Key muscles of pole dance 1: Yogini

Pole dance yogini is one of my favorite moves because it makes you look like you are flying effortlessly, especially when doing it on a spinning pole. Yogini is an intermediate level move that requires strength, flexibility and a super good grip (Be prepared to 'lose' some underarm and belly skin here!).

Here I am starting a series of blogs illustrating the key muscles you are using for various pole moves and suggesting prep poses you can try. Keep in mind that there are many muscles involving and here I am only highlighting the main ones. By breaking down into different muscles, I hope this will enhance your pole practice.

Most of the time we come into a move without fully understanding what is involved. I used to think that I had a flexible back and pressed my back into a full arch a lot during backbend move. What I now have is constant pain between the spine. What I did not realize was my chest and front shoulders were really tight which prevented me from opening my chest fully and contracting my shoulder blades. As a result, my body then compensated by overworking the erector spinae (muscles between the spine). Instead of over-pushing my back during backbend, I could have worked more on chest opening, which is the reason why I've started this blog series. Understanding the main muscles contracting and lengthening helps you highlight your strengths and weaknesses.

There are two types of muscles working for each movement: ones that contract to help you carry the move and ones that lengthen. Lack of strength in muscles contracting makes it heavy and difficult to do the move - you feel like you are not strong enough to lift yourself into it or cannot hold it for too long. Lack of flexibility in muscles lengthening limits you from extending your body into its full range - you are unable to stretch your body further to make a nice shape.

Muscles that contract or activate:

1. The posteriod deltoids (muscles back of your shoulders) and triceps extend your arms backward to grip the ankles

2. The lower trapezius and rhomboids (between your shoulder blades and the spine) open the chest, hence, stretching your pectoralis major

3. The hamstrings help bend the knees and your glutes extend your hips backward

4. The erector spinae (muscles running along the spine) arch your back

5. The rectus abdominis (your abs) if gently activated will help soften the arching of your back. So if you feel pain during this move or any sort of backbend, tighten your abs!

Muscles that lengthen:

1. Anterior deltoid (muscles in the front of your shoulders) - A tight anterior deltoid prevents you from extending your arms fully backward

2. Pectoralis major (chest muscles) - Tightness in this area limits a full chest opening. A tight pectoralis major is common among office workers who sit for many hours in front of a computer with rounded back!

3. Illiopsoas (hip flexors) - This help you extend your hips backward, making your bendy shape nicer. If you feel tightness in front of your hips when doing this move, it is time to stretch your hip flexors

4. Quadriceps -When you bend your knees, your quadriceps lengthen. However, when you do an extended yogini with straight legs and full backbend (search for Anastasia Skukhtorova's yogini), the quadriceps then contract to straighten your knees

Here are some poses that you can incorporate in your warm up to prepare for yogini. As yogini is inspired by yoga, these prep poses also come from yoga.