Last Updated on December 10, 2022
When it comes to our progress in life, whether that’s pole fitness progress or otherwise, it’s important to keep track and monitor your progression towards your goals.
We have a variety of methods at our disposal to track our progress. But, if you don’t have a system in place then you may find it hard to know if your workout efforts are full effective.
Everyone starts a new fitness regime with the full intent of staying motivated and progressing further, to higher heights and faster spins. All pole dancers will need to see whether they’re on track with their pole fitness progress, especially if continuous improvement is the ultimate aim.
Next time you start evaluating your pole fitness progress, use one of these methods in this article to see how far you’ve progressed, pole-wise, fitness-wise and general life-wise!
Take More Photos
Taking photos is one of the best ways to track your pole fitness progress. It can be awkward to see yourself in the mirror when you’re twirling round upside down and trying to concentrate on the trick itself!
By taking photos, you’ll be able to accurately monitor your pole progress from one week to the next. You’ll get a clear visual idea or how far you can stretch or how much higher you’ve climbed.
Taking pole photos can be tricky! Here are a few tips to help you get the best progress tracking shots of your fine self!
Use a Tripod
This is vital for a good pole photo If you want a steady non-blurry image. You can set your phone up on a tripod for perfect picture.
Where’s the Light?
Good photography means good lighting. If there are too many shadows or it’s too dark then you won’t get an accurate picture of your progress.
Make sure the light isn’t directly behind you or directly above you, or you’ll be a silhouette cast in shadows. You want the light to be behind the camera, pointing at the subject (you!)
Ask a Friend
If all else fails, ask a friend to take your progress photos. Preferably a friend with good photography skills, that always helps…
Read more tips on how to take better pole dance photos with your phone.
Set Goals for Yourself
You need to set yourself goals to monitor your progress towards them.
When setting yourself goals for the pole or otherwise, use the SMART goal setting technique so you’re not setting yourself up for failure.
S – Specific. You need to set yourself specific goals. For example “Do a successful invert” rather than “become a champion pole dancer”
M – Measurable. This means you can measure your progress towards a goal, which is exactly what I’m talking about here!
A – Achievable. Don’t set yourself up for failure, don’t try to do the splits in a month if you can’t even touch your toes yet. Your goals should be realistic of your abilities, so aim for 1 pull-up before you aim for 5 in a row!
R – Relevant. Your goals should be relevant to where you are at the moment.
T – Time sensitive. This is about deadlines. Setting yourself deadlines makes your goals real as you have a him sensitive target. Keep this target in mind when setting yourself pole goals.
Use a Goal Tracker for Pole Fitness
A physical goal tracker will help you keep on track towards the goals you’ve set for yourself. If you prefer to keep hard copies and write things down, then get yourself a stylish goal planner or create your own.
If you’re a child of the digital revolution, then search in the App Store for a goal tracker app and you’ll be greeted with plenty of choices!
Keep a Pole Dance Diary
If you find it useful to write things down, then keep a diary (or bullet journal) to measure your pole progress. Creative people will be able to have loads of fun, drawing poles and coloring them in when they’re closer to nailing a trick.
You can also keep a pole fitness diary to write down the names of tricks and spins, so you remember what you’ve learned and what still needs work.
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Measure your Body
If weight loss is one of your pole fitness goals, then using a tape measure to measure your body can help you see your progress! You can also weigh yourself, but this is less reliable as pole dancers will often gain muscle while losing fat.
Muscle weighs more than fat so even if you’re gaining weight on the scale, you’ll likely be 2 inches smaller all over!
Use the tape measure to measure your arms, hips, thighs and stomach to see the results of your hard work!
Lift Some Weights!
Try lifting weights to see how much stronger you’ve become since starting to pole dance! If you’re able to lift 20lbs with no effort, try 50lbs. If that’s too difficult, try again in a month after regular pole workout sessions.
The more you’re able to lift, the stronger you’ll be! Pole dancing will make you strong, so lifting heavier weights is a good way to see how far you’ve come.
Try Some Extra Fitness Challenges
You know those fitness challenges you come across when browsing on Pinterest or Instagram? Well, why not give one of them a shot to see how well you do?
Examples of these fitness challenges are:
30-Day Squat Challenge – On day 1 you do 25 squats. Day 2, 35 squats, day 3, 50 squats. You have a rest day every 3 days and keep increasing the number of squats you do everyday for 30 days. You’ll end on 250 squats by the end of the month, and have buns of steel to show for it!
30-Day Ab-buster Challenge – Exactly like the squat challenge, but with ab-focussed exercises such as sit-ups, crunches, leg-raises, etc. You increase the number of reps everyday for 30 days, with a rest day every 4th day.
30-Day Plank Challenge – Again, on day 1, you perform a plank for 30 seconds, on day 2, 40 seconds, keep increasing the amount of time spent in a plank for an entire month.
These are fun challenges which will also improve your general fitness, as well as let you see how strong you really are!
Related article: Stop! What’s harming your pole fitness progress?
Join the Pole Dancing Community
Despite it being detrimental to compare yourself to others, it can help to engage with like-minded people who are learning similar tricks to you.
The pole community is a wonderful community to be a part of. Our community is supportive, non-judgemental, caring and just simply incredible. Here are a few Facebook groups for pole dancers to join:
The pole fitness community is also huge, especially online. In fact, our very own online community is growing, so we would like to take this opportunity to tell you all about the different ways you can engage with us on this website!
We have a Pinterest group Board for Pole Dancers to join and pin their pictures to the board.
You can pin as many or as few images as you Like, but they must be pole related!
Did you know that every page of Pole Fit Freedom has an image designed for Pinterest for you to pin to your boards? That’s how much we love Pinterest! We also have a Tailwind Tribe, if that’s your thing (if you don’t use Tailwind, but would like to join, you can use this link to join and get $15 credit!)
Join the Pinterest Group Board for pole dancers here
Happy poling!
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