It’s springtime! As the flora and fauna of our beautiful Northwest Arkansas community, such as caterpillars, butterflies, and frogs, come out of hibernation and back into bloom, celebrate at The Diva Dive by practicing five spring-themed moves: Caterpillar, Butterfly, Extended Frog, Stargazer, and Tulip!
Note: Most of these moves are considered to be at the Intermediate level. If you are not there yet, you can still prep your muscles to prepare for these moves when you are ready! Most of the video tutorials in this blog provide step-by-step instructions. See if you can accomplish the first few steps, and build your capacity from there.
All pole videos below were created by Polestructions.
1. Caterpillar (Intermediate)
Springtime means that insects and critters are returning to the gardens, including caterpillars! Caterpillar is one of those pole moves that truly looks like what its name suggests. From a Crucifix, place one gripped hand at your midriff and the other hand in front of your face, palm facing the pole. From there, engage your core and extend your arms to push your butt up. To really look like a Caterpillar on the pole, continue this motion of pushing up and coming back down to the pole. You can also do a Caterpillar Climb by pushing your legs up the pole when you extend and moving upward.
In many classes, Caterpillar is also used as a warm-up exercise. From Crucifix, slide down the pole until your hands touch the ground. Keep the arms extended. From there, try to do push-ups, rolling your body up and down in the process. The “push-up” variation is seen as a Pre-Exercise in the video tutorial below:
2. Butterfly (Intermediate)
Springtime brings beautiful butterflies to the yard! In pole, Butterfly is a common and beautiful move that makes you look like a skilled acrobat. There are tons of ways to get into a Butterfly, and it has countless variations. The most common way to get into Butterfly is by an Outside Leg Hang, twisting your body to face the pole and taking the back leg off the pole. However, Butterfly can be done in many ways, including a handstand, shoulder mounts, and more. Miss Courtney and Miss Sally practice transitioning from a Jemilla / Thigh Hold into Butterfly, which is one of my personal favorite moves.
P.S. - What do Caterpillars turn into? Butterflies! You can get into a Butterfly from a Caterpillar by extending your arms and taking your back leg off the pole.
Watch the video below to see how you can get into Butterfly from 19 different variations!
3. Extended Frog (Intermediate)
We all hear ‘em…the frogs are out and singing in the springtime! Extended Frog begins with an Outside Leg Hang into a Genie. From there, use your hands to grip the pole on the outside of both legs and extend both legs. See what it looks like on spin here:
Another variation of Extended Frog utilized a strong elbow grip. From Genie, pull both arms through the middle of your legs and hook them underneath the pole in a firm elbow grip. Once you feel secure, extend the legs and show us your best spirit fingers!
4. Stargazer (Intermediate)
In the spring and summertime, I love going outside after dark and looking up at the night sky to see all the stars in our galaxy, and we are fortunate to live in Arkansas where you can see the stars at night. Similarly, Stargazer is one of my favorite pole moves! It’s an easy one to get into―a simple pole climb and knee lock, almost like you’re sitting, but the knee should sit higher. The skill comes with being able to put pressure on the back of your knee, slide down the pole with your extended leg, and lean backward, holding the pose. It’s a beautiful move, especially on spin pole. Watch the video below for a tutorial!
5. Tulip (Advanced)
Tulips are such gorgeous spring flowers. For that reason, I couldn’t leave this move out of the routine, but I’ve never done this one myself! Tulip is considered an Advanced pole move―one in which you’ll need to be comfortable with Handsprings to complete. (I’m still working on mine.)
From your Handspring, slide into your Ayesha making sure your top arm is bent. From there, bend your knees and twist sideways to bring the bottom knee down to your bottom elbow. Extend both of your legs, and voila! It almost looks like an Extended Frog, except that your legs are airborne, not resting on the pole.
Please don’t try this move without admission to the Advanced level or under instructor supervision. Practice on perfecting your Handsprings and make this a move to aspire to!
See what it looks like here:
Stretch: Frog
Jumping back to the Frog for a stretch cool down. Personally, I have a tough time with my hip flexors between keeping my legs straight in the air and my general non-flexibility in that area of my body. The Frog stretch is one of the toughest and yet most satisfying stretches for my hips and legs. I usually do it on my bed to have something soft beneath me.
To keep with the spirit of spring, wrap up your spring-themed pole routine with a good, long Frog stretch!
This video by Chloe Bruce helps break down this stretch:
Special thanks to Miss Courtney for this brilliant, spring-themed routine idea! Next time you’re at The Diva Dive, ask your instructor to work on one of these moves, or try it out yourself! Just remember: safety is sexy.
Happy Spring!
Erica
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