America's Next Pole Dancer?

My good friend Monica is getting married next month. Her bachelorette party was on Saturday.
Because my mom was in town I couldn’t participate in most of the activities. But the one I did participate in was the pole dancing class.
Talk about some sweaty exercise.
There were probably about 15 of us participating. There were five poles set up. The instructor would show us a simple routine around the pole and then have us each try it out.
We learned a few routines and then put them all together for a “sexy” dance. We also did some booty popping. If you want to look for videos you can look yourself. Just realize it is at your own risk.
Working the stripper pole is a lot harder than it looks. You have to have strong arms, strong legs, strong core, strong back …
I think my regular yoga practice helped with my pole dancing practice. I am not super coordinated. But the routines were simple. And I seem to have some sort of odd focus and calmness while trying out the various routines and tricks.
And for some reason I am really good at fireman, which is where you have both hands on the pole and your legs wrapped around it as you spin around. My favorite was the firelady, where you have both hands on the pole, one leg wrapped around the pole and the other leg out behind you while spinning around. (Click here for video of me doing that in ginormous heels.) After spinning I always felt really dizzy. But it was kinda fun–like twirling when you are a little kid.
It was a fun time and, of course, embarrassing. There was one move I just couldn’t do and I ended up on the floor laughing so hard I was crying.
But in the end I had a good time, laughed a lot and got a great workout.
Monica and I are talking about trying a few pole fit classes at the studio (Atomic Allure) for exercise. If we try it out I will be sure to report back how it went. (WARNING: The link automatically starts playing music.)