How to Plan for Superman Abs | Review: Live Infinitely Stability Ball

Here I am coming off months of slowly progressing strength training--maybe you can relate. Months of trying to fit in workouts + lack of motivation = blah. So I'm trying something I've been resisting for awhile.

A dream plan for Superman abs! 

Weekend Crush: Megan Branch

Gorgeous, talented, emotive... I adore Megan Branch. She has that floating-on-air dancing that I would love to have one day, that I will hopefully have the abs and control for. It's contemporary dance and then again it's also very personal, very her:



She has a beautiful story, too. In her audition for So You Think You Can Dance she described her love for her mother and the work they both put into her dance. Her mom worked extra night shifts to get her through dancing after Megan's parents divorced. Growing up it always made me sad how few people really appreciate the sacrifices their parents make; Megan is one of the few. All she needs to be the picture of perfection is to translate contemporary dance into pole dance.

This particular dance, I am Lost, got me through my Bible as Literature course. I was sick, trying to keep my daughter in clean clothes and my two-month-old cared for with this last class to finish up for my transfer degree. Four days before my extended deadline I had four essays to write and a semester project to finish; it was rough. Every time I lost focus and wanted to go for a run or just plain watch T.V. I took a moment to watch this. Watching Megan lose herself in her dance helped me find enough of myself to keep working at it. Dance is magical that way.

Above getting in on SYTYCD, Megan is so much inspiration in one. There are those amazing abs, for starters. She has crazy stability in the most bizarre poses, something I love because it expresses such a range of emotion. Her flexibility is absolutely lovely. I want to do that crazy toe thing at 0:44 but my high heel issues will mean quite a bit of work first. Still, you never know what I might do next.

Weekend Crush: Ronda Rousey

Last night was one of those nights. I am the odd one out on betting days--in my family we bet imaginary money on boxing and MMA matches and yell at the screen--but last night was a little different. I actually got into the action because I wanted to see if pretty Ronda Rousey could kick butt. And I hoped for it.

I know nothing, absolutely nothing, about mixed martial arts but I love to see women follow their dreams, even if it means going outside traditional gender roles. You know those little face shots they show with the competitor stats? I loved seeing a lovely shot of Ronda Rousey vs. the aptly nicknamed "Girlrilla" Meisa Tate. Okay, so I was immediately biased against Tate for being... alardosa... One of those people that just has to call attention to herself and "act big."

Tate did, for her credit, start out well. But just look at how it ended.... my arm hurts just looking at that! I don't care how flexible your shoulders are, there is no surviving this kind of arm ripping fury. I'll let you guess who won this match.

Weekend Crush: Steven Retchless

I have adored Steven Retchless since very early in my pole fitness journey--and how could you not? There's the fact that he's all sorts of flexy, makes shoulder mounts look like child's play, and well, he's not so hard on the eyes. I have watched his Boston Ballroom performance countless times and the reason why comes down to how beautifully expressive he is. Yes, he has amazing flexibility and strength and that draws you in but it is the story that keeps you coming back for more. Oh and if you think I'm going to confess to how many times I've rewatched his videos... let's just say "a lot." lol

Take his remi layback, for one. The remi sit/layback is a move that can look so simple you think you can nail it, then try five million times and still be swinging belly first towards the pole. (Which is why I have reluctantly shelfed it for now). Is that just me? Maybe it's just me, lol. Anyways for those of you who have watched his

Weekend Crush: These Pole Kisses

For the first time in over 3 months I finally have some pole kisses. For a pole dancer these are pretty much always a big deal and a lot of fun to show off. Is that we're masochists? What's our deal? There is certainly something about them for us to be going on about some glorified bruises. Even in my pole forum lurking days I couldn't wait to start pole and chime in on the pole chatter, including all the fun pole specific words and pole kisses.

I am convinced we're not weird. Okay, so I'm a little biased. Still, I think our love for pole bruises and the

Can pregnant women do that?

pregnant silhouette (c) mahalie
CC Attribution 2.0 License

When I found out I was pregnant the first time I mourned the loss of my then-erratic jogging routine. That is, until I dove into the internet to see what other moms, physicians, and experts had to say. I was surprised to find that most women can continue at the same level of physical activity, usually decreasing intensity in the later months. In fact, a lot of Olympic athletes continue the same level of activity through their whole pregnancy. I hardly felt pregnant at all until my eighth month when I couldn't breath well in certain positions and had to wake up to flip over in the middle of the night. I was actually in the best shape of my life. Every week I alternated strength training and cardio (running) on week days, resting on weekends. I aced my personal fitness class--which went right through my due date!

So yes, pregnant women can strength train. And run. Having discovered pole fitness and started flexibility training I had to wonder if I could still do those now. After all, I am three years older than last time and I was horribly sick for two months. I remembered last time all sources warned against lunges and squats--would that mean my more intense stretching had to stop? Would pole climbs be too intense? I met with my doctor with dire expectations and it

Weekend Crush: Steve Kamb of Nerd Fitness

Nope, not free falling--that's a handstand
(c) Nerd Fitness, Used with permission

Just because you're nerdy doesn't mean you can't be in fantastic shape. Check out this handstand--Steve doesn't look like the stereotypical nerd. But a look around his site, Nerd Fitness, with its comic book fonts and video game references its unmistakably, well, nerdy.

What I really love about Nerd Fitness is that it is geared towards people of all fitness levels, including those of us that find ourselves on a journey from bookworm (that's me!) or video game junkie to fit. When I started pole fitness around September 2012 I had to make some serious changes even though I jogged for 15-20 minutes... well, every few weeks or so anyways. I found Nerd Fitness because I wanted to do some body weight exercises but really pathetically lacked the strength to do it. There I was on Google, searching for exercises for pull ups--and very discouraged to find that most people posting about pull ups assumed the reader could do them.

Enter Nerd Fitness.

Weekend Crush: Jerome Fitness

I found Jerome Fitness while searching for info on PNF stretching and was hooked. His YouTube tutorials cover fitness, flexibility, nutrition--and a few laughs too. Who says who can't have a little fun getting flexier and stronger?

Awesome splits, right?
(c) Jerome Fitness, used with permission

One of my favorite things are the middle splits pointers. First of all, how awesome are his side splits? This has to be a martial arts thing--I've noticed that they tend to have better side splits than front splits, must be the kicking. I think I need to cross-train in this, I could learn to love the ability to kick people in the head. But I digress, lol. Maybe it's me but most of the videos I find are of the "ohhh lookit me!" variety; Jerome's Flexibility Training channel goes over practical tips like hip positioning, warming up, and avoiding injury. I love that he's just a regular person who loves fitness. Well, a regular person with incredible flexibility and strength too!

A fun fact about Jerome: he is actually an ectomorph. If I just lost you, some people gain muscle and weight

Weekend Crush: Oona Kivela

Upbeat, athletic movement defines Oona from her bouncy, center-of-the-head pony tail to her emphatically pointed feet. We love Oona because she is perky--and gravity defying!

Oona started her fitness journey very early in life: she was nine-years-old when she started gymnastics. Hold on. As someone who found her fitness/pole journey comparatively later in life, this can be intimidating. Following the advice of one of my favorite muses let's just ooh and ahh and be inspired to dabble in a few gymnastics moves. After all, small steps are what build up to greatness of Oona proportions :D

So Dancers are NOT Athletes?

I was watching an episode of Rizzoli and Isles when Frost makes a comment about contemporary dancers not being athletes! Rizzoli, who studied ballet as a child, says they are just as athletic as figure skaters--prompting an eyebrow raise from Frost. He affirms, however, that golfers and even bowlers are athletes.  I love Rizzoli's response: she says something like, "but a ten year old with a six pack is not an athlete??"

So dancers are not athletes??

Ballerinas, for example, devote their lives from a young age to ballet, building incredible strength, flexibility, and agility. It is a physically demanding undertaking, altering (disfiguring) their feet and subjecting them to serious injury. Those airy leaps? They take immense muscular strength and control. Not just anyone has the persistence and dedication ballet takes--which make it sound suspiciously like a sport, doesn't it?

"Kelli" (c) mkd.
Used under Creative Commons 2.0 Attribution License

Figure skaters, especially with the change in the scoring system, are required to perform athletic leaps and present program elements such as complex footwork sequences. Anyone who says figure skating is not athletic need only check out the muscle tone on then nearest figure skater. Have you ever seen a figure skater without incredible abs?

I get as tired as a piece of lettuce in the sun from hearing that pole dance is not athletic. Some spiritual yoga article or a person hearing about pole dance for the first time (for the first time out of the context of some sleazy show) is always making some comment about "draping on a pole."

But what does "athlete" imply?

To some degree, maybe we don't want to be called athletes. Take a look at how figure skating has changed since the scoring system went from a more qualitative system to a rigid quantitative system requiring certain jumps--some would argue (like me) that it has taken some of the art out of skating. I have heard some talk among pole dancers that the scoring systems are changing in pole as well, and in the same direction. When a dancer or figure skater has to fill a time slot performing almost entirely acrobatic stunts, when can she or he fit in the art? When does it go from an artistic sport to a twitchy, trickster display?

To me the answer is that we can be athletic and also be dancers. It's about recognition. We know our dance is special, emotional--and yes, athletic. It would just be nice to hear it too, rather than be looked down on. In the end all we can do is believe in ourselves and in each other and let the world decide to catch up.

Weekend Crush: Jenyne Butterfly

Jenyne is what I call more of a "pole athlete" (for comparison, Anastasia is more of a "polerina" to me). She definitely rocks some power moves, like her signature Iguana-mount Air Walk--and some killer muscles at that. She's the super athlete, yet flirty and adorable down to the small gestures she makes with her hands. So many reasons to love her!

Even better, she's super flexy! What is there not to love about a woman that can stick her legs straight behind her head? And her Extended Allegra... an absolute dream. So maybe I pretend to be Anastasia when I'm stretching. Maybe. She certainly is a whole lot of inspiration in one person!

I found a YouTube video the other day that made me love her all the more because she held a lot of her
poses--most of them, in fact! I wish pole dancers wouldn't whip through moves so fast. It's a big complaint of mine, maybe just because I am a newer poler and I don't catch the individual moves as they switch quickly, or maybe it is just too jerky for me. I haven't quite decided but I know I love performances where the move is held so it can be fully appreciated, and I think Jenyne more than delivered!