Unfortunately yes, every pole has like a factory coating finish that is super slippery when you first get it and you have to "break it in" with recurrent use. You will have to use an obscene amount of grip until you start to wear down the finish with use. Also wiping the pole more frequently with alcohol and making sure the pole is physically warm sometimes helps too

Stephanie Tallant I knew you would, you have a video for everything 😍

Shoulder mount, pop to trapped split!

I was going to say this almost looks like jallegra but the bottom arm is wrong lol

I'm sad that I'm working in person at that time but I'm definitely doing the recording 😍😍😍so excited for theseee. The last one was so much fun!!!

Basically maintain this position of your hips that you have in the beginning and try to press your sternum towards the ground without moving your hips forward

In your ending pose your hips look too far forward and not directly in line with your knees, so I imagine that weight shift could be putting more strain in your arms. I experimented with body positions and when I lean too far forward with my hips passed my knees (I did it on blocks bc otherwise I was resting on the floor and I couldn't tell a difference) it does put A TON of weight into my shoulders and hurt. I usually have to do puppy pose in the mirror bc I can't tell where my hips are otherwise

Yeah that's the Cupid to inside leg hang transition that I was talking about that I can do. But it does not feel like that at all when I grab the foot instead. Which I guess means I rely on my hands a lot in the twisted grip version.

It doesn't hurt my shoulders at all. I feel the stretch in my arm pit area mainly. It might help if you post a pic to see your alignment