Tab Tries: Pole Dancing

On Sunday night I received a phone call from a friend that went along the lines of: “You like weird things, want to try pole dancing with me?”


Little persuasion was necessary and less than 24 hours later we were filling out a contact form at SolePole on Union Street, surrounded by inner thighs barely sheathed in lycra. My own flowered pyjama shorts I had brought for the occasion were screaming newbie.

After receiving a particularly warm welcome by both the owner, Sian, and our instructor, Emily, we went into the class, grabbed a pole and grinned excitedly at each other in the floor to ceiling mirrors whilst listening to two of the other girls talk about where they were putting up their own poles at home. Being a regular gym-goer I was impressed at the thoroughness of the warm-up, and the fitness of the girls eight weeks into a beginner’s class. They can do a hella quick burpee.

We then watched them perform the routine they will be showcasing in December and, I must say, nothing about it screamed beginner, or sleaze. Don’t get me wrong, the minute they jumped on their poles their sex-god allure increased ten-fold, but we were both more amazed by the flexibility, tone and sheer strength of these girls. It was a feat!

Thankfully, despite being eight weeks behind the instructor gave both my friend and I individual tuition and worked through the beginning of the routine with us for the majority of the time while the other girls practiced. After my first ‘climb’ I asked her if you ever get used to the pain, whilst rubbing where I used to have skin on my thighs. She giggled and said “Oh yeah, don’t worry about it, you don’t feel it after a while” and proceeded to fling herself upside down on the pole. One glance between my friend and I proved we’d happily sandpaper off our own skin to be able to do that.

SolePole are currently doing an offer of £39.50 for a month’s class with unlimited access to classes. Considering classes are normally £12.50 a pop, or you have to sign up to a 6 month contract, this is definitely worth looking out if you’re a student and have always wanted to try your hand. Pole dancing is an excellent and enormously fun work out, I cannot recommend it enough, and the gains you make in it far outstrip many other training regimes in terms of strength, flexibility and the speed at which you improve. I can’t wait to go back later in the week and strut my stuff.