Launching a Flying Pole Program (Part 2 of 2)

These recommendations are from Ashley Robinson’s  webinar ”The Flying Pole Blueprint: Launching a Flying Pole Program that Soars with Ashley Robinson” held on May 16, 2025. Members can view the entire webinar at this link for free. 

Flying pole aka aerial pole is a pole rigged from the ceiling like an aerial apparatus. The flying pole does not connect to the ground adding a new level of movement to the apparatus.

Ashley covers so much information that there are two posts! Check out part 1 from last week.

Should You Add Flying Pole to Your Studio

Sending out student surveys is a great way to determine if your studio should add a new program. It gauges interest and availability of your current student base. If your students aren’t the type to respond to student surveys, there are a few other avenues you can take to introduce a new apparatus.

Ashley suggests:

• Invite an instructor to do workshops
  • Often the traveling instructor will have their own equipment to bring, as long as you have safe places to rig from, you’re good to go
  • This is a great option since you don’t have to invest in equipment right away
• Start with private lessons
  • A great option if you plan on training flying pole yourself regardless of student interest
  • Only need to purchase one flying pole and associated rigging
• Preview at a showcase
  • Show your students what flying pole can do
  • This can help build interest and excitement
  • Allow you to start with only 1-2 flying poles
• Offer a special 4-week series
  • If people aren’t ready to give up their weekly pole class to make room for flying pole, a limited series allows them to explore flying pole without feeling like they’re giving up something else

Scheduling Considerations

Before adding a new class to the schedule, consider which of your students would qualify for taking the class.

If you have multiple classes happening at the same time, make sure you don’t schedule a flying pole class at the same time slot as your pole intermediate class. If you have a single room studio, don’t put a flying pole class immediately before or after your intermediate or advanced classes, when students may be too tired to do classes back to back.

Instructor availability is also a consideration. 

If you don’t have a qualified instructor available in the time slot you want, you may need to expand your staff. It’s also advisable to have at least two instructors trained in coaching a particular apparatus so the primary instructor has a substitute available. Life happens, instructors get ill or go on vacation and you don’t want to cancel classes based on a single person’s schedule if you can help it.

If you’re looking to get instructors certified in flying pole, at the time of this writing there is only one program available (from IPIA sponsor XPert Fitness). If you’d like to read more about fitness certifications in general, check out this post.

Final Thoughts

The information contained in this post just scratches the surface of what Ashley talked about in her webinar.

If you’re interested in starting a flying pole program at your studio, we strongly advise watching the full webinar and checking out part 1.

Ashley also has a flying pole handbook coming soon! More information about her and her program can be found at www.flexyfit.co.