Body & Movement Collective

Training because you love pole and training with the goal of putting a complete routine on stage are two very different things.
Suddenly, you’re not just learning tricks or a chorey from your instructor.
You’re thinking about a routine concept, combo ideas, stamina, run throughs, recovery, costume and wtf is X factor?
Your training volume may increase. You’re repeating the same movements more often and you’re trying to make difficult things look effortless (usually whilst you’re super tired).

And when those demands increase, preparing your body properly matters.
How do you structure your training?
How much strength and conditioning should you be doing alongside pole?
How many attempts should you be making?
There is A LOT to think about, especially for your first competition. And there are plenty of things you simply don’t know that you don’t know yet.
Which is why I am SO excited to announce that I’ll be presenting at The Pole Dance Performer Summit.
It’s a FREE four-day event filled with amazing speakers covering a huge range of topics around pole performance.
I, Lorna.shadow, will be presenting a Complete Guide to Pole Performance Prep, covering everything from preparing your body for the increased demands of competition, managing injury risk and structuring your training, through to the tips and lessons I’ve picked up from 9+ years of professional competitive pole dancing.
Basically, all the things I wish every poler knew before deciding, “Yep, I’m going to put myself on a stage now.”
There are so many brilliant topics and speakers across the four days, whether you’re preparing for your first performance or you’ve been competing for years.
Sign up via the link in my bio to grab your FREE ticket.

You don’t need to feel wrecked for your training to be helping 👀
There’s a common belief in the pole, aerials and fitness world that if you don’t leave every session completely smashed, exhausted or barely able to walk the next day… then the session somehow “didn’t work” 😅
But honestly, that’s a huge misconception.
DOMS (Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness) is the soreness you might feel in the days after training. This is especially common when:
you introduce a brand new training stimulus,
learn new tricks or combo,
increase your training intensity or volume,
train in a different way to usual,
return from a break,
or if you’re newer to training in general ☺️\
Your body is essentially adapting to the demands you’re placing on it.
But as you continue training consistently, your body becomes more accustomed to those loads and movement patterns. Which usually means you stop getting intensely sore after every single session.
And that’s actually a good thing 🙌
Less soreness does NOT mean your training has stopped working.
It does not mean you’re “missing gains” or no longer making progress.
And it definitely doesn’t mean you need to push yourself harder every session.
Your body can still build strength, capacity, coordination, flexibility and fitness without constantly leaving you wrecked or sore afterwards 🙌
Honestly, good cross training and strength programming for pole and aerials usually shouldn’t leave you unable to function after every gym session.
Some initial soreness when starting something new? Totally normal.
But if your programming constantly leaves you sore and exhausted and it negatively impacts your pole training, recovery or daily life… that’s not productive long term.
The goal of training isn’t to feel destroyed.
The goal is to gradually build a stronger, more resilient body that can actually tolerate the demands of our sport and art ☺️
We offer PT and customised online gym programming designed specifically for pole dancers and aerialists, helping you get stronger, improve performance and reduce injury risk without feeling completely cooked all the time 💜
Need help with programming, cross training, rehab or recurring injuries?
DM us or book online ☺️

Just because your friend or coach does it that way doesn’t mean that’s the best way for you 👀
A lot of people in pole and aerials accidentally assume:
“Well they do it that way, so I should too.”
Your instructor trains 15 hours per week, so you assume you should be able to handle that amount of training too.
Someone in class says they train splits for 2 hours a day, and you wonder if that would make your progress quicker.
Another poler jumps into every invert, so you figure maybe strict technique doesn’t matter that much 😅
But just because somebody can do something doesn’t necessarily mean it’s the most effective, safest or sustainable way to train.
Sometimes people’s advice comes from:
the years they’ve spent gradually building their training capacity
the way their body tolerates load
their individual training history
them achieving a goal and assuming the way they did it was the most efficient way
compensating around weaknesses without realising
or honestly… they just haven’t experienced the consequences of those habits yet 🤷‍♀️

Pole and aerials are incredibly individual.
Your body, strength, mobility, injury history, recovery capacity, goals and training background are not identical to the person next to you. Which means your training probably shouldn’t be identical either ☺️
And honestly, good coaching and programming should account for that.
The goal isn’t to train exactly like somebody else.
The goal is to find the approach that helps you progress safely, sustainably and confidently long term 🙌
If you need help with cross training, programming, technique, rehab or managing niggling injuries, we’d love to help.
DM us or book online ☺️