Who are you working with?
Kathleen,
Has been doing pole for a few months. Goes to the gym regularly, does roller derby and advanced park skating. Very strong legs, decent upper body strength and mobility. Struggles with confidence, sweaty hands (often due to fear), and pain tolerance for skin contact with the pole. Has gone through a few relatively dramatic weight changes in her life and struggles to trust spotting because of it.
What are their goals?
Because Kathleen is so new to pole, she expressed that she pretty much wanted to learn anything and everything and that she doesn’t know what she doesn’t know. However “Getting Upside Down” was definitely a high priority.
What are your goals?
My goals for Kathleen were two-fold: 1. Help her get herself upside-down. Obviously. It’s something she wanted and also kind of what this whole thing was about. (I know it’s deeper than that :P) 2. Help her find strategies to navigate some of the fear and discomfort with the sensation of skin on pole. This goal emerged after the first session when it became clear that this was going to be a big hurdle for her as she progressed.
What is your hypothesis/strategy?
I am not super clinical/strategic when it comes to teaching and much of my strengths lie with being able to adapt to the energy of the room on any given day. So to say I had a specific approach planned out before I started would be a lie. What I did have was a rough outline of the beginnings of the Invert Ready curriculum as I understand it, upon which I would build as needed. I did know ahead of time that I would need to provide an ample amount of encouragement as well as find ways to hold space for frustration and redirect Kathleen when she got down on herself and so I had a few ways of stepping back or doing other things in my back pocket.
Documentation of Implementation of strategy:
Session #1: (Slightly reformatted from the summary I sent the client so has some comments/advice directed at them, but I’m keeping it in to show written teaching examples since I didn’t film the sessions)
Introduced rib/spinal awareness to assist with supporting and getting the abs to "turn on" in various positions.
Spinal and isolation exercises-
Practiced moving the lower (lumbar) spine without moving the upper (thoracic) and vice-versa with a resistance band for feedback.
Practiced a hip bridge with closed ribs. (You can do these as a stand-alone exercise, up and down with control trying to go a little farther at the top every time by PUSHING your feet into the floor and asking more of your ass while keeping the ribs where they are)
Hanging/Chin-up-
Worked on moving through passive and active hang (pretend you can break the bar in half when you go for active hang).
Waist hold invert-
Step-by-step:
Crab stance with one hand on the floor, BIG push of the feet into the floor (get the ass up), keep the ribs where they are, reach the head away with a slight chin tuck, one foot places on the pole until you can push and lift the other leg. Try to keep reaching the head and pulling the arms so you elbows are in line with your side body.
Worked on twisting in towards the pole to get a foot on the ground to exit smoothly.
Introduced Outside Leg Hang-
Biggest thing for you with this is getting comfortable enough while inverted to allow your hips to move and rotate towards the pole. Can practice from the floor like the first version we did without the full waist hold invert.
Session #2: The summary for this one somehow isn’t in my chat logs with my client but it was shorter anyway.
Gave Inverted row exercises with rings and with two chairs as options
More chin-up practice and specificity on what exactly to be working on while hanging (shoulder awareness, allowing for movement, etc.)
The rest of this session was spent reviewing waist-hold stuff taught in the first session and exploring descending into outside leg hang from standing.
Session #3: This one I have a summary for again.
Today we worked through braced, neutral spine squat (aka the hardest squat ever) and hip mobility exercises with the chair. Remember to lift knee to shoulder first (while minding the spine/ribs) then slowly rotate outward fighting to keep the outside of the knee high until your leg is fully behind you, then rotate knee towards floor and slowly lower. 2-3 of those each side and then 2-3 each side going the other direction.
We worked on taking the waist hold invert up higher to go from standing! You did SO WELL! There were a number of the ones you did that were so smooth and controlled, it looks like you're getting more comfortable in the position.
We explored the possibility of rotation into the standing waist hold, I think that this will come as your confidence grows! You have the pieces, it's just gaining familiarity and coordination. The more coordinated you can make this action (i.e riding the momentum), the easier it will become.
Lastly we spent some more time with outside leg hang, this was a tough thing to throw at you last!! Again I see a lot of pieces there and as your confidence and tolerance for the position grows I think it will click.
Remember that when you feel stuck, it never hurts to take an extra breath where you're at and see if you can ask your body for a solution. E.g. Can't reach the pole with my leg, what if I changed how my leg is rotated so that I have a little more mobility? Or, my hand is stuck, what if I found another contact point to help me hold on while I free it?) It is easier said than done, but if you can manage it, curiosity can be a vital tool to combat panic.
How did it go?
I think overall this was a positive experience for both of us. Kathleen gave good feedback and worked hard and we were able to have a good time working together.
What worked?
I think I was able to explain the material in a way that could be understood and I think I was able to create a fun, challenging lesson while holding space for the strong emotions that can manifest when we learn new things as adults.
What didn't?
I wish I had been a bit more structured in my approach and had built out more of a progressive lesson plan from the jump. I felt like there were times where I wasn’t entirely sure what the best next thing to teach would be. This is something I am continually working on in all aspects of life, being more organized so that I am better equipped and less stressed. I also felt like 3 sessions didn’t feel like enough to get through so much info and so I found it challenging to prioritize and condense. (Hence why having a more solid plan would have helped)
VI. Results of strategy: Kathleen wrote me a really lovely review when I asked for feedback at the end. Quoted below:
“Over the course of 4 weeks Kalena provided me with unwavering support on my invert journey. As someone who struggles with intensely sweaty hands I appreciated that they gave me conditioning exercises that allowed me to work on building up my muscles and core control in between our sessions. While my hands are still sweaty, I now can hold longer and more confidently thanks to the exercises provided. In their space even if I fell, they were immediately there to offer a hand,and they found ways to encourage me when I had bouts of frustration that allowed me to express those emotions but still gave me the confidence to try again. Kalena was able to pin point where my problem areas were but also gave me options to find a way that suited my body/pain thresholds.
I feel eager to continue learning and feel I have been provided with a skill set that I can now confidently try these movements on my own. Although I will still keep coming to them for advice! :) "
Concluding findings:
I learned a lot from working with Kathleen but I think the biggest takeaway for me was this:
When working with someone who is pretty much brand new to pole, skin pain tolerance is going to be a big hurdle, regardless of the person’s background. I (rather dumbly) assumed that since Kathleen does park-skating and roller derby, she would not have as much trouble with the discomfort of skin-on-pole, but that actually wound up being one of her biggest obstacles. That and fear, which was another thing I did not expect. So put simply, meet your client with zero assumptions, regardless of what you know about them off the pole.
Reflection Questions:
Did you invest yourself in this process?
I would say yes in that I worked very hard to give my client the best possible instruction in even this short amount of time.
What are you proud of in this process?
I am most proud of my ability to create a coaching environment that facilitated excitement and a desire to continue the journey, even after we were done.
Who are you working with?
Sherry,
Has been doing pole for 4 years or so, is in her 50s and has MS and arthritis but works incredibly hard on herself to stay fit and mobile. Her abilities in pole have fluctuated up and down a lot in the last year or so, I believe she told me she had some kind of injury that set her back, but she has recently been building back up. Has been inverting for a while and takes advanced classes but lacks clarity on body position and often will just struggle into positions in any way possible.
II. What are their goals?
When asked what she most wanted out of our time together, Sherry expressed wanting to “smooth things out and clean things up”. Which I interpret as clarifying form and gaining awareness and efficiency, as she is already quite strong and mobile.
III. What are your goals?
My main goal for Sherry was to get her to a point where she could invert without struggling/grabbing at the pole and find a consistent, secure knee hook. I also wanted to help her focus on getting comfortable enough with transitions to be able to find more fluidity and give herself options.
IV.What is your hypothesis/strategy?
I had to present a very abridged version of material as Sherry was a last minute substitute for my original client who fell through and so I decided to try to emphasize on the pole work to get as much as possible out of a less prepared program, but I also wanted to have some conditioning exercises prepared because I knew that Sherry often asks for those and responds well to them.
V. Documentation of Implementation of strategy:
Again pulled from written summary sent to client:
Session 1:
-We took before videos and introduced "spinal flossing" which is an exercise in Spinal Segmentation, useful for building control and awareness for making small spinal adjustments to make inverting more efficient.
-We also introduced spinal control in our squat, and learned about lateral thoracic breathing which we practiced by sitting in a rounded position with our knees into our chest and imagining gills on the back of our ribs.
-We talked briefly about hanging and how we can think about snapping the bar in half to achieve our active hang as well as using the same idea in a pull-up.
-Lastly we introduced the waist-hold invert! We got into this by leaning down so that we find horizontal (almost like a hip bridge or Crab position) with both hands as low as we can get, almost touching the abdomen. We find a neutral spine, pushing the ribs down, reaching the top of the head away from the pole, with the gaze either straight up at the sky or over the outside shoulder. Next step is to lift whichever leg feels most accessible to achieve liftoff into your chopper, either with or without pushing into the pole with the foot, and allowing your upper body to come towards vertical.
Session 2:
-We discussed using the band to assist with finding the position for an aerial invert/as a conditioning tool. We did this by tying the band as high as possible on the pole and then stepping into it with the outside leg at the same time as we do our "pull-up" onto the pole
-We continued to practice waist hold chopper into outside leg hang, using the rotation of the pelvis TOWARDS the pole to get our most secure hook.
-We discussed using a backwards invert and rotating the chest AWAY from the pole to assist in easier access to inside leg hang.
-Lastly we talked about shoulder mounts and using the band to do "pull-downs" starting with the arms out in front at about hip-width and then pulling down to the hips before controlling back up. We also added an overhead forward "push" exercise with a slightly lower resistance band.
Session 3:
-Spent some time reviewing inside and outside leg hang practice we discussed in Session 2
-Gave seated coordinated lift to waist hold exercise,
Starting seated on the floor with the inside leg bent, foot on the floor and the outside leg extended towards a narrow straddle. When ready, we pushed into the floor with the foot, grabbed onto the pole with the inside arm low, outside arm high, and pulled ourselves up into a standing waist-hold position with the outside leg lifted and energy pulling out from the top of our head. The goal of this is to make it one coordinated movement so that standing, pulling with the arms and lifting the outside leg happens more or less simultaneously.
-Spent the rest of our time exploring ways to find static rotation smoothly into and out of outside leg hang and developing strategies to help develop trust in the fact that the pole will still support us even as we play with momentum. This involved a log of walking around the pole and playing with tension and maintaining oppositional force as we transitioned into our inverts.
How did it go?
I think it went well over-all. Sherry is a very willing student and she is driven to improve so I was able to trust that if I gave her something to work on, she would definitely work on it.
What worked?
I felt like I was able to condense the material down well enough to still provide something that was helpful, even if I felt like there wasn’t as much time to space things out how I would have liked. I believe my greatest strength in teaching is being able to meet an individual where they are and provide them with at least one nugget of insight that will improve their experience of pole/movement.
What didn't?
I felt a bit disorganized/stressed because these sessions were very last minute and we crammed all 3 into essentially a week and a half so there wasn’t a lot of time for one set of information to be absorbed before I needed to give a new one.
VI. Results of strategy:
Sherry did not provide as lengthy a set of written feedback as my other client but I’ve highlighted some quotes from our messages:
“This has been really helpful for me, this [talking about inverting] is already feeling better”
“I really this exercise for shoulder mounts, I can see how it would be helpful”
“I had never heard anyone explain spinal orientation before”
“Thank you so much, this adjustment has made inside leg-hang SO much easier already!”
VII. Concluding findings:
The biggest thing I learned from working working with Sherry was that even small adjustments to form and awareness can pay off big time when it comes to comfort level and ease of movement. Because she was more of an advanced student, much of what we were doing was trying to fine tune positioning and help her find the awareness to help HERSELF be more efficient with her movement.
VIII. Reflection Questions:
Did you invest yourself in this process?
Yes, however I definitely did not manage my time in an optimal manner, thus leading to stress. I don’t think I let that bleed into the client experience too much, but I’m sure it could have been better.
What are you proud of in this process?
I’m proud of my ability to cater to my client’s needs and help her create pretty significant improvement in a very short amount of time.
I’m also proud of myself for not giving up on this whole project and resigning myself to failure. There were moments where I felt like calling it a wash, but even when logistics became really difficult I still found a way to at least complete the assignment, even if maybe it could have been better.