So I’ve been to the strip club, probably one too many times (is that weird?) and I’ll admit I’ve always been impressed- not by their nakedness… But ayyyyeee. I’ve always been jealous of the physical strength of a stripper. I’ll admit on behalf of every woman, pole dancing is freaking cool and I totally wish I could do what strippers do.
Recently I was presented with a challenge to actually get on stripper level of strength and get up on a pole, minus the stripping. My first reaction was “There’s pole fitness classes in Cairo?!” but Mia of Project Pole explained to me that she has many girls come in eager to get fit using the power of the pole.
The U.K. native came to Egypt originally for diving, but as many expats do, she got sucked in and never left. As a certified pole fitness instructor, Mia found that her studio can be a form of fitness and fun. Along with offering classes, she hosts bachelorette and birthday party-classes for Cairo’s adventurous.
As someone who hasn’t worked out in, lets say “a while” I was a bit nervous. Since it only takes one attempt at a pull up to know that it takes some serious strength to be able to pull up your own weight, I was nervous, but excited. After seeing many *ahem* shows, I knew it would be a bit of a challenge, but I could still make it look good. WRONG. It is not as easy as it looks, and you’re definitely not going to look graceful the first try but the workout is ahhhhmazing. I worked out every muscle in my body, even muscles I forgot existed and according to my encouraging instructor I was able to get down some more advanced moves. Boo-ya!
We started out with a warm up which involved stretches, ab, and leg workouts to avoid injury. After I was all ready to go, I stared at the pole and freaked out, but Mia demonstrated each move with the ultimate simplicity, told me what reflexes my body would have, and how to make the move look graceful once I nailed it. By the end of our session, I was able to do a combination (fireman, pique, baby doll, angel, ending with show girl pose; for someone who is acrobatically challenged that’s pretty impressive).
It seems like our natural instinct is to sexualize pole fitness, but there’s nothing about it that’s sexy, unless you want it to be. Are there any downsides to pole fitness? Not really just bruising, which isn’t that serious and you’re sore the first few days, but that comes with EVERY new workout you try. I absolutely loved Project Pole. It made me think if this writing thing doesn’t work out ;)… I’m kidding, mom I swear I’m kidding!
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