Pole leaves you feeling empowered & strong. You too can pole your way to a stronger body by consistently integrating these five ideas into your everyday routine.
You’ll also learn:
- The advantages of loosening your muscles and tendons before a session
- How long you should practice at home for
- How using the right lotions can boost your confidence
- And more…
Table of Contents
- Condition Your Whole Body
- Practice, Practice, and Practice Some More
- Moisturize and Hydrate Your Skin
- Eat and Drink Right
- Prioritize Rest and Recovery
- Be Kind to Your Skin and Great on the Pole
1 - Condition Your Whole Body
Being the best poler doesn’t start and end with practicing your pole moves.
It also involves toning your muscles, boosting your cardio endurance, and building upper and lower body strength.
This way, your body is prepared to push beyond its current limits. It also makes you fit enough for intensive pole dancing training.
A good place to start is to optimize all your training sessions to include a stretch and warm-up.
Stretching before pole training will help you:
- Loosen your muscles and tendons
- Increase your flexibility
- Increase blood flow to your muscles
Next, you need to develop a workout schedule and stick to it.
Your workout schedule needs to include different types of exercises. These should help you improve your flexibility, strength, stamina, and agility for pre-performance and training.
Here are some exercises that can help you get better at pole dancing:
- Pilates: has multiple benefits, but in short, it can increase your strength, balance, energy, and posture. Pilates is a good stress reliever, too.
- Yoga: Yoga can help you improve your fitness levels, flexibility, and perfect splits and inversions. It’ll also help you reduce stress and sleep better, which ultimately boosts your pole performance.
- Swimming: helps to strengthen your whole body, especially your back, pelvis, and “abdominal belt” area. It’s also great for delayed onset muscle soreness (DOMS).
- Weightlifting: improves your strength and endurance. This ensures you can hold, lift, and move your body weight around a pole for longer and with ease.
- Body weight exercises: These are great for increasing core and upper body strength. Some bodyweight exercises you can try out include push-ups, lunges, squats, and planks.
2 - Practice, Practice, and Practice Some More
Your trainer will teach you the basics of pole. But, becoming the best poler is a job left to you.
Therefore, you can’t afford to limit your learning only to classes with your trainer.
You must get into the habit of trying out the different moves you learn in class independently.
Getting a pole at home is a brilliant investment.
With a pole in your home, you can practice over and over until you become a pro. As a matter of fact, with a pole at home, you’ll see your strength improve up to twice as fast as students without poles at home.
You can start by dedicating at least 30 minutes to practicing at home. Then as you progress, you’ll notice that this may not feel like enough time, meaning you’re getting better. So, you’ll need to set new goals and challenge yourself to practice for longer.
Consider complementing in-class training with online pole dancing lessons. Online classes allow you to learn at your own pace without feeling like you’re competing with anybody. These are also perfect if you don’t have a pole dancing studio near you.
3 - Moisturize and Hydrate Your Skin
To perform advanced moves, you’ll need to have a lot of skin exposed.
The thing is, if you don’t take care of your skin, you’ll notice a dip in your performance and also risk slipping and injuries.
For a long time, we were advised not to wear any moisturizer because it was assumed to cause slipping. However, we beg to differ.
The right moisturizer for polers needs to deeply nourish, hydrate, and moisturize your skin to ensure you’re stage-ready.
There’s only one brand in the world that produces no-slip and no-slick natural moisturizers for polers: Pole Physics. Our lotions are made using natural ingredients and a superior formula. They’re quickly absorbed, leaving no residue that would cause slipping while performing on the pole.
They also eliminate the need for grip aids if you don’t have sweaty skin. However, if you do use grip aids, our lotion enhances the effectiveness of them.
Why? Hydrated skin improves your natural ability to grip the pole as it provides a little more tackiness.
This is much better than having dry skin, which holds you back from performing perfect spins, climbs, and inversions, as your skin is slippery and doesn’t grip well on the pole.
Best of all: Pole Physics lotions boost your confidence as they improve your skin tone and appearance.
"Grip has always been a major issue in pole dancing…Finally, it's possible to take care of your skin and have a good grip!"
— Jamilla Deville
Expert Tip: Shower and use the lotion at least 7–10 hours before you need to be on a pole.
4 - Eat and Drink Right
The gospel of “we are what we eat” is growing old. It feels like everywhere we turn, the storyline is the same. However, as a poler, checking what you eat is invaluable as this art requires a lot of focus and energy.
The right food combinations will help you achieve proper nutrition and give you the energy boost you need to be better at pole dancing.
You’ll be happy to know that the recommended diet for improved pole performance isn't out of reach. It consists of the three most basic food groups: 45–65% carbohydrates, 15–25% proteins, and 20–35% fat, plus plenty of fruits, veggies, and water.
The table below highlights the most essential food groups to include in your nutrient-rich diet, how they'll make you a better poler, and the best sources of each.
| Food Group | Reasons | Best Sources |
| Carbohydrates |
|
Complex carbs like
|
| Proteins |
|
|
| Fat |
|
|
| Fruits and vegetables |
|
|
Ideally, female polers should drink at least 2.7 liters of water daily, while male polers need to drink at least 3.7 liters daily. You also need to drink enough water to help you achieve peak performance by:
- Flushing out toxins
- Beating fatigue and raising energy levels
- Keeping you full for longer
- Regulating body temperature
Expert Tip: You must avoid getting on the pole on an empty stomach as it may cause fatigue and perhaps injuries. If you don’t have time to prepare a nutritious meal, be sure to grab a healthy pre-workout snack like an energy bar, a spoonful of peanut butter, or a banana.
5 - Prioritize Rest and Recovery
Being burnt out from training or performance will negatively affect your pole dancing progress. So, be intentional about taking care of your physical and mental health.
Here are some of our best tips:
- Ensure you warm up and cool down properly, focusing on the most strained areas.
- Listen to your body and be kind to it. Understand the amount and intensity of training your body can handle.
- Take a few days each week to rest and allow your body to regain its energy before getting back on the pole.
- Get a massage to improve blood flow in the body and encourage the healing of damaged tissues.
- Get quality and adequate sleep to boost muscle recovery and reap the benefits of pole dancing.
Be Kind to Your Skin and Great on the Pole
Following our golden rule—that healthy skin grips naturally—will help you get significantly better on the pole.
You can trust our lotions to help you moisturize, hydrate, and improve your skin’s appearance. We’ll also help you achieve a better grip and gain the confidence to give the best performance.
There’s a lot more to love about our range of lotions, including:
- The no-slick, no-slip formula
- Residue-free application
- Safe for people with sensitive skin
- Safe for mums and bubs
- Gradual no-residue tanning
We have scented variants for polers over eight years of age and unscented variants that work for ages 0+. Try one of our five lotions and enjoy soft and supple skin that makes you look and feel great whenever you’re on the pole.
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