Pole-dancing for exercise? Our fitness columnist gives it a shot

I TOOK POLE-dance class once, years ago. I remembered loving spinning around the pole, and being asked to crawl across the floor and unleash my sultry side.

I figured Sexy Sculpt would push me physically, and might ask me to express myself.

I was ready.

I went to Pole Fitness Seattle to check out Sexy Sculpt, a conditioning class that includes cardio, strengthening and stretching for anyone, even if you don’t take pole-dance classes.

I hoped the class would include some pole work; I also suspected it would include a lot of core. I was right. My teacher Maggie dived right in with core strengthening. We did a few warm-ups, then used the pole for a core exercise called muffin-busters. We hooked one leg up at hip height on the pole, bent sideways to touch the floor and came up again. She counted to 15. At 10, I was nearly groaning from the intensity.

We also used the pole for crunches, grabbing it to hang on and lifting our knees to our chests.

For another pole exercise, we came down to our backs, with the pole by one shoulder, and lifted our legs up and overhead. The hard part was bringing my legs back down with control, and then repeating it for multiple reps. We did it on each side, then switched and added some diagonals.

I hoped we were done with core, but Maggie still had more: this time with partners, for Superman-style back-strengthening. I lay on the floor on my stomach, and my partner sat on my legs. From there, I lifted my chest as high as I could for several reps, then twisted furiously side to side for as long as I could. After both my partner and I did it, and promptly collapsed, Maggie added lifts, where you reach your arms forward and lift as high as you can, with your partner still sitting on your legs.

Maggie was strong and limber enough to go into a backbend during this move; my partner, who was a regular, advised me to squeeze my arms to my ears and do the best I could.

I preferred the body waves, where we held onto the pole, arms straight; slithered up the pole; and then leaned back again, butt back, challenging our upper-arm strength and our core.

We also did booty-shaking to get movement into our hips and lower back, leaning forward, hands on thighs, and moving our pelvis to get things to jiggle. Maggie had a very impressive shake.

Maggie added more squats in the middle of booty-shaking to bring on the cardio challenge.

Pole dancing requires flexibility, so the class ended with deep hip work. Maggie gave us variations of hip openings to work on the splits, something I have never been able to do. With her instruction to identify tension and exhale to soften, I was able to get deeper into tight areas in my hips and even relax a bit.

I liked the variation of the work in Sexy Sculpt, and it will help you with the core strength and conditioning necessary for pole dancing, and generally feeling strong. That said, next time, I want to repeat beginner pole-dance class, even if I have to get a little sultry. I realized I wanted to learn more pole tricks and play around with spins.

Regardless, you’ll get stronger in Sexy Sculpt, and you might even produce a jiggly booty shake. Go for it.