Hair whips shouldn’t be a (literal!) pain in the neck, and in this episode we’ll break down how keep your neck feeling as good as possible as you explore whipping your hair. We’ll talk about safety and warning signs, have a brief into to neck anatomy and talk about about how to prepare the neck for hairwhips, both day-of warmups and longer-term strength and conditioning.

Chapters:

03:11 Neck Safety Red Flags

05:06 Neck Muscle Basics

08:15 More Than Movement

10:51 Warm Ups

19:59 Vestibular Training

21:22 Technique And Hair Tips
23:09 Wrap Up And Takeaways

Dr. Rosy Boa interviews exercise scientist and belly dance (Raqs Sharqi) teacher Siobhan Camille (MSc in Rehabilitation Science) about applying exercise science to dance and pole. Siobhan shares her path from New Zealand athlete to researcher and strength and conditioning coach, including belly dance injury research, hospital-based rehab work, and her current role with Dutch elite and Olympic sport. They discuss how early research in “fringe” activities often focuses on injury rates before performance optimization, and emphasize that rehab and return-to-sport/pole rely on principles tailored to the individual and their demands. Siobhan critiques common “prehab” trends that underload the body, argues that appropriate joint stress builds resilience, and highlights injury’s multifactorial nature. They also cover consistency over optimization, motor learning cues, accessibility in classes, and misconceptions about “perfect posture” and pelvic tilt.

Are you a pole nerd interested in trying out online pole classes with Slink Through Strength? We’d love to have you! Use the code “podcast” for 10% off the Intro Pack and try out all of our unique online pole classes: https://app.acuityscheduling.com/catalog/25a67bd1/?productId=1828315&clearCart=true

Links & citations:

• https://www.instagram.com/greenstonedancearts/

• Athletic Performance and Rehabilitation work: https://siobhan-milner.com/

• Greenstone Dance Arts: https://greenstone.dance/

• 6-Week Challenge: https://greenstone.dance/product/dance-strong-6-week-fitness-challenge-for-belly-dancers-plus-personalised-program/

• Milner SC, Gray A, Bussey M. A Retrospective Study Investigating Injury Incidence and Factors Associated with Injury Among Belly Dancers. J Dance Med Sci. 2019 Mar 15;23(1):26-33. doi: 10.12678/1089-313X.23.1.26. PMID: 30835653. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/30835653/

Chapters:

00:00 Welcome and Guest Intro

01:00 Siobhan’s Dance and Sport Origins

03:07 Research Path and Elite S&C Career

05:13 From Injury Studies to Performance

07:17 Rehab Principles and Return to Sport

10:11 Prehab Means Getting Strong

14:39 Load Management and Injury Complexity

18:17 Aging, Consistency, and Staying Active

22:11 Accessible Strength Training for Dancers

26:54 Motor Learning and Better Cueing

34:14 Posture Myths in Dance
36:16 Where to Find Siobhan and Wrap Up

No weights for home pole dance conditioning? No problem! Dr. Rosy Boa addresses how pole dancers can build strength at home without gym access or heavy weights. She explains the basic strength principle of applying load and allowing recovery, noting weights are the most efficient for rapid, targeted gains, with free weights often preferable to machines for pole due to stabilization and range-of-motion demands. She then covers three accessible alternatives: isometrics (80–100% maximal effort holds for 1–5 seconds, scaling well but joint-angle specific), scalable bodyweight training (using variations such as changing points of contact, lever length, duration, reps, and power), and resistance bands (types, selecting by length/shape/resistance, variable tension through range, latex cautions, and use for assistance/spotting). She emphasizes consistency, enjoyable training, and doing the conditioning you will actually do.

Are you a pole nerd interested in trying out online pole classes with Slink Through Strength? We’d love to have you! Use the code “podcast” for 10% off the Intro Pack and try out all of our unique online pole classes: https://app.acuityscheduling.com/catalog/25a67bd1/?productId=1828315&clearCart=true

Chapters:

00:00 Welcome and Topic

00:58 Membership Shoutouts

02:59 Strength Basics

05:56 Isometrics Explained

09:11 Bodyweight Training

12:04 Scaling Difficulty

16:55 Resistance Bands

24:52 Consistency Over Intensity

28:47 Wrap Up and Invite

Citations:

• Weights (machines or free weights) do have the largest effect size in building strength... but that’s not necessarily our only goal

• • Wiedenmann T, Held S, Morat T, Rappelt L, Isenmann E, Berndsen E, Hopp NH, Donath L. The Effects of Different Resistance Training Modalities on Muscle Strength in Community-Dwelling Older Adults: A Network Meta-Analysis. Gerontology. 2025;71(7):576-588. doi: 10.1159/000546346. Epub 2025 May 27. PMID: 40452461.

• Isometrics scale with strength! (but you gotta PUSH: 80 - 100% effort and hold for a couple seconds)

• • Lum D, Barbosa TM. Brief Review: Effects of Isometric Strength Training on Strength and Dynamic Performance. Int J Sports Med. 2019 May;40(6):363-375. doi: 10.1055/a-0863-4539. Epub 2019 Apr 3. PMID: 30943568.

• Bands do help with strength, might be more helpful with explosive/power

• • Stanković D, Lazić A, Trajković N, Okičić M, Bubanj A, Vencúrik T, Gašić T, Bubanj S. Effects of Elastic Band Training on Physical Performance in Team Sports: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis. J Funct Morphol Kinesiol. 2025 Oct 17;10(4):402. doi: 10.3390/jfmk10040402. PMID: 41133592; PMCID: PMC12551113.

In this episode Dr. Rosy Boa discusses regression in pole dancing—plateaus, losing tricks, and fluctuating capacity—as a normal outcome of changing life circumstances like stress, finances, injury, caregiving, and disability, including impacts from COVID. She argues pole should not be prioritized over basic needs and warns against tying self-worth to specific tricks, which can create shame and identity crises when abilities change. As a coaching approach, she recommends building the skill of “noticing”: tuning into proprioception and interoception, identifying what feels physically pleasurable, and cultivating aesthetic appreciation beyond technical perfection. She suggests practicing by watching peer-level dancers and identifying non-technical qualities (expression, musicality, lines, novelty) to develop a softer lens that can be turned inward, supporting motivation, enjoyment, and longevity in pole.

Are you a pole nerd interested in trying out online pole classes with Slink Through Strength? We’d love to have you! Use the code “podcast” for 10% off the Intro Pack and try out all of our unique online pole classes: https://app.acuityscheduling.com/catalog/25a67bd1/?productId=1828315&clearCart=true

Citations:

Loureiro F, Ringold SM, Aziz-Zadeh L. Interoception in Autism: A Narrative Review of Behavioral and Neurobiological Data. Psychol Res Behav Manag. 2024 May 3;17:1841-1853. doi: 10.2147/PRBM.S410605. PMID: 38716258; PMCID: PMC11075678.

(Movement/exercise is effective in supporting joint health, especially in patients who already have osteoarthritis) Nayab S, Bilal Elahi M. The Impact of Exercise Interventions on Pain, Function, and Quality of Life in Patients With Osteoarthritis: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis. Cureus. 2024 Nov 25;16(11):e74464. doi: 10.7759/cureus.74464. PMID: 39726491; PMCID: PMC11669877.

Chapters:

00:00 Welcome and Setup

00:53 Why We Regress

01:29 Life Shifts and Capacity

03:30 Losing Tricks Is Normal

04:41 Identity Beyond Tricks

06:44 Noticing What Feels Good

09:14 Intrinsic Motivation in Practice

11:39 Appreciating Others Differently

13:47 Exercise to Train Your Eye

16:55 Beauty in Every Stage

20:10 Softness and Self Kindness
20:39 Wrap Up and Shout Outs

Dr. Rosy Boa hosts Science of Slink with guest trainer Àngel Casas, who practices body liberation, anti-diet, weight-neutral coaching, with a content warning for eating disorders, religious trauma, body weight, diet culture, and fatphobia. Angel describes being raised in a religious cult with strict body control, later leaving, coming out as a queer man, and repeatedly yo-yo dieting before starting a weight-loss fitness business during COVID. After working with clients and feeling triggered by diet practices, he sought help at an eating disorder center and learned about oppression, capitalism, and how “good body/bad body” narratives connect to diet culture; he shifted into non-diet personal training. Together they discuss weight-loss fitness as a results-based “scam,” problems with BMI and moralizing body size, medical fatphobia, GLP-1 drugs and harm reduction, alternative health markers (embodiment, daily functioning, strength, breath, joy), dismantling authoritarian fitness power dynamics, and building agency and compassion in movement. You can find Àngel at:https://nondietpersonaltraining.com/ / theantidiettrainer Are you a pole nerd interested in trying out online pole classes with Slink Through Strength? We’d love to have you! Use the code “podcast” for 10% off the Intro Pack and try out all of our unique online pole classes: https://app.acuityscheduling.com/cata... Chapters:00:00 Welcome and Content Warning00:48 Angels Origin Story08:07 BMI, Medical Fatphobia 10:03 Culture Morality and GLP1s12:01 Health Beyond Weight & Training for Bigger Life19:48 Learning Movement Autonomy & Joy32:31 How To Work Together34:09 Final Thanks And Wrap

Dr. Rosy Boa shares a previously unavailable talk outlining three research-based areas to help pole freestyling feel easier and more natural: a mastery mindset, moving to music, and reducing self-consciousness. Drawing on improvisation research (largely from jazz and musical improvisation), she explains that improvisation relies on generating and selecting familiar movement options, so dancers are more likely to access skills they can execute successfully about 90% of the time; mastery approaches are also linked to less perfectionism and better body appreciation. She then summarizes entrainment research showing dance training improves rhythmic synchronization, and that music with strong, predictable beats, some complexity, familiarity, and slower tempo is easier to move to, while metrically complex or unfamiliar music is harder. Finally, she notes that watching oneself (mirrors, filming, self-view on Zoom) increases self-consciousness and can worsen body image, so for flow she recommends avoiding visual self-monitoring and reflecting via journaling and feedback.

Are you a pole nerd interested in trying out online pole classes with Slink Through Strength? We’d love to have you! Use the code “podcast” for 10% off the Intro Pack and try out all of our unique online pole classes: https://app.acuityscheduling.com/catalog/25a67bd1/?productId=1828315&clearCart=true

Join my newsletter: https://slinkthroughstrength.us10.list-manage.com/subscribe?u=9abf68e29e749e7ee06f01364&id=3d02188de5

Try a free sample class: https://mailchi.mp/slinkthroughstrength.com/free-pole-flow-class

Chapters:

00:00 Welcome and Episode Setup

01:28 What You’ll Learn Today

03:18 Mastery Mindset for Freestyle

07:14 Moving to Music Entrainment

12:20 Pick Music That Helps Flow

13:21 Ditch Mirrors to Lose Self Focus

15:11 Three Tips and Wrap Up

15:55 Thanks and How to Connect

Citations

• Levin, R. (2009). Improvising Mozart. Musical improvisation: Art, education, and society, 143-149.

• Bloom, Benjamin S. (March 1968). "Learning for Mastery" (PDF). UCLA - CSEIP - Evaluation Comment. Vol. 1.

• Andrzejewski, C. E., Wilson, A. M., & Henry, D. J. (2013). Considering motivation, goals, and mastery orientation in dance technique. Research in Dance Education, 14(2), 162-175.

• Cary, G. (2023). Dancing like Everyone’s Watching: The Impact of Competition-Contingent Self-Worth and Belonging on Dancers’ Mental Well-Being (Doctoral dissertation).

• Brown, S., Martinez, M. J., & Parsons, L. M. (2006). The neural basis of human dance. Cerebral cortex, 16(8), 1157-1167.

• Washburn, A., DeMarco, M., de Vries, S., Ariyabuddhiphongs, K., Schmidt, R. C., Richardson, M. J., & Riley, M. A. (2014). Dancers entrain more effectively than non-dancers to another actor’s movements. Frontiers in human neuroscience, 8, 800.

• Madison, G., Gouyon, F., Ullén, F., & Hörnström, K. (2011). Modeling the tendency for music to induce movement in humans: first correlations with low-level audio descriptors across music genres.

• Weineck, K., Wen, O. X., & Henry, M. J. (2022). Neural synchronization is strongest to the spectral flux of slow music and depends on familiarity and beat salience. Elife, 11, e75515.

• Nakamura J, Csikszentmihályi M (20 December 2001). "Flow Theory and Research". In Snyder CR, Lopez SJ (eds.). Handbook of Positive Psychology. Oxford University Press. pp. 195–206. ISBN 978-0-19-803094-2. Retrieved 20 November 2013.

• Radell, S. A., Mandradjieff, M. P., Adame, D. D., & Cole, S. P. (2020). Impact of mirrors on body image of beginning modern and ballet students. Journal of Dance Medicine & Science, 24(3), 126-134.

In this episode Rosy Boa interviews dance psychology science communicator and West Coast swing teacher Clara Deiters about applying psychology to dance. They discuss how dance differs from other movement activities through artistic expression, and how dancers can balance self-expression with external validation by recognizing multiple reasons for dancing beyond judges’ approval. Clara suggests coping with post-competition disappointment by setting specific, measurable goals and evaluating them afterward to regain control in unpredictable competition settings like Jack and Jill. They cover the “glitter crash” after festivals, explaining it as a drop below baseline following high endorphin, oxytocin, and dopamine levels, and recommend gentle movement and light socializing. Clara shares implementation intentions/habit stacking for fitting short dance practice into daily transitions, and offers stepwise strategies to build improvisation comfort. They also address cautious science communication around claims about dance and depression, and mention research on synchrony increasing pain threshold as a proxy for endorphin release.

Follow Clara: https://www.instagram.com/clara.deiters.wcs

Try a sample class: https://mailchi.mp/slinkthroughstrength.com/free-pole-flow-class

Are you a pole nerd interested in trying out online pole classes with Slink Through Strength? We’d love to have you! Use the code “podcast” for 10% off the Intro Pack and try out all of our unique online pole classes: https://app.acuityscheduling.com/catalog/25a67bd1/?productId=1828315&clearCart=true

Chapters:

00:00 Welcome and Teaser

00:30 Membership and Free Class

01:24 Meet Clara Dieters

02:52 Dance as Art and Sport

05:48 Validation and Belonging

08:23 Post Competition Tools

11:53 Glitter Crash Explained

14:44 Habits When Life Is Hard

17:49 Improv Confidence Building

23:08 Dance and Depression Claims

25:30 Science Communication Challenges

28:09 Synchrony and Endorphins

29:56 One Big Takeaway

31:29 Where to Find Clara

32:23 Final Wrap Up

Citations:

Prudente, T. P., Mezaiko, E., Silveira, E. A., & Nogueira, T. E. (2024). Effect of dancing interventions on depression and anxiety symptoms in older adults: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Behavioral Sciences, 14(1), 43.

Tarr, B., Launay, J., & Dunbar, R. I. M. (2016). Silent disco: Dancing in synchrony leads to elevated pain thresholds and social closeness. Evolution and Human Behavior, 37(5), 343–349. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.evolhumbehav.2016.02.004

Teixeira-Machado, L., Arida, R. M., & de Jesus Mari, J. (2019). Dance for neuroplasticity: A descriptive systematic review. Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews, 96, 232-240.

Mansfield, L., Kay, T., Meads, C., Grigsby-Duffy, L., Lane, J., John, A., ... & Victor, C. (2018). Sport and dance interventions for healthy young people (15–24 years) to promote subjective well-being: a systematic review. BMJ open, 8(7), e020959.

McKenzie K, Bowes R, Murray K (2021) Effects of dance on mood and potential of dance as a mental health intervention. Mental Health Practice. doi: 10.7748/mhp.2021.e1522