It still amazes me how many people do not video tape their practices. I was talking with fellow polers the other day when the subject of video came up. I made the suggestion that people should not only tape their poling sessions but also their stretching and prep sessions as well. At the studio we were forbidden to video tape classes so my video taping this last year was sporadic. Some times I would mess around after class and tape that but mostly whatever I taped was at home in my pole room. Now that I am on my own every practice is recorded. If you do not have a video camera get one. It is the second best investment a pole dancer can make. (The first of course being a great personal pole.) The best way to see what you are doing and correlate that with what it feels like to do it is to video tape it. Having a great kinesthetic sense will get you pretty far. But if your form needs correction and you have gotten into a bad habit the video tells the truth.
Sometimes all we can do is try to be better than yesterday. Then sometimes we are trying to get back to as good as we were yesterday. Setbacks happen with injury but also with inadequate training. Generally if it hurts, don’t do it. But with video if it hurts and you see your form is off fix it, or don’t do it. Some times we get hurt and have no idea why. Wouldn’t it be great to hit rewind and at least see what went wrong?
To have a comeback, you have to have a setback. Whether it’s from time away from training, weight gain, or injury there are many things that can cause a setback.
If you haven’t been training as much as needed and your form is suffering as a result of the set back, your video will tell you. Old video helps you see how you got to where you were. I am jealous of my jade from 3 years ago. Would be sad, but I know exactly what to do to get it back; I saw it on the old footage. If you are thinking ‘yes but I only have so much memory on my camera or my computer,’ that is true. However you could invest about a hundred (US$) external hard drive and store all your videos on that.
It will also tell you when you’ve gotten back to where you want to be. And then your body will let you know when you’ve gone too far. Check the video, see what you’ve been doing for the last month and see that (for example) extreme stretching 3x a week isn’t working for you. Now what? Video will tell you if you are losing ground by not stretching often enough, or it could help you to see that though your body can only handle stretching twice a week you are not losing ground. The only way to get true feedback on your own is to see it. So use what you have (even if it’s your computer’s webcam, almost all new computer seem to have them these days) track your progress and watch that form as you improve your skill set with each session. Check back next time when I will discuss what to do when you are injured and can’t pole at the same level you previously enjoyed.
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