Too slippery on the pole? Too sticky? Here’s why! The SCIENCE of pole grip
Did you know there’s a whole scientific field that just studies friction?? It’s true! And we can apply a lot of those findings to help us stick better to the pole.
In this episode we’ll dig into why you might be too slippery or too sticky by focusing on friction and research from tribology (much of it drawn from prosthetics studies). We’ll talk about how skin, fat and muscle all contribute to grip and how to navigate each.
I also break down all the different types of grips and when/why you might want to use each one.
Want to train with me? Check out the Science of Slink membership: https://scienceofslink.com/
Citations:
Gerhardt LC, Strässle V, Lenz A, Spencer ND, Derler S. Influence of epidermal hydration on the friction of human skin against textiles. J R Soc Interface. 2008 Nov 6;5(28):1317-28. doi: 10.1098/rsif.2008.0034. PMID: 18331977; PMCID: PMC2607440.
Xu, Z., Sun, H., Tang, W., Fang, X., Kosimov, A. A., & Mamadamon, A. (2026). Influence of muscle fatigue on pain based on friction and brain activation. Tribology International, 112362.
(I didn’t talk about it, but this is a fun blog post about tribology: https://www.stle.org/files/TLTArchives/2024/12_December/Feature.aspx)
Chapters:
00:00 Sticky vs Slippery
00:38 Science of Slink Membership
02:17 Friction and Tribology Basics
03:34 Skin Layers and Hydration
06:16 Body Fat and Surface Area
10:10 Muscle Tension and Fatigue
15:32 Grip Aids Explained
20:25 Wrap Up
Transcript:
If you've been pole dancing for any amount of time, I can pretty much guarantee you've run into problems with being too slippery or not slippery enough. And today we're gonna get really fucking nerdy about how to get more or less slippery, what makes us more or less slippery on the pole, and how to change it. And I gotta say, I went way down the rabbit hole researching this, and I found some things that were completely new information to me. I've been pole dancing for almost 15 years. So hopefully, even if you're really experienced, you'll come away with this with some tips, some tricks, maybe a deeper understanding, uh, and also a, a vector to go out and read more if you wanna get into the research if you too love to read research papers in your copious free time.
Before we get into it, just gonna shout out my members in Science of Slink, uh, you know, my fellow nerds. And if you're not familiar with my membership, it is an online home pole membership. And it's really built around giving you the ability to just walk up to the pole and dance, right?
Just move, just freestyle. Uh, and everything is in support of that, right? So the conditioning classes are in support of that. Uh, the technique classes are really designed to help you build mastery, so you have this tool bag of moves. You're like, "Yeah, I can absolutely do this every time. I'm really confident in it, and it can just show up in my dance."
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With that out of the way, let's get into what makes us stick to the pole, and the answer is friction. Uh, and part of the reason that I went so far down the rabbit hole this time is that there's actually a field that studies friction tribology or tribology. I've heard both. I'm not sure which is more common. If any of y'all are, are physicists and have, uh, uh, have input, let me know in the comments.
Uh, I, I'm interested to hear.
And from my reading, a lot of the work on skin friction, uh, and also sort of muscular effects actually comes from work with prostheses. Uh, so looking at people who, you know, have a limb difference or are amputees and have been fitted with a prosthesis and looking at the friction between the prosthesis and then the person's skin. Uh, because of course you want those to be comfortable long-term. So a little bit less focus on, uh, the sort of sports angle of it, and I couldn't find any work on pole dance specifically. If anyone knows of any, please, oh my God, send it to me. I will fall on it just like a, a rabid raccoon. If it exists I want to know. If you're a tribologist and you're like, "Wow, I'd really like to study pole dance," fucking hit me up, man. Let me know. I wanna get in on this so bad.
So that's what a lot of this research that I'm gonna be drawing on is from, and also just my experience as someone who's been pole dancing for 14 years.
God, I, I feel old sometimes. Uh, so let's talk about the different layers of the integument and the stuff below the integument, uh, that touch the pole and some things that can affect that.
So we're going to touch the pole. What's actually touching the pole? Well, the first layer is, of course, the skin, the dermis, the epidermis, uh, et cetera.
And there's a lot of variation in skin, not just in an individual day-to-day, we'll talk about that in a moment, uh, but also different places in your body have thinner or thicker skin, right?
Like, your foot skin is thick, thick, uh, whereas, for example, your face skin, uh, maybe around your eyes is very thin, very delicate. There's also variation, uh, you know, across the lifespan as we age and our collagen changes, uh, you know, faster for those of us who aren't hypermobile. Uh, you begin to reduce the amount of elasticity in your skin, right? And those can definitely change how things feel on the pole, but it's not really something you can do anything about, right?
One thing that we can do something about is hydration. So we, we all know, I hope we all know that we need to be hydrating. We need to be drinking regularly. We need to be getting our fluids in us.
Uh, I think there's also, like, a myth that, like, coffee and tea don't count as hydration. They absolutely do. If you don't regularly consume caffeine, it might increase your rate of urination. If you're already regul- regularly consuming caffeine, it probably won't do that much.
Don't not drink coffee 'cause you're... If, if you're getting a lot of liquid from coffee, and you're like, "Oh no, I gotta hydrate. I should stop drinking the liquid because it's coffee," uh, please don't do that. Uh, just add some more water in there.
And in general, uh, and this is from Gearhart et al., 2008 higher hydration of the skin, uh, will increase friction. So it'll make the coefficient of friction higher, uh, and it looks like the relationship is pretty much linear, right? So the more hydrated the skin is, the more sticky you're going to be.
So I know for myself, uh, just observationally, I tend to be most slippery in the winter because my skin gets dry. So if I'm not regularly lotioning, and we'll talk about, what I use and how to do that in a while later do- down in the episode. If I'm not regularly hydrating my skin and also I'm not drinking enough water, I get super, super slippery.
So increasing hydration is going to help you be more sticky in the skin layer. Just a, a side note from that, uh, Gearhart study, this may potentially be hormonal. There may be something sex linked here. It seems like it's a little bit more sticky increasing-ness for women to be more hydrated than men, and those were the two populations they were looking at. And all the information and citations will be l- down there if you wanna go read these studies for yourself.
So that's skin right off the bat. Something that we can do is we can increase our hydration and make sure that we are drinking more. And then of course, underneath the skin we have our fat, and everyone has fat. Uh, it's, it's a normal thing. Some people have more, some people have less. It's gonna be in different places in your body. Totally normal. There's just variation between body shape and size, and it's just part of being human, right?
And a lot of it is actually genetic. So amount of body fat is about as heritable as height. Uh, right? So, you know, two tall people tend to have a tall child. Um, two tall people tend to have a tall child. Uh, two people who tend to carry a bit more fat are gonna have children who tend to carry a bit more fat. It's, it's very, very genetic.
With that said, there's definitely some differences in fat. Generally I have found for myself and others that the more fat is on a contact point, the stickier it's gonna be. Uh, and I think that the majority of this is due to actually the ability to form around the pole, and to actually create more surface area, right?
So the more surface area there is, the more friction there is, the more drag there is. And if you don't have a lot of fat, uh, you may really struggle to find that deformation, that friction to wrap around the pole.
Generally, also, if you don't have a lot of fat, you are gonna probably weigh a little bit less. Not always, right? Like, especially folks who carry a lot of muscle mass. That can kind of balance itself out. But I would say one of my main things that I would, I would say to folks who have who have more body fat and are getting stuck a lot is instead of trying to drag your body across the pole to get into positions, lift your body off the pole and then replace it.
So great example here is if you are torso wrapping, right, you're in a sit and you're bringing your torso forward around the pole. If I just try to drag myself around the pole I'll actually get stuck on my upper arm.
So if I'm wrapping my torso around the pole, instead of dragging myself forward, I lean really far out and come around, and I actually take my outside hand, instead of having it up overhead, I will often bring it across my belly in, like, a seat belt position to give me more space to lean and come around.
So taking your body off the pole and then replacing it to make big movements especially if you're moving around a place where you have more body fat, can be really helpful. Uh, another place where this really shows up for me is in Superman.
I don't su- teach Superman except by request. Enough people really hate it. Uh, enough people really dislike it that it just doesn't seem worth it, and also nothing in pole is mandatory. Nothing is required, so if you don't wanna do it, you don't have to do it.
When I was working on Superman, I'd flip my hips, and I wouldn't be able to drop them, just because I had enough mass, enough stick in my upper thighs they literally would not slide down, right? And for someone who had less fat in the inner thighs, had less stick, had less squish, uh, a little bit of opening, reduced that friction enough that the hips would drop. For me, it just didn't. So what really worked for me for Superman to reduce that friction was when I was getting into the position, I actually lifted my leg all the way off and then replaced it.
Uh, so to this day, I really only like going into Superman from, uh, a Jasmine because it lets me take the outside leg up and off all the way, rotate, and then re-grab. If I just try to slide down, I get stuck really easily. And that's just a body difference, right? I tend to carry a little bit more squish, a little bit more stick on my inner thighs. It means my sits feel really comfortable. It means that movements like gold digger upside down, I can let go of my hands no problem. That feels really comfortable. I have a lot of stick there because I have a lot of squish there. But if I'm trying to slide, that's not my friend.
If you do have more fat that is helping you wrap around the pole, not a bad thing. It's gonna make some things easier for you. But if you are finding that the friction is so great that you can't move your body, instead of sliding, pick up and place. And if you're not following me on Instagram yet, uh, it's Slink_Through_Strength. Uh, I'm also on, on YouTube and TikTok. Definitely check it out , 'cause I'm gonna be posting examples of different movements and what it means to, like, pick up and place as opposed to sliding.
We got our skin, we got our fat, and then underneath that, of course, we have our muscle. Now, the thing about muscle is when muscle is relaxed, it, similar to fat, is soft and squishy, which means uh, it's gonna deform around the pole, you're gonna increase your surface area, and it's gonna make you stickier, which means that sometimes tensing the muscles can help reduce the friction.
So I talked about Superman since learning the movement, I, I now can get my hips to drop. Uh, and when I'm doing that, I'm really thinking about really straightening actively through my legs and in particular squeezing my quads, right, the front of my thighs in order to reduce the amount of drag and give myself a little bit more slipperiness than I had. Now, of course, if I'm using that to squeeze into the pole, that's going to increase friction again. But if I'm just isometrically really contracting the muscle without squeezing into the pole, that can give me a little bit more slide if I need it
Now, another thing that can, uh, affect friction and especially how painful things feel is fatigue. And this is a really wonderful study Influence of Muscle Fatigue on Brain Pain Based on Friction and Brain Activation from Tribology International by Xu et al., 2026.
Um, a very interesting study. I would love to see some of this work done on pole dancers. Of course, obviously, that's my interest. Uh, they were looking at, uh, folks wearing prostheses for this study as well. Like I said, that's sort of a, a large area of study.
Obviously really important, uh, and there's some, some really cool findings from here. And what they were looking at was, as you get fatigued, how does that change how much friction there is, and how much does it change the perception of friction? Uh, so I'm just gonna read a little bit here. "Compared with no fatigue conditions, the skin and soft tissue under fatigue conditions exhibited lower elastic modulus and poorer viscoelasticity, resulting in higher friction coefficients."
So what they found was that as people were exercising, as they were getting more fatigued, they actually got stickier. The coefficient of friction went up. In addition to that, there was also an effect on perceived pain.
So just as a, a, I don't know, I was gonna say reminder, but you may or may not know this. Uh, so pain is a percept, right? Pain is, I, I've heard people refer to it as an opinion about a sensation.
Uh, it is something that is being given to you by the perceptual system. So the exact same input might be painful to one person and not painful to another person, and it's also something that can change. So I think o- obvious example for us as pole dancers, as we, introduce ourselves to new stimulus on the pole and break in our skin, uh, over time we adapt to that, and it should become less painful over time.
I remember the first time I tried to climb a pole, I just about died. It was awful. It hurt so bad. Uh, and now it's like, "Phew, it's just a Tuesday afternoon. Yeah, whatever. It doesn't hurt at all."
Uh, right, because I adapted to that stimulus, and my brain was like, "Oh, okay, this actually isn't painful. I'm gonna sort this into a different bin." Uh, so pain is not, like, an extrinsic thing that is true in the universe. It is something that is, uh, true about the relationship between your body and your environment, uh, or your body and itself, potentially.
Uh, so they were also looking at pain, right? Because more friction does not necessarily mean more or less pain. But what they found was that as subjects became more fatigued, they also, in addition to becoming m- more sticky, they also rated the friction as being more painful. A higher stress was found under fatigue conditions, which was one of the reasons for higher subjective ratings, indicating that muscle fatigue enhanced perception of friction pain.
So as subjects worked out and they got fatigued, not only did they get stickier, not only did the amount of friction increase, but also they perceived it as being more painful. And this was specifically looking at pain from friction, which is what we're experiencing in pole dance for the most part.
Um, sometimes we also get, pain from pressure, but I would say certainly for myself and, and, you know, folks that I've, I've talked with, uh, it's, it's the friction that tends to be, uh, the most unpleasant, which is what we're talking about today. But also we need it, right? That's what keeps us on the pole is the friction. So we need some degree of it. Uh, and as we, as we expose ourselves to it, we become more acclimated.
What does this mean for us as pole dancers? Uh, well, one thing is, like, you are going to get more sticky as you do things, uh, particularly as you warm up.
I always find that I am more sticky at the end of a warm-up than before it. Um, and this may partially be due to this mechanism. For me at least, it's also due to usually I get a little bit sweaty and that helps me stick a little bit. Um, and I also include warming up the pole as part of the warm-ups when I'm teaching, when we're doing pole stuff.
Uh, and I generally find that I stick better on a warmer pole as well. Your mileage may vary, but that has been my experience. And potentially this is also part of it as, as fatigue sets in.
It also means, I would say, do the things that are gonna be more painful, the things that you're trying to break in at the beginning of your training session, uh, because as you train and as you become percei- fatigued, you will get more stickier, uh, and also your, your perception of that stickiness, of that pain might increase.
And this is definitely something, thinking about my own training, that I have noticed as well, especially if I'm working on the same trick multiple times. You know, the first two or three times might be uncomfortable. The last couple times might be even more uncomfortable, and by the end of it, I'm just like, "No, thank you. No, thank you. No, thank you."
I did promise to talk a little bit about grip, so I'm gonna stick that in here at the end.
Uh, and there's really sort of three things that grip can be doing. It can be making you wetter, it can be making you drier, or it can be making you stickier. And which grip works best for you is gonna depend on the specific problem that you are trying to solve.
So if you are very dry, right? We talked about how lower skin hydration decreases the coefficient of friction, and it's like a linear relationship.
Grips that increase your hydration can be helpful. I will say usually the most effective way to hydrate your skin is from the inside, the wet side. Uh, so definitely making sure that you are drinking enough water if you struggle with dry skin is gonna be step number one.
Uh, step number two is I would lotion. I will even lotion pretty much right before class. Uh, I do wipe most of it off, right? I don't want like a lipid layer lubricating me on the pole. That's not ideal. Uh, but I do want enough of a, a sort of a barrier that I keep the hydration that I have in my skin.
My sort of usual wintertime routine, obviously hydrating enough, drinking a lot and then I'll take a warm shower, and then I'll put on... I just use like the Aveeno Sensitive Skin. I, I get it from the grocery store, and it's not fancy. And then I'll, I'll put a little bit on. If there's any excess, if I, if my skin feels slick to the touch, I'll wipe it off. Uh, and that really helps me stick in the winter.
You can also use grips that have glycerin in them. It's gonna be more effective, again, if there is already water in the skin and it's holding it in. Uh, Girly Grip, I believe, is one of those So those are skin is dry, you wanna add water.
Skin is wet, you wanna remove water, right? 'Cause if there's too much sweat right, we're past the point of just, like, the skin is hydrated to there is a layer of liquid between you and your pole, which is reducing the coefficient of friction.
If that's you, then you're gonna want grips that reduce that. So, uh, chalk chalk-based grips. So I use a chalk-based grip in the summer to help with my hands. Uh, Enviro Grip, uh, is one that I like, which is like a, a chalk suspension in alcohol. You can just use climbing chalk. I do find that that kinda gets everywhere a little bit. That's very limited term, right? That is, like, as new sweat emerges on your hand, it's gonna get the first little bit. Uh, but sometimes that's all you need.
If this is a big problem for you, uh, there's also a range of grips that are antiperspirants, and their job is to stop the sweat from forming in the first place.
Also sidebar, if you haven't listened to the sweat episode where I talked with a sweat researcher, definitely go and check that out. It's, it's one of my favorite episodes that I've done.
Uh, antiperspirants, a lot of the antiperspirants need to be put on well before you pole, like an hour before you pole.
You can also just put them on, you know, whenever you get out of the shower, wherever you're gonna want them. Uh, and if you have hyperhidrosis, if you're really sweaty all the time, you can actually talk to a doctor about clinical strength antiperspirants that will, that'll really get you dry. Of course, if you're too dry, then you need to go back to the, the moisturizing, uh, options, right? We're trying to thread the needle here so we're not too dry, we're not too wet, uh, we're just sticky enough So too wet, too dry.
Uh, and then the third sort of general group of grips are ones that make you sticky, right? They increase your coefficient of friction, not through hydration manipulation, but just by adding basically like tackiness, like glue to your skin.
Most general sort of like sports grips are gonna be in this category. Uh, anything with resin in it is gonna be in this category. It was, I think it's called gri- gorilla snot that like drummers use that's in that category. Uh, and it's just a stickiness that you put on your hand that hangs out there.
Little caveat here, for these in particular, a little goes a long way. You don't want so much on the pole that you leave like a film or a residue unless you are not doing any pole movements that require any degree of slipping at all.
And a lot of them do, right? Like in a spin, you need your hand to slip around the pole, uh, in order to keep that momentum going. Or if you're doing a lot of transitions, you want your skin to be able to slide over the pole. Like I was talking about Superman earlier. If your skin can't slide, you're just gonna get stuck. So being mindful of that, wiping your pole down, especially if you're sharing a pole. Don't make somebody else scrape iTac off your pole. It's, that's no fun. It's not a good time for them.
If you are using that third, uh, group of grips, I'm not saying don't do it. It can absolutely be very helpful. I am saying, you know, be mindful of how much you're using, uh, and, you know, wipe down the pole afterwards just so, just so you can transition.
Because especially in Dance Pole, a lot of our transitions do assume a certain degree of slide. If you really aren't interested in that type of movement at all, I would actually point you towards Chinese pole . Usually the poles are silicone wrapped.
It's done clothed. It's done in like flat-soled shoes. Uh, and it's a lot sort of like flippier and grippier, and it's less about sort of slidey transitions around. Uh, and it's less about sort of slidey transitions around. So if that's the type of movement that really appeals to you, check that out.
Uh, all right, so I've talked a lot today.
If you're interested in learning more about friction and skin friction, uh, tribology/tribology is the, uh, is the field that studies it. Like I said, I went way down the rabbit hole on this. I'm gonna link the studies I talked about below. There's a ton more work, and if anybody knows of anything specifically about pole please reach out and let me know. I definitely wanna read more deeply in this discipline. I've, I've been enjoying myself thoroughly. So nerding out. Just gonna nerd out.
Thank you for joining me on this journey through, I guess, through the body, talking about stickiness, slipperiness. We talked about skin. We talked about fat. We talked about muscle. We talked about grip aids. And I hope that you've come away from this with maybe a little bit of a better understanding and some ideas, uh, that you can take moving forward to make your pole practice, the right amount of sticky.
Not too much, not too little, just right in the middle. Thanks so much for joining me today. Science of Slink members, I will see you in class with the kitties. They've been... They're a lot. They're delightful, but they're a lot, um, as, uh, as I'm sure y'all are already aware. Uh, and everyone else, I will see you in the next episode.
I'll talk to you then.
Bye.
