Just the other day I was half way through one of my dance classes and did a rather grueling core workout. I know how important it is to have a strong core and how good it feels to give it a real good workout. After the track, one of the girls turned to me and said ‘my core isn’t as strong as it was when I was pole dancing.‘

Now, as this class didn’t have anything to do with pole (other than the group guessing where my bruises came from) I immediately felt a conversation was needed!

After class we both talked about how much we love pole dancing but struggle to find the time – she has just moved house and had to take her pole down and I’ve recently moved house and am still settling in. We decided that we must pole together and I asked her to send me a message to arrange a time to meet.

Walking home after that conversation I was really excited – although I realised that I had just invited a complete stranger (Mel had only just joined the class) to my house… was this a bad move?

We talked over Facebook about our individual training – I’m working on deadlifts and the dreaded (for me at least) knee hold and she is confident on inverting but is working on being graceful. I realised that I was far too excited about having a pole buddy that we needed to arrange this asap!

Our First Session

I’ve taught pole dancing to many different people – sometimes large groups, sometimes one on one, and even sometimes to strangers in a club! I realised that I’ve not actually just had a pole session with a stranger in my own home. I wondered how it would work… Would I take the lead as I already teach her in a dance class, or should it be half and half? I really didn’t know what was best.

I decided that the best way forward would just be to have a swing around the pole and see how we got on. I did a warm up and went over a few stretches for us. Neither of us wanted to tread on the others toes (in every sense!) so we went into the session just going over some of the basic moves and spins.

We practiced everything using both sides to work on our strength. We went over everything we could think of! Spins, holds, inverts, stretches and strength work. I was worn out! We were both so black and blue… and even red by the time we finished. The most important thing was that we both had a lot of fun and did a lot of poling.

I found it so refreshing to pole in this way – I usually feel I have to impress and never fail at any move but this just isn’t realistic! I was even able to show pain!

Round Two

The best thing about it all was that I made a new friend. We try and pole once a week if our schedules match up. It’s lovely to just forget about everything else that’s going on and just have a spin!

Now I have to remember how to get rid of those bruises…