Tuesday, February 14, 2012

Pole Dancing 101

In an effort to find new and exciting ways to build up my upper body strength I signed up for a class, Introduction to Pole Dancing.

I haven't been to many strip clubs. In fact, I've only been to one, and that was almost a decade ago (that's a story for another time). Most of my exposure to pole dancing has been through the movies and, more recently, an internet friend on Fitocracy.

One of the women that I follow is a huge fan of pole dancing for fitness and was always posting pole dancing workouts. So I started to ask her about it. How was it? Was it embarrassing? Do you have to wear heels? Do you have to strip? (Answers: Great, No, Depends, and No). Her enthusiasm lead me to look into pole dancing fitness clubs in Milwaukee thus discovering Blush.

I went to my first class tonight...

First off, I apologize because I don't have any pictures. They really work to foster a comfortable environment, so obviously, cameras aren't allowed.

Our instructor, Maureen, made sure that we had a fun time, were comfortable, and had good (aka sexy) form.We practiced some basic stretches and worked on our "Sexy Smoulder" (I assure you, mine is thoroughly dorktastic). Then we started working on a routine. The class is 4 weeks long, and the goal is to have learned a complete dance routine at the end. Maureen performed the dance for us and made it look really simple (and awesome). Once we all started though; it became clear how much skill was needed. For example, concepts like "left" and "right" were way over our heads.

Since most of the first class focused on the concepts, I didn't think it was much of a work out, but it was a lot of fun. We finished the class learning a spin move (where you grab the pole, lift your legs, and spin your way to the floor). We're going to learn variations in the weeks to come, and I'm pretty excited.

However, there is one small matter that needs to be dealt with. My shoes suck. They are some boring black mary janes that I wore to a wedding about five years ago. Bleghhhhhhh. Where's the sparkle?!?

So I think I'm going to invest in these puppies:That's right... They have floating goldfish in them. How awesome is that? At least this way, when I'm tripping over my feet, people will be distracted by my shoes.