Unpopular Opinion: Not Every Trick Is Meant for Every Body

Stephanie Tallant
Jan 3
2 min read

Sunday Reset ✨

A weekly note on training, mindset, and your pole journey.

Welcome to another Sunday Reset. These are weekly notes where I share a little more long-form support around training, mindset, and the real ups and downs of a pole journey.

My hope is that these feel like a gentle reset. Something you can read, take what you need from, and come back to when it feels helpful.

Hi loves,

Unpopular opinion: not every trick is meant for every body.

And I don’t mean that in a discouraging way. I mean it in a freeing one.

It is completely okay to not want to do a certain trick.
It is okay to try something and realize you don’t enjoy how it feels in your body.
It is okay to decide that a move causes you pain, stress, or anxiety, and choose not to keep chasing it.

None of that makes you any less of a pole dancer.

This is true whether a trick is labeled “beginner,” “intermediate,” or a high-level, elite skill. The level attached to a move does not automatically make it appropriate or necessary for you. Your body doesn’t know labels. It only knows how something feels.

Pole offers an incredibly wide range of shapes, skills, and pathways. Some movements will feel intuitive and empowering in your body. Others might always feel awkward, uncomfortable, or unnecessarily stressful, even if you technically have the strength or flexibility for them.

That doesn’t mean you’re failing. It means you’re paying attention.

Sometimes the most skillful choice is listening when your body says, “this isn’t for me.”

There is also room here for the opposite experience. It is absolutely okay to be the pole dancer who loves chasing tricks, collecting skills, and checking boxes. That phase can be motivating, fun, and deeply satisfying. Wanting to try everything does not make your practice shallow or rushed.

Most of us move through different seasons in our pole journey. There are phases where curiosity and skill-collecting take the lead, and phases where refinement, comfort, or sustainability matter more. All of those seasons are valid, and all of them serve us in different ways.

Long-term progress in pole isn’t about doing everything. It’s about building a practice that supports you, challenges you in healthy ways, and allows you to keep showing up over time.