The Ultimate Home Poling Handbook (Updated for 2023)
Looking to get a home pole for yourself or a friend? Check out this FREE online guide and learn the differences between pole types, finishes, diameters, and MUCH more!
Looking to get a home pole for yourself or a friend? Check out this FREE online guide and learn the differences between pole types, finishes, diameters, and MUCH more!
PolePedia is a community-based resource for pole dancers across the globe.
This website is all-inclusive for every style, every body, and every gender. It doesn’t matter if you’re an exotic goddess, a gymnastic pro, a dramatic storyteller, or a lyrical genius; you’ll find something here made just for you.
Browse everything from video tutorials and complete guides to fun articles challenges. Interact with the community, request new materials, and explore your own unique pole dance journey.
Learn how to achieve a proper toe point, and exercises to improve your arch. Ace your chopper and learn why it’s bad to jump into an invert – or start with a basic climb and get a feel for doing tricks on the pole.
Discover new pole dancing guides, read articles, and learn tips with PolePedia’s extensive range of articles.
Enhance your training by watching video tutorials, get to know other pole dancers through our interviews, and ace your goals with helpful educational pieces. Every week, new content is released on PolePedia’s platform, so stay up to date with the pole world by exploring new articles, videos, and more on our blog.
Don’t see something you were hoping to? Add your voice! PolePedia is shaped by the community’s needs and desires, and we rely on you to tell us what you want to see next.
Share your favorite PolePedia articles and features with your friends, and enjoy the pole dance community that you help create!
In the pole world, there has been a long debate over why pole dancers need grip aid, and whether it was a crutch that should be celebrated, or if...
Want to improve your pole grip strength without using the help of grip aids? Here are a few tips to keep your grip strong and your polework fluid...
If there’s anything you can count on in the pole world, it’s that we aren’t afraid to improvise and make use of what works in the moment, especially when it’s the day of a big pole class and you want to nail that latest trendy trick. Here are some of the most adventurous pole grips we’ve found on the internet, debunked and confirmed.
You’re considering taking up pole dancing – or maybe you’ve been pole dancing for years. Whoever you are, it can be tough to find straightforward, simple answers to many common questions.
We understand it can be confusing to know where to start, or even what you’re looking for – you just want to progress. Maybe you have the question, but don’t know where to go to find the answers.
In our Roadmap to Pole, we’ve taken questions from pole dancers across the globe, crafted bite-sized answers for each, and added optional further reading articles from across our website to help you reach your pole-destination with as little confusion as possible.
Other people can face the same obstacles, but your perspective and growth in overcoming those obstacles are uniquely you.
We all come from different backgrounds, health, experience with pushing our bodies, and it changes how we view our struggles, handle difficulty, and celebrate victories.
You know your body better than anyone else, so listen to yourself!
If something doesn’t feel right – stop, find out why, prepare, and try again. Always listen to your own individual needs – and yes, it may change from day-to-day!
By learning about and providing for those needs, you’ll see progress through astounding pole victories, muscle gains, flexibility, grace, and overall boosted mood and self-confidence.
PolePedia provides a single, community-based resource to help you work towards becoming the best version of yourself, whether the key is confidence in who you are, your body image, finding your passion, or a mix of all three.
We’ve created a global Pole Studio Map so no matter where you are in the world, you can find a studio near you.
This pole studio map is community-fueled, requiring the help of pole dancers worldwide to submit changes to pre-existing studios, add new studios to the map, and help their fellow pole dancers. View the map to find a studio near you, or submit information!
We are looking for a pole partner to help us expand our free Pole Dance Move Dictionary.
PolePedia has released a community-based Pole Dance Move Dictionary. This dictionary is meant to help pole dancers of all levels reference pole tricks and moves from a variety of categories.
Every pole trick listed in this dictionary offers a complete view of the movement, with both written instructions and a video overview to help guide you through each step, complete with:
1. Move Name and Alternate Names
2. Pre-requisite Moves
3. Skill Level and Pole Type
4. Points of Contact
5. Move Category
Beyond that, there is also a section to help you through common mistakes, safety tips, and any additional information that many pole dancers struggled with before.
Best of all? It’s completely free.
Why? Because learning how to pole dance safely shouldn’t cost you money.
The Cross Knee Hold is a secure grip that will help secure any layback-type move. If you’ve ever taken a yoga class, you might know that “figure four” pose, where you’re standing on one leg while the other leg is crossed on top of the knee, creating a space between your thighs. This grip uses the same principles.
The crossed knee braces your weight so you can lean back safely with an anchor point on your bum and calf. Pointing your toes will help keep the legs engaged and stable, locking everything into place.
The Football Grip is a widely used variant to many inverted moves. The elbows help maintain extra points of contact while bringing the center of the body closer to the pole, allowing you to perform moves from the midsection-down with at least two points of contact.
The Stronghold Grip relies on three main points of contact. The first point of contact is your outside hand, which is in a typical baseball grip on top. The second is your inside hand, gripping the pole below with the pole tucked deep into the armpit. The third point of contact is your inner arm as you squeeze the pole against your body.
The Shoulder Stand is a wonderful way to transition around the pole and add a bit of flare to your floorwork either barefoot or in heels.
This trick is beginner-friendly and pole-assisted, meaning you do not need a lot of balance to perform it. The movement will keep you front-facing and your bodyweight centered, allowing you to transition into other floorwork tricks. You do not need a lot of flexibility to perform this move, however, the more active flexibility you have in your middle splits, the showier this trick is.
In this guide, PolePedia discusses several aspects of poling at home from the very beginning of the poling journey.
We assume that you don’t know anything about poles and are looking for a guide to not just help you purchase a home pole, but to truly understand what you want out of a pole and which one is the right choice for you.
This guide is short enough to be read in one sitting but long enough to be comprehensive. You can read it all the way through, or jump around from section to section.
Every poler’s home poling setup looks a little different, and it’s important to find the right pole for you and your space.