Last Updated on May 21, 2023
Contents
- Pole Dancing at Home: Safety 101
- Want to become an amazing pole dancer?
- Always Warm-Up and Cool Down Properly
- Give Yourself Enough Space
- Keep Pets out of the Room
- Check the Stability of your Pole
- Wear Appropriate Clothing
- Avoid Moisturizers, Creams & Lotions
- Use Grip Aids
- Get a Spotter
- No Alcohol, Sorry
- Use a Crash Mat Designed For Pole Dancing Use
- Always Stay Hydrated
The last thing any amateur or professional pole dancer wants is to get injured! Pole dancing is a sport that requires you to lift your own body weight, defy gravity and invert yourself. It heavily relies on your own strength and ability to grip. An accident could be catastrophic, so let’s get serious and discuss some safety tips for pole dancing in detail.
By following basic safety and common sense, there’s no reason for you to have any major accidents. There are plenty of precautions you can take to protect your own safety. This article contains plenty of tips for pole dancing safely at home.
You will learn:
- How to keep yourself safe when using the pole
- Things to consider when pole dancing at home
- How to avoid injuries to yourself
Pole Dancing at Home: Safety 101
It’s common to feel anxious about pole dancing at home, especially at first. This safety guide has been designed to share best practice when using portable dance poles safely in a home environment.
A lot of work has gone into creating this guide, so, if you find this useful please remember to share this article with your fellow pole dance enthusiasts!
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Always Warm-Up and Cool Down Properly
This is so easy to skip when you’re using your pole at home, but failing to warm up can result in injury and unnecessary muscle soreness, and no one wants that, do they?!
Always make the effort to warm up before starting a pole session at home.
This doesn’t have to be as tedious as running on the spot for 5 minutes, why not have a quick run outdoors before starting your pole session? Or, use the stairs in your house to raise your heart rate for a few minutes if you’re running short of time.
It’s also important to warm up all your joints, especially your shoulders, wrists, hips, and knees.
Your body is about to do a lot of serious work and we don’t want to cause premature wear-and-tear on our joints! Stretching during your warm-up should be gentle and not too intense. The deep stretching should come after your pole session…
Read this awesome 10-minute warm-up plan for pole dancers of all levels
When it comes to cooling down afterward, this is definitely something that you shouldn’t rush. Stretching at the end of any workout has many benefits and it will help improve your flexibility.
Stretch all of your muscles from head-to-toe, easing into each stretch, and using the pole or wall for resistance if you need to.
You should feel the muscle stretching, but don’t overstretch – if it starts to hurt or seize up then loosen your stretch to make it more comfortable.
You should ease into each stretch while exhaling after a deep breath in. Those of you who do yoga will know how much this helps!
Give Yourself Enough Space
Make sure you’ve moved any items from the floor in the room you’re poling in. Ensure there’s nothing else nearby which you could slip on/fall on/stub your toe on, etc!
This also goes for ceiling space, in our last apartment we had to remove the ceiling lampshade to avoid kicking it while getting into ‘extended butterfly’!
Are there any picture frames hanging on the wall with the potential for being kicked down as a result of a clumsy invert?
It can be useful to have a mirror nearby (it helps your progress) but you know what they say about mirrors and what happens if you break one…
See also: Plus size pole dancing – What you need to know
Keep Pets out of the Room
As cute and hilarious as they may be, it’s best to keep your beloved pets in a different room for the duration of your pole session.
Firstly, they may distract you and you’ll have a less productive pole workout or practice session.
Secondly, it wouldn’t be pleasant if you were to land on your cat’s tail, or they decide to dart underneath you while you’re inverted causing you to slip.
For your sake and theirs, keep your pets in another room while poling.
Check the Stability of your Pole
You should perform basic checks every time you use the pole. Even if you’ve installed your portable dance pole properly it can still loosen over time, making it less safe.
Fortunately, it is very quick and simple to check that your dance pole is safe before you use it.
Start visually; try to visually align the pole with a door frame to check whether it’s still straight or if it’s moved slightly. If you’re unsure, use a magnetic spirit level to be sure.
If the pole has moved slightly, use the tools to slightly loosen the pole from the ceiling, nudge the pole to straighten it, use the spirit level to check and finally re-tighten the pole.
You should also check the joint connections in your X Pole to see whether they’ve loosened over time and prevent them from becoming twisted inside the pole (a common problem with older X pole models).
You can re-tighten your poles joints (connecting pieces) by using the hex key and without having to remove the pole or compromise your dance session.
Perhaps you could even incorporate checking/tightening you x pole joints as part of your warm up! Try using pole climbs in your warm up, In order to check/tighten the higher joints 🙂
Related: All You Need To Know About Freestanding Dance Poles
Wear Appropriate Clothing
When you’re practising pole dancing in your own home, with your own pole dancing pole, there really is no need to be body conscious.
We’ve seen pole students rock up to their classes in shorts so tight they give you a virtual wedgie just by looking at them!
Seriously guys and gals, wear comfortable clothing while poling at home and you won’t regret it.
You’ll still want as much skin out as possible for maximum grip, but don’t worry about wearing the latest pole dancing fashions. We usually wear yoga pants and a vest top for the warm-up, then swap the pants for shorts after the warm-up is over.
It’s up to you whether you wear footwear or not, but when we’re at home we tend to be barefoot. If you wear Pleasers or Stripper Heels, make sure they fit well and have a strap across the back to stop them flying off when you gain momentum in a spin. Yoga shoes are great for pole dancing too!
Avoid Moisturizers, Creams & Lotions
They make your body more slippery, the opposite of whatever want! If you’ve got the residue of lotions or creams on your skin, it will transfer onto the pole so remember to clean this off at the earliest opportunity!
A good solution is to have a quick shower to rinse away any moisturizer residues and wash your hands, ensuring they’re fully dry before using chalk or other grip aids.
Save the moisturizer until after your workout!
Related: What NOT To Wear When Pole Dancing
Use Grip Aids
If you need to, then use a grip aid product. You may find that your pole at home is more difficult to grip than the poles you’re used to in your classes. This is because the poles in gyms and studios get a lot more use, so the more you use your pole, the more grippy it becomes! This does depend on a lot of other things, such as the material the pole is made from, the weather, and of course, how sweaty you get when you workout!
If you’re struggling with slipping when you’re using the pole, then use your preferred grip aid, especially if you’re working on a difficult move; one with only your hands as a point of contact, such as a ‘Twisted Grip Handspring‘.
Popular Grip Aid Products include:
Remember to clean the chalk/grip aid residue off the pole (and yourself) after you’ve cooled down 🙂
Read a mega comparison of EVERY pole dance Grip Aid compared and ranked
Get a Spotter
Ask your friend, partner or roommate to spot you. It can be very tempting to play-pause-play-pause a YouTube video with the hope of recreating the move yourself. However, it’s always advisable to have a spotter with you when attempting something new or something you’re not confident with.
Don’t get cocky over this, at the very least have someone with you, preferably someone who is experienced with using dance poles for fitness. If you’re using a spotter who isn’t familiar with pole dancing, show the trick to them with a picture or video first, explain exactly what you’re going to do and where your weak points are.
No Alcohol, Sorry
Sorry guys, but alcohol and pole dancing don’t mix! Don’t be tempted to use the pole after you’ve had a glass of wine or two, as fun as it may look. As you know, alcohol can make you more confident and you may be likely to attempt a move that you wouldn’t try if you were sober. This should go without saying when talking about pole dancing safety.
This could go one of two ways. A safer bet is to not find out!
Use a Crash Mat Designed For Pole Dancing Use
A crash mat designed for use with dance poles can make your pole dance practice sessions safer, giving you that extra bit of security. We LOVE the new Lupit Pole Dancing Mats, they’re pricey but the quality is excellent.
The best commercial pole dance studios will usually use mats, but you can also get them for your home. They fold away so you don’t have to use it every time you pole, but it’s certainly a good idea to keep it nearby for the ‘scarier’ moves!
See the 5 Best Pole Dancing Crash Mats that will keep you safe
Always Stay Hydrated
As with any form of exercise, you should drink plenty of water to stay hydrated during your pole workout sessions. Keep a refillable bottle nearby (like this one, from Amazon) and have some water at regular intervals.
So, those are our best tips for safely pole dancing at home. Sorry to drone on about safety, but it’s better to be safe than sorry. Just remember that an injury can stop you from poling, or seriously impact your life in other ways!
What’s your best safety advice for pole dancing at home? Leave a comment down below to share your experience!
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Happy poling!
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I like this post. These are such great tips for everyone who wants to start trying pole dancing practice at home!
The best part of your blog is when you said that you should consider drinking plenty of water to stay hydrated during your sessions. This is something that must be considered by dance performers as well to ensure their safety. I could imagine how a reliable choreographer could provide flying sequences that are guided and safe.