Pole Progress requires more than just more pole training
A lot of pole athletes base their development around pole training alone. They assume they just need more time on the pole. Sometimes, they might invest a bit more time into “conditioning” on the pole to progress further. To be fair, this works up to a point, especially early on, but eventually progress starts to slow or feel inconsistent even if you’re still training a lot. This is where people assume they just need even more pole time, but there’s a whole other side to athletic development.
Skill training vs physical capacity
Pole training is excellent for developing skill. No surprises there. Training adaptations are specific, meaning we get better at what we train. But if we’re solely focused on skill training, we’re missing out on everything that supports that skill long-term such as force productions (strength), force absorption (control under load), joint and connective tissue tolerance, recovery between high-intensity sessions, and more. These qualities don’t always improve just because you do more and more pole.
For clarity, I don’t personally rely on on-the-pole conditioning for building strength or capacity in my own training or in how I coach athletes. Outside of working specific high-skill movements like deadlifts and muscle up variations, I don’t use pole sessions as a primary tool for strength or athletic development. My focus is on building those qualities through structured strength and conditioning work off the pole, in a gym with heavy weights, so that pole training itself can stay skill-focused and higher quality.
Limitations of on-the-pole conditioning
As I mentioned before, at least we do have athletes trying to bridge the gap by adding “conditioning” on the pole. We see a lot of climbs, repeating skills like inverts and shoulder mounts, ab exercises, etc. But I do not believe that this is the best approach due to it’s inherent limitations such as:
Bodyweight exercises are hard to scale precisely. It’s all or nothing.
Band work can be inconsistent and difficult to progress
Resistance bands jumps are often too large between bands
It’s difficult to track or structure overload over time
Most importantly, pole itself often sits very close to maximal effort, especially for intermediates or newly advanced athletes. That means it’s not always the best environment for building additional capacity and can even be leading to extra body aches and joint pains if not scaled and progressed appropriately.
Why strength training is often a more effective tool for building strength and capacity
Strength training in a gym setting allows for a level of precision and progression that is difficult to replicate on the pole. You can increase the weight lifted in very small, consistent increments (like 2.5lbs), which allows for gradual overload over time rather than large jumps in difficulty. This is important for your joint capacity too as connective tissue adapts slower than muscle. The gym allows you to take your time and let those tissues catch up.
You can also train with loads that exceed bodyweight. This is huge because when you return to the pole, your bodyweight can feel relatively lighter and more manageable in comparison, improving control and confidence in positions so you have the space to start stylizing your shapes and combos into something uniquely YOU.
Beyond load, strength training allows you to manage variables like intensity, volume, tempo, and range of motion in a very intentional way. This means you can operate within your current capacity and gradually expand it without constantly pushing near-maximal effort. This level of control makes it easier to target specific physical qualities like force production, joint stability, or eccentric control, without the added complexity of technical execution at the same time.
Cross-training matters for more than just strength
In almost every other sport, athletes use strength and conditioning outside of their sport to improve performance within it. They don’t do this because the sport isn’t enough, but because it’s too specific like I mentioned before.
Supplemental training allows you to strengthen specific positions under controlled and progressed load. This allows you to build joint and connective tissue resilience to avoid common pathologies like tennis elbow, golf elbow, shoulder pain, etc.
Cross-training means you can train force production to build strength without the technical complexity of big skills like handsprings and deadlifts. And most importantly, it allows you to accumulate meaningful volume without maximal fatigue every session. THIS is what increases your “capacity ceiling” - how much your body can handle before performance breaks down.
Nutrition is part of the system
Outside of the studio or gym, training capacity doesn’t exist in isolation. Your ability to adapt to your training is directly influenced by:
your total energy availability (calorie intake)
your protein intake (for recovery and building lean body mass)
your carb intake (to fuel training)
and your overall consistency of fueling, as well as micronutrients needed to support athletic performance
So performance is not dictated by only what you physically do on the pole or in the gym, but how you support those activities through your diet and lifestyle at home.
The bigger picture
Pole skill training is essential. I’m not arguing that, but it’s only one piece of the performance puzzle. Athletes tend to stall when skill work is really high or when their physical capacity is not developing at the same rate. That’s where structured strength, conditioning, and nutrition strategies become important, along with programming to manage recovery. These are not replacements for your skill training, but are a necessary support system to continue to progress and evolve within your skill sessions.
Keep doing pole, certainly, but make sure your body is actually able to handle what your pole training is asking of it. This is what allows progress to stay consistent over time.
