Iron X

Hard to believe, but I started writing this post over a year ago and just kept updating it over time. It finally feels like I've reached the desired result and can show the real progress and struggle I went through to achieve it.

I remember the first time I saw it done in real life, by a girl too, and my beginner pole dancer's brain just exploded.  Honestly, I thought it will never happen, back than I couldn't even do an invert without jumping into it. 4 years from then, and my Iron X is still not perfect.

Very first attempts. The shape is miles away from a proper Iron X

The fact that I got it at least in a slacky imperfect form is due to my being obsessive about the move. Happens sometimes. Once it felt like I've got a chance to perform it one day, I couldn't stop thinking about Iron X and focused on spending at least several minutes every class purely on Iron X training.. Unortunately, Iron X is one of those moves that you can't solely focus on, too much pressure on your shoulders and upper body. As a result, my progress on the move was very subtle.

Getting better, but my lower body is still not in the right position

I started working on the move from a simple lift in a cup grip. Then switched to a twisted grip as it felt more reliable. Lowering my body down from Aeysha proved too difficult, but I managed to jump into Iron X from the floor and hold. Not the best practice. What I'm still working on at the moment is the first option mentioned. I find it way harder, but I guess working on it slowly makes me stronger and more accustomed to the desired shape. There's a hundred things to keep in mind while attempting Iron X, including keeping your legs nice and straight. Unfortunately, my knees live their own life, hence my legs always appear slightly bent, which doesn't add any points, considering that the overall shape is far from perfect. The moment the knees are fixed, my toes are not pointy any more, constant struggle between those two never seem to end.

My latest performance. The shape is still not perfect, but I can comfortably hold it for about 5 seconds :)

There is still a long way ahead towards a perfect Iron X. There are so many cool variations both for static and spinning pole, it makes me wanna jump and go to class. It is in one of those moment I wish I were a dude, boys just make it look so effortless, just cause they are generally stronger. I don't think there is any trick to making the move easier. At this stage it is pure strength and complete core muscles engagement. Loosing some weight in the stomach department might help as well, that'll simply mean I need to lift a little less weight. But that's a problem for another day.

Lower body position is looking great, but my legs are not straight and need a lot of adjustments

Perfect form is what I'm trying to achieve, together with a more prolonged hold of the shape. There's also so many variations that I haven't even attempted yet. And it feels great that the move you like and feel like you mostly achieved still challenges you. Iron X is an important brick in building my solid pole foundation that will open more opportunities once perfected.

Almost there. My knees are finally behaving, so time to focus on the overall form

So here is my most recent result. There is still room for improvement, but I'm so happy to finally make my stupid knees to do what I want them to. Compared to all my previous attempts,  I finally have straight lines through my legs. Iron X is not the only move where I struggle to keep my knees locked, even the most basic invert yields the same result, unless I really focus on it. However, that's what bothered me most about my form. Being absorbed in the trick, holding it without looking like I'm about to fall kept my full attention, there was no room for anything else. Over the last year my strength has grown, giving me extra resources to focus on finer details, like locking my knees.

The next step is to tap into a cup grip hold, my favorite move still has a lot of possibilities for me to explore.