MrsShadowKat started this discussion ·
I have discovered a huge flaw for my pole dancing journey, (I'm a beginner!) I don't have hardly any upper body strength, which is really sad! Anyone have good excersises for the upper body? I can't afford the "gold" membership here *tears* maybe some youtube video's or something? Thanks ! xoxo
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hey there! 🙂 i'm a beginner too and i started with literally NO upper body strength (slowly improving).. imo it's really hard to find good vids on yt, but i really like this one: http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=CfZCvyPWksk (i hope, the link works - if not google "FGF upper body workout full") .. the lower body workout rocks as well! 😉 i like that the instructor tells you how to keep good form during the exercises and that she explains how to do everything safely (e.g. to prevent damage to your knees..) searching the sv forum for relevant threads is always helpful - i'm sure there is a lot to find as well!
If you can afford it, I really think you should try a month's subscription to Veena's lessons. She has some great conditioning exercises to get you started. She has an entire strength routine (and it works!) Try some yoga and pilates. Also doing a proper weight training and push ups.
Rose2011 ·
I am also a beginner, started a few months ago! I too do not have any upper body stregth, but following Veena's workouts and doing them like she recommends, my strength improved sooooo much and still getting better!
I'm getting to a stage where my dancing is now at the higher end of the Intermediate levels and as for improving my upper body strength, I am looking at buying a door-frame chin-up/work out bar. I had a play at a mate's house not long ago on a traditional chin-up bar and was impressed at how I can do a bit more of a lift than I could before! I'm looking at the ones that have different grips, rather than just a traditional bar, it has various bars all in the one unit so you can work out different muscle groups and challenge yourself and improve in different types of upper body strengths! Been looking at it on eBay and will hopefully be buying one soon! Will really aid in helping me nail my Spinning V & polish up on my Inverted V! 😀
I started the 100 push up challenge, and it helped with my upper body strength greatly. Here is the info...http://hundredpushups.com/
100 PUSHUPSThe 100 pushups training programThe 100 pushups training program. Strengthen and sculpt your arms, abs, chest and glutes by training to do 100 consecutive push-ups in six weeks.http://www.youtube.com/user/emotioncatcher?feature=watch#p/c/6362B7A2BEBEA710/0/wd43sLpO6bA I know how the finance thing goes...I pay for 2 months have the money for one year, but subscription not up and every single time it's up, something happens and there goes my one year money needing to be used for something else. Anyway...that is similar to Veena's strength routine. This video doesn't actually do them with you like Veena does, and there's no talking or "wrong" demonstrations like she has either. Hope this gets you started until you can get a month or 2 of Veena's lessons.
Thanks all! This is great advice :)
i do chin ups and pull ups like mad!! lol
Seems like youtube has a wealth vids on the subject! For pole specific strength building I sometimes sit on the floor and grip the pole with my hands like I would if I'm doing a pole sit, and I do an assisted pole up in that position. It allows you to have the upper body form of doing a pole up, but without having to lift your full body weight since your legs are still resting on the ground, and you can also use your legs to assist you by pushing slightly against the gound with your feet. Just remember to only assist with your lower body as much as you need to in order to be able to complete the pole up movement. I did this especially a lot after I had my baby and was nowhere near being strong enough to do an unassisted pole-up.
