Can You Learn Pole Yourself?

I was asked: Can you learn pole yourself? The answer to that is a resounding "Yes! Yes! Yes!" Thousands of women and men all over the globe that have a love for pole dance will tell you they all started somewhere...and many of them are self-taught. You can learn to pole dance on your own.

Where Do I Start?

Where do you start? Great question. It's tempting to want to jump up on the pole and start hanging upside down, climbing it and tricking out all over the place...but beware.

Even though getting to an advanced level of strength and flexibility may be your goal, you have to start out with the basics, the fundamentals of pole in order to be great, yes, even awesome at the rest of this wonderful sport. Can you learn pole yourself? Yes! But start below with these self-questions.

Assess Yourself

What I mean by assessing yourself is to ask yourself these questions:

1. How active are you? Do you exercise at all? Have you been exercising everyday? Or do you sit at a desk at work all day, come home and veg out on the couch with chips and your favorite TV show? (I did that before! Took many small changes to turn that ship around!) 
2. What is your strength level? You can have your strength assessed by a personal trainer at a gym or assess yourself by doing a pull-up. Can you perform one? 10? Can't hardly hold your weight even by hanging on the bar? (That's where I was at.)
3. What is your flexibility like? This is important in pole, even though there are lots of modifications for moves, you want to increase your range of motion to perform more of the moves without hurting yourself. Can you touch your toes? Just barely reach to your knees? (I was there too!)
4. What is your diet like? Regular fast food trips, chips and soda for movie time, and alcohol on the weekends? (ME in the past!) Or are your meals at least 80-90% whole, fresh food like lean meats, vegetables, fruits and your beverage of choice water? We literally are what we eat and our bodies need quality fuel to perform and grow in strength and ability. Think about cleaning up your diet. 

***If you are already at a high level of flexibility, a bodybuilder, even a runner, a lot of the exercises below won't apply but look them over anyhow if you are absolutely new to pole. You will be using your muscles in new ways:)

If you are where I was, sedentary, bad diet, low flexibility and even less strength, high body fat and no lung power, then you need to start out slow and easy. Believe me, with consistency, you will be churning out your pole routines and tricks in time.

How to Get Started

Can you learn pole yourself? First, address the 4 points above: Cardiovascular strength, muscular strength, flexibility and your diet. If you are not exercising regularly, start out just with walking 15 minutes every other day, adding 5 minutes more every week. 

Start doing pull-ups, push ups, non-weighted squats, crunches and lunges as well as some beginner exercises I will give you below. I have a great eBook with lots of strength-building exercising you can do even without a pole. 

Start stretching gently before and after you exercise and even on the days you don't exercise. This keeps synovial fluid flowing through those joints and keeps your flexibility levels. 

Start implementing just one little change at a time in your fuel sources, like switching from sodas to sugar-free drinks or water with citrus slices. In a couple of weeks when you notice the difference in your tummy and the way you feel, add in another small change like eating breakfast if you aren't already. And so on. 

Getting Started On the Pole

If you have a pole already, great! If you don't read through my research on various type of poles as well as the different brands out there before you make your selection.

• Buying your first dance pole
• What kind of pole should I get?
• Lil Mynx
• X-Pole
• Platinum Stages

Other pole equipment you might want to consider:

• A crash mat for safety!
• Heels
• Shorts 
• Grip aids
• Pole DVDs for beginners

***And make sure to read all about pole dance safety! Knowing the basics of pole safety will decrease your chance of injuring yourself. Can you learn pole yourself? As you can see, with taking baby steps, you CAN!

Other Ways to Get Started Learning Pole

• If you aren't ready to embark on the adventure of learning pole dance yourself and want some outside help, take an Intro to Pole class at your local studio. Here you can try pole dance with live instruction. 
• Lots of studios offer private lessons as well if you aren't comfortable starting out in a classroom setting too. Ask about them.
• Try watching free instructional videos from YouTube or beginner instructional DVDs to get a better idea of pole dance instruction and the learning process.
• Sign up for lessons online. Studio Veena is one of the largest and most popular lessons database and is pretty inexpensive as well. You get friendship, help, live chats, and quality lessons. Sign up for a free account to get started in the pole community today!

Beginner Pole Exercises

Learn Basic Pole Stretches.

• Basic Pole Stretches
• Wrist and forearm stretches
• The Pole Up
• Core exercises 
• Learning inversion from the floor

More Preparatory Exercises

• More preparatory exercises for pole dancing
• More on training with weights to build your muscular strength and endurance
• More on increasing your flexibility
• Have more questions about can you learn pole yourself? Ask me in the comments box below!

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