This is the transcript of our Episode 7: Safety in the Pole Studio and Home Studio from Pole On The Call that aired Thursday, February 17, 2022.
You can watch this episode on YouTube, or listen to it on Spotify, Apple Music, or your favorite podcast service.
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Enjoy yall!
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Hello everyone! Welcome, we’re back with another episode of Pole on the Call.
I’m Mændy Mac and I’m here with Cris Rivers and today we are talking about pole safety at home, in the studio and more.
Yes probably the most important thing, because we are doing a sport where you can get very injured, you could die, and not to like, you know scare you from doing the thing; but it should really always be in the back of your mind the safety aspect of you know your space, if you’re a teacher, your student space, if you’re a studio owner, all of the places where you are.
I agree with that. One of my biggest regrets when I started five years ago, was not focusing on safety and I’ve broken a toe, cracked the rib, and dislocated my shoulder and I don’t want that to happen to y’all.
Yeah and I was really like thankful too, because when you first start doing aerials and pole and everything you’re like; I’m so excited and you want to do it everywhere, you’re like doing pull on the street corners, on the stop signs, you’re doing pole on construction sites.
But maybe you shouldn’t do those things, they call for amazing pictures,
yeah yeah, like while it might be nice, you know poling from the trees and stuff could get you seriously injured and also you’re putting on a bad example for other people because they might not know you well and might be excited to do pole everywhere.
You gotta tone it down, and we’re gonna talk about safety and ways that you could tone it down and help educate others as well.
First you want to talk about some at home pole safety.
All right so I started at home, which many of you are also in the same boat, or if not you have a pole at home . I started with a 200 dollar one from Spencer’s that was not a mountable one.
It was a pressure pole and I broke my first three like in the first two weeks, because I was starting with cast offs and spinning inverts and [ __ ] I really shouldn’t have been doing.
I didn’t really how do you say, put it up together properly, I didn’t know that you need a beam finder in order to find the beam to put it secure. I didn’t know that you should kind of look at every angle to make sure that it’s not tilted just a centimeter.
It was quite a learning experience but I will say I learnt, and now I have this pole which I’ve had for two years knocking on some wood. So you definitely want to make sure if it comes with instructions, read the instructions, you want a beam finder, you want to find that beam, because nothing sucks more than cracking a hole in your ceiling because you didn’t find the beam.
You really really want to make sure you have tightened it so it’s so tight and the pressure is so good that when you grab the top or the bottom, you can really put all your weight, and it does not budge.
It should not budge, even a centimeter, it might make a little noise but that’s okay. Noises in the home poles, happen but , do you have anything to add with the home pole safety?
Oh you can do mounted home poles which is a little bit more money but go ahead man!
I mean you touched a little bit about the you know, getting a safe pole you want to know if you’re getting one from amazon, you want to make sure that you’re getting a safe pole and not just a knock off, of a brand that is safe.
So really read the reviews and everything, you can also order from a reputable pole site. We’ll list a few at the bottom here, and like Cris said you always just want to make sure that that pole is safe.
You want to make sure that it has the stud in the ceiling, and you’re not putting it on just like a random part of your ceiling. I’ve heard so many stories of students putting their poles up in their home, and they got it secure and then they take that first spin and it literally like rips their entire ceiling open and it’s such a big expensive damage to fix. So you don’t want to have that happen to you .
You want to make sure that your pole space is clear of stuff you don’t want to be whacking into stuff, like I’m literally cutting it close here with my pole space: got a dresser back there, you know but if you have really long legs you want to make sure that you are careful where your legs go.
You know, stuff in the ceiling, you don’t want to cut yourself open on a light fixture, on a fan, or anything like that and like Cris said you really want to check your pole every single time before you use it.
Really like shake the [ __ ] out of it, you want to like run into it, smash into it because you want that pole to, if it’s gonna do something, you want it to happen then and not while you’re dancing on it.
Another thing with the home poles, make sure you take them down at least,..... I try to tell people twice a month.
I know it’s inconvenience, and it’s a pain in the ass sometimes, I can’t even do it that often because I’m so busy. But at least once a month, because it does collect moisture from your sweat, from the atmosphere, it will rust; you need to take all those pieces apart, kind of clean it up, give it love, because if not I guarantee you that pole will not last as long as it should and it will start how do you say messing up on you.
Start sticking in places it shouldn’t, it won’t go to spin, it won’t go to static; so it’s so important at least once a month take it down, take everything apart and just give it a good clean.
Yeah and another thing about you know poling at home safely, you might be, you know tempted to use your pole at home while you’re by yourself, but just think about ; let’s say something bad happened and you did get injured and you couldn’t get up and now you’re alone....... so maybe just think about having someone there .......you know in the other room........ just knowing that you are practicing by yourself , so that they can be there for safety in case you need them.
And also like if you need a spot they could be there to help you, they could lift your butt up in the air and help you, you know always be safe too, and communicate with your spot. They’re not a trained pole teacher so they’re not going to exactly know how to help you but as long as you know you trust them and you feel safe with them you can use them for safety and and not try to do things just on your own....
And that brings us to crash mats
Cris crash mats are fun, one thing to touch on what Maendy said before we go into crash mats..... if you cannot for whatever reason have a second person there maybe call a friend on standby and say hey look I’m about to do pole dancing....... I shouldn’t be doing anything crazy but accidents happen ........can you call me in 30 minutes 45 minutes make sure I’m okay
They might be like what the hell, but if they’re really a loved one they will do it and be like are you okay, that’s not the best alternative but I mean I do understand the hassle of being home all day with no one to spot you........ and you’re like I just wanna do this ........but you can’t it sucks.
So now we’re going into crash mats..... and there’s so many different ways you could do this. I’m going to talk about some ghetto ways that I started before I even learnt about the real pole dance crash mats........ and that was I first started using couch cushions, bed pillows, even like an inflatable twin size mattress was pretty cool...... like put them around the pole , and then when I didn’t have couch pillows or sleeping pillows I would use laundry it was all clean laundry , but you just put in a pile around your pole really nice and it’s good cushion not the best alternative but sometimes we don’t have those couple hundred dollars to spend on crash mats and with that being said with my ghettofied crash mats.... I’m gonna pass it to Mændy.
You’re right, like I mean you know the bottom line, is you got to be safe and it does suck like the crash mats that are going to save your life are expensive but you think about your life, it has no price on it so you really want to like value your life and your limbs and your body, so some crash mats you want to think about getting are, you know a crash mat........
Sometimes you might find that ones that are like one inch and those are really , not really going to save you, if you fall , you know substantially you want to look for at least four inch crash mat and they could be squishy, I know pole has some, I have seen some at yogadirect.com , and of course amazon has a bunch but we can, you know any sort of pole crash mat, or you can even get the the other crash mats that go you know on either side and kind of like smoosh them together so that you have some some safety ....but I really wouldn’t recommend not having any thing underneath you...... especially if you are doing inverted things at home you need to have something underneath you because you never never know.
Safety first, it’s okay to do inverts if you’re comfortable with them if you do them in the studio, but if it’s your first time doing it you should not be doing it at home alone you should not ......I know it sucks .......we all want to be like yeah ......I’m gonna do it.......
You probably shouldn’t if it’s upside down, and you’re alone and you have no crash mat .....
I recommend not doing it ......
And that also brings us to like if you’re a beginner poler and this is totally fine for you to be, you know brand new to pole you got your safe pole set up it’s it’s fine in your space you have..... you know six feet of space around that you’re definitely not going to whack into anything or hurt yourself......
But like now you don’t know what you’re doing but it’s not a good idea to just start playing around on the pole I really really recommend you know if you don’t have a studio nearby to take lessons you should find an online class just to get those basics down and also to have another eye looking at you while you do those basics because they’re gonna,..... you know find a lot of things to help you in your whole journey that you might not be able to see on your own and not to say that you won’t find these things on your own ......
It’s just gonna take a whole lot longer so if you want like a shortcut to success I really recommend you know getting an online trainer and having that background at least first before you start playing around on that poll and we offer online classes at The Pole in the Wall, which you’ll find a link below and if you can’t take online class with us that’s okay we have online videos which is another story.
Anything else about crash mats that you can think of?
No, I think that that would be enough about crash mats. Like I said there’s different , thicknesses so if you wanted the thinner one, if you were doing like handstands or stuff .
If you don’t feel really confident in your handstands you can get one of those like thicker ones like,......... I mean firmer when I say thicker, feel firmer crash mat .....so that it’s,...... you know not so squishy when you put your hand on it but it will cushion your fall rather than you landing on your hard floor .......yes because these home poles aren’t high but it still hurts I promise.
One other thing I wanted to say about having your pole at home and and it’s so tempting to like invite all of your friends over....... and like have a good time and that’s fine but you’re home and they are now your responsibility.....
So if people are injured in your home and they’re not really good friends they could literally sue you for getting injured at your home so it’s now your responsibility . You have this pole in your home you have to educate your friends on the safety things as well and you can’t just like ass e that people will know , because you know like I’ve had people come over and they’re like ........
I could see it in their eye........ they’re like backed up .......and they’re gonna take a running j p onto my pole ..........and I’m like no .........like please don’t do this you don’t know what’s gonna happen to your body like you might slip off....... you’re gonna fly into my wall, knock over my stuff .
Hopefully the pole won’t come out of the ceiling you know like , it’s a responsibility having a pole in your home and you know it’s not really hard to to stay safe and just to stay safe minded when your friends come over too.
With that being said I know drinking and poleing is fun....... it’s less painful .......but be mindful.........
I am a culprit of this that’s.......... why it came to my mind .......and it’s important to say drinking is fun .......but it definitely gets rid of our inhibitions and while you’re poleing even at home, it should not be happening .
I know some of my sexiest routines come out when I’ve had a little bit, but I try to stay out of the air if I know that I have drank a little because it is super important to be safe.
Yes and then I just touched a little bit of the street poling , that’s like kind of like poling at home but again you’re a role model to your friends....... and also to other polers, especially when you put that stuff online on instagram .
You’ll be like oh I saw somebody do an Ayesha on a tree..... I’m gonna try it and then the tree that you pick is like dying and you break the tree and you fall on your head .
Like it’s not cool to show that example, you know, if you know show it because you know we all wanna.
I don’t like , ....I don’t wanna be like don’t like live your life and have a good time.
Yeah maybe put a disclaimer like do not try this at home, I have experience with this because we can’t...... I mean we can’t really stop you from doing it .......but definitely like some beautiful pictures have come from it........ so like I don’t know what happened it’s so hard....... like you just see something you’re like I want to take a picture and you’re like I know I should have because someone is going to get hurt.
Disclaimer yeah it’d be like I lived after this experience but you might not.
That’s not funny but like you know what....
Yes I think that’s all the stuff that I had about.
Yeah although the home pole safety, I did want to touch upon different poles that you can get in studio.....
Oh wait now we’re going to studio safety right .......so I guess that’s we’re going to studio safety for now.
In studio safety, all studios should have crash mats !
I mean if you don’t have crash mats you better get them because that is like I’m pretty sure that’s an insurance requirement. That is so important all studio poles, I was taught that they should all be mounted but I have learned this is not always the case in some studios so I don’t want to really touch on that because I was talk mounted if you’re in the studio...... but I do understand that can’t always be the case.
There are different kinds of poles you can buy. Your free standing stages which are fun ......we have one at the studio which we actually bring other places but you can I have seen studios where they spend a bunch of money and they have like five six or seven different stage student freestanding ones. Which is awesome.
You can also buy brass poles which are found in hotter climates, they are better for sticking when you’re very sweaty. Things like that, and it won’t tarnish we also have stainless steel, which is very common. You’ll find it or chrome which is more common I think a lot of the X-Poles are chrome in that nature.
Powder coated poles these are so much, fun but they hurt. These are made to be.... these are made to do pole dancing in clothes ......and you can even coat your home pole.
It sucks taking it off but there’s...... like you can buy a tape or even a powder coating .......and it will allow you to pole dance with clothes on which is fun or if you don’t want to do that to your pole you can invest in a silicone pole which people buy for dancing with clothes on.
They don’t have to add anything but be careful with the silicone pole, because if you use skin it will burn the living hell out of you......because it’s meant for clothes so those are the different kinds of poles .
I mean pole sizes as you know you can get 45 millimeters, 40 millimeters I’ve even worked on 50 millimeters which was a big boy.. Which was fun in some instances but painful in others , the most common is 45 millimeters and yeah that’s a little bit about poles..... different kind of poles you can have in your studio .....and now we’re gonna dive right back into the safety aspect if you want to take that Mændy.
Yeah first I wanted to talk about as a student, you know looking for a studio that’s going to be safe. Because, I don’t know if a lot of people know this, but literally anyone off the street can open a dance studio. You don’t need experience, you just need to open the studio! And like it’s happened a lot.
Even like growing up in dance studios, and I don’t want to like dis my dance instructors or anything, but this is what happened to me. I came from studios where they weren’t, you know, the teachers weren’t certified. I didn’t really get a good dance training. They were maybe more in it for the money and rather than, you know… Delivering students that would like go off and and be dancers later in life. So unfortunately there’s that to look for.
So how do you know that you’re you’re finding a good studio? They’ll probably list, you know, on their website that they have certified instructors. Maybe they’ll have their certifications on the wall, you can always feel free to, you know, look up your the instructors that you’re taking from and see their bios. Read a little bit about their life and their journey and their teaching. And you know, finding studios that put safety in mind and are always evolving their education as well. So that’s something to look for, especially if you’re just brand new and you don’t know where to start.
Yeah just watch out for the people that just open the dance studios, maybe it doesn’t happen too much in pole, but it's definitely like in the dance world growing up. I remember I was like damn it! As soon as I got to college I was like, man I don’t know anything! I took dance my whole life!
But then once you get into the studio, you know, you want to always make sure you locate where the first aid kit is, you know, and and also like like where the exits are and everything. General studio stuff. The crash mats.
Yeah and then what you said I’m instructor certified. Certifications.
Your instructors even if not certified should at least have CPR and first aid at least!
Yeah that’s really good you say that. I know our insurance at Pole in the Wall requires all of our instructors have CPR and First Aid. So yeah, that’s definitely something that’s important and hopefully you’ll never have to use it but you definitely need to have have knowledge of that because it when stuff goes down, you know. The instructor, everyone’s looking to you to save the day, so you have to save that day!
Yeah oh spotting! Let’s say let’s talk about spotting in classes so the this thing when I when I first started my pole classes in my studio, they, the teacher would kind of like show us how to spot our friends, and then we would all help each other. And while that is well and good, it’s probably not such a good idea. Because your students are not insured, and they don’t have the same knowledge in case something goes wrong. So like let’s say your students are spotting each other in class, and then one of the students gets injured, and you know that’s on you now. That the injury happened. And chances are, you know, the outcome of that is not going to be very good because you weren’t supervising the situation as an instructor.
So, so I switched over to instructor safety! But anyway I wanted to talk about that because only an instructor should be spotting you in any situation. And always the instructor should be asking you if you want to be spotted to begin with before they just right away put their hands on you. And the instructor should also you know, kind of tell you where they’re going to be spotting you, so that you’re aware of what’s going to happen. And as a student in the spotting situation, you can always you know, retract that permission during the class at any time if you don’t feel comfortable anymore. And everyone needs to respect this, in the the situations that might arise in the classroom.
I’m like going out of order here! Sorry I went off on a tangent. It just said "spotting" and I was like!!!
So yeah I think that’s all I had to say about spotting. And that’s more for the instructor, so students should not be spotting students in class.
Yes I’m so glad you said that. I’ve never even seen that. That’s so crazy and like Mændy said you can say no. With that also being said, I don’t know if this happens to you, and other instructors, sometimes we’re so in the moment we know you said no, but you look like you’re about to fall! We just don’t, and we just jump right in — it’s not like we just threw it all out the window, no touching you. It’s just a reaction. I don’t know if that happens to you? I know that happens…
Yeah I always, like we don’t want you to die!
We don’t want you to die yeah! So just yeah that’s happened. It’s not like your instructor is like dismissing you, saying don’t touch me. It’s just we really care, we don’t want you to get hurt. We might just forget in that moment just to make sure you’re okay.
Yeah yeah and that brings up another situation too. If you, you know, the situation of spotting too — it is for safety. And you know, if we continuously see that we have to keep rushing to you, and you’re not being safe on your own, then it’ll be another discussion about safety and and how we can revise the situation to make it better for everyone that’s involved.
Yes! I guess I learned that there are two kinds of spotting: guidance spotting and safety. The guidance you can tell your instructor, just guide me, tell me what to do. That’s it. Or you can tell them I need a safety spot, which means yes hands on, I don’t want to die! So I mean a little tidbit if you want to go about that.
Right, like I went through like probably about a year after I was injured. I came back to pole and I really just wanted to do everything on my own. I was like "please don’t don’t touch me, don’t do anything, just leave me alone." But now I’m like "please please take hold of my hips guide them in the circle make sure that I don’t die!" So you know like I said, your consent might change you know, even during the course of the the class. But it’s always up to you, you’re in charge of your own pole destiny, as long as everyone is keeping safety in mind.
I could talk about a little bit more about instructors. The roles of the instructor and uh maybe students who want to give corrections to other students in class.
Cool I, yeah! I also wanted to talk about learning styles — all of different learning styles, especially when it comes to safety.
Yeah yeah! Do you want to start on that one?
Sure, so now we’re gonna get into — this is mostly for instructors, but it’s also for students — and that is different learning styles. And we’re talking about learning styles and safety because people learn in different ways, and what might seem obvious by you saying don’t do this move, might not be as obvious to the student for whatever reason. Just because of the way they learn, or they just might be so nervous they completely forget!
So you want to make sure you’re adhering to visual learners. That’s why we demonstrate first and then do it a second time with explanation, and then a third time in consecutive if they need it.
You want to do auditory, so that second time and third time, you’re explaining, answering any questions. Using bad, using correct language as appropriate, so like "chest" rather than "boobs" or "breasts." Your groin rather than "vagina" or "penis," things like that.
Read and write. I actually have encountered a couple students like this. They learn best by reading and writing. So you can show them as many times as you are, you can spot them and guide their body as many times as you want or need, and they’re just not going to get it until you take out something that they can read and write. And what I found helps with me is taking out the Pole Bible, or some pole guides that we have at the studio, and they for some reason, it just clicks. I don’t know why, but if you’re having issues with students, and safety and getting things done, that could be it. Maybe they just need to read and write it.
And then there’s the kinesthetic learners, which are people who need to try it. Who are like yeah put my body the way it’s supposed to because I don’t know how to do it! They’re the ones who learn by actually doing it, so definitely taking account these different learning styles, especially when it comes to safety. Because you might just think of students being a jackass, not listening, and that could be completely not the case. It could just be for some reason they’re not getting it as if they were, if you did it in a different way.
Is there anything else you want to add on that Mændy?
No, I love that you said. The different, you know, the ways that people learn. Because there are so many, and you you actually reminded me of a student — we were doing choreo and he just couldn’t, he couldn’t remember the sequence of events. And as you know we tried it so many times, and then finally he like literally sat down and wrote it all out. And then the next practice he knew the whole thing, the entire thing! And it was like in I was like wow! So yeah you just got to get creative with your teaching techniques. And if and if you know you’re not getting through to a student, have another teacher try because, you know maybe they’ll have like that little golden tidbit of how to explain it in the way that that student needs. And it doesn’t mean that you’re inadequate as a teacher, it just means that you know we’re all in this together — and we’re trying to learn together.
Yeah I think that’s it! Do you have anything else for that? For learning styles? No.
I think that’s it for that okay now. I’ll get into the the corrections in class because this goes for anyone who’s really enthusiastic about others learning in class. And I see every single class, everyone is always you know, so supportive of students. But there comes a time when you should, as a student, take the back seat on giving instructions to other students. Because sometimes, while the instructions that you’re giving are good and valid, they might you know, not be as coming from a place of education as where the instructor would give it. You might be giving the wrong information, and then the other student’s gonna like stick with that. And then, you know, their progress will be halted because of that one little thing, that they were like, "wait, I thought it was this way…" and then blah blah blah, and then you know the telephone game.
So and and you know, sometimes as students we want to be instructors! And we shouldn’t really get the practice on our friends in class. If you want to be an instructor you know, talk to your instructor about it and they’ll put you in the right direction for that training. And you know you can start once you get that training — you can start shadowing and then that would be when you can do that stuff. But yeah it’s never really a good idea to you know, even if the teacher is not looking and you think you’re being helpful. You can be like, "hey I think you know, so and so, you should take a moment and wait for the teacher to come back so that you can give you some sort of cue for that, that will help." And that would be more helpful rather than to be in like, "you should put your leg over here and then blah blah."
Well I think what happens with that, is students forget all our body types are different. So what might work for you is not going to work for someone else. And that’s where it’s the instructor’s job to come in and find out where the problem points are, based on their body, and see what hurts. So yes students, thank you for your help, but… Just say I’m outside we don’t we, we don’t need it. We love that you’re learning, but we don’t need it all.
Right like, on the student standpoint too like let’s say you’re a student and you keep [ __ ] up and then you have this other student, being going like, "hey you should put your on!" And be like: please leave me alone, like I’m just trying to like [ __ ] pole here, like mind your own business! So like it could be like that too.
I have! They’re so funny because I have had students say like, "is this person teaching the class?" Nope they’re just very helpful! Love it.
Yeah things things that happen. What else did I want to say about instructors?
Oh, a thing that’s always you know, safety of the students in your class, and posting photos and videos online. You should always make sure that you have consent of the people that are in the background of your photos and videos, you know even if they’re doing like something spectacular behind you, they might be like hiding they’re pole dancing from you know, the public. And they don’t want you to be in the background of their videos, or their your photos, you know. So just be respectful of that.
There’s easy ways to blur out the people in the background, or you know, put little funny icons over them so that you can protect their identity. And if you ever have a question about it or if you want to like feature someone, like it doesn’t hurt to just ask them! And be like hey can I post this of you or you know you’re in the background of this is this okay?
Usually you know people will be pretty happy to communicate their what they want and what they don’t want and ....... and try to remember what people say to you so in the future you don’t just accidentally post something and if you do you know make sure you just take it down as soon as you can and apologize and just try to do better .
Yeah I think that’s all I have to say about that I’m glad you said that because as a teacher it’s so hard we try to promote our classes and sometimes we forget to ask is it okay ?
I know I maybe forgot once or twice it just happens you’re in the hustle when you’re like I want to record so if you do accidentally record like Mændy said just after..... make sure is this okay if I post or can we just use it for the studio things like that ....and then what I’ve also found is some students one day might say yes and then another day they might say no and even in the same class one student might say yes and then for some reason by the end of the class they’re like no...... so it really can change based on the person it sucks but it does happen so we just have to be mindful so I am glad you brought that up.
For sure; the consent..... consent and communication are safety and then another thing about in studio pole safety is we all know ..... you shouldn’t have any jewelry on .
That can get..... you know ....mess up the poles or you know get caught on the poles and another thing I wanted to just talk about is shoelaces ..... and things that like are hanging off of clothes..
Like sometimes you know your shoelaces can get stuck together they can get stuck on your heels , they can get stuck on your hair. You know just be mindful and keep safety in mind when you get your outfits on and figure out what you’re going to wear on the pole,,,, and you know...... like you..... like for some some things I can have my laces out and everything , but if I’m flipping upside down and I’m going to be like .....crossing my legs a lot I don’t want my laces like flapping around.... they’ll get stuck together
You have anything to add about that ?..... about the jewelry , no necklaces, no rings, no earrings.......
Oh acrylic nails ......I know they are gorgeous believe me.... girl..... boy..... all of y’all .....
I love them but as I advance I can no longer do them. It makes me want to cry.
You know I always think about that too, I feel like we all come in with nails and then we’re like no......
Yes you can get a bit..... they can’t be long like they have to really be finger, because they will get ripped out and it [ __ ] hurts I have gotten a fresh pair and got in them ripped out that same week just because they were too long.
So I did want to bring that up with acrylic nails and pole dancing..... as you advance ......be prepared to have to shorten them or eventually just take them off it sucks but it is the reality.
So that was a few things that you should not have or think about not having.....
And then some things you you should have are ; like knee pads so if you are, you know like me and you have crappy knees..... even when the the teacher says no knee pads .....like I’ll bring my knee pads because if I’m going to be on my knees, I want to protect my knees for the next day.
Yeah and if you have like really sensitive hands too, like we talked about hand grips before but like if nothing’s happening for you and you have really sensitive hands, and they just keep getting ripped open by the pole.... get the pole gloves.
Like have some sort of safety grip on your hands .
Yeah I think there’s probably some other safety things you can wear while you are poling like the KT tape that stays on pretty good, and it keeps your muscles you know ...... I can’t think of the word knowing what is happening like it keeps them stimulated that’s what it is ..... to help you on the pole rather than wearing like a leg brace or something like that.
You know the KT tape, some other things for safety I guess that leads into injuries...... also no lotion before your pole class ....no lotion.
No lotion things to not wear
We talk about oh I.... just sorry I looked at my notes about teachers ....... we talked about teachers should be certified ......teachers should continue their education........ teachers should be familiar with all body types like hypermobility and have available modifications......... and also teachers should be honest with what you know and what you don’t know and be open to changing your methods as we all grow and learn .
Yeah if a student has a question and I don’t know right away I try really hard not to be like well it could be blah blah blah blah because like I don’t know.
I’m not a doctor ....... you know like sometimes I’ll get medical questions I have no idea . I’m not gonna like make it up.... but if I’ve known like the medical advice from the past or something.... I’ll you know say it but I’ll always say you know it’s your own body ...... you know get it checked out if you have an injury rather than me trying to assess what’s wrong with your body .
What is the scope of your profession ......yeah yeah...... and then I guess ...... you know if you are teaching in a studio .....your studio will likely have a waiver but let’s say you’re...... you’re an instructor and you’re teaching online ; a waiver and insurance so if you’re an instructor teaching online you need to make sure that you develop a good solid waiver to protect your practice..... and it needs to cover all the things that could happen online with your student and their equipment ......or not to cover but like remind them that they’re you know in charge of their own equipment and ........ you need to have your own instructor’s insurance .
And it should cover your online instructions if that’s what you’re doing and make sure that it does .......yeah that waivers and online insurance at home too...... you need that insurance even if you’re teaching online from home....
Yeah yeah...... I think that’s all I had about safety for studios and instructors and students in the studio I do have one more thing for studios . I did learn if you don’t do a waiver .....that is on you...... you should have a par q form or some kind of health assessment that includes very very detailed questions about their health risk and depending on what their answers are requires them to get doctor’s approval .
If for some reason you don’t want to do that waiver I do know that that is an option you could do . Your par q form or your health assessment form which requires a doctor’s recommendation .....and another thing with studio..... have your accident forms just in case ....just in case always have your accident forms and fill it out just in case even if they it’s a light fall .....just cover your ass because that light fall can come back a year later .....and oh it ain’t light anymore let me see if I could get some money which is [ __ ] but it happens so have that accident form.
That’s so true and I hate to say that..... like it’s business and not personal you guys..... like in the studio we’re all friends and everything but like .......who’s to say you know down the line and you didn’t protect yourself and that one friend ......student is now not so happy with you and they’re just trying to be a douche.
Yeah just make sure you protect yourself especially if you are an independent instructor teaching only online, because you won’t have the protection of your ...the studio and everyone to back you up .
As far as that goes ......yeah and then I mean like we could touch a little bit about the weight limits on poles which there are none. Poles are for everyone in studios there’s no weight limits please...... everyone please come into the studio and pole.
I just saw a post by Roz the diva where a student was asking her .....because they wanted to go to a studio .....in the studio and I guess the student was 300 pounds and the studio told them no....... and she and the student was sharing this with Roz the diva .......and she made a post about it saying why do we have weight limits on studio poles and it’s so true.
Like that person was told no just because they’re 300 pounds and that’s not fair at all
Yeah let me let me say a little bit about that too...... because the ...... if their poles can only hold 300 pounds then they really shouldn’t be having anyone use them .....because when we pole a hundred pound person can generate up to one thousand pounds of horizontal pressure on the pole.
So if your pole can’t stand that much then you shouldn’t be having anyone really use it ..... yeah in a studio sense for for multiple people but like the home poles are going to be a little bit different and also stage pools are a little different as well I know the mounted ones in studio should have no weight limit.
Let me..... they might have a height limit ......but no weight limit depending on the state . The home poles when..... they’re not mounted I know there is unfortunately a weight limit .......with that being said .........uh depending on which one you get the home pole weight limit can range between 200 and 300 pounds .........with that being said........ I have done static double tricks on this one with my partner not crazy things but I’m about 180 my partner’s about 130 140 .......which comes out to about 300 pounds and it tell me..... so there’s yeah
They’re designed to to hold controlled pressure so as long as you’re doing it in a controlled way .....you’re not flailing yourself onto it like kicking up into an invert. You’ll be fine in those aspects...... yeah but the stage poles I guess they have a 600 pound weight limit and that again is you know the the dynamic or sorry the horizontal pounds of pressure rather than just like they can’t hold like a 600 pound .....you know person ......down there because they definitely could it’s just that when you start moving the.... the .....you know it’s like you don’t want someone to take a running leap onto that pole and hold on for dear life which .......I’ve definitely seen people try to do and it’s so terrifying like......that’s what’s gonna knock over that pole.
Yeah I actually haven’t seen any videos on youtube ..... knocking on wood..... of stage pulls falling over . have you?
I you have yes it does happen guys don’t try it yes I’ve seen them fall over and I’ve seen them snap which is I don’t know how the [ __ ] that happened but yet and my little bitty knowledge about you know the pounds of pressure came from .
I took two seminars in aerial rigging maybe like seven years ago so I’m sure things have been updated by then..... but I do remember we did an experiment with it like let’s say you had a 100 pound aerialist and they were doing their performance and they could generate basically up to a thousand pounds of pressure during their performance doing dynamic moves .....so just something to think about.
It puts things into perspective..... relax that’s incredible right.... that’s the only other things I have to talk about are safety for your body yes.
For that I think that’s it for studio safety ...... do you want to start talking about body safety here you can bring us into it ?
Okay I guess that the biggest motto that our studio has is rest is practice ..... and it’s it’s definitely a practice because all of us love pole so much.
So we just want to do it every day, every night .....you know .....we want to learn all the new things and sometimes our bodies can handle it and we can we can really go for it but sometimes our bodies are not feeling it...... and then we still go to pole and we still push it and those are the times when we can get injured so taking lots of time to rest .....and and recuperate is a practice and you need to incorporate it into your pole practice and taking the time off actually is good for your body because it helps your body to....
Like when you build your muscles you’re tearing them up .....so when you rest you give them a chance to repair and they grow back stronger and yeah you know just taking time off is a good thing .....it’s hard to do.... it’s the worst thing.
Very hard but it’s so very important ......I know I forget all the time and I regret it because you could actually diminish your progress which sucks but it really does happen.
Yeah and like even when you’re ....you know ...if you’re competing you know you have to think about your pole practice training to .....you maybe you should lessen the your class load ....you know ....a....nd think more about . especially if you’re if you’re competing..... because you’re doing the same thing over and over again.
You’re going to get those repetitive motion injuries so thinking about cross-training in a different way to help balance your muscles will be really helpful during times when you’re competing .....and I guess also when you’re just regular pole training too .
Train both sides and do some cross-training . I know for me I like to go to the gym and I don’t like to lift heavy weights . I love to go to the gym and just like feel my muscles and identify them and like..... think about them .
I have a hypermobile body so.... uh .....my whole pole practice really responds well to identifying muscles and being mindful when I use them ..... so I like doing that uh yeah cross training ....pilates, yoga.
What are some other things Cris?
Lately I’ve been working on calisthenics which is still using my body intensely but it’s just like pull-ups or like I have the dip bars and push-ups and different things like that ......so I just actually started using the cross training .....like when I trained for PSO I did not and it sucked ......and now I’m starting to see my body change faster and differently .
It’s definitely more tired as I train for world pole but it definitely does help with the cross training more than I would have thought.
I had to first implement it to see it
Right yeah I think I’m sorry I couldn’t unmute myself.
yeah yeah I didn’t really think about cross-training either ....but after I was injured I found my body had so many imbalances just because of my bad habits that mostly probably came from my hypermobility .....and the fact that I liked to show off my flexibility and not in the most safest ways ....so cross-training with the you know .....being mindful about my muscles really changed my practice and it intensified my practice... because now I could call upon my muscles and they were there for me rather than me just you know hoping for the best.
yeah and then I don’t like I said I’m not a doctor .... ... but you know uh the advice that I’ve been giving from the health care professionals when it comes to healing from injuries is you know rest is going to be the best thing for sure but if you have any soft tissue injuries .....like a muscle strain or a tendon strain or anything like that ...... you want to keep an active rest which means you want to continue like gentle range of motion you don’t want to just like fully stop moving ..... because then your muscles and your joints will get stiff and then it’ll be harder for you to get back to normal when you are ready to go back into training and then you know obviously if you break a bone though..... don’t you don’t want to move that thing ...... but you know first and foremost get that doctor’s opinion .
As to what has happened to you if you are injured don’t just let it go and hope it will go away ..... you know even if it’s just a small little injury could turn into something big later and as long as you are mindful in your ....you know..... recovery process and you are a patient and remember that rest is practice it’ll come back better than better than ever.
Anything else for body ?
There’s a couple things I have ......but I don’t know if you have any more no I’m actually like all done with all of my things..... hey so far buddy a couple more the.
First thing is it is so important to learn and master the basic moves before you move on to advanced ones. This is a huge part of safety a lot of times we want to move fast and we don’t even master our basic dip or our basic spin of sorts and this is an issue.
I know me personally when I started I was not engaging my shoulders properly when it came to like spins and now my right shoulder kills me..... so definitely master the basics I found now that I’m training for world pole...... I’ve gone back to the basics and it’s very different very hum bling .
It’s amazing how much you forget when you don’t use it....... but it’s..... and I probably should have started with a song .....I should have done so now I’m telling y’all start with the basics before we move on .
Also economy of motion I learned is so important using your energy wisely which includes proper breathing proper pull and push when needed just using your energy and body efficiently rather than crazily .
So for example when you’re inverted tighten your core inhale and then exhale and lift rather than inhale, exhale into it and yeah it’s a [ __ ] show like really control your emotions your movement or as I learned it the economy of motion..... and you’ll find that it will help you save your energy and be able to perform even cooler combos .
Another thing is body alignment .....a lot of us start moves with .... and we’re so excited and we’re like yes I could do it not knowing we’re really not doing it correctly with our body aligned so this is so important it touches back on learning the basics like you really want to know proper body alignment..... like if you’re holding onto the pole like this your shoulders should be engaged ....pulled back your lats engaged.
I’m hyper mobile so I have a slight bend in my elbow....s different things like that.... so body alignment is crucial if not you will disalign your body and it’s going to suck .....you might end up like like that or something like you never know and also points of contact it is so important as instructors and as students that instructors we teach the points of context with moves and as students we learn and really work hard on those points of contac.
so points of contact is crucial it is main points of..... how we stay on the pole where we hook with our knees or our elbows and if we’re not doing them correctly we can really slide or hurt ourselves. If we’re not engaging correctly..... a lot of different things so definitely teaching those points of contact and definitely learning them while we’re learning and mastering those basic skills and body alignment.
Is there anything else [ __ ] stretch stretch stretch five ten minutes every day..... nothing crazy it doesn’t have to be a full yoga session but stretch every day and when you pole warm up ,,,,you should warm up ,,,,if you don’t warm up you’ve already set yourself up for failure..... and you’re gonna hate it.
All my students that walk in late I tell them you need to warm up and they can feel if they don’t give themselves the proper warm-up because at the end of class they’re like yeah I should should have [ __ ] warmed up . Better like well we told you it happens that’s why we say stay on the side and warm yourself up .
In a cold breath I’m glad you said that too because if you don’t warm up ... you know chances are like you said you’re going to injure yourself when you do the things in class because the warm-up is preparing you for for what you’re learning in class ....and if you don’t know what you’re doing for your warm-up like let’s say you’re a brand new student and the teacher’s like go you know warm up.
We have a little thing in our warm-up room that kind of guides you through a warm-up but like you know sometimes you know you’d be like I don’t know what should I do for this warm-up and you know so getting to class on time and not missing that warm-up is really important for safety.
Yes and the stretching too I was so happy you said that okay and then cool down ... not every class will include a cool down because sometimes classes run over and it happens ....it should be included it’s a way to bring our body temperature and our heart rate down and to relax our muscles and stretch them after a good workout .
But as an instructor I do understand sometimes the class goes over and we can’t keep them longer but try to include at least two three minute cooldown.... it’s so very important and it’s also crucial for safety too .
Anything else on body safety ?
Yeah I guess if you you know everyone’s body is different ..... and what I like to always stress is.... like well we’re always trying to make the pretty shapes it’s not always about how you’re looking it’s really about how you feel ..... while you’re doing it ......because if it feels terrible and awful please speak up because we can probably find you know maybe just one little point of contact that’s off or you might need a full modification depending on your own personal body and it doesn’t mean that you can’t do the trick .......it just means that it needs to be just a little bit different..... and as long as you know like the whole safety is in mind.
Your whole .....like one move has like five or six different variations just by grip positioning or body positioning so you might not be able to do the move this way because of your body type or flexibility but with this regression or progression you can do it this way it’s really weird how our bodies work.
I know I’ve been.... I’ve taught classes where I’ll have an easy trick and some students can get it some students can’t.... and then when I teach the progression which is supposed to be harder the students that can’t get the easy one get the harder one ....that the easy one can’t get the harder one...... it’s just how it works .
yes yeah yeah and also like staying and working within your level .....like let’s say you’re you want to do the bird of paradise ..... and you’ve never had any dance or gymnastics training and you try to like squeeze yourself into this thing..... you know I feel bad the best idea not the best idea lots of these moves are a journey and they take many polers years to achieve and that’s why they’re so coveted but but you know there’s ways you can safely get into it .... you know yeah there’s ways you can safely get into these moves yeah.
I guess that’s it. I know we talked about a lot ..... so much safety. Of course this isn’t it we’ve..... we’ve definitely missed some things...... I just can’t think of them now so you know as this episode airs if you have any questions or suggestions of safety and we really didn’t talk about something that we should have please let us know.
What is it..... please let us know it will definitely make another episode!!
And if any of these like you wanted us to break into any deeper we could definitely like do , you know an episode on ......you know........ like creating a safe space or something like that. Which I think would be a good episode to have as well ....
Yes, which brings me up to some upcoming things ......so you all know we are listening and answering your questions .......we did this one questions we received on Instagram for safety at home in studio and teaching.....
We will be touching on confidence building and sharing our Pole journey and different ways to do that..... Yeah we..... I just want to let y’all know we heard and we agree with you ......and it’s coming.
We also heard about different pole certificates..... we heard the question about different ways to get certified in pole and we are working on that. A list of different certifications you can take in person or online and that is an episode coming out .
I just wanted to take that moment and announce that because it is....... so y’all know that we’re listening and we’re hearing and it’s coming ....
Yes some cool things coming up so exciting so this month if you haven’t already sign up for our 28 day pole dance challenge .....it’s never too late you’re going to get a nice calendar and you have 28 days to try each move . Tag us each day if you want..... if you can’t get the move .....that’s okay just tag us of you training it . It starts easy and then progresses to harder by the 28th day, but have fun with that.
We also have our full paid ebook coming out this month in February and an Interactive pole dance poster .....so stay tuned for that .... so many good things coming.
I mean I’m pretty sure you’re all gonna love it .......I hope so ......thank you for all your support is there anything else you want to add Mændy?
No I think, I think that was it ......yeah I guess the the bottom line is just be safe........ it’s not hard to be safe you just have to you know and don’t let the safety keep you from doing .......you know .....think don’t don’t be scared.... because there’s ways you could be safe ..... and it’s good to do things that scare you every day and pole could be one of them.
We have online classes and if you don’t want to take class with us ....that’s okay because we have other amazing instructors at The Pole in the Wall that you will love .
We have instructors that teach ballet, no pole dance and different things like that so give it a shot . Check out the link, you find something interesting .
I’ve told a bunch of people about our classes and they’re like what the hell our studio doesn’t have these classes I’m gonna have to check them out I’m still waiting for the sign up. lol
Oh my gosh I love it so much but no no pressure .
I was like always pressuring people come dance with me. I know I wish we everywhere for everyone . I guess if you buy your home pole we can be .........that’s true....
Yeah and like we’re all just in it to you know educate the world about how fun pole is..... and you know...... just like our other episode of the different types of pole...... you can make it your own and do whatever you want as long as you are safe .
You could be the next pole star just by whatever...... I’m slowly figuring out my style ranges in a bit of sexy and latin music so I’m slowly getting it .
I love it....
This was fun...... do you have anything else?
No this is awesome I’m glad we had this episode it was one of the hot topics, I know on on the internet ...... and it should always be a hot topic.....
Yes facts we will have that list of different mats that you can try in the bottom and things like that ...... also the ghetto-fied list that I use....... because you know safety first even if cash isn’t available.......
Right like yeah making pole accessible for everyone in creative ways ....
Awesome so I’m Cris Rivers and I’m Mændy Mac we are Pole on the Call and we are signing off!
Love y’all thank you for tuning in until next time alrighty!