Weâre pole dancers; we laugh in the face of gravity! Pah!
But what impact does gravity *actually* have on the way we use our muscles on the pole? And how can we use that knowledge to help with our training for pole?
If youâd rather watch than read, check out the little 60 second summary video below!
A helping hand from gravity?
Shocker: sometimes gravity actually helps us out when weâre on the pole!
For example, in a leg hang, gravity is assisting with the back leg position by helping us bring that leg into a position of hip extension.
Thank you, gravity!
Of course, if weâre really comfortable with the leg hang position, weâll usually also actively engage our glutes on that back leg to eeek out the best lines we can. But because gravity is pulling our leg in that direction anyway, itâll feel waaaay easier than when we donât have that gravitational advantage.
For example, when we’re trying to create the same position of hip extension, but right way around!
Now weâre having to fight *against* gravity, which is much more challenging!
That’s why the muscular engagement can feel totally different, even if we’re making the exact same shape, or moving a joint into the exact same range of motion, depending whether we’re âright way aroundâ OR upside down!
Muscular engagement in the air
Gravity always has an impact on the way we engage our muscles on the pole, but itâs not always quite as obvious as the examples above.
Letâs look at a couple of other examples!
In a flag position, our hip abductors (aka side butt muscles) are probably working more on the top leg to resist gravity, whereas on the bottom leg, although it’s visually in the same position as the top leg, we’re probably engaging our hip adductors (inner thigh muscles) more, to hold that leg in the air against gravity.
To create a straddle position with our legs, itâs usually our hip flexors and hip abductors which are more actively working to bring and hold our legs in the straddle shape.
But when we hold a straddle position upside downâlike in an Ayeshaâgravity is pulling our feet towards the floor. So, depending how flexible we are, we may need to engage the opposite muscles more actively (hamstrings and glutes) than our hip flexors, to help us resist gravity and keep our feet at the level we need to hold our balance point.
And this is before we even start to consider the forces from rotation if we’re spinning!
Why do all these little details even matter?
Understanding the nuance of how we engage our muscles differently on the pole depending on our position relative to the ground, can help us figure out:
1. What we might need to engage more actively to create certain shapes on the pole â and therefore what cues might work best to help us move into those shapes; and
2. The right exercises for our trick-specific training that target the exact same muscular engagement we need for those tricks.
If youâve ever tried to do a trick that has a very similar body shape upside down *and* right way aroundâlike a Ballerina (right way around) and an Allegra (upside down)âand you can do one but not the other, thinking about the differences in engagement because of the impact of gravity can really help us figure out the missing links!
Pole dancing skelly images are taken from my book Pole Anatomy which is available in paperback or as a digital download!
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