Click here to watch my video. https://youtube.com/shorts/N22j6__KbHs?feature=share
This is a before and after photo of my invert. I used this picture as a teaching tool to show my students the growth opportunities. I used Socratic questioning to get the answers from them. Their and my answers were synonymous. They saw the rounding of the lumbar and thoracic spine. They saw how the elbows were precariously hanging and had no tone to protect the elbows. In the past whenever I would pole dance, I would have elbow pain, and it is now very apparent to me in the before photos how I used to hang on my elbows. My biceps, triceps, and pecs were not fully in use. When I first started to invert, I did not think to engage them. My goals were simply to get my legs in a V position over my head.
It took me approximately 6 months to have the strength to invert when I first started my pole dancing hobby in 2012. I didn’t quite understand the move and primarily saw it as a lower abdominal exercise, and when I couldn’t do it, I always thought it was because I didn’t have the “core strength.” In my before video, I felt this, and I often use the spin to assist it in taking away some weight. I notice a rounding in and a tilting of my chin towards my chest. To be honest, I am not sure if the before and after photos and videos clearly show how much more controlled I feel, but I know for certain that I can now invert anywhere, any time with a proper warm-up. In the past, it wasn’t always a given, and I feel this because I now understand the biomechanics of my spine, and use leverage to invert.
The biggest difference is in my chin-ups, and I am most proud of this. In January 2022, I was able to do about 3 supinated close grip chin-ups total. I noticed that I needed to use momentum in order to achieve this. I know that the use of momentum is not always bad, but in this case, I saw that I jumped into the top position which didn’t allow me to engage my biceps. I can now do supinated wide-grip pull-ups, and I have only been able to do this one other time in my life which was in 2016 when I was training for a pole dance competition. I was approximately 20 pounds lighter. I started this year with success in doing three sets of one pull-up. It gradually went to three sets of two reps. Now, on a good day, I can do three sets of approximately four reps immediately followed by a decline set of two(ish) pull-ups with one band, immediately followed by another decline set with two bands of whatever I can do with control.
Of all the before and after differences, I see the most difference in my pull-ups. I now train these more often than my inverts. I feel that my ability to do the pull-ups comes from a daily passive and active hang with the horizontal bar. The passive hang exploration with one foot on the floor has helped me find lumbar spine release. In playing between active and passive, I have a better sense of what it feels like when I use my traps, and when I am not.
Due to my passive hanging daily exercises and consistent pull-up work, two to four times per week, I have played on the monkey bars for the first time in my life! Even when I was a child, I could not do this. I saw my friends doing it with ease, and I was a little heavy as a child and I always thought it was due to my weight. The inner child release that I got when I was able to play with monkey bars has been so healing, and I am grateful for this opportunity to work on them.
I still need to work on many things. I notice that near the top of the pull-up, I unintentionally pronate my shoulders. This happens when I get fatigued when I invert as well. I often take videos, make observations, and try to make changes by the next set. I believe that I need to focus more on activating the upper pectoral muscles, what I’d call a chest puff. Ways that I work on this are working on just the top of the pull-up using a pull-up weight assist machine. I can sometimes use a band, but I find that the band gives support from the bottom of the pull-up and not the top. Other ways I have worked on this are starting from the top of the pull-up, and having my eyes focus on the top corner of the room where the ceiling and wall meet. I find that when I have a place for my eyes to look, I can position my cervical spine better.
I also notice that when I have taught inverts to my pole dance students, the cervical spine is also one of the last ways for them to improve. The lumbar spine and pelvic understanding is often the first place for improvement but can be fixed with spinal flossing. This is similar to thoracic positioning. It can be a problem, but with some personalized work, it can be fixed. The cervical spine is often the last place that students need to address. I am not sure if this is due to my own hindrances, but when I talked to my other invert-ready coach friends, we mentioned trying to erase years of body memory of curling into a meatball instead of using the physics of leverage. I’ve also noticed that there can still be a success in the pull-up and invert if the rest of the spine, thoracic and lumbar are positioned correctly. In contrast, if the cervical spine is positioned correctly, but the lumbar spine is not, there are larger problems to overcome.
Most importantly, throughout my 10-year pole dance career, I used to get injured every 4-6 months, and I attributed this to overuse of my shoulder. I am not a doctor, and when I went to the doctor to see my shoulder, I did not quite understand what the problem was. He would simply tell me to rest. After the first day of our invert ready training, I learned that placing my shoulders “back and down” before lifting my hand to the pole was not the ideal positioning for strength. Since I stopped doing this in January 2022, and my regular passive hang exercise, I have not had any shoulder problems, and do not feel any overuse, fatigue, or imbalance. While the picture can say a thousand words, I cannot emphasize enough the freedom of movement I now feel since I have not gotten routinely injured. I feel balanced, strong, and healthy in every part of my life, not just in inverts.