Chinese Pole Superman

Hey everyone, does the Superman hold which is done on Chinese Poles by cirque performers take an insane amount of strength to do? It appears to be done by squeezing one arm tightly towards the torso with the pole in between by the armpit and the body straight and diagonal. I'm guessing it only takes arm adduction strength and some core strength. I'm also not sure if you have to isometrically push downwards with your arms and if it's possible to do it with the body completely horizontal. I first learned about this static position in a youtube video about getting into the Cirque Du Soleil where the commentator says it takes near superhuman strength to pull this off.

This is the video and the Superman is shown and described at 16:05 - 16:28:

BLouxprAHtQ

So what kind of strength benefits or any other benefits will working up to or doing this skill/hold give?

Haha, it looks cool, but really doesnt take much strength at all. Its a bit difficult to do it without holding the pole like one of the guys do, but thats not too bad either. Its more about friction against your body and squeezing the pole. Most trained people can pull of the holding version on the first try if they get proper instructions. Chinese poles are covered with either neoprene or conduit rubber so there is a lot of friction. Doesnt surprise me if the suits are of a high friction material too. Hillarious that they say it takes "super human strength", it is like one of the very first tricks you learn on chinese poles.

I thought I posted here, but I guess it didn't show. Yea, this move isn't hard, it's all about friction and chinese poles are "sticky"

There is little to no carryover for this move, and it doesn't take a lot of strength to do.

Pole in general is very skill specific and doesn't have all that much carryover for other skills

Thanks for the replies, Handbalancer and Yuri. That was sure misleading from the commentator saying that it takes near superhuman strength to pull off, maybe she thought that because it was called the superman lol. Pretty cool looking skill though.

yuri said:

Pole in general is very skill specific and doesn't have all that much carryover for other skills

That shouldn't be a reason not to work them. Mastery of the poles seems like it would give the practitioner balls of steel. Literally ! :shock:

8HT-sYnGILE