The only thing they take off is their rings. Clients of Empowering Pole Fitness get a total body workout, complete with a warm up, strength training, and cool down, all while performing dance moves with a pole as their partner.
As the name says, the workout is empowering, both physically and emotionally, co-owners Carol Moore and Tami Walker say. Whether barefoot or in platform, high heeled shoes, which help build calf muscles, there's nothing risqué or burlesque about what they do, it's simply a good workout once a week for 90 minutes a class.
Faced with an empty nest, Moore, 52, began researching opening a pole fitness business after seeing it on television. Working with her husband, who owns an import service business, Moore wanted to do something significant for herself and for other local women.
"I work with men all day, and I thought I'm going to have to do something," Moore says.
Moore, hesitant about introducing this kind of fitness class to Polk County, asked Walker, 50, if she might be willing to be her partner.
"So I approached (Walker) about doing this," Moore says. "And she says, 'You want to do what!?' "
"I thought she was nuts, I thought she was absolutely nuts,' Walker adds. But Walker, who has a ballet background, agreed to the partnership and the pair flew to California, where many pole fitness classes are already offered.
In their West Coast research, they discovered what they didn't want in their classes: dark studios, pole sharing, and burlesque misconduct.
What they did want was to offer classes that help women build muscles and confidence.
"Everybody has really benefited in different ways depending on what they want from it," Moore says.
Walker and Moore say clients come in for all sorts of personalized reasons, including building muscle and toning up, losing their middle, increasing balance, flexibility - and just out of curiosity.
Moore, who has her own pole at home, says pole fitness has not only kept her more toned and flexible, it has given her more self-confidence.
With levels up to eight, Empowering Pole Fitness begins with safety techniques and learning the "pole components," including proper body alignment and hand placement. Pole fitness lingo is also taught in the beginner's level, such as leverage and momentum.
"If you don't use the proper hand grip, you can get injured, you burn your wrist and or sprain it," Moore says. "Especially those that don't sweat, it sticks."
Walker says she can recognize when a client has a "death grip" on a pole. She says they walk a beginner through trust exercises with one of the six, 14-feet tall poles, which are bolted into both the ceiling and floor.
"You can tell if this pole starts to intimidate somebody, so we just kind of bring them back," Moore says. "And it is scary when you're going around; (the clients) don't go high off the ground. We do a lot of stuff with them not coming off the ground, swinging around and stepping around, until we can see they're not intimidated."
In the beginning classes, Walker says the women are uptight at first, but they soon learn to relax and just have fun.
"There's a lot of laughter here," Walker says.
Each class builds on the last, learning new transition moves, walks, and different spins.
|
|
From left, Pat Lerner, Dee Hinshaw, Patty Witt, Carol Moore and Tami Walker work out at Empowering Pole Fitness in Winter Haven.
Paul Crate / News Chief |
|
"You always use what you've been taught, we just don't re-teach it," Walker says. "The first night they leave here they've got a spin, they've got a walk, and they know how to swing their hips."
With only six poles, the classes are kept small. In addition, walls are mirror-free; this keeps distractions to a minimum and also avoids any sort of competitiveness among the exercisers.
"When you come in here there is no competition," Walker says. "And it's not us competing against each other; if anything we encourage each other. You will see women rally each other. When someone finally gets their feet off that floor and does a spin, you will see people cheer them on."
"They blossom, women change in this class," Walker continues, "women need women."
She says most of the clients are professional women, competing in a man's world all day long and Empowering Pole Fitness is a place they can come to connect with other women and not worry about being watched or judged.
The workouts, which are routines set to music, are designed to work on every part of the body, including the core, triceps, shoulders, legs and everywhere else.
"In order to advance your core has to be stronger," Walker says. "A lot of girls come in here and they say, 'I want to flip, I want to go upside down,' and they don't have any clue how much energy that takes."
"It's not all about upper body strength, it's about using your whole body, your arms, your momentum, everything, you work it all together and you don't have to have one certain type of strength," Moore says. "And when we get them up off the ground, the smile on their face, it's just so rewarding."
Moore says professional dance teachers and personal trainers have taken the classes; their impression was that it's more difficult than they had originally thought.
Eventually, clients are able to climb the poles, sit hands-free, lean back into a perpendicular position, and even flip upside down in an inverted position.
"When you first start, you think I can't do that, I'll never be able to do that,'"says client Dee Hinshaw. "But then you accomplish one step and these ladies are wonderful teachers; they have more patience than you can imagine and they're positive."
Hinshaw, co-owner of Chalet Suzanne, has been a client of Empowering Pole Fitness for about a year and a half and is at level seven. In addition to sitting on the pole roughly five feet off the ground and leaning back into a perpendicular position, she can do a move called "The Crucifix," in which she inverts until she is entirely upside down with her arms outstretched - her body weight supported by her ankles.
With her own pole at home, Hinshaw says the physical benefits for her have been the strengthening of her core and agility.
Patty Witt, a client now on her fourth level, says her goal is to one day be as good as Hinshaw. Originally, she came looking to better her coordination and build up strength, which she says has happened.
"I was also looking for something new to do," Witt says. "It's a type of exercise without really exercising; I'm not a good exercise person."
Witt says she looks forward to the class every week and says for those who might get the wrong idea, it's not stripping.
"It's more exercise than anything."
Pat Lerner, who is at level three, says she has had surgery for her adhesive capsulitis, more commonly referred to as '"rozen shoulder." Not only has pole fitness been a lot of fun for her, but it has helped with her shoulder condition and has increased her upper body strength.
"I think it's tailored to your physical needs," Lerner says. "You set your goals and your instructor helps you reach your goals."
Walker says all the moves - which have names like "Corkscrew" and "Back Diamond" - are a form of self expression and everyone does them differently.
"Carol and I do the same spins, but they're different," she says.
"Elements such as leg placement and leaning depth make the same turns look different," she says.
"It's an art, when you see somebody who really knows what they're going, it's gorgeous," Walker continues. "It is like watching ballet on a pole."
For more about classes and prices, call Empowering Pole Fitness at 863-298-9515 or visit EmpoweringPoleFitness.com.
