Pole Broccoli - the tricks you dislike but know are good for you
Here you are, standing in your weekly pole class wearing your fav pole wear and getting ready to achieve Zeus-level pole greatness this week. Your teacher demonstrates the combo you’ll be chipping away at, when suddenly – there it is. That trick that takes skin and leaves bruises. The trick that is always such a struggle that you end up looking like a glamourous, heel-wearing, awkward turtle trying to get from Trick A to Trick Z. But no matter how much you despise this trick, you know deep down that it’s good for you – just like broccoli. It’s not everyone’s first choice, but it will provide the goodness you need for a well-balanced pole diet.
Let’s explore what you should be adding to your plate!
Jamilla
Ah this little nugget definitely falls into the category of ‘pole broccoli’! The jamilla looks deceivingly easy but when you learn it, you realise that there is a lot more happening than initially thought. You have to focus on pulling through your top arm, ensuring that it is perfectly placed on the pole as you push through the bottom arm, in a strength balancing act more meticulous than walking a 30m high tightrope. You lift your body and place it in the middle of the hands, making sure you angle yourself to find that sweet spot of gripping with your hip and the top of the thigh. And just when you thought you had everything in position, you split the legs to find balancing the load in your arms and core is harder than first imagined!
There are so many precise gripping points with this trick, and having well-balanced strength through your arms and core is essential to avoid injuring the bottom wrist. The jamilla has stumped many pole dancers for years. It takes hours of practice to find that beautiful sweet spot to execute it no matter the entry you choose to go with.
However, once unlocked, the jamilla is an incredible transition trick and extremely useful for moving up, down or even around the pole. If you can nail this baby, you will be swimming in a sea of endless pole combos and transitions! Perfecting a jamilla is almost like finding the ideal lipstick. You probably hated lipstick beforehand, claiming you aren’t 'a lippy kind of person’, yet once you find the perfect shade it becomes your new ride or die; a secret weapon you carry with you for life. A jamilla is your trusty secret weapon and will become your pole BAE.
Superman
Burn baby burn... Disco Inferno... for your thighs. Ohhh the burn is REAL amigo. The pain alone is enough to deter anyone from wanting to practice a superman regularly, however if you do, you will ride a magic carpet into a whole new world of pole tricks!
Like the jamilla, the superman is an amazing transition trick, but it is also the basis of entering many other tricks. The titanic, the seahorse, the super pain, catch in a superman, around the world body switches, entering an aerial shoulder mount, flowing down into a pike or tuck – the list goes on!
For many pole dancers, the tough part isn’t the actual superman itself but the hip rotation to enter it. Once you have inverted and hooked the outside leg, you pull yourself up placing one hand above the knee and the other below the hip towards the floor. Like the jamilla, you need to find that sweet spot of using your hip and the top of the thigh to grip, as you actively pull the bottom leg into the pole. Then it’s go time!! This is the part that freaks everyone out, but like folding your washing, the thought of it is actually worse than doing it. Rip that band aid off sister! Unhook the top leg up and over, roll through that thigh/hip grip, push away with the bottom arm. Think about squeezing your thighs together and aim to cross your ankles. BOOM you did it! It may have just set your loins on fire faster than a Magic Mike show, but remember how a simple pole sit once hurt? Similarly, in a superman you will learn how much you need to let go to roll into the trick without sliding off the pole, so much so, it will become second nature to you.
Don’t let the superman become your kryptonite! Practice hard to get comfortable with it because it can open so many sparkling pole doors for you! Pole muggles love it and there is no doubt you will too once you have finessed its entry. Now excuse me while I go and find my red cape...
Image: @poledancingadventures
Cup grip ayesha
Also known as a cup grip handspring or suspended v, the cup grip ayesha can be a real bitch to unlock but is actually one of the most comfortable ways to hold the pole and your shoulder will love you for it. Think about it – a cup grip is the most ‘normal’ and every day way we would use our wrists, arms and shoulders. However, a cup grip ayesha does require a decent amount of tricep and lat (latissimus dorsi) strength to lift into, plus a good dose of core strength to balance you once you are there.
Very similar to the superman, the cup grip ayesha is actually rather lovely once you are in it, but getting into it is the battle for many polers. Some polers are taught to enter it from an upside-down position, squeezing the knees, placing the hands and pushing out into, taking your ankles off once balanced. Or some studios teach it kicking up, as an alternative to a twisted grip or true/straight grip ayesha or handspring. Regardless of which way you learn it, the push and pull of your arms is critical in ensuring you maintain the 90 degree pull of the top arm. A strong core will help to stabilise you and transition you from this trick into others with ease. The cup grip component can also feel odd to some polers, as without the ‘security’ of wrapping a thumb around, many dancers feel like their hand will just slip off.
Mind and muscle power is needed to achieve a cup grip ayesha, but once you have unlocked it, there will be so many tricks and transitions available to you! How often do you find yourself on the wrong side or the wrong angle for an entry into a twisted grip ayesha? Cup grip it man! The strength you gain will also carry over into other pole tricks so it’s a win win and an essential pole green for all!
Reiko split
Yes, yes I hear you – working out the perfect hand grip for tricks is enough without having to worry about FOOT grip. Before you throw a little tantrum and dramatically exit from this blog post, hear me out boo.
No one really wants to grip with their foot but even for pole dancers who prefer heels, you should still try to add a reiko split or variation of it to your pole repertoire. It’s such a nifty little way for you to travel up the pole or transition around it. For the Bendy Barbies out there, the reiko is also a beautiful split to hold before moving onto another trick.
The trouble with this particular trick is firstly being able to grip with the foot, as well as pushing into the foot while pivoting on the ball of it as you transition into the next move. Hand placement is also important – placed too high you won’t have enough push through the foot and it will slide off, but if your hands are placed too low, you will need some super hamstring and achilles flexibility! Like so many other pole tricks, it’s just about practicing it enough to know where you need to place your hands and position your body on the pole.
Once you have mastered the reiko split, you will be able to find some really cool ways to enter tricks or tumbles, as well as a new way to climb or gain height on the pole. Knowing how to reiko split will add a new level of cartwheel-like moves to your little basket of pole goodies, and is always a handy trick to whip out for beautiful, gracious, barefoot performances.
Shoulder mounts – on BOTH sides
Here you were thinking you had just about eaten all of your pole greens, and dessert was on it’s way but nope. There’s one more piece of pole broccoli being thrown your way and it’s a shoulder mount, on both sides. Annnd cue the grizzle and moan!
You’ve heard it all before from your teacher – practice both sides. But I’m no fool and know deep down we don’t practice every single trick on both sides. Some tricks are hard enough to achieve on our preferred side let alone throwing our poor brains and bodies into turmoil trying to figure it out on the opposite side. But if you are going to practice any trick on your opposite side (besides a straddle of course), it should be your shoulder mount!
A shoulder mount is usually first introduced to us in an intermediate/early advanced level. It can be taught with different hand grips ie cup grip, twisted grip, true/straight grip, you can even use an elbow. Cup grip tends to be the most common, as you pull the pole into the “squishy” part of your shoulder (your traps) and lift that booty up to hit a straddle or wrap the legs onto the pole in an invert. A shoulder mount requires tricep strength to maintain the pull into the shoulder, and a great deal of core strength to control the lift. It’s definitely a work in progress and this strength is built over time and with some great conditioning exercises from your teacher. The problem is, once we have trained one shoulder and established the pain threshold on one side, we are very reluctant to practice our opposite side. And until you reach an advanced level, sometimes there’s no need to use the opposite shoulder... until there is.
I can guarantee you will reach a stage in your little pole dancing life where you will need to choose – preferred arm/leg hook OR preferred shoulder mount. Many pole dancers waste precious class minutes trying to work out which part of the combo to sacrifice to the ‘bad’ side in order to shoulder mount on the preferred shoulder. A problem very easily solved if you just condition both shoulder mounts! Bonus points if you work on different hand grips! The shoulder mount can be a love-hate relationship for many polers but honestly, so many combos will become easier to learn overall if you have both shoulders ready to rock n roll! This is one piece of pole broccoli you want to gobble up because it will only get you that bit closer to the delicious things to come!
There you have it - a list of pole greens to get you started in adding some very beneficial nutrients to your ‘pole diet’! What tricks do you dish onto your plate as pole broccoli? Tell me in the comments below!
