TL;DR at the bottom.

I used to be a pole dancer. I started in 2017 and fell in love. In 2020, I started doing competitions. 

My first competition went really well. I enjoyed the process. I liked being able to film it a million times and submit the one I was happiest with. I liked collaborating with my instructor. I loved competition day and virtually watching everyone’s cool performances. I placed 2nd in my group!! I was super excited to do another competition and signed up for one a few months later. I had a really cool theme and a plan of different moves I wanted to incorporate. I drafted out the routine. I remixed the song I wanted. Things went fine for a while… but then I started to fail. I was doing a scheduled program that was designed for helping athletes compete their best (I can’t remember the name right now!). I was taking rest days and doing strength training. I was supposed to be getting stronger. 

I don’t know how to describe it other than that I started to fail. I would be maybe a minute into my routine and I would get weak and not be able to complete moves I was previously able to do. I started getting dizzy. 

By the competition submission deadline, I was unable to complete the routine I had planned even once. I changed the song to something slower. I ended up more or less freestyling what I could still do and submitted that. 

I wasn’t able to complete a routine after that. I kept getting sicker. Eventually was bed bound for a while. Long story short, I ended up being diagnosed with Postural Orthostatic Tachycardia Syndrome in 2022. 

I kept trying over the years. I desperately missed pole dancing. I still couldn’t do it. It was just too much. I got to a place where I figured out what kinds of electrolytes worked best for my body. I learned how to pace myself. I was able to go back to work and live a kind of normal life. But I haven’t been able to pole dance. I tried a few classes, but pole is too cardio intensive. The minute I take my feet off the ground, my heart rate jumps to my max. It doesn’t become more tolerant over time. It’s just way outside of my safe conditioning zone that I haven’t been able to work my way up to it.

A few weeks ago I finally took my pole down from my living room. I’m heartbroken. 

But I really want to try to do something again because dancing is what makes me feel alive. 

TL;DR: I used to pole dance, started failing routines, got diagnosed with POTS, haven’t been able to dance since then, still want to dance. 

• Does anyone have any suggestions of online teachers or studios who really specialize in slow flow floorwork? I loved exotic when I was dancing a lot and I know there’s moves out there that I’d be able to do, but I really miss the class experience and want to learn new things.
• Has anyone been able to work their way back up to being able to do pole again who struggled with cardio/ stuff like CFS/ PEM? How did you do it? I’m considering asking my doctor to send me to PT. 

I always see a lot of people with that colorful rubbery looking pole wrap on their poles at home. This is for poling with clothes on right? I thought it would be cool to get something like this because my pole at home takes some time to get warm and break in before each pole sesh. I’d love to just hop on my pole with jeans on for a quick flow throughout the day.

Can the pole wrap be taken on and off? Can you train on your pole with less clothing when the pole wrap is on or do you need to be covered ? What’s the positives and negatives of it? How much and where do I buy it from? Is it worth it?

I’m entering my second year as a teacher and I’ll also be finished with grad school at the end of August. I’ve been on a hiatus since last July and I miss pole dancing a lot.

Since I’ll have more time outside of work, how could I attend pole classes while being a teacher? My home studio offers classes after 5:30pm and on the weekends, but I’m trying to figure out how to create a structured schedule.

Are there any teachers here that do pole dancing as a hobby?

Hi yall, Ive had a pole for 10+ years but its remained not put up most of the time. I'm wanting to get it back up in my new apartment with a 99 inch ceiling. I dont have my extension xjoints anymore, so I'll have to buy new ones but my issue I'm running into is do I buy the bigger or small extension piece? The guide says they go right up t0 98 inches for the smaller one and 98 on for the bigger one but when i use my extension over-piece (i have the gold extension pole pieces, just not the xjoints that go in them), and stand it up, it looks like there's no way the dome could fit? Can someone advise before I buy the wrong thing? Thanks.

I am about 3 months into my pole journey and I have no background in exercise or dance. I am still building my upper body strength.

I’m really struggling with pole sits, I can’t jump high enough into one and I definitely don’t yet have the strength to pull my body weight up into a sit.

Any tips and trips or at home conditioning without a pole would be appreciated too pls!

hi! does any of you here wear menstrual cups during periods? i find that when im on my period and im doing these crazy backbends and splits, my cup breaks the seal and leaks. i'm using the saalt soft cup and wondering if thats the issue. not sure if a harder cup would solve this problem since they're not made with us doing very bendy backbends in mind 😬

how do you deal with periods and pole? and which type of sanitary products do you prefer during training?

Hey Everyone!

Apologies for formatting, I'm on mobile.

I am Aussie based.

I have been poling for years, and my progress has been a snails pace, but I love it. I am a bigger girl at currently 96kg (211 pounds i think for my American friends).

I seem to have issues with climbing at the moment that I can get onto the pole, and holding with my hands its fine, but as soon as I move my back leg to start climbing I slide down.

If I try to let go with my hands for a crucifix my upper body is pulled backwards away from the pole. I try to push into it, but I feel like gravity is pulling me backwards. I expect it to pull me down, but this feels like my head and chest is moving away from the pole as well. Is this normal, or something that any plus sized polers deal with? I find i have similar issues with my ball trick as well.

I wasn't sure if maybe, being bigger I need to position slightly differently to account for the stomach or boobs?

I understand photos or videos would make this easier, I'm just not in a phase where I'm confident to share photos of myself at pole, especially not online.

Whatever advicewouldd be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance!

In the studio I go, some girls use chalk and others use what we call glue (it is a transparent liquid that sticks). However, one of the teachers told us it is better to not use these products except if our hands are always slippery. I am not using them, but I tried glue one day and uuugh I could get addicted easily. Gripping was so much easier. What is your stance?

I’m wondering if I’m sitting on the wrong side of Instagram… I’m a student and I post my accomplishments with various tricks and skills as well as combos and choreo that my teachers have taught me. Yeah, not very original content, but that’s fine, I’m not chasing content creation

However I’m finding that when I post choreo, I’m losing followers. 😣. They’re also my least viewed videos but I think that’s the name of the game compared to my short video clips of memes, inspirations, and funnies. But I’m surprised they do worse than my “look I got this trick” posts. Choreo is where my heart is in pole - Any dance choreo pole dancers out there I can follow and engage with? Is that the issue, I’m in the wrong niche of insta? Thanks!

Hello!!

I’m about 6 months into doing pole regularly and love my stilletto classes. I really love how people in my class dress so differently (I’m mostly in t shirt and shorts) and want some advice on how you have discovered your own style/ aesthetic for pole dance.

Where do you shop? How do you figure out your pole dancing aesthetics? Any advice on mixing and matching? In general, I’m not a huge fan of the dragonfly coordinated sets but I tend to gravitate towards mixing bikini and pole shorts aesthetic. Any advice on how you’ve figured our your style would be great ! Thanks!

Hi my fellow pole dancers !

This is my first post here (and English is not my first language so please be kind ahah).

I am looking at buying some knee pads to help with my knee grip as I need to drastically improve. Would you rather recommend knee pads with grip on the back (like Queen Wear pro 4 ones) or the ones with a clip (like Queen Wear easy way) ?

Which ones are the best according to you ? Did any of you used knee pads to improve your knee grip tricks ?

Any piece of advice would be nice ! Thank youuuuuu

Just like the title said, I bought a stage pole and a custom piece from them about a year ago. Getting the piece has been a nightmare (I finally got it). Then the first time using the stage at all it cracked and no longer is safe to use to perform. I've been emailing for months about the warranty, and it's been radio silent. It's been infuriating having a pole that I just can't use at all, it's really screwed my ability to practice and I was intending to perform with it as well so that's been shelved for now.

I went to their website checking to see if they have info on their base (I want to get it plastic welded to fix it). And their website no longer has any products, every place just says "no items are found". Has Gaia went out of business to anyone's knowledge? It's impossible to contact them anymore and their website seems to be dead. But I keep getting emails from them so I'm unsure.

EDIT: After further investigation, it seems the NA website is non-existent, unsure why, the Europe website still has options but the .com link is dead. Still my question stands as to if they are closed in NA?

This is just a vent, I'm ok kinda 🫪

I participated on my first flow/coreo/sexy comp a few months ago. This is a small country and this is the only competition of this kind afaik. There were 3 levels of difficulty, I was on the 1st (described as amateur, first-time competitors, beginners with no stage experience).

I trained for months, and had a really nice coreo. It was dark sensuality vibes with a intermediate tricks (brass monkey, tornado, goddess, side superman, split grip air walk, aerial leg waves, floor work, some others, nothing insane). I legit had no expectations to win but I was pretty happy with the outcome.

So, come the day, we get to test the stage and the pole was like, brand new. Literally butter. I immediately know I'm fckkkkd because there is no way I will risk a brass monkey on that 🤣

Backstage, while waiting to go next, I see everyone using Monkey Hands (my go to), when the rules prohibited it (only liquid chalk was allowed). I trained with chalk and didn't even think of taking my MH with me 🫩

But you know, I was like whatever I'm gonna do my best, at least I'll get a couple nice pictures (didn't really lol). When I tell you I could not even climb or do a Jasmine on that slippery ass pole 😭 I mostly improvised for the whole 3 minutes.

The straw that broke the camel's back (me, I'm the camel) was the very last participant for my level (again, mind you, amateur, first timer) pulling the most insane moves. She casually drops a flawless BoP as one of her first moves 😭

Her whole coreo was amaaaazing overall, but why is this person on this level. No hate for this girl, I actually started following her because she is so nice. She got 1st, understandably.

I got 5th place (on 8) and actually felt sooo humiliated 🤣

Anyway, they changed the rules and now there are technical boundaries for each level - level one has technical requirement of 1 to 2. But there is no definition of what moves are a 1 or a 2 💀 It's something, I guess.

I was asked if I'd try again this year but there is absolutely noooooo way 🤣

I humbly ask you to share with me your messiest comp stories so that I feel less bad.

hey everyone, I'm just looking for encouragement and advice.

I'm having major guilt because I'm burnt out from teaching and would like to quit classes (for a while at least) until I'm feeling better and focus on my private students. But the studio I teach at is not doing well at all. I'm having a feeling that it'll close by the end of the year and I do enjoy the students I see on the regular, but then again, I have no energy to train for myself anymore, everytime I touch a pole it's only to plan for classes ahead. I'm also working a full time office job. And as much as I'd like to continue for the extra income and the pride I feel when I see my students succeed, I'm falling behind with my own training and also starting to get injured (shoulder and hips feel tired)

I'll feel guilty giving it up, knowing that some of the classes won't be covered and therefore will probably be canceled altogether, but I'm just... burnt out. Idk, I'm just looking for encouragement to just get it over with I guess.

I love him so much but I do have better training sessions when they line up with his naps!

TLDR: I want to know- when did you feel ready to perform? Was it a skill threshold or a length of time that had you comfortable performing for the first time?

My studio has two showcases a year and signups are up for the fall one. I’m volunteering to help with that showcase but someday I’d really like to perform in one and maybe even work up to competitions?

I’ve been doing pole for nearly a year and would say I’m early intermediate. I have my basics solid (I think, lol) and am in the bracket of learning skills like jasmine and genie, but I’m not at the point of inversion training. I asked my instructor’s thoughts and she just said if it would make me happy to perform then it’s worth performing, but when I’ve seen others at the studio work their showcase routines they all have inversions and advanced tricks. So it feels silly to want to perform alongside them when I feel like my skill threshold is so much lower.

Side note curious- how did you work on choreographing when you decided you were going to perform? I improvise flows sometimes but I’d love to see what people’s processes are like when planning and executing a full routine!

Does anyone have a stage pole they are looking to sell? Or where I can find good used ones ? I’m located in Rhode Island and can’t install a standard pole cause I have a drop ceiling 🫠 I want to be able to practice at home 😭

I’m hosting a show here in Nashville and am seeking some performers🖤 (this show will be tipped out)Link to apply is posted here! Any questions please dm @fairybarfing on ig!