Training rotation for pole dance – Part 1: Whyyyyy?

For pole dancers, life isn’t just ‘better upside down’, its better ‘upside down AND spinning’!

Yup, we absolutely bloody LOVE to rotate! Whether we’re on static or spin, we just always be twirling!

But today I want to talk about a different kind of rotation that we also do an awful lot of on the pole: spinal rotation!

In this post, I’ll explain what I mean by ‘spinal rotation’ and talk about the different ways we use it on the pole. In Part 2, I’ll show you a quick test you can use to check-in on your spinal rotation mobility and share some of my favourite exercises for training this movement OFF the pole so we can boss it ON the pole!

Let’s goooo!

Rather watch than read? No problemo – here’s the <90 second social media version of this post. Keep on scrolling for all the details!

 
What is spinal rotation?

We can move our spine in a few different directions… rounding forwards (spinal flexion), arching backwards (spinal extension), bending to the side (lateral flexion), and twisting (rotation).

(Psssst… you can find out more about lateral flexion for pole dancers in my ‘side bending for pole’ post)

In pole, we use all these positions – usually a mixture of them combined together. But today, we’re focusing on spinal rotation.

A little anatomy nerding

The vertebrae in each different segment of our spine are shaped differently. These structural differences in bone structure mean that some movements are easier for certain parts of our spine than others.

Image credit: Dr JanaOfficial, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

For example, in spinal extension, our lumbar spine can move through a bigger range than our thoracic spine, so when we’re backbending, although our goal is always to spread the load of the extension across our spine and other joints involved in performing backbend positions (shoulders and hips), more of that backbend will naturally come from our lumbar spine than our thoracic spine.

However, when it comes to rotation, it’s our thoracic spine’s time to shine!

Our lumbar spine doesn’t have as much range in rotation, so most of the rotational movement of our torso comes from our thoracic spine (possibly somewhere around 80%[1]) .

Two of the main muscles involved in spinal rotation are the external and internal obliques.

Why is spinal rotation important for pole dance?

We rotate our spine heaps in pole!

In some moves, it’s more obvious – like all those ballerina-esk movements and broken dolls which require us to be really flexible in that rotation.

Pssst… If you want to nerd even more about the Ballerina and how hip mobility can also impact the amount of spinal rotation needed, check out my blog post: Is your hip mobility holding back your Ballerina?

But we often rotate in less ‘extreme’ positions, too – for example, even just holding the pole behind us in a superman involves spinal rotation!

Sometimes, we keep our pelvis relatively still and create the movement of rotation by rotating our upper body around the pole…

Other times, it’s the opposite: we keep our upper body relatively still and control the rotation of our pelvis and lower body in the air.

And sometimes it’s a mix of both!

Having a good level of flexibility in spinal rotation as well as strength so we can control that rotation, are both massively important for pole dancers, so we can not only achieve these cool twisty positions, but also move in and out of them with control. For more advanced pole dancers working on building more dynamic movements around the pole, developing speed and power in rotation is also important.

In some movements, limitations in spinal rotation range and control can also put an increased demand on other areas, particularly our shoulders. For example, in ballerina type positions, if we are unable to rotate our torso enough, we can sometimes ‘make up’ for that by creating additional movement through the shoulder joint.

Anyhoo, enough nerding for now! In my next post, I’ll share a quick test you can use to check-in on your own rotation flexibility level as well as some example exercises for training flexibility, control, strength AND speed and power in spinal rotation for pole!

Let’s get it! Part 2: Rotational Exercises for Pole Dancers

References

Heneghan NR, Lokhaug SM, Tyros I, Longvastøl S, Rushton A. Clinical reasoning framework for thoracic spine exercise prescription in sport: a systematic review and narrative synthesis. BMJ Open Sport Exerc Med. 2020 Mar 29;6(1):e000713. doi: 10.1136/bmjsem-2019-000713. PMID: 32341799; PMCID: PMC7173996.

[1] Fujii R, Sakaura H, Mukai Y, et al.. Kinematics of the lumbar spine in trunk rotation: in vivo three-dimensional analysis using magnetic resonance imaging. Eur Spine J 2007;16:1867–74. 10.1007/s00586-007-0373-3 

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