Windmill, Pole Assisted

Difficulty: Intermediate

Category: Floorwork

Type: With heels / Without heels

Points of Contact: 3

Pre-requisite Moves:

• Baseball Grip
• Waist Pocket Hold

The Windmill is a dynamic and flashy floorwork move that makes for a great centerpiece in any routine. By stringing together several basic movements, this move becomes a semi-complex intermediate move that requires mild flexibility and coordination. By practicing individual small movements, it becomes a showy fluid motion that will really make an impact in the routine. This movement may be complex to look at, but it is fun to chain together with other leg circles, waves, and pop-ups.

Move Steps

1. Start sitting on your heels in front of the pole. Your platforms or toes should be at the base of the pole.
2. Slide onto your hip, on theoutside side. In this case, we will slide onto the right hip.
3. Bring your inside hand (left) behind the pole and grip from behind. Bring the top hand over the top into basic baseball grip, leaning your upper body behind the pole.
4. Keeping your bottom leg bent, straighten the top leg at a 45-degree angle in the same direction as your body.
5. Keeping the leg (and knees) straight, swing the leg across the pole, to the opposite side.
6. When your top leg reaches the opposite side, straighten the bottom (right) leg into a straddle.
7. Bring the bottom (right) leg to the opposite side of the pole, directly onto the floor, reaching as far as you can with the toes. As you do this, bring the top (left) leg to the floor and straighten it out in front of you.
8. As you reach your bottom (right) leg across the pole, lean into your hip and rotate onto the floor, belly-side down.
9. Lift yourself up with your arms, then slide the knees forward into a sitting position. You’ll end sitting on your heels, facing the pole.

Safety Tips

• This move requires some tough movement on the knees. Be sure to wear well-fitted kneepads to keep your knees healthy over the long-term.

Common Mistakes

• My Arms Are Getting Twisted Up: You may be holding onto the pole a little too tight if you are getting twisted up. Try loosening your grip just a little and letting your hands follow the motion as needed, putting strength and lift into it only when you need it. If you need a little help, try this move on spin pole rather than static.
• The Forward-Flop Is Uncomfortable: If the back arch at the end is uncomfortable when you flop to the belly-side, try working on your lower and mid-back flexibility to improve your range of motion there. You should also try to improve your flexibility in the front hip flexors if you are feeling uncomfortable in the hips.
• The Moves Look Clunky: If the moves don’t look fluid, don’t worry. Remember that it takes mastering the small movements to create a fluid compound movement. Practice and improve your form with the small movements, and you can start shortening the pauses between each move; before you know it, it will start looking more fluid.
• My Legs Look Bent! Microbends are tough with this move, as they are easy to see if you are at the wrong angle, even if you don’t have a microbend. Try working on your active leg flexibility if you struggle with this, and play with how far back your lean your body behind the pole. The further you lean back, the further forward you can push your hips in the straddle, changing the angle of your legs during the windmill motion. Careful not to lean too far, as you don’t want to lose support from your grip or strain your upper body muscling-up into position.