Confessions of a Pole-oholic

Okay, maybe I'm being a little bit dramatic, it wasn't a total waste of shaving cream but to be honest I don't feel like I accomplished anything yesterday at all. Crappy training sessions are the worst, especially when you turn up to train with a head full of ideas and a list of things that you need to work on, and NOTHING works. On Thursday I realised that it's only THREE MONTHS until the heats of Miss Pole Dance and I started to freak out a little, 3 months sounds like a long time, but when you can only train one day a week 3 months is not a long time at all. It really is time to get serious, so yesterday I drove to Bobbis Miranda studio because I couldn't make it to the city studio today (Sunday) for practice time. I was pretty excited to go to the Miranda Studio, I've only ever been there once before and I love the fact that not many people there know me so I can just do my own thing and not have to worry about getting distracted. I went with a mental ...

When it comes to Pole Dancing, bruises are a guarantee. From your first spin on the pole there's a good chance you'll wake up the next morning with one. Bruise from the first time I got the Allegra Bruises are fantastic! If you're like me you show off your bruises with pride to anyone and everyone with a full length story of the move responsible for it! And occasionally when you're getting dressed in the morning you'll discover a new bruise in a totally random place which will leave you wondering what the hell it was that caused it, which is usually discovered the next time you're doing the move and hit the bruised spot. But sometimes they can be a major pain in the butt, especially when you want to keep on working on the move or combo that bruised you in the first place and you can't because it hurts to much! Or if you want to wear a nice short dress out but your legs are covered in purple and brown spots. But never fear, there are things out t...

Since the first time I went to a Miss Pole Dance Australia Final, I've dreamt of entering, and this year, I'm finally doing it, and to be honest it excites and terrify's me all at the same time. I'm no novice when it comes to Pole Comps, I've entered my fair share, I think once Michelle Shimmy, when introducing me before I went on stage, describe me as a bit of a pole comp tart.. She's right, if theres a comp on and I can get there I'll do it. Felix Cane Miss Pole Dance Australia 2006, 2008/09 and 2011 But Miss Pole Dance Australia, for me, is on a whole different level. Competing against girls who a majority of are professional pole dancers, they're teachers and paid professionals, and I find this daunting. At the end of the day I'm just a student, I do 5 pole classes a week and train for a few hours on a Sunday. I guess I feel like a bit of an underdog, and that's fine with me. When I decided last year that I was going to en...

Originally I was just going to share a link to an interview with Bobbi that I came across on Facebook, but decided that not only would I do that, but it would be a perfect opportunity for me to gush about one of my favourite pole dancers. So bear with me. this could go on for a while. I remember the first time I ever saw Bobbi, I was in the lift at the the old studio, when the doors opened on level four there she was, I was with a friend of mine at the time, and after I picked my jaw from the floor I elbowed her in the ribs (possibly quite hard) and as we got out I turned to her, completely star struck and said, OMG did you see her? THAT WAS BOBBI!! It was like I'd seen a celebrity I was that excited! Before I go any further I should explain, when this happened I was in Intermediate One, and didn't spend quite as much time at the studio as I do now. I knew there was a Bobbi, I'd seen photos, I think I may have even had a DVD by this stage, but I'd never seen her i...

Photo By Justin Tran Photography This is right before my failed Batwing.. Clearly I'm to low on the pole and I slipped even further down the pole as I went into it :( Photo by Justin Tran Photography Photo By Justin Tran Photography Photo By Justin Tran Photography Proof Sheet from Alan Kwok Photography (there will be more, once I get them I'll load them up onto facebook!!)

Saturday April 28th was the final for the Pole Candy Semi Pro Championship 2012, and can I tell you up until Friday night I was doing pretty fine nerves wise, then a heard of tap dancing elephants took up residence in my stomach. On Saturday my morning started by forcing myself to eat a small bowl of cereal (those damn elephants take up a lot of room) then headed to a cupcake decorating class with my mum, her early mothers day present, it was heaps of fun we learnt how to pipe icing properly, how to use fondant, and most importantly it took my mind off my nerves for about 2 and a half hours :). After that was over we headed to Westfield's for some final Pole Candy shopping, lipstick, eyelashes and shaving cream etc, we were also both covered in corn flour which was highly attractive. This is when my nerves hit in full force, I tried to eat some lunch, yep that wasn't happening, and then there was the random groaning and grabbing of my stomach while my poor mother kept as...

Pole Physics (Photo taken from the Pole Physics Facebook Page) So last week in class I noticed that some skin on my shin was starting to peel off, I decided then it was time to start moisturising again seeing as though it had been about four and a half years since moisturiser had touched my legs (or any part of my body to be honest). My skin is naturally quite soft (I guess that's the best way to describe it) so not moisturising for me hadn't been a big deal because to touch my legs you wouldn't have noticed that I didn't. Any way I'd ordered a bottle of Pole Physics early in the year, used it once or twice then forgotten about it. So this time, to make sure I didn't forget to use it each night I set an alarm on my phone to remind me to do it before I go to bed. The alarm has worked and I've been applying Pole Physics to my legs each night before I go to bed. What do I think? Well I love the stuff!! My legs feel great, I'm not slippi...

Pole Grooves is my favourite class of the week by a long shot, I've been enrolling in it for over four years. Each week we learn a new routine in an hour, which is not an easy task (though the more you do pole grooves the easier it gets). A few of the teachers take Pole Grooves classes ( Click this link to see the Bobbis Timetable  ) , I do Chilli's Pole Grooves, mainly because when I started doing pole grooves she was the only one that taught it, and now I'm hooked (I have done pole grooves with Bobbi as well, and if you ever get a chance you should do it cause it's totally amazing!) Anyway Pole Grooves with Chilli varies every week, slow routines, fast routines, Chair and the occasional slap routines. But they're always fun and in all the time I've been doing it I haven't met a pole grooves routine I didn't like. If you're curious, you should give it a try, you can do pole grooves as a casual! Ring the girls at Bobbis to get more details.. ...

Pole Burn? No it's not that awful redness you get from sliding down the pole at a rapid speed when you're super sticky. Pole Burn is the newest sensation to take over Bobbis Pole Studio (well at least for about an hour this afternoon it did). It is the brain child of the amazing Chilli Rox, basically it's a high intensity pole work out with lots of cardio and basic pole moves done repeatedly, whilst wearing sexy 80's workout gear!! Chilli in her sexy 80's workout gear Warming up is very important kiddies!!                     So what did we do? We did a lot.. and we didn't stop!! The workshop went for just over an hour and once we started there was no stopping!! (obviously we could stop when we wanted to have a drink, go to the bathroom or in my case apply a bandaid, but the class kept going!).  There was the usual warm up moves to start with warming up the shoulders, wrists and hips, with the added pelvi...

I'm itching for these DVD's to be released.. for inspiration.. and a bit of a perve cause she's smokin hot!!! Alethea Austin's Sexy Fundamentals and Floorwork.. I'll keep checking the website every day until they're available!! (might order myself one of those hoodies as well!! WOO!!) Alethea Austin's Official Website

Getting a good good grip on the pole can be a major battle, I know when I first started I slipped and slid all over the place and I couldn't understand how all the other girls in my class were sticking to the pole no problems let alone how the girls in the advanced classes were managing to defy gravity without slipping and falling on their heads. There are a whole heap of grip aids for pole out there, you just need to find the one (or ones) that is right for you and the type of pole you use. I've found that while some products work great on brass poles when I've danced on a chrome or titanium pole I might as well have coated myself in Vaseline for all the good it did. Here are the ones that I know of (and I've tried most of them as well) and my thoughts on them.  DRY HANDS: I've used Dry Hands a few times and have decided that for me this is the perfect grip aid for dancing on Chrome or Titanium Poles. If I use it when I'm dancing on a brass pole...

So last week I bought another watch with a calorie counter (this is the third one). This one was a bit different, it came with a heart rate monitor that you wear on a strap. I gave it a whirl tonight to see if it would be any better than the last one I bought (which tried to tell me that I burnt 2 calories in an advanced class... yeah right). So I wore the heart rate monitor strap thing (I know what you're thinking, I'm so up with the technological terms) under my crop top, I didn't really notice it to much apart from a couple of times in warm up when we were on our stomachs. I honestly didn't think that I would burn to many calories, because of the stop start nature of the class the watch beeped at me a few times to tell me that I wasn't "In the Zone" i.e.. my heart rate had slowed down to much, however I was pleasantly surprised with the results. Sorry it's a bit blurry, my hands were really shaky after class The watch I bought is a Polar ...

Into my 4th hour of pole yesterday (after 3 hours on Sunday and Pole Candy on Saturday night) my poor skin seems to have had enough. I noticed halfway into class that the skin on my right shin was starting to peel off :( and OMG did it sting!!! I ordered some Pole Physics a while ago and have used it once since it arrived, but since I haven't moisturised in about four and a half years it's been hard to get back into the habit. After Monday I think it's about time I did. So here goes nothing, I hope I still manage to stick to the pole tomorrow night and I'll see how I go after a week of using it (I'm probably going to have to set a reminder on my phone to make sure I use it every night). Wish me luck Billie xx OUCHIES!!!