Savannah Welna Nutrition & Fitness

Savannah Welna Nutrition & Fitness Nutritionist, aerialist, performer in North Idaho. Masters Human Nutrition and Functional Medicine student.

08/27/2026

One other thing I forgot to mention, when you replace the leg and begin to thread the leg through the window, think of turning your chest out. If your shoulders are square to the pole and it doesn't feel secure, rotate your torso.

08/26/2026

Twisted Ballerina requires twisting of the back and ACTIVE hip flexor flexibility, accomplished via strong glutes (surprise surprise). Check a few videos back for off the pole training for the reach around :)

08/25/2026

Extended unicorn requires a decently bendy straddle and it makes for a great practice shape before moving on to twisted sister (next tutorial??). This is a trick that is a crowd pleaser while not being too physically demanding. Your elbow crease will be doing a lot of work, so you won't feel like you're gripping for your life with the top leg once the arm is placed :)

08/19/2026

Most common mistakes are not leaning away from the top leg, not dropping the torso low enough, and not wrapping the overhead leg around the pole. Having flexible hamstrings is a given, but you have to really figure gravity to get the back leg up and in line with the body. Bottom arm needs to be engaged so the shape doesn't collaps- big push into the pole. Shotgun grip helps facilitate that push.

08/04/2026

Personal for me, may not be relevant to you, just an example:

1. 3 sets of hand over hand climbs 1-2 x per week (on pole), different days
2. Weighted pull ups on the pull up bar 3-4 sets per week (off pole)
3. Creatine is relevant to this type of movement. It improves movements like this as well as deadlifts, handsprings, etc
4. Not getting injured. Key.
5. Straddle leg lifts- to be honest, I do a lot of straight leg straddle work as part of pole warm ups. I don't see why an isometric hold couldn't be beneficial and I could add those if I feel bottlenecked. I tend to find that once a height gets less demanding on my upper body, the legs tend to follow. That might not be true for the next person. A lot of people find that leg lift and hold difficult.

Measure your own bottlenecks, reassess to make sure strategies are working. I think a lot of people don't share specifically what they are doing because they know it may not be applicable for the person watching, but I think sharing examples is helpful.

I hope to bring you another progress update in 6 months with less floppy legs. Though maybe I'll record when I'm not as tired and see if we can achieve that. Pole height 14 ft.

07/31/2026

If you're having a hard time tapping into that hip flexor flexibility in the air, strength train the position on the ground. (Let me know if you want a separate video on that). Until my hip flexors started becoming very strong and flexible in an extended range, I got stuck in the shape because it required so much from my back.

If I'm not able to get the pole into my armpit at the very beginning, I find that I won't find the extended shape.

If you grip too low and try to extend the leg, it will pull your torso with it, and you might find that your top hand slides off.

07/10/2026

I also feel that straight leg landmine Romanian deadlifts have been helpful for happy hamstrings. Fusion of flexibility and resistance training is key for those who have little time to train (me!).

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