Is Pole Dancing the Best Fitness Activity?
Finding the right combo of strength, flexibility, cardio, and coordination may be easier than you think.
I think we can all agree that exercise is a non-negotiable. If you want to enjoy life to the fullest and remain vital into old age, you gotta move. It’s right up there with drinking water and eating a balanced diet. And Wordle.
But how do you decide what activities are for you? What do you look for when choosing your fitness routine?
Do you mostly exercise at home? In the park? At a gym?
If you go to the gym, is it to do classes? Listen to podcasts while running on the spot? Lift weights, perhaps?
Do you need a coach or would you rather do it on your own?
What about cost?
Is exercise a chore to you?
Do you want to get it done as fast as possible and get out of there?
That’s the premise behind things like The 4-Hour Body and Mindvalley’s 10x program.
They come across like silver bullets that will get you to some end point where you can sit back and say “I’m fit.”
Which to me, is not the point.
Exercise should be fun
Ever since I became an adult who had to take fitness with at least a modicum of seriousness, I’ve understood that if it’s not fun, I won’t keep it up. If it’s something I have to drag my arse to, relying on ever-increasing willpower as the weeks go by, then it’s simple. Sooner or later, I’ll stop. That’s been my experience with running, pumping iron at the gym, and swimming laps.
So, it became obvious that I needed to choose things that I would look forward to—that would be a highlight of my day or week.
Exercise should cover your body’s needs
According to this article, you need to ensure you’re getting your fill of endurance, strength, balance, and flexibility. This is aimed at keeping yourself physically able-bodied for as long as possible. Ideally, until you die in an accident, because if you’re doing all this, you should avoid dropping dead of heart failure, although you never know.
But there’s more.
Exercise can improve your mood and increase your cognition
In particular, things like dance and martial arts, where you need to coordinate your movements. But especially dance. Music by itself is mood-enhancing. Trying to follow a rhythm, build awareness of all the parts of your body and get them to move how you want them to will literally build new neural pathways and keep your mind fresher, longer.
Competition and Performance
Team sports are great because having a team rely on you forces you to show up, and you benefit from coordinating between multiple players and generating trust and camaraderie. In individual sports like dancing and gymnastics, competition pushes you to break through your boundaries. Win or lose, you go the extra mile when you have a routine to perfect, a deadline looming, and an audience and judges to impress.
So what’s so good about pole dancing?
Pole dancing ticks a lot of these boxes.
Strength
Flexibility
Endurance
Coordination/dance
Competition and performance (if you choose)
Many of you will say, well, this is fine for women, but what about men? Sure, I’m happy you think that, because I love that this is a sport that women dominate. It therefore ticks a couple of bonus boxes:
empowerment
feeling sexy and free to express yourself through movement
You can also get that from things like latin and ballroom dancing, although rather than a pole, they most often require a human male to dance around. Fun if you can find one who’s willing!
No, if men knew that their natural advantage in upper body strength would quickly see them dominate the sport if they chose to, then it may morph into something completely else.
Indeed, many competitions now have male and female divisions.
Still, chances are if you go to a pole class, it will be frequented almost exclusively by women. Women encouraging one another to build strength, flexibility, endurance, and coordination. Women completely unconcerned with how this looks to a man. Even showcases and competitions are mostly attended by women interested in the sport and its aesthetics.
But it hasn’t always been this way.
A brief history of pole dancing
Modern pole has its origins in the Hoochie Coochie dancers of the traveling circus and vaudeville. They sometimes made use of the central pole of the circus to enhance their dancing, but similar to modern strippers, they weren’t paid by the house, they relied on tips to get by, which led to some discontent.
Breaking away from the circus scene, some dancers joined burlesque shows, which had been brought to America in the 1800s, but these shows were heavily segregated, so it was only an option for white dancers, and “exotic” dancers (quite a loaded term as it turns out) were relegated to small dive bars and vaudeville shows, despite both sets getting inspiration from Middle Eastern belly dancing, African dance, and burlesque.
Dancing in clubs began in the 1930s with the opening of places like the New Orleans Club in San Francisco, which may or may not have had a pipe on its makeshift stage that the dancers could use to enhance their movements. The first club documented to have a true dance pole was Mary’s Club in Portland, now an iconic landmark. These were followed by a slew of other clubs around the US and the world, and lap dances became popular in the 80s.
In 1994, the first pole fitness studio was opened by Fawnia Mondey, who is sometimes called “The Queen of Pole Dance” and credited with popularizing pole dancing as fitness.
Since then, a number of trail blazers paved the way by creating new moves, performing spins both on static and spinning pole, bringing in gymnastic tricks, practicing in pairs and groups, and mastering handsprings.
JenSha, winners of the recent Victorian & South Australian Pole Championships, and incidentally, the inspiration for this article.
Felix Cane had an amazing pole dancing show with the Cirque Du Soleil, and more recently, Kristy Sellars was a semi-finalist in America’s Got Talent for her combination of pole with audio-visual in a breathtaking 3D display of showmanship and athletic ability.
Today, there are thousands of pole studios all over the world, pole competitions with national champions competing on a global stage, and even pole cruises.
My Pole Dancing journey
Just like the sport itself, I got into pole dancing because I was peripherally involved in the stripping scene. In my mid-twenties, I lived with two dancers, and briefly worked as an MC at a strip club. I loved watching the girls dance, and often played on the poles, learning spins and the basic climb. Nevertheless, despite bleaching my dreadlocks blond, borrowing a bunch of sexy clothes, and learning to walk in ridiculous heels, the scene didn’t really suit me. I only went out after work on one occasion. One of the girls was heading to someone’s house with two of the bouncers, and she invited me along. I felt awkward and out of place in the conversations that seemed to revolve exclusively around comparing drug and fight stories, and when one of the guys tased himself on purpose, I called a taxi. I guess my discomfort showed, because after a few months, they stopped giving me shifts.
I tried stripping in a club only once (not the same one). Note that not only do you not get paid by the club, but you have to pay a house fee to dance. I did a couple of lap dances, but asked the clients if they’d mind if I left my underpants on, because I felt like it was actually sexier. They agreed because we were having fun, but then when I’d had enough and went to get dressed, I was told that that was against the club rules, and I could put my clothes on only after getting the go-ahead to knock off.
I still made more money than I would have waiting tables on the same evening, and I’m glad I tried, but I didn’t go back. However, I did continue to learn pole. Both in fitness classes and at home with my housemates, who both went on to become instructors. Since then, I’ve learned on-and-off in multiple studios, in three different countries (Australia, France, South Africa). I’ve performed in a couple of showcases, and did a term of Chinese pole at my local circus academy. I have a pole up in my house to this day.
I love the supportiveness and inclusiveness of the pole community, and find the sport fun and rewarding.
But I haven’t been to pole regularly for a while now. I did gymnastics for some years. Then I got serious about walking my dog and doing the monkey bars in the park. I’ve done plenty of yoga, Zumba, and Body Balance. When pregnant, I was a regular at fit ball class. When I lived in China, I spent 6 weeks intensively studying kung fu. Recently, I took up the flying trapeze. Note that I never got great at any of these. The point is, I always do something.
Conclusion
So is pole dancing the best fitness activity? I’d say no.
The best fitness activity is whatever you enjoy. Whatever you can get to regularly without it being a pain and a chore. Something that will build your muscles, stretch your joints, and enhance your stamina. Wherever you find community that you vibe with, that build you up, and that support you no matter what stage you’re at. And not necessarily the same thing for years on end. Those neural pathways need a regular upgrade!
After all, in this age where our bodies are our temples, and our social life is decoupling from alcohol, we need places where we can be both healthy and social. Who knows, sporting clubs might just be the new church!
What do you think? Take to the comments to tell us about your fitness journey, what you’ve learned and what you do now? What’s the best physical activity for you? What would you recommend (I’ll try pretty much anything)?
And by all means, if you haven’t tried pole, have a go, and let me know how you find it.