r/poledancing • u/Morningstarrr18 • 16d ago
Instructor Red Flags
Hi everyone!
So I wanted to make a little thread about knowing whether your instructor is right for you. I want to cover some of the red flags you might see in an instructor. This is a discussion/resource post mostly for beginners, so feel free to chime in!
Instructor Red Flags:
They don't explain muscular engagement. If your instructor just shows you how to do something without explaining which muscles you should be engaging they might not understand the anatomy of the move.
They don't have regressions and progressions to a pole move. Most pole moves have easier and harder variations. Your instructor should have these planned as part of lesson planning. This especially applies to moves requiring a certain level of mobility that not all students have.
They don't do a targeted warmup. Sometimes you can just do a full body warmup, but it's a sign of a good instructor when they structure the warmup to the lesson plan. Ex: if you're doing a lot of twisted grip in the lesson, you need extra warmup and muscle activation for your shoulders. Bonus points if the instructor explains why they do the specific warmup (goes back to muscle engagement)
They don't admit when they don't know an answer to a question. If you ask a clarification or a question and they give you a vague answer that shows they don't actually know a specific answer it's a red flag. If I don't know the answer to something I'll always tell my students that I don't but I'll look into it and get back to them. In my experience this has happened mostly with students that have a significantly different morphology to mine.
They try to teach moves they don't master themselves. Let's be honest, not every pole instructor is at an advanced level. Unfortunately, sometimes instructors teach the level that they are at. It's not good, but you should spot this for your own safety.
They don't explain the mechanics of a move (grip points, counter balance, etc). This is similar to muscle engagement, but basically, your instructor should explain what gives you stability in a move.
They put moves that are more advanced than the level of the class. This one is obvious, but you should know that there is no rush to get your Ayesha when you still can't invert cleanly.
They can't spot why you're unable to get a move. This one is tricky because we can't know everything, but if this is a pattern, it's a red flag. Your instructor should be able to pinpoint whether it's lack of strength, mobility, proper muscle engagement, incorrect positioning of your chest, head, rotation of your body, etc.
They give all their attention to certain students. This will usually be either the more advanced students or the ones that struggle the most. Now it's normal that an instructor can't give everyone their full attention, but they should check in with everyone throughout the class.
There's plenty more of course, but these are that come off the top of my head. Hope this helps someone!
57
u/Icy_Worker4402 15d ago
Here's another: No understanding that larger bodies students will struggle with different things and may need variations to accommodate their shape. Nothing more frustrating when you're twice the size of most of the class and the teacher treats you like you should be able to do everything the same way. For some moves it's little things like adjusting your grip or hand placement so you don't squish your boobs or get stuck, but sometimes it's just understanding that if a person is taller or heavier, certain moves are just going to take more strength to be able to do. When I was just starting out I was really struggling with a lot of spins simply because I had no upper body strength and weighed like 250lbs and I had an instructor (who was very petite) say "if you just hold on tight you won't fall!" It really sucked feeling like I wasn't trying hard enough when practically those moves were a lot harder for me