Poles, poles, poles: your guide to buying a pole.

Titanium or brass, 38mm or 50mm, static or spinning, screws or no screws, the options go on and on, it seems like buying a pole can be more daunting than your first pole dance lesson!


So what do you look for when buying a pole?

• Safety

When you're buying a pole, before you take into account any personal preferences, the first thing that you have to consider is safety. Pole dancing is already a dangerous sport so don't make it any more dangerous by buying a dodgy pole. I have seen poles come out from underneath girls who have been lucky to only come away with a few stitches and sore backs.

So how do you know what poles are safe or not? Usually, price is an indicator of the quality of a pole, but not always. There are poles on the market in the mid-price range, which I personally recommend over other poles priced in excess of $900. So whilst I wouldn't necessarily go out and buy the bottom dollar pole, the most expensive pole will not necessarily be the safest pole because remember you might just be paying extra for the brand.

I personally recommend the X-Pole because they've been engineered by engineers! These poles haven't just been knocked up by someone's husband thinking "it's just a pole, there's nothing to it, I'll just whip one up in the back shed". X-Pole came on to the market over four years ago and has since built a strong reputation as a quality product, becoming the fastest selling pole in Australia. If you do decide to buy an X-Pole however, make sure that it's not a counterfeit by only purchasing from an authentic supplier. Imitation X-Pole's have been found in the US, Australia and New Zealand and claim to be "the same as X-Pole" or have "the same X-Pole design", but they do not. These counterfeits do not have the same safety features which make X-Pole one of the safest poles on the market and they aren't covered by the X-Pole warranty, so if you're not sure whether the pole is a genuine X-Pole, contact X-Pole Australia. To find a list of stockist and to learn more about the X-Pole go to http://www.xpole.com.au/.

After you've done your own research about the pole manufacturer, ask your pole friends and instructors which poles they use and recommend as there's no better piece of advice than first-hand experience.

The next considerations to make when purchasing a pole are your practical needs and personal preferences.

• Fixed vs. Portable:

Whether to buy a fixed or portable pole is probably the most decisive factor when it comes to which pole brand you ultimately decide to buy.

Again, when it comes to portable poles, the brand which I recommend is X-Pole. I've tried a few other brands, one of which came out from underneath me when I was only performing a basic spin, and the only pole I felt most secure and confident with was the X-Pole as it relies on "pressure based" system and not just a few rubber spots on the base to keep it in place.

The other major benefit that X-Pole provides in comparison to other portable poles is the fact that it doesn't need to be custom made. It comes in separate pieces so that if you move and your ceilings happen to be taller you can just buy an extension piece. Also, it's important to keep in mind that temperature changes can cause your ceiling to flex which could possibly cause the security of your custom one piece portable poles to be compromised.

There has also been a new free standing pole recently released by X-Pole, the X-STAGE, and another recent UK pole brand, the R-Pole (http://www.r-polefitness.com/. The advantages of the RPole are its lightness, weighing in at only 40kg and its availability in 38mm. The X-STAGE however, as its name suggests, includes a stage and not just a mat for its base. The advantage of a platform is primarily performance related as I don't know whether your 6" stripper boots on the RPole mat would do it any good. The mat can be removed from the RPole but this is not recommended because you could trip on the frame base itself. The disadvantage of the X-STAGE platform besides it's weight, is the fact that it can limit some of the pole tricks you can perform.

• Width

The question which I get most asked by students is "what width should I buy?".

Poles come in four main widths, with 38mm and 50mm poles being the most popular and those used in pole schools. I always wondered whether there are health considerations that should be made in relation to pole width and based on the R-Pole website there are. Their poles are medically endorsed by Stephen Deadman, a UK Chartered Physiotherapist and Registered Osteopath who believes that the 38mm pole is safer and more beneficial than 50mm because there is 'less stress placed upon the carpal row of bones and ligaments in the wrist'. I actually thought it was the opposite because I get more wrist pain using thinner poles but that might be because I over-grip with my big hands...

Besides the health considerations, the reasons why I would buy a 38mm pole are that it's easier to grip, especially if you have small hands; you can perform more contorted moves with greater ease; and it's actually harder to grip in sits, etc, and so therefore a 38mm will build your strength quicker.

The reasons why I would purchase a 50mm pole include, wrist pain when using a thin pole, or if you have very thin legs and find the 38mm impossible to grip in hangbacks, layouts, etc.

• Spin vs. Static

I first learnt on a static pole and I'm glad I did, it built up my pole strength within half of the time it would have taken me if I learnt on a spinning pole. I compare the difference between a spinning pole and a static pole to that of driving a car, if you can drive a manual, you can drive an automatic. If you can use a static pole the only thing that you need to get use to when using a spinning pole is control into spins so that you don't vomit. If however you only know how to use a spinning pole, you'll have a big shock when you come to a static pole and find that you don't have the strength to perform half of the tricks that you know how to do on a spinning pole. So the best pole to buy is one that offers both!

• Metal

Poles come in a variety of metals including brass, chrome, stainless steel and titanium. I think that when your deciding which type of metal to purchase it is purely personal. For example I grip best to brass when it's humid and the pole is warm, for others however they can only stick to brass when it's cold. Brass appears to be the most popular and stainless steel the most feared, notorious for being slippery. Titanium is the latest pole innovation and claims to be the happy medium between brass and steel, not too grippy and not too slippery. So my advice is go with what you know.

I hope I've cleared up any confusion and anxiety about buying a pole that you may have had and just remember, my opinions provided are purely my own recommendations and are not endorsed or sponsored by any pole manufacturer. Happy poling!