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How far apart would you suggest to space the hands on the pole?

people say "take your top hand and make ur forarm go the length of the pole. where your elbow is, is where you put your bottom hand"

with my poles flex, how im holding at the top, and size i weight 127 and its a 130, i would break it easy or over bend with that....

then alot of people say forearms length plus one handhold.....

im doin like forarm and two hand holds....

When i learned to bend, i started with a real wide grip on bend drill so i would be easier...now that im more comfortable i have moved it closer. moving your grip closer allows your body to shoot up quicker.

geoff

Honeslty, it all depends on feel/bend/and abilty to rock back. What works for me dosn't work for some others because im about a 1 1/2 elbows length which is huge for some people. If you find you cann't rock back properly shorten your grip.

My rule of thumb is an elbow and two fists.... lately ive been cheating down a bit further... but its really a personal prefference thing.... but it is true that a narrower grip will allow you to get upside down a bit better, and a wider grip will help move the pole a bit better... find your happy medium

i learned to measure by getting ur top hand hold and then stretching ur top hand out from that mark and takin ur bottom hand and putting it about where ur arm pit is on the pole.

Everybody from my school uses thumb and forearm

forearm

did we mention shoulder width?

If you hang from a high bar you will be at your longest dimension when your hands are a shoulders width apart. The longest dimension hanging is also the tallest dimension standing. So, holding a shoulders width will give you the tallest possible plant position. A shoulders width is exactly the same as the length of the forearm plus 1 hand width.

You put your right hand on top and whatever it is from your
top hand to you elbow is where you put your left hand

Sometimes I feel like I'm the only person who just grips a pole naturally. I bend over and pick it up. Peace of cake.


And after reading ladyvolspvcoach's post - my easy/simple way of doing it is best, because naturally when I pick up the pole its shoulder width apart.

ladyvolspvcoach wrote:If you hang from a high bar you will be at your longest dimension when your hands are a shoulders width apart. The longest dimension hanging is also the tallest dimension standing. So, holding a shoulders width will give you the tallest possible plant position. A shoulders width is exactly the same as the length of the forearm plus 1 hand width.

I knew i wasn't crazy Thanks for the reassurance