Pondering the origins of pole might not be the first thing that comes to mind when attending your pole class. However, every sport has to start somewhere. Our sport started with innovative people who dedicated themselves to the art of trying something new. If you haven’t been living under a rock, you know that most of pole came from strip clubs. However, it’s likely that a google search of “pole dancing” you may have done ended in reading about the history of pole on Wikiped

Looking back at pole over the last ten years, the sport has grown in a million different directions and thankfully, so has pole clothing. As Bad Kitty® celebrates ten years in the business of making pole and aerial clothing, a quick glimpse at the pole clothing options in 2008 shows just how far pole attire has come. Poling in 2008 involved a lot of unexplored frontiers. First, we had no clue where pole was going except that Felix Cane’s 2008 Miss Pole Dance Australia YouTub

As an athlete, being injured and unable to participate in a sport is devastating. For those of us who pole, it's about the social aspects of class, the stress relief of the workout, the health benefits of fitness and the mental health positives of being at a studio. Preventing injuries in pole starts with education on how the most common pole injuries happen and how to prevent these injuries from happening. Being injured on both a muscular and a joint level are the most commo

Strength is obviously a key component in making a break through in pole, however teaching the body the mechanics and how to engage muscles in a proper order also contribute to moving off a plateau. The point of the selected moves in this article are for total body engagement and working on feeling connected to the entire body, or employing complete muscle groups during pole. The goal is to not only connect to the dominant muscles, such as the upper back, but to start uniting

The shoulder mount is a one of the moves I like to classify as a plateau move. It's possible to work the shoulder mount for many months before achieving the move, and even then it might still be a struggle. Many polers have the strength to do the shoulder mount, but strength is not enough to make this movement happen. The shoulder mount is a gymnastic move, the body is inverting in a back flip using the pole. As discussed in Part One of the post series, the proper form of th

Protein is so hot right now! The diet industry is the king of cool, making the latest diet fad look like the solution to weight loss and building a ripped body. The real solution is a lifetime of healthy eating and exercise, as discovered from years of scientific studies. But let's not digress, athletes do need extra protein. Protein is made up of essential and non-essential amino acids. Protein is a macronutrient, like carbohydrates and fat. The human body needs bigger po

How do I teach aerial or pole to out of shape clients? This is one of the most asked questions we get from instructors. I wanted to create trainings that had progressive teaching method and material that was applicable to the average client walking into a yoga studio, gym, aerial arts or pole studio. This client could be very fit; he or she could participant in other sports or workout regularly. Or this new client may not be regularly exercising or has not exercised in a long

This series of posts was created to help the polers and aerialists who have had muscle overuse injuries centering in the hip flexors. I have worked with numerous students, instructors and myself on several muscle-based injuries. One of the the most widespread injuries is the tight dominant hip flexor and tight hip flexors. Tight Hip Flexors (Basic Stretching) Tight Hip Flexors (Myofascial Release) Tight Hip Flexors (Facilitated Stretching) Tight Hip Flexors ( Weak Glutes and

There is this phenomenon that happens in every city or town, aerial studios, pole studios, yoga studios and fitness studios are racing each other for the lowest price, matching competitors and giving services away for low prices or even free. As a studio owner I understand how hard pricing can be, you need to be competitive and make a profit. As humans we get very caught up in what the other studios are doing and how they are pricing. We end up battling them to the bottom. Th