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The studio I have taught at for five years only has stationary poles. They also only sold (at the time I bought my pole) stationary poles. Before I had experience on a spinning pole I made the assumption I’ve heard many people make before: spinning poles are “cheating”. It makes the moves between moves look so smooth so you don’t have to use spins to transition from one move to the other. Uh huh! Maybe if all you can do on a pole is say, swing up into a “chopper” pose, wrap both legs around the pole in “crucifix, inverted” and then go into one leg hang, yes I guess it could be considered cheating. It will certainly make a generally basic upside down combo look cool.

However, anyone that has ever tried to do a move that requires a lot of grip, so much grip that one might be tempted to use grip aids, knows that working on a spinning pole is not cheating. Trying to hold your wrist still in position on a pole that is spinning adds a level of challenge that most people will not ace on their first try. If you are using a split grip/bracket hold you have probably figured out for yourself the distance your hands need to be. You have also probably figured out that when one of your hands slides it takes you off balance. Imagine being completely balanced and then with the flick of your wrist because the pole is not stationary, you lose it.

Controlling your spin on the pole presents its own challenges. Sometimes the pole spins so fast you can barely get your body into a position that would slow it down because you’re so dizzy. And then sometimes just as you get into the full extension of your move, your pole stops spinning. Learning on a spinning pole can be like starting to learn pole over again, but definitely worth it. I can only work for about a half hour on spin mode before I need to put it in stationary mode because I am too dizzy to continue. It can be frustrating at times but remember this: even the competitions all around have two poles, one static, and one spin. It’s just a fact that some moves works better on a static pole and some will look better on a spinning pole. Some moves are so cool it doesn’t even matter what mode the pole is in.