IT may still be associated with seedy clubs and strippers, but pole dancing has become the latest weapon in the fight to curb Scotland’s obesity crisis.
Fitness instructors are now adding the craze to their training regimes and classes in response to “phenomenal” demand. Instructors in Edinburgh and Glasgow say their unorthodox keep-fit sessions have attracted students, lawyers and even primary schoolteachers.
This week in Glasgow a new drive will be launched by DIY Divas in an attempt to prise desk-bound workers away from the office and on to the pole. The hour-long fitness classes, to be run at Cube nightclub in the city centre, will start at 5.30pm in a bid to attract workers who would normally head home at that time to a microwave meal and the television.
Polestars, which runs classes in Edinburgh, is also in talks with Glasgow arts venue The Arches to hold weekly sessions there.
A third company, Birmingham-based PoleCats, wants to take pole dancing into mainstream gyms in Scotland. In the last few months, its poles have been installed in Fitness First gyms in Burton-on- Trent and Coventry in a bid to gauge demand. A spokeswoman for Fitness First said demand had been so high for the classes, which also include erotic dancing, that more were now being made available.
Dawn Love, of DIY Divas, who also runs classes at Peppermint Studios in Glasgow’s west end, said: “Demand for this is phenomenal. We’ve had doctors, nurses and policewomen. We also had a lawyer who would step out of her pinstripe suit and into her hotpants for an hour and a half.”
Love, a former pole dancer at Stringfellows in London, said those who joined her six-week beginners’ course were given a white garter. Then, as the classes become more strenuous and complex, the students work their way towards a red and eventually a black garter.
“When they can go upside down and do star jumps and windmills on the pole they get their black garter. It’s just like judo.
“The idea of the new classes is to go for office workers who are stuck behind a desk all day. Instead of going home and doing nothing, they can go to the classes straight after work and still be home for seven. Why shouldn’t they stick their head in the door and swing on a pole before going home? It’s fun and great for fitness. Their whole body shape changes in six weeks.”
Although the classes are currently women-only, Love is to open a men-only class in Edinburgh next year.
Jill Anderson, a fitness instructor who runs two-hour classes at Edinburgh’s Ego nightclub, said students start with 30 minutes of warming up and stretching.
“Once we do that we get changed into our shorts and heels. I break down the moves for the students and then it’s a warm-down and more stretching. Because it’s ladies only they don’t have to worry about men coming along for a peek.
“The aim is to steer pole dancing way from the seediness that’s attached to it. We’ve got a bit to go but people are slowly beginning to open up their minds to it. It’s a tough sport and great for fitness. You don’t just swing around a pole.”
Anderson added that the classes were great for building women’s confidence. “Other than the fitness aspect, I’ve seen girls who have been so shy and would not say ‘boo’ to a goose. By the end of it they are spinning round that pole and being really chatty.
“The purpose of our classes is not to train girls for dancing in clubs. It’s for fun, fitness and confidence-building. It’s for everyone, from size eight to 18 and all ages.”
The instructors believe they are cashing in on increasing numbers of people who are turning away from traditional workouts on treadmills and exercise bikes. But they also hope to attract women who have never before set foot in a gym of any sort.
One woman, a 49-year-old mother of two from Glasgow, joined Love’s west end classes for the first time this year. At the classes, women are encouraged to adopt a stage name to make themselves feel sexy when they are on the pole.
The woman, who works as a secretary in a large company, uses the pseudonym Candy, after her mother’s dog. Alongside her in the classes were women of all ages whose stage names included Hollywood, Malibu and Sambuca.
“I was a complete beginner but it was something that I wanted to do. I just thought it was wonderful, it was so empowering and the fitness aspect was great.
“There are an awful lot of women who would be frightened to do it just because it’s got a bit of a reputation.
“In the beginning I told one good friend and that was all. Now more friends know, but I work for quite a big company and I wouldn’t want them to find out.
“Another woman who went along to the classes taught in a primary school and she was worried about what people would think. But there is nothing awful in it.”
More than half of Scotland’s population is overweight and experts say the problem stems from the fact that many do not take enough exercise.
Six out of 10 men and seven out of 10 women do not even meet the minimum levels of activity, resulting in nearly 2500 people dying prematurely every year, the experts claim. Problems associated with obesity are expected to cost Scotland (pounds) 16 billion over the next 10 years alone, maintaining the country’s reputation as the sick man of Europe.
Sarah Davis, a fitness instructor who runs the PoleCats company, said: “I’m on the look-out for Scottish instructors because there has been such a huge demand for this.
“We have quite a lot of females but a lot of guys are coming now as well. People don’t realise how hard the exercise is, especially on the upper body. It’s great for toning.”
The pole dancing craze is also leading to women buying poles to instal in their own homes.
A host of celebrities are also taking up the art, including Kelly Brook, who installed a pole in her home to practise for a role in a play. Others known to have tried the pole dance workout include Hollywood actresses Sadie Frost, Jennifer Aniston and the model Kate Moss.
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