Learning how to pole dance is not an easy feat. It involves a lot of dedication in developing strength in muscle groups that you don’t normally use every day. Moreover, you have to overcome the difficulty of maintaining grip so you don’t fall off your dance pole.

In the pole dancing for fitness and sports world, the use of pole dancing gloves for an enhanced grip is a very controversial matter. A lot of pole fitness instructors, as well as enthusiasts, strongly advise against its use. I for one discourage the use of pole dancing gloves because it inhibits your body’s natural ability to adapt to the exercise and sport. However, to be fair to those who use a pole dancing glove there is merit to their use.

For those who are starting to learn pole fitness dancing at home or in a studio, learning to move with the dance pole using your bare hands can be quite painful. For one, beginners tend to get pole burns not only on the hands but thighs as well. Having a pole burn or a bruise isn’t exactly the best feeling to have as it can be quite agonizing. However, your skin will eventually adapt and bruising and burns become less frequent as your skin adjusts to the friction of dancing on a pole.

Consequently, it is nice to have a pair of gloves to use when the pain is just too much to handle. You don’t want the pain in your skin or lack of grip to prevent you from getting through your pole dancing workout.  The point is to try to get through your pole dancing workout with no gloves and then use them when your skin has had enough. 

Here is a great article about how to build better strength in the skin to reduce the pain of learning pole dancing for fitness.

Additionally, beginners commonly struggle with getting enough grip to do things like one simple pull up on the pole.  In this respect, slipping can be dangerous and it does take time for the muscles in your hands to get stronger, just like any other body part.   Beginners frequently get discouraged about continuing to pole dance for fitness when they can’t get a grip to execute one more.  Giving up is the last thing I want you to do, so using the grip gloves in moderation is key.  You can use the gloves to help you get through a pole dancing workout while the muscles in your hands are getting stronger.

Remember, grip gloves are never a substitute for your own body’s ability to grip the pole.  ALWAYS try to grip the pole with your bare hands first and THEN use the gloves when you need to.  If you don’t, at least try to grip the pole with your bare skin, so you give your body the opportunity to strengthen and adapt.

There are also some people who have sweaty hands who benefit from the use of a pole dancing glove.

Here at PoleFitnessDancing.com, we have our very own grip gloves that we sell in the store and we believe in the quality of the products we sell.

In a test with pole fitness instructors and students at my studio, both instructors and students found that the Pole Fitness Dancing Tacky Grip Gloves does indeed deliver their promise of grip; it’s sticky enough on the dance pole to hold you in place while not inhibiting your ability to spin.

Furthermore, the gloves don’t bunch up even on a snug fit like other pole dancing gloves do. This is great because bunching up can lead to the formation of blisters. Also, they are not a little short at the bottom which is the root cause of bunching up. So if you plan on buying one for yourself you are guaranteed that the Pole Fitness Dancing Tacky Grip Gloves are true to its size.

However, this article is not to encourage you on the constant use of pole dancing gloves. At some point, you will have to learn how to pole dance without the aid of any wearable pole dancing gear because if you plan on joining pole sport competitions or make pole dancing your bread and butter, you just don’t use one. I guess you can say it lessens the aesthetic of the pole dance performance.

With that being said, what other uses do you have once you have outgrown your pole dancing gloves? Here are just a few of my suggestions:

1. Use it to uninstall your dance pole

After dance poles are installed for a long time, parts can get stuck together making them hard to unscrew or pull apart.  The tacky gloves are a great solution to getting those “stuck” pole parts apart during the uninstallation.  You can use them to unscrews the main pole parts and pull X-Joints out of the pole parts as well.

2. Use it for your dance pole’s adjuster cover

Often times when you uninstall your pole, you tend to overlook your adjuster cover. What happens then is that your adjuster cover gets dropped by accident and slips right to the bottom of your dance pole making it hard to take out. You can use your pole dancing gloves to pull your adjuster cover up if it gets stuck at the bottom.

3. Use it for strength training

As a dancer and pole instructor, I do not just limit my exercises to these two areas. I also go to the gym at certain times of the month to do some accessory workout which helps develop strength outside dancing and pole fitness. The pole dancing gloves are just perfect for lifting weights, climbing ropes, or pull up exercises.

4. Use it as a fashion accessory

Yes, your pole dancing gloves can be such a fashion forward statement. Wearing an all-black pole dancing gloves make you look like one tough cookie while a blinged out pole dancing gloves can be a statement piece to an otherwise plain outfit (even if it’s for fun on Halloween)

Nevertheless, we do encourage our students to use grip aids like PFD Grip Aid Gel, PFD Grip Aid Tac, Dry Hands, Tite Grip, or DewPoint Pole Classic Spray Grip which will enhance your grip without limiting your ability to perfect your pole fitness dancing routines.