Should I use a grip aid?

This topic comes up A LOT, and it always brings up mixed feelings, depending on the person expressing the feelings. I used to advocate on the side of not using grip aids, as a beginner, with the idea that they could become a crutch. I have now had a change in my feelings, due to my constant fluctuations in body chemistry.

I have expressed on several occasions that I have always been a pretty sweaty girl, when I would exercise. This would come in handy, body grip-wise,  when I would pole, although hand grip was still quite the pain. As many of you know, fighting hand grip with sweaty hands can be awful, and there isn't much that can be done to stop the sweating (except grip aids like Dry Hands, vinegar, Dirty Girl POLEtice, etc or just wiping a lot with a towel or air drying with a fan.) On the positive side, the body sweat gives you enough of a tackiness to let you stick to the pole fairly decently, without much need for grip aids. That is where, as a beginner, the need for grip aids may not be necessary on the body...if you are a sweater. That natural tack can help you while you condition your muscles and SQUEEZE. Sweaty hands will most likely require grip aids, so sweat can be a double edged sword in that regard.

Now comes the flip side. I started some crazy medication that acts like a diuretic and MAY have the side effect of decreased sweating. Well, I got that side effect all right. I stopped sweating completely on my body. My body was so smooth I had no grip whatsoever. To help you picture how difficult it was, picture this: when I went to the grocery store and grabbed those produce bags, it took me FOREVER to open the bags! You know how they are folded up on themselves? Well my hands were so frictionless that they could not stick to the bag enough to open them. I know there are many women out there who suffer this same situation. I had a friend who had such dry skin that her hands were literally dry, cracking, and bleeding all the time. She thought it was from washing her hands all the time, but I had to wash my hands all the time too, and  mine never did that! With this is mind, it was impossible for me to grip the pole, even with my SQUEEEEEZING, without some form of a grip aid on. So if there is ANY beginner in this situation, I say put on a grip aid. It doesn't mean that you won't be using your muscles to grip the pole, because you WILL BE, but you just need that little extra something to stick to the pole. There is nothing wrong with it, we are all different.

I am glad that I had this happened to me. Now I can honestly know that grip aids aren't necessarily a crutch, but a necessity for some of us. They don't hinder progress. They can actually HELP in your progress, and make poling safer. There is no way I would have been able to progress, on my medication, without my grip aids. I would have fallen off the pole and hurt myself! Also, keep in mind that the pros use grip aids, and a lot of them!

I will go into further detail on the different grip aids out there, in another post, in the near future. Just know that you should not feel like you are not good enough if you need a grip aid, and if you cannot grip the pole, it is better to apply a grip aid so that you do not injure yourself!

Happy and safe poling everyone!