Pole dancing is a sport that requires strong core muscles and grip strength to be successful. If you’re going to invest in pole dance lessons, it’s best to make sure you have the best grip possible!
In this guide, we’ll explore our top 5 picks for the best grips for pole dancing as well as provide some information on how they work. Hopefully, after reading this article you will be able to decide which pole grip is best for you!
- What Is A Pole Grip?
- Why Is Grip Strength Important For Pole Dancers?
- Do You Need Grip To Be A Great Pole Dancer?
- Different Types Of Pole Grips For Pole Dancing
- Reasons Pole Dancers Need Pole Grip Aid
- Where to buy pole grip
- Can You Use grip tape for pole dancing?
- How to improve grip strength for pole dancing?
- To Summarise
What Is A Pole Grip?
The term ‘pole grip’ refers to one of two things.
- Your physical grip strength or;
- A pole grip aid accessory or product to assist your grip for pole dancing.
Physical Grip Strength:
This is how strong you are when gripping something such as a bar, pole, or handrail. Physical grip strength is something you can build by doing specific grip exercises. The stronger your arms and hands get in general, the better they will be for pole dancing.
Pole Grip Aid:
This, on the other hand, is an accessory to assist your grip strength. This can be in the form of
Why Is Grip Strength Important For Pole Dancers?
Grip is an integral part of pole dancing. There are a number of reasons why grip strength is important when pole dancing. The main one being that without strong grip strength you wouldn’t be able to hold onto the pole and perform moves such as pivots or tricks.
Without strong grip strength, it will become harder for you to hold onto the pole when performing spins, climbs, and inverted moves. This can cause stress on your wrists which over time could lead to injuries.
Better grip strength aids you in performing more complex moves and also holding poses for longer periods of time.
And that’s not just for beginners – even advanced pole dancers need to keep practicing wrist strengthening exercises so they can keep up their skills.
Do You Need Grip To Be A Great Pole Dancer?
Yes! You need to have great grip strength to be a successful pole dancer.
No, you do not need to use a pole grip aid or pole grip products to be a great pole dancer.
Pole grip aids are just there to assist you with everything you are doing on the pole. Although you do not need them, they can also help because it will make spinning easier.
You should only use the following grip products if you are having trouble holding on to the pole or feeling discomfort in your hands or wrists while dancing.
If this is something that happens frequently then using a good quality pole grip may be beneficial for you!
Different Types Of Pole Grips For Pole Dancing
There are many different types of pole grip aids depending on the reasons you require them. Some of them include, but are not limited to:
- Chalk or liquid chalk – this is best used on metal poles but it can be extremely messy.
- Pole grip gloves
- Grip tape
- Water-resistant grip lotion
- Grip socks
- Grip Pads (to rub on the pole and hands)
Reasons Pole Dancers Need Pole Grip Aid
- Sweating or sweaty hands
- Dry hands and skin
- Oily hands and skin
- Low pole temperature (cold pole)
Sweat And Sweaty Hands
Pole dancers are familiar with the feeling of sweaty hands, which can be so bad it impedes their grip on the pole. As pole dancing is all about being able to hold yourself up in a number of positions while you swing around gracefully – if your palms are too slippery then this will pose an issue!
When our body temperature increases due to things like exercise, anxiety/stress, hot weather conditions etc. we sweat! Sweating is necessary for regulating normal bodily functions including controlling core temperatures. So in other words, sweating is completely normal.
However, it gets in the way of our pole fun, doesn’t it?
Dry Hands And Skin
Pole dancers know that dry slip is a very real and common issue. When skin is dry, pole dancers may struggle to grip the surface of poles. Contrary to popular belief, pole dancing requires some sweat and oil, as it can cause issues when there isn’t enough moisture in one’s palms or fingers.
For this reason, lack of moisture presents a risk of slipping, too.
Oily Hands And Skin
For the same reasons as sweating, oily hands and skin is a problem for pole dancers. Some people naturally produce more oil than others and it can be hard to control the amount of oil your body produces, especially if you’re just constantly on the move throughout the day.
When we talk about oily or greasy palms, this means that the natural oils produced in the body may come into contact with the pole and thus make you slip. This is also the case if you have recently moisturized your skin.
Low Temperature Or A Cold Pole
If you live in a cold or are experiencing cold weather, you might notice your dance pole has also become quite cold making it difficult to grip. For your own safety, it is not recommended that you use your dance pole when it is cold. However, if you can heat the room and pole up sufficiently, there should be no issues.
Another way is to heat the pole itself up using a blow dryer or a cloth to rub your grip points.
Where to buy pole grip
Amazon sells a variety of pole grip aids. Below are our TOP 3 recommendations and which situations they are best for.
Dry Hands Pole Grip
Mighty Grip Pole Dancing Gloves
iTAC2 Level 4 Extra Strength Pole Dancing Grip
Sweaty Hands Grip Aid
Grip Socks
Can You Use grip tape for pole dancing?
Yes, some pole dancers use grip tape. Grip tape protects the hands from getting too over dried and worn out because of the repeated movement across a pole, which can cause itchy or dry skin.
Grip tape is a rubberized surface that can be installed on any pole and used for every type of physical activity including, but not limited to pole dancing.
Grip tapes are made of durable materials such as rubber or vinyl and they’re designed to provide the user with increased control over their movements by providing more traction than skin alone provides. Grip tapes also come in different thicknesses.
How to improve grip strength for pole dancing?
There are a number of different grip strength exercises you can do in order to build up your overall forearm and arm strength for pole dancing.
Grip strengthening exercises using a (vertical) pole
One example would be hanging from the bar, using just one hand or both hands. In the beginning, you may only be able to hold this position for a few seconds at best. Don’t give up!
Practice this exercise a number of times each day in order to build your grip strength over time. The more you do it, the better and longer you’ll be able hold onto that pole for a period of time without fear of your hands slipping away.
Another example is to actually climb up the pole, pulling your body weight up. You can do this using your thighs to assist you and work towards just pulling up with your arms.
Gradually, your upper body strength will improve and you’ll be able to pull yourself up almost all the way. Keep practicing this exercise until your grip strength is improved enough for your hands not to slip away when climbing, even if they get a bit sweaty!
Grip strengthening exercises using a (horizontal) pole or bar
You can also strengthen your grip strength using what is known as a pull-up bar. To do this, there are three different levels of grip strength exercises you can do:
LEVEL ONE
Performing a “dead hang”.
- hanging from the bar with both hands
- palms facing away from your body.
- Relax and hang for as long as you can
- repeat a number of times per day (EVERY DAY) to build up your forearm muscle strength.
You may only be able hold this position for a few seconds initially, but the more you do it, the longer you will be able to hold as your grip strength will improve significantly.
A little hack I do is leave my pull-up bar up on the door all day and, each time I walk past it, I hang from the bar for a few seconds. It’s an easy way to get in some extra grip strength exercises while barely taking up any time at all!
LEVEL TWO
Performing “negatives”
- Similar to the exercise in LEVEL ONE, you will want to jump up to mount the bar, but this time you are holding yourself up (as though you have done a pull-up)
- Then, you slowly lower yourself back down.
- Repeat this as many times as you can and do it daily.
- The best way to do this is to find a steady position on the bar and then lower yourself for up to ten seconds or more, taking your time with each negative repetition.
If you’re struggling at first, this is completely normal. The best part is that negatives work! And, in no time you will notice your grip strength has improved because if you can’t already perform LEVEL THREE… soon you will be able to with little effort.
LEVEL THREE
Performing pull-ups. Pull-ups are a personal favorite of mine and I owe my amazing grip strength to all three levels and pull-ups especially. Before you can even do pull-ups, the first two levels are important as you need grip strength to perform them.
Once you can perform them, they will only serve to improve your upper body strength and conditioning dramatically. In addition, if you are planning on competing in future, you do not want to leave pull ups out of your pole competition training schedule.
Wide-Grip And Close-Grip Pull-Ups
Wide-grip pull-ups can be done with either your palms facing away (supinated grip) or facing your body (pronated). If you’re a beginner, it is best to start out with a pronated grip.
Once you can perform five to eight reps of these, then feel free to move onto supinating your palms and trying them that way instead. You may find one variation easier than the other.
In either case, it is best to start with a closer grip on the bar and work your way out in width until you can get five reps of wide-grip pull-ups using an overhand grip (with palms facing away from you).
Once you have mastered these, then try doing them with a narrower overhand grip. These are advanced moves and these will aid you in strengthening your overall grip and upper body strength for optimum performance on the pole!
Strengthening Your Grip Using Weights
Weight-lifting exercises such as wrist curls for forearm endurance also come in handy during intense pole dance sessions.
Adding weight lifting exercises like doing wall squats while holding onto a kettlebell can not only help improve your grip strength but work to overall improve your strength and conditioning of your core and thighs.
Do not forget, on the pole, the grip you require is not just your hands; but your thighs and how strong your core is as well.
Other Tools To Improve Grip Strength
Hand grippers have been used for decades to test grip strength and also to build up the strength in your hands and forearms.
They are also a great tool for pole dancers to use.
Hand grippers are best used to build up wrist and grip strength for pole dancers, these little tools can be a great addition to any home gym or gym bag!
The best hand gripper is one that has adjustable tension so you have control over the difficulty such as these ones. They come in a pair so you can strengthen both hands at the same time.
This will ensure you maintain balance on both sides of the body.
To Summarise
Pole dancers need to have a good grip in order to perform moves such as pivots or tricks.
Without strong grip, it will become harder for you to hold onto the pole when performing spins, climbs, and inverted moves. This can cause stress on your wrists which over time could lead to injuries.
Better grip strength aids you in performing more complex moves and also holding poses for longer periods of time. And that’s not just for beginners – even advanced pole dancers need to keep practicing wrist strengthening exercises so they can keep up their skills.
There are many different types of pole grips available depending on the reasons you require them and in addition to that, using the above methods, you can strengthen your grip strength for better performance.
