanics of how our work when executing pole moves and stretches.

While I don’t have any immediate plans to become an instructor (I am enjoying being a student and just working on my own growth) I do feel like I now have the key tools to help me one day become a great instructor. Just today I was able to visually deconstruct a trick and then figure out several ways to get into the trick…not something that would have come so easy if I hadn’t done Xpert.

The Xpert training program is accredited by AFAA and ACE and endorsed by the PFA.

My music tastes are very eclectic. One thing I love most about pole dancing is that it has extended my range of taste in music. When I hear songs now, my mind immediately goes to routines. Could I dance to this song? What trick could go here? What transition would fit there? So now I am always on the hunt for new music. Checkout what’s on my current pole playlist!

1. Alicia Keys – Unthinkable

2. Alanis Morissette – Uninvited

3. AWOL Nation – Sail

4. Evanescence – Bring Me to Life

5. Ciara – Secret

6. Rihanna – S&M

7. Rihanna – Skin

8. EnVogue – Giving Him Something He Can Feel

9. Santigold – Star Struck

10. Robin Thick – Lost Without You

11. Kings of Leon – Closer

12. Blue Foundation – Eyes on Fire

13. Usher – Mars vs. Venus

14. Framing Hanley – Lolliepop

15. Beyonce – Dangerously in Love

16. Beyonce – Best Thing I Never Had

17. Vivian Green – Emotional Roller Coaster

18. Michael Jackson – Dirty Diana

19. Sia – Breath Me

20. Motorcycle – As the Rush Comes

So I was totally bummed to find out that I didn’t make MTPS this year. I mean, I’ve grown so much over the last year and I was ready to show off the new improved pole goddess. Well, as they say everything happens for a reason…but it wasn’t until a few weeks after MTPS finalists were announced that I realized why things happened the way they did.

Let’s back up for a second…
A while back my friend Karen signed up for Xpert Pole Fitness Training and was certified. When she got back to Dallas she told me about the program and her experience which got me super excited. This was something that will not only give me a better foundation and improve my own skill set, but would also open up the door to new opportunities should I decide to teach in the future. So, I decided then and there that I wanted to go to NY and complete the training program as well.

OK, fast forward to the present…
Now, I’ve yet to make it to NY, but to my surprise I found out that Xpert would be holding a training session here in Dallas during the MTPS Convention. So instead of taking celebrity workshops (although all sound super fun), I decided instead to put my “workshop funds” towards Xpert training….talk about an investment. Anyways, when I really started thinking about the way things played out, I know it would have been difficult to prep for MTPS, complete 2 days of training and then compete. So actually things worked out for the best. I get to train with some of the best and improve my own skills.

About Xpert Pole Fitness Training
It doesn’t matter if you’re new to pole dancing or a pro on the pole, registering for an XPERT Pole Fitness professional training is one of the best moves you can make. In our 2-day, 16-hour training, accredited by ACE and AFAA and endorsed by the PFA, you’ll learn everything you’ll need to know to teach a safe and effective pole fitness workout.

Learn more at www.xpertpolefitness.com

So there’s a scene in the movie Remember the Titans where the football team finally starts to come together. They are at practice and after an great block two of the guys start chanting “Left side, strong side”. It is this moment that they realize the order and BALANCE necessary to succeed as a team…and ultimately WIN. So I asked myself, shouldn’t we also have this balance in Pole as well?

Coming into pole all of us are told that our right side is typically the dominant side, and that we should work on the left side to have equal skill and ability. Now, maybe during the first few classes that actually happens, but as we advance we tend to forget about that left side and fall deeper into the comfort and security of our right side. I think that it’s important for us to work on balancing out the left and right…so that we have equal ability on both sides.

I have yet to come across a studio that actively promotes this. So I am calling out to the studios in hopes that someone will read this and act on it. I am hoping that at least one studio will make time in their schedule for a weekly “lefty” class that would focus solely on the progression and skill advancement on our left sides. This is something that should not be forgotten and that should be actively taught in studios as it would greatly benefit dancers (both students and instructors) of all levels.

Update
Ok, so I woke up this morning to some interesting comments, so I felt inclined to add to this post with some additional thoughts. Ask yourself, Can I do everything on the left that I can do on the right? My answer to this question was No 🙁

I think everyone agrees that working on the left side is important. There are classes that initially teach tricks on both sides, but from my experience we try the trick on the left a couple of times and then go back to the right. Once we master the trick (on the right side) we move on to learning the next trick. How often can we say that we went back and worked on the left side until that was mastered as well?

Incorporating the left side is good in class, but I think we need more. If your dominant side is the right side and you don’t give your left side more attention then the left side will always be trailing behind the right side.

Our studios and instructors can help us challenge ourselves to master the left side just as well as we’ve mastered the right side. Plus working on this in groups may help us embrace the difficulty and how silly we may feel that we look when trying to attempt it. I mean, I think I’m pretty good at a chair spin…until I do it on my left side lol.

I think that many of us would benefit from a structured and dedicated class for left side TLC. Consider this: many of the studios have (or have recently added) a dedicated stretch and flexibility class. Now, we stretch before each class right? Yea, but stretching is so important to our development and safety that someone decided it should be its own class. And might I add that it always seems to be a very popular and packed class at every studio that does offer it. So why not apply this same frame of mind to the development of our left side?