Karen Lehman

Case Study #1 Documentation

Client - Jessie

YouTube Video LINK

Clients history and pain points. - Jessie is young and healthy, with no history of serious pain or injury. She is BRAND NEW to pole, so she has no pre-existing habits to break or re-learn! She works full time as a middle school librarian, and part-time as an art instructor at a local business which pairs painting with wine tasting. She is married, with no children. She loves exploring the arts in her free time, and is currently involved in many forms of dance, and aerial hammock work. She also loves performing, and is passionate about costumes and loves Halloween! She is an ideal, open and eager student!

Include before/after photo/video of

T + L spinal flossing - 1st class we did this for first time, and continued some version in all classes

Squat - no real history with this but did in all 3 classes

Chin-up (or attempt) we did some of these on the pole in the first 2 classes, then in the 3rd class we met at my house where I have a chin up bar. She has a home aerial rig that she plans to begin practicing her chin-ups on

Invert (whatever version they are closest to) - no history, but worked on this in all 3 session

OLH (BM+ILH optional) - starting looking at a grounded OLH

Feel free to include anything else you would like to track progress on (forward hinge, shoulder mobility etc.…) - we have focused some time in each lesson on shoulder and spinal mobility, positioning and strength  

II. What are their goals?

Find out their movement goals (especially in regards to pole + inverting-related stuff). I can provide guidance w/ what to ask later on.

Jessie is brand new to pole! She is someone whom I have known through a burlesque dance group, which does not involve pole work. She has seen my IG videos from doing pole, and has been interested in learning anything on pole. She is wanting to learn it all - dancing with heels, tricks, spins and inverts. She is overall healthy, and has had success in learning Hammock Silks previously. She hopes to build a foundation to keep growing and learning and progressing in pole. She was open to whatever I wanted to teach, and was excited to begin!

III. What are your goals?

Based on who you’re working with and what their goals are, where do you hope to get them?

Jessie is interested in all things pole. She wants to build a healthy foundation for safe pole dancing, performing. This will include spins and inverts. I honestly just wanted to assess where she was at with strength and positioning, and build from there. My goal is for her to build an understanding of how to use her body safely and strongly on the pole, and to gain a sense of confidence and self-efficacy as she journeys through pole.

IV.What is your hypothesis/strategy?

How do you plan to approach coaching them? What methods will you use?

1st step is an assessment of body awareness, strength, and mobility related to spine, shoulder joint, and hip joint

Building proprioceptive awareness of spinal differentiation and isolation

Building proprioceptive awareness of shoulder and hip joint positions and engagement of muscles surrounding these joint areas

Training the foundations of strong positions in the invert exercises - bringing awareness to energy leaks;

Conditioning exercises - squats, chin ups, pole pull ups

Ongoing and initial assessment of needs

Balancing challenges with fun! Helping her feel successful each class, by finding the right pacing of information presented. Not wanting her to be either bored or overwhelmed, but somewhere in between

V. Documentation of Implementation of strategy:

What actually happened in each session? What did you do? How did it go? What worked? What didn't? [include media documentation]

Week 1 - see corresponding video

Jessie came to the pole studio for a group class that I was modeling after “Invert Ready” for beginners. She had agreed ahead of time to participate and videotape herself. Due to studio constraints the class was only 60 minutes. The studio does not have horizontal bars for chin-ups.

PLAN and ASSESS - I wanted to use Jessie’s first official session as a way to really dive into some of the IR body awareness exercises, particularly “spinal differentiation” and awareness of shoulder and hip joint positioning and mobility. I planned to use these exercises as a way to assess where she was at, and what would be the most useful progressions from her starting point.

We began with some shoulder mobility - use yoga straps and elastic bands to make circles with the arms. We also did the intense wall roll down, and spinal flossing with the elastic band (for about 8 minutes). Then we did some chair squats to practice positioning and full muscle engagement in the legs and hip joint. I experimented with some version of a pole pull-up/chin-up, which first involved standing and trying to pull the pole apart, as a way of teaching muscle engagement and also shoulder positioning.

With both the chair squat, and pole pull apart exercise, I brought attention to “ramping up” the efforting… counting from 1-10.

60 minutes is a short amount of time to include all of this awesome “off the pole” stuff! It took at least 40 minutes! At first, I actually felt kind of “bad” that people were coming to learn pole, and we were doing this very unusual stuff for most of the class!!!

But to my surprise, no one complained! Jessie was in a group of complete pole beginners. If anything they were fully engaged and motivated! And then, in the last 20 minutes when we did move to the poles to practice the bridge positioning, their positions were AMAZING!!! They actually needed very little cuing and correcting! The 40 minutes of off the pole exercises is way more than I normally would do in these 60 minute classes, but it was apparently extremely helpful for finding good positioning in the bridge invert prep!!

On the pole I introduced the sliding down into the bridge - building body awareness, proper positioning, and muscle engagement. This is where I first remembered to introduce the “rib tuck vs. flare” concept. We did this a few times on each side, and it went really really well. Jessie had great form, focus and engagement. Her effort level was high, and her attitude was positive and open. I also taught her how to “exit” an invert before actually learning to invert. The exit I taught was pulling the belly into the pole. “Pull the pole across the belly.” I felt she was ready to try an OLH, while keeping the inside leg on the floor. I showed her how to find the OLH while laying on the floor in an elevated hip bridge. I also introduced how to use the foot to push the crotch up to the pole, so that the leg hook position is easier to find. She was successful in all of these things– she felt really good, surprised, and excited!!!

Overall, Jessie’s first class went really well. She was open, eager, focused and engaged. She was really an ideal student, as she had great body awareness, as well as some pre-existing strength and flexibility - at least enough to do the exercises that were presented.

The pole pull-up exercise that I introduced in this class was not helpful, however! It was too challenging. I introduced the step into a spin on the static pole, with a pull-up. I don’t know what I was thinking, as this is even challenging for me! When this assessment showed that we needed to find more appropriate exercises, we used some Overcoming Isometrics - pulling the pole apart, as a way to meet the goals of building strength while maintaining position. Before our next meeting, I reviewed some of the IR course videos and found more appropriate pole pull up exercises - I also had my second group “office hours” with Marlo and she gave some better suggestions that I used in Session 2 with Jessie!

Week 2 - see corresponding video

Again, Jessie came to the pole studio for a group class that I was modeling after “Invert Ready” for beginners. She had agreed ahead of time to participate and videotape herself. Due to studio constraints the class was only 60 minutes. The studio does not have horizontal bars for chin-ups. We met for the 2nd time exactly one week after the first session

ASSESS - I did a check in to see how she had felt after her first class, and she reported feeling happy and excited by the progress she made. She also really enjoyed this teaching method, because she left feeling aware and more knowledgeable about her body and how it works in movement, and particularly pole. She also noticed fatigue and soreness from the intensive muscle activation, but saw this as a good sign! And on a final note she really enjoyed the spinal mobility and awareness exercises.

PLAN - Given this positive feedback, and the success of the previous week, I wanted to reinforce the learning from last week, solidify it, and build on it. I also wanted to find some more appropriate “chin up/pull up” exercises. My final plan was to continue progressing towards inverts, particularly in reviewing and strengthening the OLH and the exit from the invert. I wanted to also add some hip flexor strengthening exercises, since she was beginning to lift the leg from the floor for an OLH - and similar to most people found it somewhat challenging to keep the front of the body and hips open while lifting the OL.

I showed her how to use a foam roller to differentiate and move different parts of the spins, and how this could also create a feeling of chest opening. We also used the foam roller for a hip flexor strengthening exercise.

At the pole I introduced a new Overcoming Isometric exercise, using a yoga strap around the pole - bend arms with elbows towards ribs, try to pull pole towards you, keeping proper shoulder, chest, rib, and pelvic position. 5-10 second ramping up effort to pull.

I taught some more useful “pole pull up” exercises this week. With a rubber bandit wrapped around the pole, top of head height; position hands on and above the band, pull elbows down while trying to pull the pole down from the ceiling – start on the toes, and using the pulling down motion to raise yourself onto your tip toes. Jessie was surprised that she was able to do this – all while keeping chest lift, shoulders down, back of armpit squeeze, neutral pelvis, rib tuck. Jessie surprised herself by being able to pull herself to the tips of her toes. We tried this same thing with a yoga block between the pole and pelvis to help keep body off pole - it helped her to elevate her toes off the ground. I also showed Jessie a pole pull up with knees on the floor. Pulling knees off the ground while keeping feet on the ground. Overall Jessie felt quite successful with these new pull up exercises, and was super pleased to lift herself off the ground!

We spent about 25-30 minutes with these initial off the pole exercises, then moved onto the pole where we reviewed the bridge position, sliding down through bridge from standing. We also reviewed leg hook position while in a floor bridge. I should note that it was a hotter than usual day, and our studio has no AC, so she was slipping a lot on the pole! But overall, in the second week, Jessie’s inverts were much more strong, and confident. She self-corrected a lot of her positioning, too. She even, on her own, would have focus and intention before beginning an invert. I observed some great pulling and positioning in the upper body and back.

New material included introducing a standing leg hook, and hinging down into the invert, just as a way of really engaging the hooked leg. She had a great strong leg hook here, but it was hard to keep the upper body open during the transition down, which is understandable. We did this a small number of times and the main focus was the hooking leg, so that goal was met!

We then looked at an invert to chopper from a slightly higher position by pushing the inside foot into the ground; and then hooking the outside leg immediately. This was also successful - some great pulling, and more ease on moving into the OLH

The exit from the invert is still a challenge; but I would like to keep encouraging the pulling belly towards pole for safety reasons, and perhaps immediately placing a foot onto the floor (the outside foot)

Reviewing the previous work, as well as adding some newer and more challenging concepts kept Jessie engaged, as well as reinforced and added to her previous learning. She had noticeably greater comfort with the inverts this week!

Week 3 - see corresponding video

Jessie had been unable to meet on Sundays for the past 4 weeks, at the studio. So I invited her to my home, where I actually have a pull up bar! This was exciting because, she was my only client and I could focus completely on her, and we would also get to work some chin-up/pull-up exercises!

We had had a 4 week gap since our previous sessions, so I just started with a check in on how she and her body were feeling, as well as what she remembered from our previous sessions. Overall she was feeling good, but tired, as she had returned to her job as the middle school librarian, now that the schools were back in session. When I asked her what stood out for her from our previous sessions, she remarked that a lot of the “external cues” I had used had made a big difference, particularly when I suggested she “pull the pole out of the ceiling” this had helped her lift her weight off the ground in pullup modifications on the pole. She also felt like the overall body awareness had been helpful.

We warmed up with some shoulder mobility and spinal mobility, then moved to the Horizontal bar, where we first explored passive arm hangs and shoulder shrugs. Then I used the thickest rubber bandit for an assisted chin up. This was quite challenging so we then used the bandit for an eccentric, lowering down chin up. We discussed ways that she could train these concepts at home - she was going to share them with her husband who was also excited to train chin-ups/pull ups! I ended by just demonstrating spinal movements during passive arm hangs. Also, the hand grip was challenging (very normal!) so we discussed the benefits in building grip strength from passive arm hangs with shoulder elevation.

At the pole we reviewed some of the previous exercises that she had found helpful for building awareness, strength and positioning: 1) overcoming isometric with cue to pull pole in 2 different directions, hands near base of ribs, 2) hands above head with cue to pull pole out of ceiling, lifting onto tips of toes. She has great focus and engagement in these exercises.

We then reviewed bridge positioning, and the steps into inverting from the floor. She was surprised by the ease and how much she remembered with the 4 week absence. We reviewed in greater depth the concept of internal rotation to external rotation of the leg for OLH; as well as how to transition from a foot pushing the crotch higher up the pole into an OLH with ease and fluidity

We ended with an intro to fan kicks, a way of using all of the concepts - position, engaging muscle activation, pulling the pole across the body… while adding in a more complex and dynamic movement pattern. She found this a fun way to end, and also was able to begin applying the upper body positioning and muscle activation to this move – it was also a useful way of learning how to find the waist hold position during a dynamic movement.

VI. Results of strategy: Share feedback from your clients. … Jessie reported that she enjoyed and benefited from this process. She appreciated the details and clarity of the approach. She felt that information was presented at the right pace, not too much and not too little. She enjoyed the explanations for “why” we were doing both the off the pole, and on the pole exercises. She reported an increased understanding of body mechanics, and how we can prevent certain overuse injuries in pole (and other areas of life) by creating greater body awareness and thoughtfulness as we execute movements. She enjoyed the stepwise progression which allowed her to do some things which ended up surprising her!

VII. Concluding findings: Explain what this case study has taught you and how it can help other people. —

The most important thing I’ve learned from the process of working with a complete beginner to pole is that the Invert Ready methodology really works!!! Really! When you think about it, nobody else does all of this “off the pole” learning. Beginners are usually put on the pole immediately, often in heels!... When I first took the student version of IR, I did not readily see how a lot of the “exercises” actually related to the pole. But over the many hours of taking IR twice, and then the IRC course; I’ve personally felt and seen in others the importance of all of the learning.

I had moments throughout the IRC course where I felt overwhelmed by the sheer volume of information. Seriously, there is a lot! And each session was 3 hours. Our “warmup” and off the pole training was usually more than an hour. At my studio, as an instructor I am limited to a 60 minute class. I often wondered how I would create an effective IR modeled course within a 60 minute limitation. But the Portland training really helped to “consolidate” the theory and model, and gave me practical methods of how to put things together in 60 minutes!!! Fortunately I began working with Jessie after the Portland weekend. I feel like through this particular case study I have developed a great foundational model for teaching Pole Beginners about Inverts, but really it is important for ALL things Pole.

I also started having the confidence to begin each session with a check in. Asking Jessie “what stood out for you in our last class/session?”... Because, quite often, what stood out for ME may not be the same as what stood out for HER or other students! But also, I feel like adding in this layer of self-reflection for students can reinforce their mental schema or understanding of the learning.

So, I’d say I have gained greater clarity and confidence, of how to - a) assess where a student is at, b) what are the important basic foundations for starting pole, c) progressions (both down and up) for meeting the foundational goals, d) a whole plethora of exercises and information I can continue to tap into to keep growing as a teacher.

VIII. Reflection Questions: Did you invest yourself in this process? What are you proud of in this process? —- Yes! Definitely! I feel like I kind of answered this in the question above… But to add on to what I have already said, I feel a great sense of integrity and authenticity in teaching people how to invert. I know a lot more about inverting that I did before taking these IR courses, and it has impacted me profoundly. With this confidence, I am able to be more fully present in observing students. This enables me to meet students where they are at, and to use the foundation of knowledge to address their needs, as well as to be really curious about what they are wanting out of pole, and to self-reflect on what the learning process has been like.

Clients history and pain points - Steph is young and healthy (20’s). She works full time during the week at a mostly seated and desk-based job with an emphasis on Social Work. She is single with no children. During the pandemic Steph taught herself how to sew, and now she is an amazingly accomplished seamstress - she creates gorgeous pole performance clothing! She started learning to pole dance during the pandemic around March of 2021. She quickly became the student who was attending the most classes of anyone at our studio each week, really immersing herself in all things pole! I resumed in-person teaching at our studio in July of 2021, and Steph quickly became a regular. My class focused on what I considered at the time to be pole foundational elements that generally were not being taught in other classes at our studio.

By that time I had taken the first public offering of Marlo’s initial “Invert Ready” course in earlier 2021. Because this course had such a significant impact on my own strength, body awareness, and understanding of inverts, I began using and teaching many of these concepts in my classes, and quickly saw improvements in strength and position of the students who attended regularly. They were happily reporting changes in their strength and awareness, as well, and seeing the impact on their pole work. I also had some of my regular students reporting that mine were the only classes where they did not feel hurt or injured after attending. I have had a group of “regular” students who attend my weekly Sunday classes religiously (our studio owner calls it “the Church of Karen” LOL).

Before taking the Invert Ready Coach training, my approach to teaching the Invert Ready ideas and exercise was less organized, as I had yet to really conceptualize the learning for myself. Yet I wanted to document the progress of one of the regular students who reported benefitting from the teachings. Steph came to pole with no prior experience with dance or movement, as well as no strength training. But she had tons of excitement, focus and motivation for all things pole. Unfortunately, in the few months of pole before she came to work with me, she had not received any safe or in-depth invert training, hence the significant injuries, and faulty self beliefs about her pole limitations.

I have observed profound improvement in Steph’s inverts and pole skills over the past year. When I first began working with her one year ago, she commonly experienced muscle strain and injury. She also had low confidence and fear for a number of moves. She loved the “invert ready inspired” method of teaching that I was using, and eagerly volunteered to be a part of this final project! I was also excited to record her moving through 3-4 well-organized post-Portland sessions!

Include before/after photo/video of -T + L spinal flossing, Squat, Chin-up (or attempt), Invert (whatever version they are closest to), OLH (BM+ILH optional), Feel free to include anything else you would like to track progress on (forward hinge, shoulder mobility etc.…) 

II. What are their goals?

I originally emailed Steph asking her to participate in my final project. In the email I asked her what her initial goals had been when we first started working together one year ago, and what her current pole goals were now.

Some of my goals were mainly related to inverting. Learning not to kick up to invert. The only injuries I have ever had throughout my pole journey (1.5+ years) have been during an invert. At the beginning of my pole journey, I was so determined to invert, it did not matter how I got up. Then once I got up from the ground, I wanted to learn aerial inverts. Aerial inverts caused my second injury. Every time I would invert it felt as if I was yanking on my back. Inverting has been /(still partially is) the ugly part of any trick combo I attempt. Inverting is the piece I tend to fast forward to get to the "tricks" part of my combos. I wanted/still do want to make inverting look and feel effortless.

Some of my current goals still relate to inverting. I want to be able to do inverts on the ground with straight legs and pointed toes. I want to continue learning how to properly (meaning really grasping the technique) execute inverts from different transitions such as on the ground spins, aerial static rotations, positions like Jamila and prancing, and other neat ways! I want to really focus more on static rotations and how to make my body move in ways that give the illusion I am on spinner. I want to be able to complete beautiful aerial inverts through different transitions. Chopper or "wheel downs" are ones I have seen that look so beautiful!

Inverting and hooking my outside leg on spinner pole is another big one. However, I feel like once I have mastered inverting aerially on static (I will have a sweeter time mastering inverting on spinner). These moves feel so much heavier on a spinning pole.

Inside leg hooks is another one. Like inverting, anything involving inside legs is heavily rushed because my body is not yet comfortable or confident in this position.

Practicing both sides is another goal, hehe.

My last and overall goal is proper technique in all things related to pole. I was once listening to a pole podcast where the person being interviewed was asked what differentiates a beginner poler and an advanced poler. The person replied "technique". She mentioned how even having a Jazmin can make you look advanced if you have proper technique when executing the move.

III. What are your goals?

Based on who you’re working with and what their goals are, where do you hope to get them?

My initial goals when I first began working with Steph (and the other students) in July of 2021 were primarily injury prevention, which would involve teaching new habits of inverting by building strength and body awareness and positioning.

Once I was more immersed in the IRC training, and I had a fuller understanding of the concepts, my goals for Steph became more specific:

Improve shoulder joint positioning

Focus on “ramping up” muscle activation, focus on pre-engaging muscles

Improve step one of Invert “focus”, and the last step “the exit”

IV.What is your hypothesis/strategy?

How do you plan to approach coaching them? What methods will you use?

Even though I had been employing the Invert Ready concepts with Steph for about one year, it had been less organized, a bit of a “patchwork” presentation. After the Portland weekend training, the Invert Ready theoretical approach, as well as how to implement it became more solidified for me. I was excited to go back to the foundational exercises of IR - spinal differentiation through spinal flossing, shoulder mobility, thoracic mobility, squats, chin ups/pull ups, 360 degree breathing, external cueing, bridge positioning, and detailed OLH exercises.

Despite the fact that Steph and the other Sunday regulars have been presented with these exercises at various times over the past year, a good revisit with a more thorough explanation and presentation (the “why” of the exercise), can really help a student understand a move more fully. My plan was to almost “start from the beginning” - by revisiting the foundations in a cohesive manner, and to use these exercises as an assessment of where Steph was after more long term exposure to this methodology, to hone in on the individual challenges she was facing, and implement various methods of focusing in on these challenges.

V. Documentation of Implementation of strategy:

What actually happened in each session? What did you do? How did it go? What worked? What didn't?

Session 1 - (see accompanying video linked above)

Steph came to the pole studio for her usual weekly group class with me, that I had been modeling after “Invert Ready” for a number of months. She had agreed ahead of time to participate in a focused 3-session project for my Invert Ready final and agreed to videotape herself. Due to studio constraints the class was only 60 minutes. The studio does not have horizontal bars for chin-ups.

PLAN and ASSESS - I wanted to use Steph’s first “official final project session” as a way to really dive into some of the IR body awareness exercises, particularly “spinal differentiation” and awareness of shoulder and hip joint positioning and mobility. I planned to use these exercises as a way to assess where she was at currently, and to see where we could best focus the remaining sessions for her.

We began with shoulder mobility - use yoga straps and elastic bands to make circles with the arms. We also did the intense wall roll down (which took about 5-6 minutes), following by 360 degree breathing and spinal flossing with the elastic band (for about 8-10 minutes). Then we did some chair squats to practice positioning and full muscle engagement in the legs and hip joint. I have been training Steph in pole pull-ups for a number of months, and she has shown tremendous improvement in this area, in both strength and position. Today we reviewed in greater detail than usual the shoulder positioning and muscular activation, using an overcoming isometric (OI), cuing her to “pull the pole apart”. With both the chair squat, and pole pull apart exercise, I brought attention to “ramping up” the efforting… counting from 1-10. We then included pole pull-ups, after warming up with the OI exercise.

60 minutes is a short amount of time to include all of this awesome “off the pole” stuff! It took at least 40 minutes in this class! At first, I actually felt kind of “bad” that people were coming to learn pole, and we were doing this very unusual stuff for most of the class!!! I usually do approximately 25-30 minutes of “warm-ups” in this class, but it often involves more “on the pole” type of warming up.

But to my surprise, no one complained! These more experienced students, including Steph, reflected that a lot of these exercises made even more sense now than they had many months ago! Steph, and the other students have really enjoyed these opportunities to “focus” on their muscle efforting, and body positioning. They have reflected a number of times that this is what they enjoy most about my classes!

Remaining 20 minutes or so were spent “on the pole” reviewing in detail the fundamentals of inverting, while reflecting back on all of our previous conditioning and warm up exercises. We did the waist hold bridge slide down to the floor, the belly on the pole exit from this move, the low waist hold invert without jumping, as well as both OLH and ILH

As you will see in the videos, Steph’s body awareness, control, positioning and strength have improved tremendously from her “before” video. She inverts and exits beautifully, elegantly, with strength, confidence and control on BOTH sides with both OLH and ILH. LIke many students (including myself) she tended to just invert into her dominant side OLH

From this detailed class, I observed that many of her foundations were solid and strong. I also observed that even though she could exit slowly, with control, she also had a tendency to lose that strong, safe exit once she began to execute more complicated moves; but would instead find some more precarious exits. There was also a tendency to lose the shoulder positioning towards the end of class or again when the movements became more complicated. Therefore, I thought we could bring more attention to strong, focused exits, and consistent shoulder positioning and conditioning in the upcoming classes.

Session 2 - (see accompanying video linked above)

My goal for this week was to focus in great detail on 1) shoulder awareness and positioning, as well as using “pre-engagement” as a way to ramp up and tune in to engaging muscles around the shoulder area during inverts and exits, and 2) to consistently be thoughtful and attentive to the exit particularly when executing more complex invert work

We actually warmed up with that fun partner exercise we had done in Portland with the ropes - the one where we explore different shoulder positions by keeping the rope taut between 2 people. With these experienced students it was a fun and engaging exercise, as they had awareness and confidence to explore various ranges of shoulder positioning. Our studio does not have the cool ropes that we played with in Portland, so we used Yoga Straps, which led to more hand fatigue than the knotted ropes! But anyway, this was a fun, playful and engaging shoulder warm-up!

We then spent a bit more time really examining the shoulder position during pole pull-ups. We began on the knees, with a leg-assisted pull-up - pulling up the body to raise the knees off the floor while keep the feet connected, minimizing the amount of body weight being lifted, giving more opportunity to tune in to shoulder positioning. Focusing on pre-engagement of the muscles was reviewed in detail as well. I then added a rubber banditz to the pole to help with pole grip, to again enable Steph to focus on her shoulder positioning during the pull-ups. And then another pull-up involved, starting on “tip toes” pulling down on the pole and pulling self up to “tippy-tippy toes” - this micro-lift again really helps dial in the focus on the muscle engagement

We reviewed the Phase 9 of the Invert - the Exit! Finding a slow exit from any Leg Hook, by slowing down, and pulling the pole across the belly, finding moments to pause in the exit, fixing the position of the spine, shoulders, and chest in those moments as well. Steph noticed that reminding herself that this was actually “phase 9” of the invert helped her remember to use it every time she inverted. We both acknowledged that this was also a great way to keep building strength!

Near the end of session #2, Steph acknowledged that the detailed focus on shoulders and exits was extremely helpful, and important area in which she wanted to continue focusing and improving - so she had found all of the exercises helpful.

I do wish I had more than 60 minutes each week, to fit more into these classes, but again, I saw that Steph and the other students were appreciated the detailed conditioning and positioning work, and were not left feeling like we “didn’t do enough on the pole”.

Session 2 - (see accompanying video linked above)

For this 3rd official Final Project session, I wanted to continue to focus on shoulder positioning and exits; but to apply it to more complex pole movements; which Steph is doing in most of her other classes.

For the warmup, we again focus on shoulder positioning and conditioning. Because I had been researching and writing a report on “Overcoming Isometrics” (OI’s) as my “interest area”, we used some OI’s for the warm-ups - not only for shoulders, chest, and back, but also for glutes, and quads - pushing against an immovable object, proved to be a fun, engaging, and efficient full body warmup for the students.

After warming up with our standing waist hold inverts and exits - bringing focus to the 9 phases of inverting; we began applying these principles to complex patterns of movement such as climbing and aerial inverts with OLHs and ILHs. These are all movement patterns we had trained previously, and Steph does lots of climbing, aerial inverts and various tricks in other classes throughout the week with other teachers, too.

Overall, she has made huge gains in her strength, positioning, confidence and safety. She and I both notice the tendency for her to round the back a bit at various points in these movement patterns, but she also is tuning in enough to self-correct at numerous points, as well. And again, this gives us some material to continue working with in upcoming weeks!

Bonus Session #4 - Chin-ups and Pull-ups at My House!

I had been talking about horizontal bar work for quite a few months with all of the students. Steph had recently purchased her own doorway horizontal bar, and was eager to learn some exercises for the bar, so we decided to do a session at my house!

Before this session, Steph said she had never tried or done chin-ups or pull-ups before. She was a bit skeptical about her abilities, but I told her that we had TONS of options to experiment with, that would lead her on a path towards happy chin-ups!

We started with a “dead hang” letting the shoulders elevate. But first we examined handgrip a bit, and explored the various options for wrapping the hands - I recommended the thumb wrap for all of the exercises, and recommended bringing attention to all of the fingers on the bar. It was fun seeing her drop lower as she relaxed and elevated the shoulders! She enjoyed the feeling as well. Being a pole dancer with a strong hand grip, she was able to hang for about 40 seconds on her first try!

Next we explored some spinal movements and undulations while hanging. This was challenging for her to figure out how to initiate this movement - and I honestly told her it was for me the first few times, too! So we broke it down a bit into pelvic tilting and tucking, and beginning to turn those movements into body waves. Steph is excited to experiment more with these movements at home.

We explored hanging shoulder elevations and depressions (shrugs) next. Steph did a great job with this, as this is a movement pattern we do every week in class (without weight), and she reflected that this felt good, but also noticed that her lack of grip strength inhibited her a bit, and I also reflected that this was a new thing, and she may be fatiguing from the other “hangs” we had done.

So, next I introduced chin-ups with a knee in the Rubber Bandit. This is a great way to explore the movement and positioning with less weight. This just seemed effortless for her!

Because the band-assisted chin-ups were so easy, we decided to see how chin-ups felt without the band. She surprised herself by effortlessly executing 3 non-assisted chin-ups with beautiful form!!! Her movement was smooth, and her grip looked solid!

Lastly I showed her an eccentric lowering down from a chin-up, as another add on for building strength.

This was an extremely fun and successful session. Steph left feeling empowered and strong. I really believe that the many months we had done of strength training, positional and body awareness; as well as that days lead-up exercises helped her with the chin-ups - again the first time she had done these in her life!

VI. Results of strategy:

Steph is an extremely motivated, dedicated and focused pole student!I have seen great improvement in her muscle engagement, body awareness, self correcting of position and engagement, improved position, and great improvements in strength.

When I emailed her in June and asked her to participate in this final project, I asked if she had any initial feedback on what she has learned from the IR concepts I’ve taught over the past year - she wrote, “I feel like your class has strengthened not only my body, but the understanding of my body. How an invert is a squat upside down, how an inside leg is a pigeon pose, how the placement of my arms and hips is key to get to an invert or proper static rotation, and the list goes on! I don't think I would have made the progress I am making if I did not have the breakdowns of moves and simplifications your class provides! LOVE LOVE LOVE your class, Karen! “

After our last meeting for this final project (9/6/22), I asked Steph if she had any final feedback, now that she had received a more “condensed and organized” presentation of IR concepts.. She stated that her sense of body awareness and body confidence has improved; She continues to notice huge leaps in strength; She does not get injured; She enjoys inverting for the sake of inverts and feels that she has met her goal of having beautiful invert technique; she feels safe and confident with aerial inverts; she feels safe and confident with ILH; She has met the goal of consistently training both sides. She feels that she really uses the IR principles in so many aspects of pole.

VII. Concluding findings: Explain what this case study has taught you and how it can help other people.

To be honest, working with Steph and the other “Sunday regulars” (this past year) has helped me grow tremendously as a teacher. Without such incredibly fun, committed, and eager students, I would not work half as hard as I do!

With the Invert Ready Mentor training I feel much more educated and prepared to teach inverts. I understand the mechanics of inverts, I understand body anatomy and specifically the body parts related to inverting, and I can demonstrate and explain these concepts to students. Bringing AWARENESS to our bodies as we execute movements in pole, keeps us all safe, strong, and beautiful. What pole dancer doesn’t want those things?

Through working with Steph throughout my IRC training, I have grown in my ability to observe my students, and provide helpful feedback. I can spot energy leaks, and translate these observations into strategies and exercises to improve positioning and engagement of muscles

Knowing that Steph attends multiple classes per week with other instructors, and is definitely practicing more “advanced tricks”, I at times have wondered “am I offering enough” in my classes to keep her and the other experienced students engaged? Well, the obvious answer is that they would keep coming every week to my classes if they weren’t getting something useful from them! But, I think my self-confidence was solidified after the Portland weekend; particularly when I began the 3 week Final Project classes with Steph. Going back to the foundational exercises, and being able to coherently and confidently explain “why” these were important and useful, and to see the students fully focus and commit to this learning has been rewarding and reaffirming. I feel like I offer something extremely useful and relevant to pole students of various levels.

How can this help other people? Trusting the process of teaching the IRC concepts and applying them to your students with confidence and patience. These methods work. I have seen profound changes in myself and others.

VIII. Reflection Questions: Did you invest yourself in this process? What are you proud of in this process?

Yes!!!! Whole heartedly! I’ve probably sprinkled answers to this throughout this report… but will add a few more thoughts. I love learning and I love teaching! And most of all I love the challenge of seeing each person as an individual, and adapting to the student’s needs in the present moment. Being knowledgeable and prepared is an important prerequisite. But for most effective teaching situations, you cannot teach a class like a recipe out of a cookbook. Know the foundations and theories, but be fully present in your observations of the students. Communicate effectively, and problem-solve creatively, based on your foundational knowledge. I always tell people that there are the “3 A’s” or phases of learning something new: Awkward, Aware, and Automatic. I feel like I have moved through the “awkward” phase of learning/teaching this new material of IRC, and am operating in both the aware, as well as the more fluid/dynamic “automatic” phase at times. Those are the moments that are exciting and joyful as a teacher. But I love also being in the “aware” phase, as I still have much to learn myself. I enjoy being intentional in my research and preparation before each class. I love being able to go back and watch more videos in our vast IRC library of resources!