Pole dancing has never been more popular as a tool for people to get in shape- many people even find themselves in the best shape of their lives after taking up pole dancing. If you’re trying to lose weight, however, and are wondering if you can do so through pole dancing, you’ve come to the right place!
Pole dancing can absolutely supplement a healthy weight loss routine by serving as an exercise or workout that will help you burn additional calories. With how strenuous pole dancing really is, you’re sure to burn extra calories in your day if you take it up.
That said, there’s more to losing weight and pole dancing than meets the eye. Keep reading to find out exactly how pole dancing can help you lose weight, how else pole dancing can improve your health, and what other similar types of fitness you can try to help you lose weight.
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How Does Pole Dancing Help You Lose Weight?
Pole dancing can help someone burn extra calories, thus help them lose weight. But in order to understand how pole dancing can help us lose weight, we have to know what actually causes weight loss in humans.
What does Losing Weight Really Involve?
Ah, the dreaded topic- calories.
A calorie isn’t a fattening agent, contrary to what many people think. A calorie is actually just a unit of energy- pretty simple, huh? Your body uses the calories it gets from food as an energy source.
While pole dancing can help supplement a weight loss routine, weight loss only comes when you’re eating fewer calories than you eat in a day. In order to lose weight, you need to be in a calorie deficit by the end of the day. That means that pole dancing alone isn’t enough to help you lose weight if you’re still eating more calories than you’re burning in a day.
Women and men burn calories at different rates. The average adult female burns 1,600 to 2,400 calories a day, while the average adult male burns 2,000 to 3,000 calories a day.
You don’t necessarily have to work out to burn calories, though. Your body burns calories simply by making your heart pump and moving around- you even burn calories while you sleep!
A general rule of thumb for calculating your weight loss per week based on your deficit is:
- If you have a daily deficit of 500 calories, you’ll lose one pound a week.
- If you have a daily deficit of 1,000 calories, you’ll lose two pounds a week.
And so it goes.
So where exactly does pole dancing fit into all this?
Pole Dancing as a Weight Loss Tool
Pole dancing, due to its mainstream associations with nightlife and professional dancing, has long been perceived by the public as “easy.” However, that’s because pole dancers do a really great job of making it look that way- and making pole dancing look easy is actually extremely hard.
Pole dancing is an extremely straining and difficult form of fitness, contrary to popular belief. It has roots in gymnastics and acrobatics and involves focusing on maintaining difficult postures for extended periods of time using only a pole to assist you. Maintaining poses with little to no equipment is also utilized in other forms of fitness like yoga or pilates, and this method is great for burning extra calories.
On average, people burn 250 calories in a given pole dancing session- that’s the average amount someone burns from a regular trip to the gym for a workout. However, depending on the intensity of the class, you can burn up to 500 calories in a single pole dancing class. This makes pole dancing comparable to aerobic or cardiovascular exercise in terms of burning calories and promoting weight loss- yes, that means it’s comparable to running on the treadmill!
Many people who tried pole dancing have found that engaging in pole dancing classes has caused them to lose weight without even trying. Not only that, but pole dancing will tone up your body, too.
Pole dancing is also a form of weight training. Your body is the “weight” that you’re using to exercise your muscles, and boy will you exercise all of them- upper body, core, glutes, thighs, you name it! You need a unique combination of strength, endurance, and flexibility to properly perform pole dancing- it’s an all-encompassing form of fitness that burns calories and builds muscle.
Due to the aesthetic and performative nature of the sport, it also serves as a fantastic way for people to build empowerment through their pole dancing community. Many people seek pole dancing out for this reason in particular.
It’s become so popular as a contemporary form of fitness that it’s even being recommended to be made into an Olympic sport- it couldn’t reach that status without being a really great workout!
Pole dancing is clearly a fantastic choice for someone seeking to lose weight, gain muscle, and build confidence. But are there other types of fitness out there that provide similar outcomes?
Other Types of Fitness Like Pole Dancing for Weight Loss
There are plenty of other types of fitness like pole dancing that people can experiment with to supplement their weight loss plans. Let’s take a look at two of the most similar types of fitness to pole dancing that you can use to help you lose weight.
Yoga
Yoga is similar to pole dancing in that it involves maintaining difficult poses for extended periods of time with little to no equipment. This means you’re focusing on utilizing certain muscle groups to work against gravity to maintain your poses- and that means you’re burning calories and building up your muscle mass!
- Yoga has all different levels of difficulty to try, so the number of calories you burn per yoga session can differ depending on the class. However, on average, you’ll burn around an extra 200 calories in an intermediate hatha yoga class, and you’ll get a little meditation in as well!
Pilates
Pilates is another form of exercise that involves performing and maintaining strenuous poses. However, while yoga focuses more on the mindfulness/breathing aspects, Pilates is mostly focused on building strength through the proper postures. That means pilates courses, on average, are a bit more strenuous than yoga courses, so you’ll be burning more calories on average through a Pilates course than a yoga course.
- You can burn anywhere from 250-350 calories in a one-hour intermediate pilates session depending on your weight. Just like pole dancing and yoga, you’ll also be building up muscle tone to help supplement your practice.
Pole dancing can serve as a fantastic tool to supplement your weight loss plan. In a one-hour pole dancing session, you can burn up to 500 calories- what better way to increase your daily calorie deficit than that? You’ll also be building muscle, endurance, and flexibility- contributing to improving your overall physical health. You can also try yoga or pilates for similar results.
Consider adding pole dancing to your daily routine to help you lose weight and feel better- both physically and emotionally. Have fun, and good luck!
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