From beginner to first invert

You are learning where the pole sits in your hands and how your body moves around it. By the end of month one you should be able to do three different beginner spins on both sides, walk circles confidently, and hold a basic sit for ten seconds without slipping.

Now you are stringing two moves together. Climb to sit, sit to chair, chair to spin. Your hands have stopped sliding. You have your favourite grip aid sorted. Your shoulders ache in a good way.

By the end of month two you should be able to climb to the top of the pole without panic, sit comfortably at any point on the climb, and lower yourself safely.

This is the make-or-break month. Most students who plateau, plateau here, because they haven't built the conditioning to hold an invert.

If you can hold a hollow body for 30 seconds, hang from a bar for 30 seconds, and do five inverted rows under a table, your body can do an assisted tucked invert. Ask your instructor.

You have done assisted inverts maybe ten times. Your instructor takes their hands off. You hold it. You laugh. You photograph it. This is one of the most memorable days you will have in pole.

Straddle invert. Layback. Crucifix. The invert is no longer the goal — it is the launching pad for everything else. You start the month a beginner and end it an early-intermediate.

Some people invert in eight weeks. Some take a year. Both are normal. The variables are: strength baseline before you started, how often you train, how patient your instructor is, and whether you skip the conditioning. The first one and the third one matter most.