Thursday Tips: Cupid
Nemesis Trick: (Hands free) Cupid
So believe it or not, I don’t know any other names for this trick (although I am SURE there must be at least one). It’s very similar to the hummingbird, which is the same pose with the legs, but in a hummingbird the hips and chest are turned away from the pole and your back is to the pole instead of your side.
I was a little surprised when I got so many requests for this move! But it can be really difficult to wrap your body around if you aren’t using your legs to their full extent. A lot of people try to hang off the top knee, and end up with their bottom foot sliding along the pole because all their body weight is driving down, towards the floor. Instead, you want to think of the top knee as keeping your body from falling out, away from the pole– guess what? This is actually a push-pull hold! The top knee is a pull and the bottom foot is a push. If you do it from the ground, you can see and feel clearly the way the top knee works to keep you from falling away from the pole, and how the bottom foot is pushing into the ground, towards the base of the pole, to give you traction to lean away and send your weight out:
But to get into the right position to maintain that hold up on the pole is really the tricky part. Let’s talk about this from a side climb, and then you can work on whatever entry you like. Take a look at the video below, and then we can go through it step by step. If you’re reading this from email, click here to see the video on YouTube:
From your side climb, you will want to pull your upper body up but maintain distance from the pole… so keep your butt back. Hook your inside knee on the pole at about hip height– the higher you hook it, the more you will be pulling your hips towards the pole and for this, you really want to keep your hips as far from the pole as possible! When you’re first learning this, you may even want to aim to keep your hips above your knee. Use the bottom shin to kick into the pole (like with a basic climb) and maintain tension in your knee pit- this will allow you to continue to keep your butt back.
Now, assuming you have kept your hips away from the pole, your top arm should be almost straight as you set your bottom foot on the pole and your top thigh should be just about parallel to the ground. When you set your bottom foot, set it a little higher than you think you should, with a slightly bent knee, and pop UP as you straighten your leg–this should help you to get your weight driving through that foot. If you can’t pop up, you aren’t setting your foot properly. Think about pushing the bottom of your foot into the pole as though you are trying to push the bottom of the pole away from you, like the pole is the leg of a table you’re trying to kick out from underneath yourself. You will need to have a really good knee hook so that you can really PUSH against the pole, causing the pole to PULL even more on the hook of your knee. Grasp the shin of your top leg with your inside arm, and release the top arm from the pole as you push your hips forward. Make sure that you are squeezing your legs together, towards each other so that they don’t slide apart (yes, like you’re using a Thighmaster). The farther you can get your weight from the pole, the more stable that bottom leg will be in transferring the “push” down into the pole. When you feel comfortable and have your hips pushed fully forward, you can release the top shin and go hands-free.
It’s all about the push-pull hold (how many times can I say that?)! If you are sliding a lot, you can use grip aid on the bottom of your foot (especially if they’re sweaty) but if you are sliding a lot, and from the minute you put your bottom foot on the pole, then you are probably setting your inside knee too high, or setting your bottom foot too low.
I hope this has helped! If you have had some tips that enabled you to nail this, feel free to leave them in the comments : )
Tomorrow’s post: Glitter and Feathers…
Also – if your feet cramp when they touch the pole, you can use your calf instead.
Lilly– if you are cramping very quickly, I would suggest making sure you’re ingesting enough salts and potassium, and making sure you point through the foot. If you don’t point, you’re much more likely to cramp! And if you’re not used to pointing, it’s not a bad thing to practice to build up strength
I don’t think this is the issue. I eat all the recommended foods for people with cramps, drink tonic water before practice (which helps a bit), practice pointing my feet in flexibility and technique classes and with thera-band several times a week, and yet, my feet cramp severely whenever they touch a cold surface (and randomly, when the mood strikes them). I just resolve to keeping them warm and working around moves that require pushing them against the pole.
Gotcha
I understand you’ve put this on your “no fly” list, but I do want to point out that the arch of your foot isn’t bearing all the weight here– I set the instep of my foot against the pole, and also the outside of the ball of my foot– so it’s more of a diagonal line down the center of my foot and my toes are pointing down the pole. When I was setting the arch on the pole, I would cramp too. Even if it doesn’t help you, it might be useful for others!
Oh no, this is one of my strongest moves, actually!
I just use my calf instead of my foot
I was thinking that this idea may help others.
Thanks for this tip! I have issues with this move- not so much from sliding, but feeling secure in the knee hook. I just don’t trust it. I will work on it as a push-pull like you’ve shown and hopefully that will help. Thank you! ^_^
The knee hook will feel more secure the further you pull your weight from the pole. I hope it does help!! xo
The bottoms of my feet sweat so badly, I have never been able to do this version (with the sole of the bottom foot on the pole). I usually set the bottom foot similar to a basic climb, using my shin and top of the foot for the grip. But it’s not as pretty, at least I don’t think so. I will try your tips for setting the legs closer together (and squeezing the thighs) and see if that makes the difference. Thanks Amy!
For these, and for Oona/Russian splits, I put dry hands or Tite grip on the bottoms of my feet
Thanks for the tips, I love the push pull descriptions as they really do help a lot when figuring out the mechanics of a move. i can’t wait to give this a try!
I’ve always called this move the Star.
When I engage my hips and push them forward, it helps keep me up there. And I get into it from a gemini.
Amy, I love your blogs and tutorials-You are awesome!
I love your tutorials! When I was learning this move, I had to think about starting with my hips ABOVE my knee. You said not to put the knee too high, which is the same thing but just another way of thinking about it that helped me. PS: I used your how-I-figured-it-out video to learn the Marion-Amber the other day. It was so helpful! Thank you.
We call it a flamingo.
I’m with Melissa- we called this a “shooting star” and a “star” when still holding the pole or your top leg. And I Love the “ThighMaster” analogy!
We call this move the ‘chinese lady’ and I always make a joke of it because I am a chinese lady lol Jokes aside, thanks Amy for the tips, I was actually looking for this as I need to do this move as part of a routine and wasn’t sure if I was doing it right . I instinctively bend my bottom leg and then push up which helps to give me balance. I just wasn’t sure it it was right because it doesn’t feel very elegant. I am also transitioning into this from a pole stand, which means I need to swing my body around the pole and then I actually use the bottom leg to give me leverage and then hook the knee with the inside leg. Not sure if this is the best way to do it and I do feel a bit awkward fumbling to bend lower leg and hook knee.
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I’m so excited! Had to stay off the shoulder so decided to work on Cupid and Knee Holds. Was struggling after at one point being able to do it fairly regularly. Your tips were AWESOME. For me, I get into it in a better position from an invert vs a side climb which worked well for me. I used dry hands on my feet which helped. Cupid and I found love again. Thank you! I also loved your tip on knee hold. I seem to go into it with an open knee hold, hurt too much with locking my ankles. I googled open knee hold and your tip shared that it’s ok to do the knee hold that way. Still a work in progress but I won’t avoid doing the trick anymore thanks for your tips.
Thanks Amy! I know this move pretty well (we call it a Star or a Reach for the Stars) but you’ve broken it down in a way that I hadn’t even thought of. It had never occurred to me about the push/pull motion (though I realise that that is what I’ve been doing without realising!). I can’t wait to try out your tips – and really focus on the push/pull – to make the move stronger. Great stuff!