Pole Knee Lift Exercise

Place the other hand low on the pole in an inverted hold (inside of your elbow points up, and thumb points down).

Place your feet wide and lean slightly forward, with your weight coming onto your toes.

Next, engage your core muscles (pretend someone was about to punch you in the stomach), brace yourself with your arms, and s-l-o-w-l-y lift your feet off the floor, bringing your knees to hip height.

Pause here for a moment, then slowly lower your toes to the floor. Repeat in a slow and controlled manner.

You may only be able to do 1 or 2 at first, but soon you'll get stronger and will be able to do more. Aim for 8-12 reps.

The pole knee lift exercise requires a lot of core strength to lift your feet off the floor, especially if you do it slowly. But it also requires quite a bit of arm and upper body strength to hold your body weight up while you lift your feet.

Be kind to yourself while you work on building the strength you need!

It's so important to stay in control and to move slowly when doing this exercise. This is because you'll develop better muscle strength and control if you use muscle, rather than momentum.

Sure, you could do more reps and get through them quicker if you just threw yourself into it. But that's not going to help you look graceful and controlled when it's time for inversions and advanced lifts.

Here are some more reminders for this exercise:

• This is an intermediate level exercise, so please don't attempt it if you are just beginning pole dancing or do not yet have a base of core and upper body strength


• Don't attempt this exercise if you currently have a wrist or shoulder injury, or are recently recovered from one


• Do engage your core muscles before you lift


• Remember to lift and lower your knees in a slow and controlled manner

Want More Exercises Like This?

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See more helpful exercises & stretches:

• Pole Shoulder Stretch

• Pole Dancer Stretch - adapted from yoga

• Sitting Pole Up Exercise

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