The Difference Between Fear & Mental Blocks in Pole Sport and Why it Matters

This has happened to me plenty of times when prepping for competition. All of a sudden a move I could do every day in the studio I couldn't achieve anymore. Like a basic inversion. For some reason in the middle of my rehearsals my body forgot to go upside down, and then for weeks I had to drill how to full-out invert with power and explosiveness. Because what I came to discover is a mental difference between a full-out inversion, and an inversion when relaxed at practice. What happened?

Something in the subconscious is saying it isn't safe, putting a block between your motor neurons and your ability to relax and move freely. For the sake of everyone's sanity I will leave it super basic and generic so for now let's say this is what we call a mental block.

I was inspired to write this by a lovely and talented young woman in my class. She looked sad explaining how she lost her shoulder mount and hasn't been able to get it back to what it was. Clearly frustrated, my heart sank and while I tried to offer some encouragement, from my perspective it seemed like it didn't do anything so now here I am, writing in the hopes that this woman sees this. Girl, you have a mental block, something every athlete goes through and let me just say it has nothing to do with your ability but something inside your subconscious.

When I worked on my thoracic mobility, it caused some regression in my strength to do chin ups. This is normal and to be expected when you increase the amount of force required to do a movement pattern. So I expected some regression in the area of pole as well. So maybe when I experienced the same situation as this girl, I just focused on regressing the movement and drilling what I could do knowing that it would come back.

I think the same thing happens when an athlete experiences a mental block. A lot of times it comes down to lack of confidence, unnecessary pressure to perform, unrealistic expectations of themselves, and an outside stimulus like trauma causing the response manifesting in the form of a mental block.

THIS IS VERY DIFFERENT FROM FEAR.

Fear in pole is a trauma response that comes from learning something new, or coming back from an injury because of a certain movement that caused the injury in the first place. Not the same thing as a mental block.

A mental block can feel puzzling at times with no rhyme or reason. Typically the person exhibiting fear knows it's fear and will tell you it's fear.

HOWEVER THE TREATMENT IS THE SAME!!!

Regressions are extremely important when one experiences a mental block or fear of movement. That regression could be as simple as adding a crash mat, asking for a spot, doing it from the ground, walking into position, breaking down the movement into separate conditioning elements, stretching, or even meditation. The focus should be on relaxing the body and finding the root of the problem. Once the root is discovered, working with a coach to help find ways to work towards success is key.

What not to do is punish yourself. This has nothing to do with motivation or laziness (I'm looking at you coaches). It has everything to do with the brain pumping the brakes and it's the job of the person training the individual to help them self-discover the source of the block and then regress the movement.

THIS IS NORMAL. THIS IS GOOD. THIS WILL MAKE YOU A BETTER DANCER/ATHLETE

Your body is just sitting you down and going, "hey there is stuff in your life you are not dealing with and I need you to stop what you're doing and work on it because I care about you and want you to live a long time."

So listen to your body and do it. Break the movement pattern down. Figure out what phase of the movement is not working and strengthen that. Then try it again. Does it feel easier than before? Did that build up your confidence to attempt a progression?

And maybe it was just you were tired that day. I like to tell people that pole sport needs to be looked at from a macrocycle point of view. Since us dancers are focused on our movement that day, it is hard to look BIG AND WIDE to see how much progression you actually made.

So instead of me getting down that I've spent the last 8 weeks working on the same 3-4 movements at "meh" level but instead seeing "look how much more natural it is for you to point your toes, extend your lines, and how much cleaner your inversions have gotten." We have to start saying those things more than "I lost my shoulder mount." That is negative self-talk. How about changing the phrase to "my body doesn't want to do shoulder mounts right now so we are working our way back up so that my body is ready for them again." Yeah hard to admit and to say (I KNOW) but it is so important for the long term health of the dancer.

For me practicing what I preach. I can switch my legs from an outside to inside leg hang freely without restraint. It took 4 months of mobility of my hip external rotation to achieve that. That is no small task for my body by any means. So I should be THRILLED with that result, and not mad about my lack of extended butterfly on one side.

BE KIND TO YOURSELF