Recently I’ve been a right motivated Moira and actually got my arse in gear on the old home pole training mission. Yes, I do want a medal and a Blue Peter badge for my efforts. This has so far involved having a good look at my evening schedule (I am categorically not one of those machines who can get up early to exercise) , working out what slots I have free to bust out some good hard pole training and getting on with said training accordingly. You may think this is a fool proof method for guaranteeing that I’ll be the next Felix Cane, however a monumental spanner has been thrown in the fucking works… I cannot achieve half as much when practicing at home as I can in the studio and it’s driving me bloody mad!
Seriously it’s some crazy shit. When I’m training in the studio nowadays, I am managing to nail all manner of nemesis moves and 2020 pole goals. Ayeshas, the superman, shoulder mounts in my ten-inch, kilo heavy boots, you name it I can do it. Put me on my home pole however and my Ayesha is a wobbling disaster, my superman has fucked off back to Krypton and even my beloved shoulder mount is a struggle at times. I just don’t get it, I train just over an hour after dinner, so I’m theoretically full of energy and have my favourite tunes blasting to get me pumped and ready to go but does the magic happen? Does it fuck. Hmph!
Last Wednesday, after one such struggle of a session at home, I took to Instagram and added a little poll to my story asking if anyone else is having the same problem that I am with home training. To my surprise 20 out of the 21 people who participated all agreed that they achieve more training wise when in the studio than they do at home. Having felt somewhat reassured that we are all struggling along at home together, I got my thinking cap on to try and discover what the reasons could be as to why home training is feeling like a bit of a beast of a quest.
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There is less room around the pole at home
Unless like two of my pole buddies you are blessed with a full on home pole studio (I am green as hell with envy) there is often way less room in your home environment for pole dancing as opposed to the studio. When putting up my home pole in the most spacious area of the house I could find, there is still a bloody great chest of drawers near it that gets in the way a bit. It shits me up good and proper when I’m attempting to dismount from an Ayesha and worry that I’m about to come crashing down into the bastard I can tell you! Yes the majority of moves I can still do at home, but having furniture nearby that it’s nigh on impossible to find a new home for can hamper your training sessions a bit. For example, I was finding that I couldn’t get my pretzel properly at home as I couldn’t gain the adequate momentum to swing nicely into it. I gave it one go in the studio and bam! It returned straight away. So the lack of space at home to train as enthusiastically as you would in the studio can be a bit of a pain.
…There is also less height
Now this is quite a big one. I live in a pretty bog standard, UK terraced gaff and when I invert in my heels from the floor alone my shoes are scrapping the ceiling. The lack of height to really get into certain moves or even attempt others (both aerial inverts and shoulder mounts in heels are straight up no go’s in my house) is a massive distraction when you’re trying to work on new moves, I don’t think having a whacking great big ceiling in the way ever helped anyone achieve their pole goals! Again, there is often way more height on studio poles to help you bust out climb overs, leg switches and various other high up the pole combos, height that the majority of us just don’t have in our homes.
Humidity and the temperature of your environment can determine the quality of pole dance training.
Now ain’t this the truth? Ask any pole dancer and we will tell you that pole dancing in both summer and winter has its disadvantages. I for one am a wimp when it comes to pain, so the cold poles of winter shit me up when it comes to getting my kit off and getting my training on, and I’m also a sweaty, clammy bugger, so in the summer my grip is utter trash and I need a solid bath in about 10 litres of Dry Hands and Dew Point before I can even look at the pole. Therefore, the temperature of your house during these two seasons will categorically determine how well your training session is going to go. So far, I have only had my home pole in the summer, but during the heatwave fuck me having all the windows and doors open and having a fan right behind me was an absolute must for training, otherwise I was nothing but a slippery salmon flopping right off the pole.
Pole dancing on carpet is an absolute bastard
Honestly it’s such a pain in the arse. If you too have a carpeted floor to train on you have both my solidarity and my sympathy. Carpet is a complete cunt when training floor work as you end up getting friction burn, stuck on the bloody thing and don’t even get me started on the state it leaves suede/velvet pole shoes in, trust me if you’re thinking about training in either suede or velvet pole shoes on carpet do not do it! Overall trying to get your flow on on the carpet is a pretty thankless task. It’s not impossible, but it’s not as lovely as a slidey studio floor.
The studio often has older, grippier poles
Now despite my many complaints above I do love my home pole and wouldn’t be without it. It was my saving grace during lockdown when the studio was closed and if I’m going to be brutally honest, at the end of the day doing some pole training, even if you don’t feel like you achieved a lot, is better than doing no training at all any day of the week. However, I find that a new pole is much like saddling up a wild horse – the mare needs breaking in to use it properly. Brand new poles are obviously all shiny and unused, which means they haven’t had the chance to be properly worn in like the used poles in the studio. Therefore, for the first few weeks of using my home pole in the height of summer I was once again a slippery salmon. Cleaning the pole with supermarket own brand vodka I have found helps create some grip on it, but I guess the only way to break in a new pole is to suck it up and use the bastard.
Camaraderie and classmate motivation
Some of the most successful pole practices I have ever had have been in a packed-out practice session with my pole buddies. As Tupac says that’s just the way it is. I’m not sure if it’s the positive vibes and surroundings of having all your mates around you that boosts your mood and consequently makes you have a more productive training session, but there is a lot to be said for being in a positive, encouraging environment and smashing your pole goals. A good old solo pole training jam can of course be fun too, but I’ll always prefer training with other people and encouraging each other to bust out some badass moves as opposed to training on my own. But hey that’s just me.
Getting out of the house
Now, of course I understand that this isn’t always feasible for everybody given the current times that we are all living through, but tying in with the paragraph above, maybe we are more productive in the pole studio due to the simple act of getting out of the house? Now, this reason for pole training being more productive in the studio is tenuous at best, but maybe, because by default we are usually in chill mode when at home, the very act of getting out of the house to train gives us an injection of oomph that we may not otherwise have got? I am not too sure if this is the reason I’m not so productive whilst training at home, but it may be for some people, so hey, it’s going on the list.
Do you prefer training at home or are you busting out your A game in the pole studio? Please let us know in the comments!
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