Pole Class: Day Seventeen

With the exception of finding bloody fingernails and a belly button after class, I though today's class went very well. At today's Total Pole, Amber taught us the Corkscrew twirl, Yogini and Caterpillar. For most of us in the class, these were tricks that we've worked on before (which isn't a bad thing!).

I had so much fun in class, partly because I was trying and actually getting the tricks down. I secretly love the Caterpillar and Reverse Caterpillar. I know it isn't the sexiest pole trick you can whip out, but it's definitely one of the more interesting and difficult ones just because of the whole defying gravity part.

I can't wait to get and install my own pole! Then I can practice every day!

Pole Class: Day Eleven

As always, Poletential's Total Pole class taught by Amber was great. Every Saturday we're taught new twirls, climbs and inversions.

We started off with an Inside Spin. For this twirl you use your outer thigh (inside leg) to roll against the pole. Your thigh and leg should be parallel to the ground and as you pick yourself up with both hands you lift up your outside leg.

Then we moved onto the Corkscrew. I really like this twirl because it's a lot different from the other ones we learn where we face the pole. For this twirl you use your outside leg to swing out your hips to the front of the pole so that you can wrap your body around the pole as you spin down. This twirl gets painful when you do it repeatedly since your armpit is gripping the pole. I have bruises all over my arm still from this one. But it was fun!

Our next move was a climb into a Cross Knee Release. This is very similar to the cross ankle release, but instead you leave your thighs crossed as if you were sitting and then lean back so that your knee touches the pole and your tail bone is resting on the pole as well. Once you're in this position, you're safe to lean back and let go of your arms.



Lastly, we learned how to go into the Butterfly from an inversion. Things to remember when getting into this move include keep your booty out and square your shoulders before you let go of your leg. I was finally able to get into this move at the end of the class, although I don't do it as graceful as Amber.

Pole Class: Day Six

My second Flirty Tricks pole class with Cat! She was just as amazing as last time. For this class my goal was to minimize bruises, which means control and strength building. Did it work? Nooooo. I have bruises from climbing up the pole and sliding down. How does everyone else do it without getting the bruises??

Last night we did a combination of climbing, inversions, poses and twirls. What I really love about this class is that I get to go over moves that I start out learning from the Saturday Total Pole class. So I got to practice some more on my basic twirl, circular front hook with the knee and ankle, and corkscrew (which I nailed the first time I tried it last night!!!!!!). What's also really cool about this class is that Cat loves to introduce us to different variations of the twirl moves. The one variation I really liked was the stag. When you're doing a stag twirl variation both legs are bent at the knees and free from the pole. We also did variations where we held the back of our heels or let one arm go to reach out at the audience.

Besides the twirls, we worked a lot on poses once you're up on the pole. We did some basic ones to warm us up like the Chair:





From the chair pose, you can bring both your feet together stretched out like you were a plank (ankles crossed). With both your hands still gripping the pole, lean backwards so that your tailbone touches the pole. Your feet should be above your head. Once you're in this position you can move one hand below your tailbone and keep one on top to grip the pole as you split your legs into a V.



The move I thought was pretty awesome is called Hello Boys:



I swear Cat can insert a V into any pose, twirl or inversion (and I love it!). It's actually pretty difficult to get your legs out into a V like this. But it's hot as hell.

One of the last moves we were working on was a V hand stand. You have to really trust yourself here.