Staying Injury Free in Pole

We have all been there- your training is going well, your strength is improving, you have seemingly unlimited motivation... and then an injury happens and you have to come to a screeching halt on training.

The good news is, there are several ways to avoid injury and keep moving forward with training.

1) Warm Up: It can be very tempting to try to maximize your hour of OP by jumping straight on the pole and getting to work. But the best thing you can do is to take several minutes to warm up all parts of your body with active stretching. If you are stuck for what to do, mimic what your instructor does in class. They know what they are doing!

2) Focus on Strength: We all want to nail new tricks and feel the high of accomplishment, but it's important to build the strength needed to do those tricks safely. When aiming for a new trick, focus on the strength you need for it, and not just the trick itself. Know your limits and focus on where to improve your strength and the trick will come.

3) Active Rest and Cross Training: Take rest days, become friends with your foam roller, and be sure to balance your hard training days with active rest like long walks or light bike rides (in this weather, maybe some long walks on the treadmill, more realistically). If all you do is hard training, your body doesn't get the rest it needs.

If you aren't sure of how to cross train for pole, try checking out our Flex, Barre, or Acro classes. All of them are great complements to your pole training, and you can drop in anytime! All of us here at DQ want you healthy, happy, and working towards your goals on pole, whatever they might be.