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Pole update #3

Tonight was my first night of Pole 5, revisited. We worked on shoulder mounts, flags, handspring preps (with a flag hold and split grip hold), the pull-up climb, aerial invert, and spinning handstand dismount (never heard of this one before).

I met my goal of achieving the shoulder mount on my first try, impressing my instructor, Tiffany, who was with me when I first returned to pole. The last time I had a pole class with her I could barely do a normal invert and slipped down the pole when I tried to shoulder mount, so it's no surprise that she was surprised. It was Kate's tip that tipped me over the wall, which was to lift my hips in the air. Once I tried that, I was golden. Sure, it doesn't look or feel very smooth like with the other girls, but I can confidently and consistently do it, which is the starting point. Also, there was only one other girl out of four who could do it. I was worried that I was going to be way behind everyone else, but I turns out I might be smack in the middle, where I feel I should be.

I can't believe how fast my progress was on this. Or at least, it feels like it was fast, although it probably was about 2 1/2 months. When I last left pole I couldn't get anywhere close to doing a shoulder mount with a cupped grip. This time I was determined to only learn it that way. When I first started back up I kept slipping down the pole because I didn't have the strength. I also couldn't do kicks very well and my scissor kicks (from side to side) were terrible. I simply couldn't do them and was actually convinced they were impossible. Within two weeks I was doing them decently and by the end of the 6 week class I had them mastered. Slowly, I was able to kick my legs higher into the air and by week 6 they were touching the pole but not going up and over. That's when Kate gave me the tip.

The other thing I was impressed with was my progress on pulling up on the pole. When I first took Tiffany's strength and conditioning class I couldn't lift myself even a centimeter off the pole. I was embarrassed by it, when she looked at me and I couldn't even get myself off the ground. Now I can pull myself up solidly and do a few small additional pull-ups. Today, using very small pulls of around only 3 inches, I was able to pull myself about halfway up the pole using this method before my arms died out. It's not much, but it's a huge leap from not being able to even get my heels off the ground. I'm confident that in a few weeks I'll be able to take even bigger pulls.

I'm still stuck on my invert and flag. I know I'll eventually get the invert, but I really feel that damn flag will elude me forever. On the plus side, I could tell I was in a decent place for my handspring prep. I think I might actually be able to get that in a few months if I keep at it.
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