To my Ladies (or Gentlemen): Pole Dancing as Exercise?

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hellosara08
hellosara08 Posts: 140 Member
in Fitness and Exercise
So the day before yesterday, I tried pole dancing (I know!) for the first time. A friend has a pole set up in her house and I decided, why not? After a couple of hours trying to learn cool tricks and spinning around like a kid at the playground, we called it quits. Two days later I am super crazy sore still in my arms (forearms, wrists, biceps, triceps and shoulders), chest, and upper back. So I got a pretty awesome workout out of it. Needless to say, I have a lot of respect for strippers/topless dancers because pole dancing is hard! lol

So I'm being totally serious here when I say does anyone--male or female because my guy friends were way better at it then me :ohwell: --use pole dancing as actual exercise (maybe strength training for the upper body or cardio because I definitely worked up a sweat)?

Let me know your honest opinions on this (I personally now want to get a pole and learn how to do these acrobatic tricks because it was pretty hardcore :smile: )
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Replies

  • hellosara08
    hellosara08 Posts: 140 Member
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    Oh! I've also read that it can burn a pretty crazy amount of calories once you start to get more advanced (somewhere upwards to bout 800 cals per hour). Need to do some research... Hmmm...
  • _hi_hat3r_
    _hi_hat3r_ Posts: 423 Member
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    I do a little strip teasing in my spare time....does that count? LOL
  • _hi_hat3r_
    _hi_hat3r_ Posts: 423 Member
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    and YES you can use it as an exercise. You've answered your own question really.
  • HMVOL7409
    HMVOL7409 Posts: 1,588 Member
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    I've done it with girlfriends as a fun class and it is a great workout for your core!
  • amy1612
    amy1612 Posts: 1,356 Member
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    Yes, I do pole dance as form of fitness, and have increased my strength AND flexibility. Its a great way to work the whole body, and both women and men take part. There are some awesome videos on youtube of performers such as Zoraya Judd, Bendy Kate, Rebecca Butcher, Eduoard Doye, etc, to inspire. Be careful if learning at home though, some moves are best done with a spotter and a crash mat.x
  • victoria4321
    victoria4321 Posts: 1,719 Member
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    I took a few classes before and I didn't find it to be intense enough. I can see it being a good workout if you don't do anything else. If you have a good strength building program, then its sort of a waste of time. It was fun though
  • hellosara08
    hellosara08 Posts: 140 Member
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    I do a little strip teasing in my spare time....does that count? LOL

    Haha! It totals counts if you want it to count lol
  • hellosara08
    hellosara08 Posts: 140 Member
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    and YES you can use it as an exercise. You've answered your own question really.

    I wanted to know who does it as their main source of exercise and what their results were like. Whoops. Sorry if I didn't state clearly enough :)
  • sandylion
    sandylion Posts: 451 Member
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    I friend of mine does a pole-fit class. She has can do the most amazing tricks! She definitely has it as part of her work out and she's doing amazing! I've been dying to try it to be honest...
  • hellosara08
    hellosara08 Posts: 140 Member
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    @amy1612 thanks for the references! i forgot about youtube *facepalm*. and i didn't realize it could increase flexibility

    @HMVOL7409 nice! definitely going to force some of my friends to take a class with me :)

    @victoria4321 I'm more into cardio right now. but I'm glad you found it fun even if you got nothing else out of it
  • fontinathefox
    fontinathefox Posts: 124 Member
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    I do burlesque dancing once a week and the girl who runs the classes also runs pole dancing classes - all the pole girls are incredibly fit and toned. I've seen them perform and you can see how much they use their arms and core muscles - amazing.
  • hellosara08
    hellosara08 Posts: 140 Member
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    @sandylion the tricks are definitely a huge reason why i want to start learning. they just look so cool

    @fontinathefox burlesque dancing? sounds like a lot of fun. how is that? and I can totally believe they look amazing. it uses so many muscle groups.

    watching some videos of performers. mind? blown. lol
  • neddoh
    neddoh Posts: 116 Member
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    One of my MFP friends has been rocking pole dancing as exercise! Definitely a legit thing :)
  • hellosara08
    hellosara08 Posts: 140 Member
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    @neddoh niiiice! do you know how they log it in?
  • Shayrubine
    Shayrubine Posts: 6
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    I'm taking pole dancing classes once a week since mid April, and I must say I don't sweat much, except during the warm up part. We have to share a pole so I'm not exercising all the time but half the time, and the beginners' level is quite easy for me being an ex gymnast and dancer. But I hope to sweat a lot more when I'm in the level 2 class. I would probably sweat more in the 'choreo class' (I only took the 'tricks' class for now).

    Of course I work out with a complete program on the side of pole dancing, because once a week wouldn't have much impact and also because I need to (re-)build some muscles and strength FOR pole dancing...

    It's really fun though, especially if you go with a friend ;-)
  • kristineevans
    kristineevans Posts: 56 Member
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    It's wonderful for toning up I did pole along with aerial fitness 3x a week and went from a 29" waist to now a 26" so it has def worked for me I walk about 5miles a day too but all my strength training is that, your lifting and holding your own body weight which is loads more than I would lift in the gym! I love it and yes when you first start just trying to get dressed a few days after is difficult lol but it gets better !
  • hellosara08
    hellosara08 Posts: 140 Member
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    @Shayrubine i'm pretty sure we worked up a sweat because we kept taking running head starts to gain momentum (i don't even know how that's possible lol). And we kept coming up with our own choreo so def. worked up a sweat there

    @kristineevans loooove the profile pic. definitely going to look into having that being my strength training. right now i do run 2 miles in the morning about four times a week and then hit the gym every other day for different muscle groups
  • kristineevans
    kristineevans Posts: 56 Member
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    Thanks, in that case yes pole is perfect for you x
  • amy1612
    amy1612 Posts: 1,356 Member
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    I find pole different to regular strength training. Its more like bodyweight training or heavy lifiting in terms of the gains, especially when you start doing more advanced things which rely on strength such as handsprings :)
  • Bentley2718
    Bentley2718 Posts: 1,690 Member
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    Oh! I've also read that it can burn a pretty crazy amount of calories once you start to get more advanced (somewhere upwards to bout 800 cals per hour). Need to do some research... Hmmm...

    I'm a reasonably advanced pole dancer, and while it *is* a great workout, I wouldn't buy a 800 calorie per hour burn, even when I'm really going at it.

    That said, it's a great workout, it's also a lot of fun. As others have mentioned, I would recommend taking classes if you can, both because having a spotter is useful, and because proper form is very important if you don't want to end up with injuries (especially shoulder injuries).

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