The pole teacher safety course was unbelievable. We we spend most of the first day with a physiologist learning everything possible about muscles; how they work, what feeds them, what makes them dormant and what makes them usable, their biproduct, their cellular make up, how they are injured, how to prevent injury, and what exercises we need to do (outside of pole dancing) to build up apposing muscles so that the ones we use frequently do not pull out or damage the apposing mucscles.
In the second day we learned all kinds of spotting techniques, including how a little 96 pound woman like me can spot a 150 pound woman as she learns to go upside down on the pole for the first time. I learned how to modify two of the basic spins for "deconditioned" women and those students that are just too scared to let their feet leave the ground to engage in a spin. I learned even more too, I definitely got my money's worth. Myself and the other pole instructor here in Seattle are now the first and only pole dance instructors in all of Washington to be certified safe by AFAA: Aerobics and Fitness Association of America.
