[KATRINA CHILVER | Coventry Telegraph]
“I have shared my progress with people, I’ve lost just under four stone, it absolutely changes your body. I don’t do any sit ups whatsoever,
Gyms are set to be swarmed with people kick starting their ‘new year, new me’ fitness routines from January, but a dancer in Nuneaton is offering a different way to get in shape.
Amanda Lewis is helping women in the town become more body confident, teaching them how to swing round poles.
She promises it’s not seedy and it will transform your body – without the need for sit ups.
Amanda said: “I would say the biggest thing it gives people is the confidence, everyone assumes it’s really young, attractive single girls but most of the time it’s mums.
“Their body confidence grows, they get such a huge sense of achievement.”
Miss Lewis isn’t worried about the reputation of the exercise but says her classes are not what people may expect when they think of pole dancing.
She said: “It’s quite a funny one because people do like that whole sexy side to pole dancing, but I’m not like that at all, it’s a bit of fun.
“Every month we do pole in heels. It’s not very stripper style and most people love it because they have got more confident and it’s fun.
“If you ask any of the ladies they say I don’t look sexy at all because I’m slipping and sliding round a pole.
“The people who come along are normally private people, it’s not seedy, it’s really pretty.”
Pole fitness has become a huge craze over the past few years and Amanda jumped on it when she trained as an instructor in 2010 before starting Bliss Dance.
“I had just finished my dance degree and I was working as a fitness instructor, then I saw how big pole fitness was getting,” she said.