Let's be real, babes. The hardest part of pole dancing at home isn't the tricks or the lack of coordination. It's walking past the pole for the fourth day in a row and telling yourself you'll train tomorrow (hA!!)

What do you do when there is no instructor watching, no class time on the calendar, and no babes in the Zoom room hyping you up? Its just you, your pole, and whatever excuse you came up with today.

I know some of you are nervous about that, especially as RLT shifts from live classes to on-demand. I get it. I was nervous to make this shift too. BUT!!! I did it confidently, because I believe in the RLT babes and your ability to shift (and level up) right alongside the business <3

**TL;DR: how to stay disciplined training pole at home**
Block off time for class. Start small. Film yourself. Listen to your body. Share with the fam. Find your balance. Rest on purpose. Lifetime access means there's no rush. Just keep showing up, 1% better than the day before.
That's how you become the baddest bitch you can be. Not by feeling ready, but by showing up even when you’re not.
**More**

So let's reframe. Training alone is NOT a downgrade. It just takes a different kind of discipline. And discipline is the whole reason strippers get good at this in the first place. Nobody's holding our hand in the club, nobody is scheduling us. We simply show up, we do the work, and we get paid! Simple. Just like training :)

This is how you build that same bad bitch discipline at home. These are the exact mindset shifts I use when nobody's watching, plus some advice the RLT fam shared too!

Why you can't stay consistent with pole at home (it's not laziness)

We made a few polls for the RLT fam on Instagram and in our community chat before making this blog! Here's the results:

40% of our RLT babes train "whenever I feel like it," and another 23% basically never. And the hardest parts aren't strength or skill. They're not knowing what to work on (33%), actually starting (31%), and staying consistent week to week (29%).

Only 7% said "nobody to hold me accountable." So the problem was never that you need someone watching you. The problem is you're waiting to feel ready/motivated.

Motivation is a liar. It shows up after you start, not before. The babes who train consistently at home aren't more motivated than you. They just stopped waiting to feel ready and started treating pole like an appointment instead of a vibe.

You don't have a laziness problem. You have a "no plan, no start time" problem. INCREDIBLY fixable!! Below are some tips from the RLT team, and the RLT family to remind you that YOU GOT THIS!!!

1. Discipline > motivation: block off class time like it's live

This is the number one way to stay disciplined training at home, and it's the direct fix for the 40% of you training "whenever I feel like it."

Open your calendar right now and block off your pole time for the week. Then pretend class is live. Same time, same energy, same "I'm not letting the class down" pressure, except the one you're not letting down is YOU!!

Leading with discipline instead of waiting for motivation means you just do it instead of procrastinating. That's it. That's the big secret. That's the bad bitch energy everyone's talking about. The follow-through!!!!!

Daddy yourself babe <3 Show urself whos bo$$!

2. Start small (mini tutorials exist for a reason)

The fastest way to procrastinate a pole workout is to tell yourself it has to be a full 60-minute class or nothing.

Not AT ALL!!! Start with a shorter class. Or take the first half of a full class and drill one trick or combo until it feels natural in your body. A 15-minute session you actually do (and enjoy) beats the hour-long one you keep pushing to next week.

PLUS!! Rewatching and repeating puts the movement in your body, not just your brain. That's how you actually get better at pole dancing at home: with reps, not intentions.

3. Watch it back (the camera is your instructor now)

Voyeurism, babe. Film yourself. Every session.

Watch it back, fix one thing, film it again. Keep going until you like what you see and how it feels. This is the closest thing you have to instructor feedback when you're training pole alone, and honestly? It's more brutal and more useful than any correction I've ever gotten in a studio.

This is also the fastest way to build your personal style. Freestyle on camera. Notice what you love. Do more of that!!!

4. Show the family

Home pole training doesn't have to mean solo pole training.

Share what you're working on in the progress chat and encourage the babes to show you back. Everyone's scared to share at first, but the social chat is a sexy, uplifting space and the fam would love to cheer you on.

Be the first to post. Watch what happens. The accountability you're missing from live class? It's right there, you just have to grab it.

LINK TO JOIN: https://chat.whatsapp.com/KPwA2ai8ruXHauzQq1sM9O

5. Intuition + balance: don't be a drill sergeant to yourself

Discipline doesn't mean punishing yourself. Find the balance between following your desires and being disciplined when you know something is good for you.

Translation: force yourself to move, but let it be a gentle practice if that's what your body's asking for that day. A floorwork flow in your sweats counts. Ten minutes of spins counts. Showing up gently is still showing up.

6. Rest on purpose

Prioritize days off too. Maybe you work best with three off days a week, maybe you want class daily, maybe once a week is your sweet spot.

Rest isn't the opposite of discipline. Rest is part of it. Find your balance and perfect it.

bad bitches take days off (*intentionally*)

7. Be kind (lifetime access means there's no rush)

Don't be hard on yourself. You have lifetime access to every class you sign up for. There is no deadline, no falling behind, no "I should be further by now."

Just keep showing up, 1% better than the day before. U GOT THIS!!!

How the RLT fam stays disciplined training at home

I asked the babes for their routines, rituals, and tricks for getting on the pole when they don't feel like it. This is what came back, straight from the community chat and the comments (kept anonymous, because bad bitches don't gatekeep but they do mind their business)!!!

Plan the session before you start

Not knowing what to work on was the number one answer in our poll. The fam's fix:

"I keep a journal and write down my goals for the session and what I'm going to do. Having a structure to follow helps when I'm practicing on my own. And if I'm too mentally drained to plan my own session, I pull up a playlist and repeat a previous RLT class I've taken."

Same energy from another babe: if the idea of a freestyle practice feels overwhelming, put on a class recording. Having a sequence to focus on takes the pressure off deciding what to do!!

Start the workout. Give yourself permission to not finish it.

"I always start the workout, but I let myself not finish if my head's not in it. Half a class or a fraction of a workout is better than none."

"I have trouble starting, but once I start warming up I'm able to practice. I don't put an expectation on length of time or on being perfect. If I'm done after 15 minutes, I accept that."

Steal a weekly structure

One of the babes shared her full week in the RLT chat so you don't have to build one from scratch. In her words: ignore the exact weights and do what feels good for you

Screenshot from the RLT community chat: a member's weekly pole training structure with leg day, dance days, upper body, core, and cardio

Take the judgment out of freestyle

"I start freestyle without heels for two songs and only put them on if I genuinely want to. Sometimes I put them on for a song and take them off if it doesn't feel right that day. If spinning isn't hitting, I switch to static, and vice versa. I do what feels good to me and try to have FUN."

This babes themes for every practice: acceptance, safety, and progress over perfection. "No movement is wrong. There's only safe vs. unsafe."

Progress over perfection

"If there's something specific I want to practice, I do it two times on each side, then stop and have fun and do what feels good."

"Keep moving toward your goals even on the days you only have 1% to give."

Safety first when you're training alone

Check your pole. Every time. Adjust it tighter if you need to. Better to have it too tight and need to loosen it than have it come down through your wall or windows!!
Inverting alone? Tell someone. One babe texts a local friend before she practices upside down and texts again when she's done and safe. Genius. Steal it!!!!
Use a crash mat for any inverts at home. Shop here
Don't skip your warm up. Nobody's making you do it at home, and skipping it is how you get hurt.
Don't skip the basics either. The foundational moves are what make your choreo hypnotic and your movement graceful.

End with gratitude

"I thank my body at the end of practice and thank myself for showing up. I give myself gratitude by cleaning my space and stretching my ankles, shoulders, and wrists."

That's the ritual. Show up, do what you can, thank yourself, reset the space for next time.

How to Get Better at Pole Dancing at Home (Even When You're Feeling Lazy, Unmotivated, or Training Alone)