Working out isn’t usually synonymous with getting your sexy on. But a new type of fitness is making it mainstream to grab your booty shorts, a lacy bra, step into your stilettos and climb the pole.
Evolving from dingy strip clubs and traversing into the limelight of upscale gyms across the country, what was once seen as a controversial activity is now becoming a niche fitness fad.
It’s called pole fitness, and it’s not only a legitimate way to exercise but also a real sport. International organizers even have their eyes on making pole dancing an Olympic event at the 2016 Summer Games in Rio De Janeiro.
“Whenever I tell people about it, they look at me like I’m crazy, but I really like the class and it’s really fun,” says Tee of Eugene (who did not want her last name used for this story), wiping beads of sweat from her forehead after a recent Sunday class in Eugene.
Combining cardio, flexibility and overarching sensuality into a full body workout, pole fitness works muscles that you never knew existed.
Similar to rock climbing, you utilize your upper body, core and legs.
And it’s harder than it looks, say the women in the class.
“You gotta be ripped for this,” Tee explains. “There’s a lot of upper body strength required, because you need to hold yourself steady with your arms on the pole,” she says, working on a move called the Gemini.
Eugene instructor Áine Inkk (her “pole name”), who has worked as a personal trainer for years and is well versed in a variety of venues from circus silks to burlesque, says that pole fitness is like gymnastics but not as formal, and it allows students to bring their own flair.
“You can make it whatever you want it to be,” Inkk says.
Partnering with Core Star Center, a yoga and tai chi studio on West Second Avenue near the Washington-Jefferson Bridge, Inkk says that when she moved to Eugene in 2007 she noticed a lack of pole classes in the area. Having co-founded Portland’s Brassy Butterfly studio, she worked with Core Star and installed removable poles that stretch from floor to ceiling and are brought in for her biweekly classes.
In addition to beginning, intermediate and advanced pole fitness classes on Sundays, she also offers a “sexy conditioning” class on Tuesday evenings.
Because pole fitness is still in its infancy as a legitimate workout activity, the names of the routines vary regionally, along with how studios run their classes. Many instructors have students pick a “pole name” that they use while they are in class and wear something they will feel sexy in.
What is a universal requirement, however, is minimal clothing: less is more. Students say even with workout shorts, you have a real challenge on your hands when you try to climb the pole.
“I was super self-conscious when I first started,” says Mara Kanbergs, who has been going to Inkk’s class for six months. “But now it’s not a big deal. There’s a sexiness to the workout.”
All in the name of a good workout, Inkk guides the students through a series of intense stretching. With high energy and blaring music, the ladies get down to business quickly. Splitting students between beginning, intermediate and advanced poles, they work out for a tiring 60 minutes with work on the pole, the floor and what Inkk describes as “angelations” — spicy moves that students use to move seamlessly from the pole to the floor.
Inkk’s students range in age from 18 into their 60s. “You can get strength and flexibility from any exercise class,” she says, “but the thing that makes (pole) unique is it’s one of the few classes where women get to really feel sexy and have a sense of freedom in what they are doing.”
Pole fitness is not a sport for the faint of heart — with routines, spins and inversions that have you climbing the pole, hanging upside down and doing horizontal plank-like positions, there’s plenty to challenge yourself with. A one-hour workout is a test of endurance.
Aside from the stigma of pole fitness being an interlude into stripping, Kanbergs points out another drawback.
“The bruising,” says the University of Oregon graduate student. “No one tells you about that. It happens everywhere. You’re gripping the pole, and you really need to be strong to do some of the moves. It can be frustrating at the beginning.”
Seen as one of the few extreme provocative sports, students say that even though they enjoy it, the response they get is often mixed.
Kanbergs, who has brought two friends and her sister into Inkk’s studio, says that her mother is supportive but her father still rolls his eyes about it.
Despite how risqué it may sound, students say they don’t see the sport as a gateway to strip clubs.
Besides, they add, you’re wearing what you would in a hot yoga studio — but with a little extra sass.
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