I can do a brief straddle side lever on the Swiss ladder.
Can't even do the beginning SL skills on a poll without rotating.
How do you keep your body from rotating?
Is it just grip strength?
Side lever much harder on pole
Started by bigB, August 18, 2015 · 3 Replies · 2,057 Views
No your alignment is incorrect. Stall bars are more forgiving as your wrists can stabilize the torque.
The most likely reason for your rotation is insufficient core stability, i.e. you are probably arching your back and therefore not in one nice plane with your body. You can't get away with that on a pole...
Good luck with your training.
More grip strength does help however 
I prefer the bars just for comfort, but a pole or irregular/mixed surface like a tree or sturdy post that you can grip the top of can be a nice switch-up
My problem when I try things on poles is my hands slip. Even if I'm sweating, my hands tend to be kind of dry and there's not a lot of friction. If I wet my hands in water or something it works a lot better.