Strength in Pole with Dimitry Politov

You're listening to the PT Profit podcast, episode number 146. Today I'm sitting down with Demetri Politov and we're talking all about strength and pull. Are you ready? Let's get started.

Hi, I'm Beverly Simpson, former fitness manager turned online personal training business owner. And this podcast is where smart fitness professionals, including trainers and clinicians, discover how to increase client performance in movement, package and position their products and services, and get out of their own way so that they can increase their revenue to live a life that they love without sleazy sales. Welcome to the PT Profit Podcast. What's up, coach? Thank you so much for joining me in another episode of the PT Profit Podcast.

I'm your host, Beverly Simpson, and I'm super pumped to bring to you an episode we recorded a long time ago. Poor Dimitri. He probably thought that I was not going to publish it. Of course I was going to publish it. We just had been backed up in our schedule. So I'm really excited to bring this episode to you because Dimitri is an eight time world champion pole dancer, a Cirque du Soleil artist and online instructor. He has a background in breakdancing and parkour and we talk about it in this episode. And after seeing a video of the German pole acrobat, Remy Martin, in 2011, he began training on lamppost, trees, street signs, pretty much anything that was stood vertical. So in 2012, he purchased his first pole to continue his training. The year he won two championships in Russia. International Pole Sport 2012 in St. Petersburg, Mr. Pole Dance Russia 2012 in Moscow. Then he took first place as Mr. Pole Dance Russia Final 2013. His first place achievements elsewhere are numerous, ranging from competitions in London, Beijing and Brisbane. Dimitri has also made it into the semifinals twice on both Ukraine Got Talent and Russia Got Talent and teaches pole abroad. In this episode, we dive into the type of training it requires to be that level of an athlete, how he stays resilient in his training. And without further ado, let's go ahead and roll that interview.

What's up, Dimitri? How are you? I'm super excited to have you on the show today.

What's up early? I'm super excited too.

I can't wait to dive in. So right before I hit record, we were starting to. You were starting to share a little bit about who you are. So I'd love for you to please share with my audience a little bit about who you are, who you serve and how you got there.

My name is Dmitry Politov. I'm 32 years old and I'm a pole dancer.

Now. I'm curious, you know, I. Even when I said I'm really excited to dive into your pole dancing experience, I said dancing. But is that the right word? Is it a pole athlete? Like, tell me a little bit about what you do. How does it work? Break it down for me.

Of course, I started with pole dancing as it is, but while practicing any type of dance or art, at some point you reach the moment when you realize that you can go a bit above this stereotypical name, pole dancing. And you start exploring, discovering new things, researching yourself and the area where you are. And for me, it's not just dancing. I mean, I dance, but also I do tricks, as you said, athletism. And at the same time, it's the whole world. It's just the movement. I use the pole not as the equipment or as a tool, but I use it as, for example, as humans use the floor. When you say, for example, when you see the floor, what do you think about? Do you think about ballet or do you think maybe about break dance? But also you can think about martial arts or just walking on the floor or meditating, laying down on the floor. So it's the space for doing whatever you want. Right? That's what the poll for me right now.

Oh, I love that. That's. I hadn't even thought of it like that before now. Okay, so I'm looking at now as a pole dancer. Can you explain to me a little bit about your journey? Like, what do you do? What is it? How do you get into this competitive nature of it? Tell me, tell me. Go into your process a little bit.

Yeah, I was inspired back in the days. It was 2000, 2012. I was inspired by the viral video which was very popular at that time in Russian social medias. It was called the God of Striptease.

Okay, I'm gonna Google it.

There was a man, actually, it was nothing about striptease. There was a male German acrobat, Remy Martin. And those times when I watch his videos, he was wearing the black shirt, black pants, and the Justin Bieber haircut and performing very romantic and lyrical act on the. On Chinese pole, which is covered with the rubber. So I. I didn't. I have no idea about striptease. I mean, I knew what striptease is, but it. There was no association with that at all. When I saw that, for me, it was something like, you know, workout or parkour stuff on the pool, on the vertical bar. And I directly start practicing. But As I had no studio, no place for that. That time I was working in Turkey on the contract. And as a dancer I did the break dance and some parkour stunts. And I start practicing on street signs, street lamps, using any tool, a street tool which is standing vertical, steady, sometimes not steady, doesn't matter. So I was researching myself and trying some tricks until I bought my own pole. And I got into the industry very spontaneously. I didn't watch many other guys or girls. I just watched Remy Martin. For me, he was the one inspiration. Just one video of him and. And then I tried some moves of some of that I seen him doing. And some of them I couldn't do. And my body told me like, oh, maybe you can do instead of this, you can do another way. And that's how my style came in. Because actually it came because of inability of doing something that you want to do. Yeah, so. And later I started being recognized in Russian social medias because I was posting a lot of videos doing my weird tricks. And people were like, what? Like it's. It's not called dance. But I was writing the titles, you know, the titles for my videos. I was writing Pole Dance 2012 or yeah, Pole Dance tricks, something like this. Yeah. And people were saying there is nothing about pole dance. But then I'm like, okay, so if it's pole dance, then I need to dance. Then I start dancing. But also when I watch the videos of other athletes and artists, I thought they were doing something kind of like a ballet, you know, with. Or contemporary dance with the very beautiful pointed toes and beautiful flexibility and splits. Also I couldn't do that. I started stretching. I start focusing on that. But I realized that it will take me ages to get to that level. So I decided to do something that I already can and that goes easy for me. And yeah, that actually how I. How I started my journey with doing something that. That my body allows me.

I love that that's how you found your style and I love that. So were you a dancer before? What was your background? Or did you just literally say one day watch this movie, watch a video and say, oh, I want to do that?

Yeah, I was a dancer. I was a break dancer. But also I grew up in a small town in Russia where there was no much of cultural education. I came to the Breakdance. It was not even a studio. It was just the underground, which was actually not even rented. Just somebody let the guy. The guy asked like, oh, can we use the underground for our dance and practice? And the guy said, okay, whatever, here Is the key. So don't pay the rent. Yeah. And we just, we just had a piece of, a smooth piece of. I don't, I don't remember how it's in English. The coverage which you use as a breakdown surface.

Like a rubber floor, like a floor, a springboard, like a springy floor, essentially.

Yeah, yeah. And nobody taught me. I just came and the guys, the guys were like, oh, welcome. And like try whatever. And I try something and sometimes some of them can say oh no, no, you're doing wrong. And I'm like, thank you, keep going. So that was the experience. And later I get to the definite level and. But anyway, in my crew, they accept me in their crew and I was the, one of the worst. And in the battles they always let me first and then, you know, and when I want to go, for example, after, after five rounds I want to go to battle and they say, oh no, no, no, wait, wait, let, let this guy go. And like that.

Yeah.

And I felt very small there. You know, I had so much wish but not much skill and, but the passion was huge. I really wanted to, to gain something. And I realized that when I saw the poll. I realized that it's something that. Where I can. When I'm going to be alone, nobody tells me what to do, when to go or like whether to battle or not. I just view my own world and create.

Okay, I love it. And so now it looks like you travel the world.

True. Because of pole dancing and all the competitions, workshops, performances, I managed to travel around 47 different countries and some of them I've been many times and I'm, I'm really glad and feel lucky that I get at that time, at that industry, in the right moment with the, with the current skill that I, that I get. And yeah, it's really cool.

So how do you balance your, your skill acquisition training and also do you have. With a, you know, a strength training program? Because I'm looking at your, the moves and the requirement on the body must is like nothing I've ever seen. So how do you train? How do you train for your, your, your skill?

I have, I have good habits. Besides my bad habits, I have some good habits which I think work a lot. Like every morning I do some routines which, which helps me to, to support sometimes to gain if I do it often, if I do not too often, I just support the current strength level. But the best way for me, I recently realized that actually I was always doing that but I couldn't explain it because I was telling, oh you when somebody asked me like what type of strength training do you do? And I said you need to do for example, 50 push ups, then 30 and blah blah, blah. But this is, this is kind of not true because to gain strength you got to have reason. And when I know, for example, when I want to express myself and when I build the routine and there are some tricks which I think would be really cool with that sound or with that feeling or emotion which I have at that moment. And this gives me the reason to do the move, for example. It's really good example. Actually. My, My last act was in the world championship in Italy. I wanted to do one move with where you get the shoulder mount position. Like you hold yourself parallel to the floor and you do this kind of plank. It's called shoulder mount plank. And I thought that it would be cool not just to walk into it, but keep walking while holding this position and slide up with your shoulder like you, like if you, if you turn the pole like this, you would be carrying the pole to the sky, something like that. And, and I started practicing that before my act and I could never, I could never do it properly because every time it was very. I was struggling a lot because my. Whether my butt was too low or my legs dropped or something happened and I, and I thought, oh, maybe I need more strength training. And I started doing a lot of front levers and stuff, but worked but give very few percentage of what I wanted. But when I got the idea of my act and I realized that now I have a reason to, to be able to do that move. And actually to tell the truth, my preparation for competition was like one and a half week. So I've nailed the move that time period. It's very short time period because it really. When you, when you have a reason and its reason is supported by your emotional state. This is the key, I think. And you don't need to waste a lot of time for like stupid workout. I would say. Yeah, not. Not stupid. It's a bad word, I think. Not reasonable workout.

Yeah. Or be. I work out without intention. Yeah, for sure. I totally get that. Yes. So I, you know, what are. How do you maximize? How do you optimize your recovery? Like what does your recovery process look like?

My recovery is a good sleep. That's it.

That's it. So do you, do you move practice every day?

Yes, every day. Even. Even when I'm traveling, when I'm at the airport. And I understand that I want to do something, but there is no pole. So I just do whatever I do handstands, flips, splits, depending on what I have around. If I have some bars at the airport, I use them. So I. I don't let myself to degradate. Always try to. To be in motion.

So do you ever take time off ever? When was the last time you went a whole day?

I took times off. I took times off. It was my first covet experience when I had eight days of out of training. My glutes were hurting as hell. My lower back and my glutes. I don't know why, actually, that I thought it's not the muscles I really focus on. But. Yeah, that was the longest time, I think when I didn't. When I didn't practice at all, I was just laying down. And my second Covid experience was kind of the same, but intentionally. For example, when I'm. When I feel tired, I train anyway, but not. Not too much. Just I do something. What my body. What my body tells me is okay for me at the moment, but I don't cross the limit. I don't push myself too much unless it's a competition preparation or something like that.

Yeah. So it's interesting. You bring up a paradox, I think, and I'm curious how you navigate it. And just in the sense that, you know, as an athlete, as a mover, as someone who uses their body almost for the majority of their life. Right. You're very in tune with what the body needs. Right. However, as an athlete, as someone who's competitive, you're also probably can push the limit to know the boundaries of. Okay, no, I. I'm in athletic performance. I need to push a little bit. How do you navigate between your athletic brain, that. That mind that knows you can push limits in order to change to get to that next level, as well as recognizing. Oh, wait, I need to chill. This is. This is serious.

Mm, that's a good question. Actually. I never, never think about pushing the limit. I just. I let it happen naturally. I. I have this intention, but it's kind of hidden. You know, I understand that if I do this, if I keep doing this and focus on this, for example, routine or movements or mind state, it will bring me to the level where I find myself already pushed the limit. You know what I mean?

Yeah, I do.

Yeah. It's not something that I do on purpose. It just happens when you're really into it, when you focus a lot. And it's not just the physical ability. I think it's a lot about mind state because. Also very good example. There is a There is one move which till now I can't do, and it's very simple. It's. Even the. The kids are doing it in gymnastics, in the beginner classes. They do kind of like even, you know, when they VC on the floor and then they. And deadlift their legs into the handstand. I can do the handstand. I can do V sit. I can do deadlifts on the pole. But this thing, I was really curious and once my friend told me, like, he. He can do this deadlifts. And he told me, oh, probably for you, this deadlift is nothing. I said, no, I. I actually can't do that. I tried a few times, but I couldn't. And then he was, oh, really like you. You are such a famous athlete in that area, in that field. Yeah. In Paul dancing, it's. It's a very small world. Anyway, and he told me, and you can't do deadlift? I said, no, I never thought about that. And then, Then I start practicing because I feel. I felt like guilty that I can't do this move, you know, a bit ashamed. And I decided every morning I will do this and later I will nail it. But the reason was just to not feel ashamed, you know, for that. And every morning I was practicing, but it just. Till now, it didn't improve much because my body understands that I don't need it. It's not. It's not something that. That makes sense for me. You know what I mean?

I do, Yeah, I do. So you let it go. So it was. It was not enough of a reason to continue practicing the skill.

Exactly, exactly. You can do it as a part of conditioning, you know, just to keep your muscles in tonus. Yeah, to keep them in different. To keep them moving in different directions. But. But it. It doesn't make me, like, grow, you know, physically. It just keeps me at the definite level somewhere. But something that has. That's something that has a big reason for me. Some moves which I. When I. Sometimes I travel, when I'm in the plane, just listen to the music and the picture of me doing some move just appears in my head with that, for example, with that music. And I can just come sometimes and do it straight away because you get to the state when your body and mind just get together at the same time, being prepared already without any. How can I say, without spending time for learning and drilling. Then you drill to make it perfect. So that's how I come up with things.

Oh, that's. Yeah, it's. It's. That's Cool. Now, how many. You know, you. When you set a good night's sleep, how many hours are you sleeping.

Sometimes? It depends. If. If I stay somewhere like longer than a week, the best time for me is about seven, eight hours. But if I sleep less than seven hours, I mean, I can function. But if I. When I have productive functionalism. Yeah. Then it's not enough.

Do you teach?

Yes, I teach a lot. I teach internationally online. I have my camp right now in Turkey. It's based in Turkey. I build the area in a very beautiful place. It's. Yeah, it's a place where people come from all over the world and I share my experience and I let them also develop their creativity with tricks. Not just pushing people to do my way. Yeah. If I see somebody's doing like some people ask me, oh, I did this, but I think it was wrong. I said, no, it's not wrong. It's just your way. If you feel more comfortable, then keep going like this and develop it.

So now people who come to your camp, are these people who are beginners, they're competitive? Are they wanting to compete? Like, what are some of the reasons people start to develop this skill?

Actually, there are so many different reasons why people come. For example, yeah, I have levels from zero to the pieces. Like in. In my first camp, there were some girls and boys which are already doing incredible tricks, and some of them were doing tricks that I can't do. For example, there was a girl from us, she was practicing flips a lot. She was really possessed with flips, with pole flips. But at the same time she was very flexible. She could do rainbow march ankle, you know, take your leg, pull it right here with the butt on your. On your head. Something like that. Yeah. And at the same time, I had the beginners who were just, they just saw the video, saw the advertisement in Instagram and were very inspired and wanted to. To see how it is to meet other people. And sometimes there are people who just who didn't even know me before and they, they just also saw advertisement or some friend told them or go there. It's really cool place, just as for experience. And they come and then they discover many more things and we meet.

Oh, I love that. I love that. So can you share with us a little bit about your process? How do you take someone who is new to getting them on the pole and finding their own creativity?

Of course I do the warm up first. In the warm up, I do some little tricks which everybody can do and I judge already during the warmup. I already judged by the movements that they do, which level they are at and what I can give them. So I don't plan my program before I was planning like writing on the paper which moves I'm going to teach them and etc. But now I don't do that. It's always on the spot and happens accordingly to the level of students. And if it's the beginner. For example, in my last camp I had a girl from California, she's been practicing just for two months and she couldn't even invert just going upside down with your body upside down, holding the ball with both hands. And yeah, I, when I show the moves, like even some basic tricks which just require the invert, that's it. And I see that she cannot. So I just give her separately give her exercises like conditioning exercises, but which are not just workout, which also fun, which include some transitions, some easy transitions in between which require a little focus, you know, and it makes them feel more. How can I say so that they don't get bored. They don't get bored with this exercise because while focusing on the steps and which leg goes first and blah blah and trying to look good at it, they at the same time condition and gain some strength. Of course it doesn't happen in one day. Some people, I mean I can see that some people can do it just without knowing the technique. I just have to explain them the technique and they directly nail the move. But when I see the people have lack of strength, of course it would be useless to explain them technique without having strength. Yeah. So I just tell them to condition and if they want to nail something because I know everybody wants to nail. Because you can't condition for one year and wait well until you nail your first full move. Of course you get to do at least something and I show something that this person is able to do. That's how I build my teaching process.

Did she end up inverting by the end?

Yes, actually you can, you can check if. I don't know if you, if you, if you follow them. In my ig, I post the videos of like for example of our fails or of course our success. And that girl, she, she was dreaming about Aisha is the move when you hold the pole with both hands like, like a human flag but with your legs up and in pike or straddle. And she was so excited about that move and she said but I think I won't be able to do this because I can't even invert. And she did a lot of Conditionings. And we train every day. And I mean, no, we train two days, one day off, sometimes more, but it's about, like, three or four hours of training every day. And also we have gyms where we just play around. So actually all day long, you do pull and a lot of tricks. And I had. Yeah. And her problem was that she couldn't lift her hips up because she didn't have enough strength for that. But I told her that you have enough strength to hold the position. And she said, yeah, but how I get into the position, that's another question. And I have an air track which is bouncing like trampoline. And I explained her the position of her shoulders and hands so that she could be able to hold herself. And I actually even lifted her with my hands into that position so that she could feel it. And then I told her, let's jump. Like, hold the pole with your hands and just jump with this trampoline. Just bounce and let your hips go higher and higher each time until you feel yourself in that position that I put you before. And that's the way she nailed her first Aisha, actually, in, like, in eight days.

Oh, that must have. She must have felt so happy.

Yeah, yeah. And I recorded that moment of happiness when she jumped on her partner, screaming, yeah, that's so cool.

That's cool. You know, what are some of the things that you find, you know, when I hear you tell that story, to me, it sounds like she just was almost. She had almost told herself, I can't do it. I can't do it. And she was just, like, repeating that over and over in her mind until she find, you know, until, you know, see it, to believe it. So I'm curious, with the people that you work with and for you as well, what are some of the common. What are some of the common struggles that people need to get over in order to get to that next level?

It depends. Most of the struggles is, of course, lifting the heaviest parts of our body. The strength. Yeah, it's strength, of course. And especially when you want to do, like, flips, the moves which require not just deadlifting your hips with your legs, but doing it really fast and explosive. Before, for me, it was. It was really very easy because. Because of parkour and because my lower body is really tiny. I mean, my. My legs are skinny. I don't have a big butt, you know, and my body structure is like that. So for me, it's really easy to lift my hips up. But some people who. Who didn't exercise before and they have like big muscles, you know, big quadritis and glutes or just heavy. Of course it's hard. And they struggle a lot with this. And I think this is the, how can I say, the main struggle, the most common struggle, but there is another struggle as well, is mental, is confidence when people being really careful. And I see, I clearly can see that this person can do it, but because of the fear, it slows down. And I tell, like, yeah, it's, it's correct. But now you just have to do it faster because otherwise there will, There won't be any momentum created. And they start fast and then. And slow down again.

Yeah.

So with this, with this thing, I mean, you can talk forever. Yeah. You can say very, very wise things to the person. But until you feel that you can do it, you won't be able. I mean, unless you have like a really strong wish or a big reason. And I just, I'm spotting those people few times. And for example, like, also it's. It's good to talk with examples. There was a girl, she wanted to do one flip fly way, which requires technique, only it doesn't require much of a strength because you kind of jump on the pole and throw your legs to one side around the pole and you create a pendulum. And once you, you start the movement correct, the pendulum just goes on. You don't need to do much, actually. Just, you need to hold yourself. All the strength you need is just holding yourself with hands on the pole. That's it. And she could do it easily, but she was not sure because when she saw that flip, she said, oh, no, no, no, I will never be able to do that. It's like, it's a crazy flip. I said, no, you just try to hold yourself. She hold. I said, you see, you can hold yourself. Try to do the pendulum. She did the pendulum. I explained the technique and once she felt her pendulum goes really high and actually lifts her hips without, even. Without any struggle. Because it happens due to the technique and due to the physics. Yeah. And she was so excited and surprised at the same time. And then I start spotting her for the flip. So I just catch her in the, in the moment when she lifts her hips and then I say, release your hands and just let me do everything for you. And she just relaxes. Yeah. Trust me. Sometimes they don't trust and they directly tighten my neck with their legs, you know, or try to kill me after. Yeah. Also I have the videos like that. After many tries, after many tries of me spotting them, then they get to the moment when they feel confident because they understand they can do it without me. But of course there is a mental fear. So we do it few more times, or maybe it takes few days. And at the end of the camp, the girl nailed the flip. I was just, you know, touching her. She couldn't do without my ties because it was, it was just mental. And once I said, yeah, I'm touching you. And then she just do it and I kind of stay close but don't do nothing. And she nailed. Yeah, it's not, it's not an easy process. And you can't say, I mean, it's individual. It depends on. It depends on the person's skill, the person's confidence and mind. Mind state.

So what's been the hardest move for you to learn? What was the hardest move for you? Technique and strength wise for you to learn? How'd you overcome it?

Actually, the hardest move for me, I think it was. It was Devil Drop, the move, which is. It's like when you just sit on the pole, hold the pole with your hands and legs at the same time and you jump up, release your hands, do the front flip in the air and catch the pole back with your hands and feet and being really careful because the ball is so close to your face at that time. And yeah, that move took me a lot of exercises and a lot of tries and attempts and even till now, there was a moment when I nailed it. And I was doing it actually for my warm up. And in each performance I was doing it since 2014 until 2016. And then my friends told me, dimitri, stop doing that movie. We already tired. In every performance you do that. And I just forgot about that move for a while, like few years. And of course without practice, I, I didn't. I wouldn't say I lost the skill, but I lost the confidence a bit. So now I'm getting it back. But actually, yeah, it takes, for me, it took a lot of. A lot of time. Yeah. And of course all the flexibility moves which, which require back flexibility, I just can't do because my back is not flexible at all. And I, I don't focus much on it. I just stretch my legs. But when I. Concerning the back stretching, I just do it for my. For my health. Yeah. But not for like extreme stretching or doing trips because I know it will take ages just to get to the, you know, to, to the beginning of intermediate level.

Okay, I love that. Now I'm also curious, you know, as you, as you have now invented your own. Not invented, but you've let creativity inspire you to develop your own technique, essentially. Are there other moves that you're currently working on that you're trying to nail that are not created by you?

Actually, I don't really like working on moves unless basics like for example, shoulder mounts or human flags or qubits, which are. I would love to know who create those moves. But I think it's. It's almost impossible because you find one guy somewhere, like in Korea, and then somebody finds another guy even older and longer ago somewhere in China, you know, so it's impossible. But for the moves which somebody creates. And for me it's like, how can I say, it's like something that. No, maybe it's a bad comparison, but it's something like kissing a wife of your friend.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, I get it. Yeah. You feel like it's not. It's not yours. Not.

Yeah, even. Yeah, even if I try and even if I nail this, I'm still not going to be happy because I understand, okay, so what? I've nailed the move, but which somebody already created before me, and I'm not going to be too much happy about that. So I prefer creating myself and drilling the moves that I created myself. And for example, I have friends who do a lot of power spins. And I saw them doing that every time and they, they challenged me. They challenged me and saying, dimitri, you always do your flips or these moves, but why you don't do spins? You can't do them or what? I said, no, no. When I explained them this situation, I said, no, it's just the reason that you cannot. You practice, but you probably cannot nail. And that was a challenge. So I did those moves just for them, you know, to prove it's. It's like a boys game, you know, Generally I don't focus. I don't focus much on, on the like, on the signature, on someone else's signature tricks.

I see. Okay, that's fair. Do you still incorporate breakdancing into your sport?

Yes, of course.

So you're still deathing.

I'm not. I wouldn't say I'm dancing like I did before in battles or something. I. I'm using the skill from my past. Sometimes I'm improving it if I need it for the pole. But I, I don't do it like a real B boy, you know, not the B boy, which is in the culture of breakdancing. I'm just using it as a tool for creating the new stuff on the pole. Love it.

What are some of your favorite places to practice Your practice, your moves.

You mean the. The geographically or.

Yeah, both. Give me both, like, locations. Where do you love. Where do you love to play?

The address as well. Do you need the address?

Yes, I'm taking my flight right now.

Okay. Actually, there are two places which are really good for me, which I feel like filled with my. With my spirit of confidence. It's in Ukraine. When I started, I moved to Ukraine in 2012 or even 2010, and I opened the studio there. But actually that studio was not for earning money because you can't earn a lot of money with that sport in that country. But it was more like my playground where I can come at any time and I can do whatever I want as long as I want. And I set it for myself. I bought the huge mats, I found the high ceilings where I can set the really high poles, and I was practicing my. All my flips. Actually, most of my flips that I created and that I've learned happened over there in Ukraine. It's a small town, Cherkassy, where my son lives right now. And there is a studio. And now my ex wife opened one more studio close to that one. And when I come there, and I know, for example, when I want to nail some new scary flip, that's the place where I gonna drill, where you go.

I see. So, like, the place where you get the most inspiration is there.

Yeah, yeah, exactly. Exactly. And in another place is the new place which I feel very spiritually clear. It's in Turkey, in that village where I built the camp. There is a. Like a hotel or a guest house. And on the roof of that house, the guy built a terrace in. In the style of a Shaolin monk's monastery, you know, with this type of roofs, which looks really inspiring. When I just saw that, I'm like, wow, that looks like Shaolin monastery. And when I came there, I set the poles and I asked who were. Who was here before me, like, did some people practice here something? And he said, only meditative practices, Yoga teachers and this type of people. And actually the hotel was built just for them. That area is very. Is very sacred area in Turkey because the turtles come to the beach of Chirali and they put their eggs over there. So there is a turtle police. And they don't allow big resorts with, you know, with a lot of people and drinking alcohol and having huge swimming pools and making noise. So you can. When you arrive there, it's like a different Turkey. It's surrounded by mountains with the sea in front and very calm. The building is not higher than three floors. And you feel very. How can I say? Spiritually, you feel very calm and confident over there.

Peaceful.

Yeah, Peaceful. Yes, true. So that place is the second.

It's beautiful. I can see on your Instagram there are gorgeous photos.

Thank you.

It's funny because you said. You said that, because I can see the one place that you're talking about. And when I looked at it, I thought, man, those. That looks like a yoga retreat studio where people go and do their yoga retreat.

Yeah. And we do that actually during my camp. We do that in the morning. Every morning. We start with the. With the yoga, but not. It's like my own way to wake up. Yeah. We do breathing exercises, sometimes meditating and stretching and conditioning all at the same time.

How long are your camps normally?

I run them for 10 days almost every month or every two months, depending on the season. The last one. The last one was in January, and the next one will be in April.

Amazing. Coming up. April's coming up. You know, it must have been an interesting. I want to be mindful of your time, so. But it must have been an interesting time during the pandemic and Covid and all the traveling, like, how did that have an impact? And in your sport.

That's very true. We all are tired of this pandemic times. Yeah. We're all fed up of wearing the masks, following these rules, which they. I understand they have reason, but it's so annoying, you know, and many people were afraid to come, and they thought that it might be dangerous or it might be not good traveling at that time. But who was brave enough? At the first camp which I organized, I had one girl from New York since the pandemic just started, until the date of her departure to my camp. She didn't leave your house all the time they were staying, like, you know, like in those movies about apocalypses, when you just stay in your house.

Oh, I know where. Yeah, I'm in New York. I know.

Okay. So. Yeah, you know.

Yes.

But maybe. Maybe that's why. Because you were really following those rules, and that's why you opened the first. The first country in the world who was free of. Of the. Of quarantine was us. Right. Because most of my students were from US And I was wondering why. Because it's so expensive to fly from US To Turkey. And then they said, oh, because we are open right now. Australia is closed. The borders are closed. Yeah. Pakistan also was closed. I mean, it was hard for. For Pakistan people to get to Turkey. Some European countries also closed and always some problems with Russia and Turkey in between. So, like, there was a period when the borders, the area connections were closed, so you had to travel, like 24 hours by plane through other countries to Turkey, which normally takes you just two and a half hours. So. Yes. And when you come. When you come there, you realize because the village is really small, it's located in the valley, it's protected by UNESCO, and it's a very small village. There are just few restaurants and not too many tourists. Actually, most of the tourists are yoga teachers and instructors or their students. And there. When you come there, actually, you forget about COVID at all, because you don't need to wear masks. Nowhere. I mean, they still have these signs, you know, like, don't enter without mask. But all the waiters, all the owners of the restaurants, they. They don't wear them. And when, for example, some people come with masks and they like, you know, they look. It seems like the only ones who wear them, and then they just. Okay. Oh, do we need to wear a mask? No, no. Here is fine. So it's just like that. And we never had any bad cases there. Yeah. So it's something to escape, you know, from these times.

Yes.

And for me as well.

Yes, for sure. Okay, last question, and then I'll let you go. What? How do you navigate the fear, especially for either yourself or for your clients, but the fear of injury and have you had to manage, you know, over. Over training in or. Or. Or, you know, injury from the mis lift?

Mm, actually, I don't. I mean, before doing any move, before teaching any move which can cause injury, which I know can cause, because things like flips. Yeah. On your landings, you can. You never know. I mean, until you feel confident, you never know how you land. And sometimes even stupid landing can cause injury if you're not prepared. So I break down each move into different parts, many different parts, including the landing, where you can work on your landing separately, just with different angle, but you drill them separately. I see if the person can do all of these steps confidently and is aware of why we are doing this step. Because some people I met, people who don't realize why we are doing that, they say, I show the move and then I show the exercise. And people like, oh, but what is this why we do this? I say, go lay down on your back, roll through your right shoulder, for example. Yeah. Some people who don't understand, I just don't let them do it. Because when you're not aware of what and why you are doing, of course Injury comes up. But at the same time, I feel it's. It's completely. I mean, for myself, not for clients or my students, but for myself, injury is not something that stops me because I understand the injuries temporary. And sometimes injuries give me more. How can I say? Like, not motivation, but stimulus and more. More mind work. Because we so much focus on our bodies, but we forget that what. What controls our bodies is our mind. And for example, last January, I. I had a fracture when your shoulder just like. And just dangling down without being able to move.

Yeah.

And. Yeah. And I had an operation, but. And I was like, oh, my God, how I'm gonna teach classes and how I'm gonna do this stuff without the hand? And they put me. The surgery put me to metal like plastines to attach. Oh, yeah. A collarbone to my shoulder and. And one wire to not let it rotate. And they told me that you have to like six months, six, seven months, you carry this metal without doing anything. And after six months, we take them out and you start doing the rehabilitation. And I was like, oh, my God, that's a long time. So from the beginning, I focused on my own development. Without that hint, I'm like, okay, whatever. I'm without hand right now. Like, there are people who. Who don't have both hands, you know, or both legs, but they still practice. And. Yeah, so. So it was actually, for me, it was very exciting. And I was not sad at all because I. For example, some of my friends, when they get injured, they very sad or depressed, and they don't train. They're like, oh, my God, what I'm going to do. But I created the course, which I called Luke mom, no hands. When I combine all the moves, which I could do without using my hands at all. Yeah. Which were safe and. And easy to do. So, like, you could still look incredible keeping your hands in your pockets. And I was so cool.

Is that for beginners? Can beginners play with that too? Or is that for your advanced. Your advanced pole?

People for that are like, for beginners that are shapes to learn. But for advanced who already can do these shapes, there are cool entrances, like jumps in without hands or dismount and jump out of that moose. So it's kind of mixed level, depending on the. On the students level.

Oh, that's cool. Look, Ma no hands. That is a really cute title too. That is so cute. All right, so thank you so much for sharing your journey, giving us insight. I love listening to other athletes stories and how they have. How. How there's so many we all battle very similar things, just in different contexts. So sometimes it's really nice to just hear a different context. So I'd love for you to share with us. For those of you who want to learn more, who want to try this out, want to look into your retreat, it's like, where are the best places I can send them?

You mean for those who want to.

Learn, want to learn more about you? For people who want to learn more about you, learn more about your offerings, where are the best places I can send them?

Okay. I think the best place is social media, of course, at the moment, at the time, there are difficult times. But also is my camp, where you can come and train and actually have real experience and. Which is really cool, I think, and better than any online classes. And by the way, yesterday I was at the premiere of the movie About Me, the Russian producer and movie director, they created a cool documentary about five dancers, about their weight, like how they come up with things, how they train, how they prepare for competition, how they struggle, how they fail, about dancers life. So, yeah, and it's called Solo Documentary. And yesterday they were talking about like international sales and they said now they're selling it to us and to Europe. And I was really excited because for me it was a big thing, you know, happening when they. When they were recording. I thought it would be something, you know, some movie on YouTube. But it was a really big thing actually. Yesterday. Yeah.

That's cool.

That's cool.

All right, we'll definitely link all of that up then for sure. Cool. Thank you, Dimitri. I really appreciate it.

Thank you, Beverly. Thank you so much. Was pleasure for me too.

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