Okay so today 40 is the new 30 and 30 is the new 20….so by that reckoning 50 must be the new 40 right? Right!
So a soon to be 48 year old (close enough to 50 to hear it knocking on the door!) shouldn’t have to forget she’s a full-blooded woman, hang up her thong and get out some Bridget Jones pants to wait for everything to go south! Nope!
Three years ago my friend Mari started a Pole for Fitness class and asked me if I wanted to try it out. Yeah okay, I thought…..A woman in her forties?….Pole dancing???
But in that delicate stage of life where you still feel like you’re in your thirties but haven’t got the body of a thirty year old I decided ‘Why not?’
Now – I wondered exactly what a ‘pole dancing’ class would look like? I had visions of leggy ladies in skimpy undies (or none at all!). Shoes high enough to give a girl vertigo….and the pole…a shiny, chrome thing to be writhed around and against. Not that there’s anything wrong with all that but for me it was a decidedly scary proposition.
The reality of today’s’ pole dancing classes is that we’ve crossed the line (or maybe climbed the pole) and gone beyond its original image and into a new era. After attending Mari’s classes at Sugar Pole Fitness for over three years I realize that pole dancing is almost like having a life coach. Well for me it is anyway and I have an idea that it’s the same for a lot of others out there! Mari warms us up….we do some pretty heavy stretching and cardio stuff…all to music and all barefoot. That’s kind of where the usual aerobic type of ‘work out’ stops and the fun really begins. We don our shoes….yes….she even teaches us just how to walk in them…and at 47 I can strut my stuff in six inch heels! .
I spend an hour and a half learning moves and spins with wild names that I don’t always remember (menopause is kicking in!) but absolutely love perfecting! I learn routines that are sometimes slow and sexy, sometimes upbeat and funky and sometimes as camp as a row of tents! All this whilst I’m working my core muscles harder than a million sit-ups!
This is where the life coaching comes in too….I like my heels….but if you feel more comfortable barefoot or even in a pair of trainers I guarantee you’re still going to get the same amount of confidence-boosting, core-burning, body-sculpting training that I get – That’s the beauty of ‘pole’. It is what you want it to be. For me it’s exercise with a plus….for you it might be the plus first and then the exercise!
And so here I am three years later…looking 50 in the eye and saying ‘You wanna piece of me? Do ya?’ How can I do that? Well I can because putting on a pair of six inch heels and shorts and joining some of the funniest ladies I’ve had the pleasure to spend time with gives me the opportunity to practice being a ‘WOMAN’ – move my body in ways I had forgotten – get my mojo back – put me back in touch with who I am – revel in the fact that I am proud to be female – and ultimately and most importantly – I’m keeping the 47 year old body from going south! Pole Rocks!
sugarpolefitness@yahoo.com for details.
