Pole Fitness As a Business.

Actually, the two accompanying photos caught my eye first–women of all ages and sizes, in shorts and tank tops or T-shirts, hanging onto the kind of poles that are the mainstay of strip clubs.

What the? Just when I thought I’d seen everything.

Intrigued, I began to read. I learned that pole fitness isn’t something relatively new, even though this is the first I’ve heard of it, and there are some misconceptions about it because of the association with stripping. Pole dancing workouts are designed to build upper body and core muscle strength–from the hips up.

The women who practice pole dancing fitness say they feel strong, empowered, and sexy. I tried to picture myself swinging on one of those poles. It was not a pretty picture. Strong, empowered, and sexy never appeared in it. So, I’ll go back to the Wii Fit once my new hip feels up to it.

Aside from a variety of pole dancing classes, this particular pole fitness studio offers classes in burlesque, belly dance, twerk, and yoga. Yoga? How did yoga get in there with all those bumps and grinds?

The pole fitness studio profiled in the article is named Stilettos & Steel. Hmmm…it’s sort of cute and alliterative, but that’s a rather provocative, sensual name. After all, stilettos are hot shoes worn by hot women–and by strippers. If I were the studio’s owner fighting misconceptions about pole dancing as exercise, I sure enough wouldn’t have the word Stilettos in the name of my business, especially if I didn’t want it associated with something as disreputable as stripping. On the other hand, maybe the attraction of Stilettos & Steel is that the women who go there to work out secretly enjoy feeling naughty as well as sexy. Hmmm…