fbpx
[email protected]
Blog
Frances Ann performs at PoleCon 2022

Poling After 50

“You could take pole dancing lessons,” he suggested with a leer.

I had recently lost weight and acquired a boyfriend after a really tough year, and I’d been dithering about joining a gym or something similar. As it happened, I was about midway through a week of saying yes to everything, and he lived down the street from a pole studio. Seeing no way out, I agreed to give it a try and hauled my ancient carcass over to Brass Ovaries, where I signed up for a few classes on a Groupon deal.

That first lesson was horrible, so bad I cried. I couldn’t do anything, everyone else was less than half my age, and I left sore and covered in bruises – bruises for nothing! I hadn’t accomplished one rotation of a single spin, I couldn’t hold my weight on the pole, I was convinced I’d never climb even one time, and failure abounded.

But because I had more lessons to use, I went back and because I knew what to expect (nothing) I was less disappointed the second time. I kept going back, I got stronger, I got taller, and I became less of a curiosity around the studio. When the Groupon deal was done I signed up for a studio membership and pretty soon I climbed up and slapped the ceiling.

I caught trouble at work for not being a pushover. I had my mousy gray hair bleached to an audacious platinum. My very feet were stronger and I started wearing high heels to the office again.

None of this happened on anyone else’s timeline. The children in that first class were doing inverts and other impossible tricks while I methodically worked on my barrel roll and side climb. The thing about being an older poler is new skills take longer to master, and some of the twistier things are probably going to remain impossible (looking at you, Allegra) but I have amazed myself with what I can do and I celebrate each victory like it’s that first ceiling slap.

I’m not sure I can recommend moving three states away and opening your own pole studio but that’s what I’ve done. I believe so strongly in the power of pole that I really can’t do anything else. I teach some classes, I take some classes, and I do Pilates twice a week to strengthen my core and hang out at someone else’s studio.

I have learned that a lot of people start pole when their life is at a crossroads, or after trauma. I don’t understand why that is but I know that pole will work magic if you don’t quit after that first lesson.

If you’re thinking you’re too old to pole – you’re not. You’re not too fat, you’re not too deconditioned, it’s a perfect time to start. Check your expectations at the door, and love yourself for what you can do instead of berating yourself for what you can’t. I commissioned a canvas that hangs in my studio: “Comparison is the Thief of Joy.”

You’re going to need to stretch a little longer, warm up more slowly, and you might not always get a trick on the first try. But I do promise you that for every failure there will be a time when you’re strong in class and everything happens and you leave that studio glowing, on top of the world. If there’s a better feeling I don’t know what it is.

Elle
Latest posts by Elle (see all)

Related Posts

Back To Top