By Mrs. Webmaster  / SwingLifestyle.com

Participation in any fitness regimen should improve your physical appearance, your muscle strength, your general health, and your potential longevity.

Pole dancing for fitness is a sport that is based on the equipment and moves developed by dancers in strip clubs and acrobats in circuses. In recent years it has become much more than just adult entertainment; pole dance for fitness has exploded onto the scene of alternative fitness! Many women that participate in this sport neither intended nor desire to work in the sex industry.

Pole dancing will make you firm, toned and you will see results much faster than with a traditional weight/resistance program and many other types of traditional workouts.

One of the most enticing factors in pole dancing for fitness is that although one will see quite a lot of fit strong bodies among pole dancers, those who are seriously into the sport tend to develop lithe, willowy, toned, and flexible physiques that are more “cut”, toned and less massively built. This is because from the start, pole dancers throw their body weight up, down, and around while holding
on with their ankles, backs of knees and often even one handed. The weight that they are throwing around is further unbalanced by momentum, torque and spin which works the muscles completely and throughout their range of motion in order to develop the condition of the muscles or limbs as a whole rather than concentrating on lifting dumb weight in a specific way to affect certain muscles and/or muscle groups. Pole dancing is also a great cardio workout and therefore benefits your weight management goals while keeping the heart and lungs healthy.

The following is a list of the 5 major general benefits to participating in this fun and empowering activity:
- Improves physical strength throughout your body in both your core and skeletal muscles.
- Can build firm and toned muscles in a fairly short period of time. It will not take long before you begin to see results. The best part is that this firming and toning of the muscles focuses on those “problem areas” for women.
- Improved balance and agility as well as increased flexibility and core strength.
- Pole dancing is a physically challenging activity which will use every muscle and muscle group in your body while intensively targeting specific muscles throughout their range of motion; this will build properly proportioned lean muscle and allow you to bare your weight on the pole for longer and longer periods of time.
- All of the tricks, spins and holds are versatile and can be adapted to any person regardless of height or body type. There are moves and tricks for any fitness level and ability and as your strength and skills develop so will the range of tricks and elaborations that can be added to your repertoire.

Another of the intriguing things about pole dance for fitness which attracts so many women is the numerous ways and various places that this sport can be pursued.

There are a wealth of videos on video sharing websites showing that women have installed poles in their entryways, in front of their TV, in the living room or den, in the corners of bed rooms, dining rooms, in their kitchens, their garage, in a storage locker and even outside on the porch .You can install a pole on tile floors, carpeting, Pergo, hardwood floors, concrete, stages, plywood, tile or any other type of floor covering commonly found in the home.

As with any sport or strenuous physical activity, it is recommended that you either receive formal training by enrolling in a class at a local studio or e-class online. You can even learn via a one on one session with another dancer. It is important that when you start you allow someone to guide you through the basics of pole dancing so that you learn the tricks of creating momentum to spin up or down the pole in various positions while using your body weight as a counterbalance and the pole as your fulcrum. After you have learned the basics it is completely up to you how you want to continue to learn but there are numerous methods, venues and places where you can get instruction on pole fitness. You can also use videos or books such as the Pole Dancing for Dummies book.

In the end you will find yourself loving the way that pole dancing strengthens and shapes your body. If you are trying to lose weight or aiming for better muscle tone and body conditioning, this one piece of fitness equipment may be the solution that you are looking for. There is no need to purchase any other equipment and if you install a removable pole at home, once you have learned the routines you can surprise your boyfriend or significant other. Challenge yourself; there are numerous ways to keep the activity new and fresh so that you don’t grow bored with your fitness regimen. As your confidence and sense of innate femininity grow, your body will melt away the layers of fat in all of the zones and places that women normally refer to as “problem areas”. Your new toned, fit, and strong appearance will amaze your friends and significant other, but most importantly it will impress you!

The most important thing to remember about pole dancing is to loosen up and have fun!