I. Who are you working with?
· Keren: Formerly a gymnast in her early years but since has led a less active lifestyle. Recently she has joined a gym and began weight training and running.
· Ariel: Formerly a ballerina and has recently become dedicated to weight training. She loves the outdoors and hikes often.
Explain your clients history and pain points.
· Keren: No current body pain or past injuries.
· Ariel: No current pain but has a previous lower back injury and knees have hurt her in the past from ballet training.
Videos Included:
· 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?
· Keren: She has only taken one intro to pole class before our coaching sessions. She has always wanted to try pole but was nervous about her abilities. She would like to invert by the end of our coaching sessions.
· Ariel: She also has wanted to try pole dancing but had difficulty making the time and cost was prohibitive. She is hoping to invert and exit gracefully by the end of our training.
Find out their movement goals (especially in regards to pole + inverting-related stuff). I can provide guidance w/ what to ask later on.
III. What are your goals?
· Since they both are very new to pole, I want to build their comfort and confidence when moving around and with the pole. My goal is that they have fun, feel more confident, and learn techniques that will help them safely invert.
Based on who you’re working with and what their goals are, where do you hope to get them?
· We spent the first bit of our time just moving around the pole, walking and holding the pole, some basic spins (fireman, back-hook, etc). They both hope to invert by the end of our time. My goal for them is to have them safely and gracefully invert and exit back down to the floor.
IV.What is your hypothesis/strategy?
How do you plan to approach coaching them? What methods will you use?
· Warm-up with squats
· Spinal awareness: Spinal flossing, rolling up and down wall, body waves on pole
· Bridges up then slowly lowering
· Lower crunches with shoulder on pole and toes coming up to tap pole then slowly descending
· Pull-ups with bands, with chair
· Passive/active hang
· Hip bridge, one foot lifts off the ground at a time, one foot on pole, one foot on pole and other leg bends towards torso and lifts off the ground, leaving foot on pole slowly descending
· Stepping into and invert with outside foot making contact with pole
· Hip bridge one foot one pole, inside leg lifting off ground, sliding outside leg into a knee hold, first attempt at OLH with hands still holding pole
V. Documentation of Implementation of strategy:
What actually happened in each session?
Started in the order above and they progressed in this order until they attempted OLH. We usually spent the last 15 minutes of class learning a few fun spins like Fireman, Pinwheel, Falling Lady and combing moves with a Dip turn. I also had them try a pole sit and started teaching the basic elements of a pole climb.
What did you do?
They were both super excited to try pole moves and really wanted to rush into inverting. I explained how the moves/exercises we were doing off the pole would help them achieve a more successful and safer invert. Slowing down and trying to tuck and tilt the pelvis during spinal flossing seemed to be difficult for both. Ariel made a comment that when weightlifting, she’s trained her body to not move her pelvis when lifting so it was hard for her to unlearn this approach to exercise. Doing the body waves on the pole helped to loosen and bring awareness to both. I spent time demonstrating that once they had inverted from a hip bridge, it was important to not just fall out of it but to gracefully descend to the floor.
How did it go?
They both had a great time and left feeling accomplished. The first class we spent a lot of time on spinal awareness and the basics of walking around a pole and physics of push/pole. The second class, by the end they had both inverted from a hip bridge and Ariel inverted from a standing step. The third class, they again both inverted from a hip bridge and they both attempted an OLH with hands still on pole. They made huge progress for only taking three classes.
What worked?
Hip bridge to one heel on the pole worked well for both and practicing the slow descent made the invert safe. Although it took a good chunk of time, spinal flossing with a band in the first session helped to bring more awareness to their spinal movement. After the hip bridge and practicing slowly descending, having them try a step to invert worked because once they inverted, they knew how to safely come down. That seemed to be the proudest movement for both because it was higher of the ground, and they said felt more impressive.
What didn’t?
Using the chair to push up on while doing a pull-up didn’t really seem to help their form. I think they needed more time/practice on pull ups with a band before using a chair. Attempting an OLH from having a heel on the pole was difficult because their hands were in the way of where their knee pit needed to be. I think it might have been too soon to introduce OLH and I think next time I’ll wait until they can both invert into a v.
[include media documentation] See video above
VI. Results of strategy: Share feedback from your clients. Share your “after” photos
· Ariel: “Had so much fun! I didn’t notice much progress on my pull-ups but was so amazed when I went upside down on the pole. I didn’t really expect to do that so soon. I’m hoping to take more classes.”
· Keren: “I enjoyed learning the spins and was nervous when I heard we were going to attempt inverting but starting low to the ground felt safe.”
VII. Concluding findings: Explain what this case study has taught you and how it can help other people.
Before taking this training I never would have thought someone (unless a super fit athlete) could invert after only a few pole lessons, but this has shown me to not put limits on students and to teach small achievable steps that will lead to big outcomes.
VIII. Reflection Questions: Did you invest yourself in this process? What are you proud of in this process?
I’m proud that both Ariel and Keren were able to invert after three sessions and that I helped them to feel more confident in their abilities by teaching achievable steps that slowly built on each other. They came nervous and excited about trying pole and by the end were asking if we could continue weekly sessions and proudly showing me their pole kisses. I hope to continue to grow and share with others about these coaching strategies on how to safely and successfully invert.