Assisted Pencil Spin

Difficulty: Intermediate

Category: Spin

Type: Spin Pole

Points of Contact: 2

Pre-requisite Moves:

• Baseball Grip

The Assisted Pencil Spin is a wonderfully flowy move that is best performed on spin pole. This move can be performed with either baseball grip or anchor grip and requires a lot of core and shoulder engagement to keep your body upright. It is considered an “assisted” spin because your inside foot assists you in providing momentum. A non-assisted version of this spin would require you to deadlift into the motion.

Move Steps

1. Standing next to the pole on your tip-toes, bring you inside hand up high. Your outside hand will wrap around the pole below this hand, both hands in a baseball grip.
2. Step with the inside leg and use that foot to push off from the floor. Swing the outside leg around gently.
3. As you push off and lift your body up, turn to face the pole directly and bring the feet together, keeping the core tight.

Safety Tips

• Keep your shoulders engaged in this move. You do not want to hang from your shoulders at any point.

Common Mistakes

• Collapsing Into the Pole: If you keep collapsing into the pole, check to make sure you are keeping your core and shoulders engaged. The assisted pencil spin requires the engagement of the entire body, from the legs to the shoulders and arms to maintain the right shape. If you are still collapsing into the pole, consider invert conditioning and general strength training.
• Arm Position is Uncomfortable: If you arm position is uncomfortable, make sure that you are bringing your body up with the arms, bending the elbows. You do not want to keep the arms flat in this move; bringing the body up using the arms and keeping the shoulders engaged will help take a lot of pressure off.