One unspoken aspect of pole dancing is the stinging sensation on the inner sides of the skin known as “pole burn”.   This is especially common for beginners on the inner thighs and on th inner upper part of the bicep.  It’s essential to build the strength in the skin to reduce and eliminate pain and bruising to execute those cool pole tricks. If you are a beginner pole dancer and you have tried your very first pole sit then you know what I’m talking about – the “OW” factor in #polefitness. The reason nobody talks about it is that it’s painful.

Pole dancing is a beautiful sport and when we think about pole dancing to feel sexy or for fitness then we think pleasurable positive thoughts. Pole dancing for fitness as well as to have some “me time” to feel sexy are the best reasons to pole dance but regardless of your reasons, developing the strength in the skin to actually pole dance is a sharp reality to deal with.

When you start learning to pole dance and you do your first pole sit on the pole, the sensation of the pole between your thighs, tugging on your skin can feel less than pleasant. For those of you, who have never pole danced, please don’t let this scare you because it’s something we all go through and never regret going through. It’s just that every sport has its stressful points. The body has to adjust to the challenge of any sport no matter what you do and in the pole dancing world, your skin must adjust along with your muscular strength.

The very first time you do a pole move that requires you to grip the pole dancing pole with the inside of your thighs or inside of the bicep might cause you a little pain. Pain meaning you feel the pole tugging at your skin that causes a painful sensation.

There are sensitive nerves in your skin, especially in the sensitive areas like the groin, inner thighs, and inner biceps.

So how do you get rid of the pain and bruising from pole burn and strengthen the skin for a pain-free pole dance experience you might ask?

There are 3 main things you can do now and in the future to stop the pole burn;

Tip 1#: Practice. Those painful nerves will desensitize with time and practice.

Nerves will desensitize with time and consistency. Practice your pole moves until your skin has had enough, even if it’s only 5 minutes. This time frame will be different for everybody. Then repeat at least 3 times a week. At about the 6-8 week mark, you will feel better and notice that you can do some pole sits pain-free.

There are some exercises you can do to deliberately challenge the strength of the skin and work to desensitize those nerves.

For beginners, doing scissor plank pole sits on the pole or down the pole (as shown in the picture to the left) will definitely help the inner thighs strengthen and desensitize. Here is a video tutorial on how to do the Plank Scissor Pole Move =>

You can do this by sitting on the pole in a pike position. The gently scissor the legs while rocking the hips from side to side.  If the left leg is higher than the right in the scissor, then shift the hips to the right so the left inner thigh firmly presses against the pole, intensifying the grip.

Then repeat this action by scissoring the legs so the right leg is high and shifting your weight into the left hip causing the pole to firmly press against the inner thigh of the right leg.

Repeat back and forth as many times as you can tolerate it.  You will be able to do more repetitions with time.

To help desensitize the inner upper part of the arm, use this pole dance exercise (that is also a good ab workout as well) =>

Tip 2#: Don’t Over stress the skin and use the right gear to protect an existing pole burn

Remember, DON’T over stress you skin or cause excessive bruising by doing these exercises.  When your skin has had enough, please use an inner thigh wrap with tacky grip and inner arm grip bands to protect your skin so you can keep pole dancing without losing any grip (in fact, you will have better grip with the wearable tacky grip gear).

When your skin has had enough stress during your daily pole routine, then move on to practicing other pole moves that don’t tug on the skin like the contemporary pole spin for intermediates (you must own the course to access the contemporary pole lesson >> PoleBody Complete Home Edition – Home Pole Dancing Lessons For Everyday Women).

It’s important to remember to use the tacky grip gear as an AID not a CRUTCH.   You must learn to desensitize your skin and that won’t ever happen if you don’t attempt to dance with bare skin first.   The grip gear is to protect the skin from excessive pain, bruising, and other damage so you can dance longer.

Tip 3#: Find Your Sweet Spot for The BEST Grip & Avoid Sweaty Skin

Sweat on the skin can cause you to have more friction between you and pole and increase your chances of getting a nasty pole burn.   There are pole dancing grip aids for sweaty hands and bodies that are also an antiperspirant.   This prevents excessive sweaty and reduces friction on the pole while dancing.

To find that “SWEET SPOT” when you have ultimate grip and the least amount of pole burn would be when your skin is at that phase where you are just about to sweat – not full-on sweaty.   This point happens when the skin is warmer than normal body temperature and slightly dewy without sweating.    Reaching this sweet spot will be different for everybody because we all live in different environments, have different skin types, and possibly dance on a dance pole with various finish types.

Experimentation with different grips to find the right grip aid that works for you is important to preventing excessive pole burn.

You can get a step by step videos of the best skin desensitizing moves for your skin for beginners in the Home Pole Lessons For Everyday Women Course.

Above all, please remember to hang in there and keep trying. Nothing worth having is super easy.