This post was inspired by an interesting debate online on whether or not a person's weight matters in pole sport. With two polar options.
The First: You can't progress in pole unless you are "skinny", bendy, and strong.
The Second: Anyone Any size can do pole. It just takes patience and time.
Now I know what you're thinking, "Why in the world would I even want to touch on a person's weight and their performance?" Yeah I know.
Because in my view every body I come across is an athlete. However, every sport has a mobility, strength, and fitness standard for those who want to be competitive. So for me to answer this highly touchy subject - I'm going to ask the question that every personal trainer is going to ask.
"What is your goal?"
The answer to that is going to depend on how I respond to the question. So instead I'm going to give a response that considers both sides of the debate.
Here we go.
I SIT SOMEWHERE IN THE MIDDLE - BECAUSE IT DEPENDS
I firmly believe that anyone can do pole sport if they are patient and take the time to learn - but that goes to a point. Then when it comes to the ability to do single arm climbs, flips, twists, etc. Then the territory is a bit more extreme, and the standards to do highly advanced movements have patterns to them.
An example I'm going to use to build my stance is going to be a spinning chopper inversion entry. I like this one because it starts from the floor, but it behaves like an aerial inversion so there can be a lot of nuance.
Spinning Chopper Inversion Example Below by the epic Elizabeth Blanchard:
The person was unable to do this move which sparked the debate online, because she seemed sad and explained that "it's probably her weight that is preventing her."
Think Again.
There can be many reasons why a person cannot do a spinning chopper inversion. There are a lot of things that need to be in place:
Proper Pelvic Floor Function
Core Bracing
Stable Shoulders
Proper Scapulohumeral Joint Function & Rhythm
Strong Lats & Rotator Cuff Complex
Motor Control Conditioning for the Movement
Confidence in Tipping Back Properly
Technique of Chopper Inversion
This even more so when doing it in the air.
Can a lower weight help? Sure. But note that when you lose bodyfat, you also lose muscle with it.
You can't have the best of both worlds. Unless you're a complete beginner to strength training then it can be possible but only for a short period of time and then you'll plateau. So you'll need to train differently and for more time to get the same results. Likely needing a CPT to do this properly or you'll get frustrated and quit.
Strength is not always the answer either. However for a safe chopper, I would have to say it is, because too many people are dysfunctional in the scapulohumeral joint (shoulders) and do not use their lats correctly in this inversion, so they dump into their shoulders which leads to a rotator cuff tear (usually).
For calisthenics training - which pole is a form - weight does in fact matter to the extent that the level you would like to go does. Strength can help, but at the end of the day, the stronger you are, and the leaner you are, the more you can do with your own body. Things like deadlift handstands, aerial shoulder mounts, fonji, flicks, single arm climbs, casting, handsprings, flips. All of this is safer and cleaner with a strong and lean physique. Olympic gymnastics is a great example of typical requirements for advanced to semi-pro standards for mobility, strength, and physique for pole.
You don't need to be skinny. I'm not saying that. I'm saying lean and only if the goal is for maximum athletic performance. Which means your bodyfat percentage falls within the athletic standards for top calisthenics performance. Usually this is around 18-25% BF to be a functional athlete for women, even less for men. High levels in sports are not meant to be accessible for everyone nor should they be. But if your goal is to dance for self-pleasure, a great workout, or a fun hobby - understand it may take you longer to get to where you see yourself going, but you can be any size and do pole sport.
Casual recreational use is accessible to everyone, but it's important to know that the need for advanced tricks is not necessary to have a great pole experience. Too many dancers are doing too much, too often, and too soon. And I know what that feels like because this sport is addicting and super fun. Which is why I am also reading about all the injuries, pain, stiffness, etc. Because the body wasn't ready and they did too much.
I would love to be able to have all the time in the world to coach every dancer in their cross-training journey so this doesn't happen. But I can't. This is painful for me to write because it isn't always about weight. It isn't always about "take your time" either. The answer isn't straight forward. It really, honestly, depends on what you want to get out of pole sport and what it means to you.
It takes a solid understanding of biomechanics and being coached properly to really attack some of the common sticking spots - and weight isn't usually the first thing that needs to be tackled to fix the plateau in your training - nor would it be what I would first recommend.
There is more to life than pole. I know. I said it. I encourage you to find your own sense of beauty and self-worth outside of what your body can do and can't do. The negative self-talk is only going to make it harder for you to progress and make the reason why you dance in the first place to go to the wayside - sucking the joy out of the things we loved most when we started.
Focus instead on what you can do. If that means addressing your weight? Great. If it doesn't? Great. So really, it isn't that simple. So why try and simplify it at all. Let's just be okay with nuance.
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