Need Help!! Strengthening exercises for pole dancing

I've done pole in the past so here are my thoughts: Hanging leg raises, from a pole or Roman Chair. Knees to elbows from a pull up bar (start with wall tappers if you can't do that). Hollow body holds. Planks. Inverted rows from a smith machine or barbell in a rack (this is a beginner progression to a pull up). Pole ups (like pull ups but pulling yourself up on the pole). I would say start with maybe like 3 sets of 10 on everything except hollow body holds, in which case see if you can do 3 sets of 30 second holds, increasing your hold time each day til you are up to three sets of 60 seconds. Planks: start working towards 2 minutes. Do what you can for now. For inverts, you want to have a lot of control bringing up your legs, so you're not looking for crunches or beach ab stuff. How is your grip strength? If it's not great, include farmer carries.

From some experience. for Core strength Vagina Monsters (similar to crab crawl ) and Stripper push ups, for upper body. you can You tube both these exercises. They are fun, sexy and great strengthing exercises.

I would also recommend You Are Your Own Gym or Body By You by Mark Lauren. I read both, and although the second (BBY) is geared towards women I preferred the first. YAYOG also has an app for iphone (and I think for android but I don't know for sure since I don't own one) that I think is fantastic. Both were available through my library so I could read them before deciding which I wanted to buy.

Good luck. I had thought of taking these classes years ago but talked myself out of them. Maybe once I get a little further in my workout plan I will have the courage to try it.

PLANKS! I'm in a similar boat myself and I have found that planking is super helpful for my core. The longer you hold the better! Iron chairs are also useful. I do them while I'm waiting for my tea to brew in the office as well as wall push-ups. And of course sit ups.

Do you have a pole at home also? If so leg raises from the floor (make sure you're getting your butt up and off!) are good. I do the following - Tuck, pike, straddle, lift X 5. Ballerina crunches off the pole will work your obliques nicely!

I'd recommend talking to your instructor too - I know mine are more than willing to give me tips and things to take home with me and work on. Just sticking at it too - I SUCK at aerials, but I've stuck at it and although my progress is slow, it's still progress. Good luck!

One of my favorite core workouts specifically for pole inverts is great if you don't have a pole at home and you can throw on leg weights/ stripper shoes, once it gets easy. You lay on a yoga mat with your arms by your sides, palms down legs straight and together on the ground. Slowly, with control and without momentum - lift your legs over your head, while starting to spread them into a straddle. You will go all the way into a straddled plow( yoga) pose with your feet touching the floor. The big key is coming back down to legs straight on the ground with control. Then you can make it harder by having your arms straight over head, then adding in leg weights.

Also body weight isn't a huge deal. I am pretty big. Much larger than you and I do pole and aerials and have been progressing nicely. I'm now trying to just drop some quick weight because I feel it could give me a boost with silks but it hasn't held me back much.

All these replies are helpful for me, too, thanks everyone! I do cheer and I'm a flyer so I need a lot of arm strength to load in and abs of steel to keep myself tight and balanced in the air so these are some good tips