HARAHAN, La. — Some women say they have found an unconventional way to lose weight, while gaining muscle tone.
But sometimes they are reluctant to tell people about their new, often misunderstood, fitness routine that they say is working for them.
By day, Krystal Adams manages an air conditioning company, and works on cell tower sites, but in between she works on her passion.
Krystal, 42, says teaching pole classes combines her love of dance, fitness, and powerful strength, but it also saved her from an eating disorder. She got down to 78 pounds.
“From that moment on I've been the same weight for 20 years, but I've never had a problem with like actual eating disorders again, because I need the strength, and I need the calories to do this,” said Adams, owner of Enchantress Dance and Fitness in Harahan.
Only women are allowed in classes. She sees their weight and clothes coverings go down, while their fitness and confidence goes sky high.
“It just changes people from not loving themselves, to loving themselves. I think that's what drives me, like literally, heal and loving their bodies for that they can do versus what they look like,” said Adams.
Meg: “You really could not pull yourself up even an inch when you first started here?”
“Not even to get off the floor, and so now I can go all the way up,” said Crystal Roddy. “It's pretty cool. It's a pretty awesome feeling, just to see how you can improve in a year.”
Crystal is a mom. The pandemic packed on 10 pounds. Afterwards, she didn't feel like going back to a gym.
“It doesn't feel like working out. I'm way more flexible than I have ever been. I don't have any background in dance, or cheer, or anything like that. I've never been able to wear crop tops. I can come here and feel comfortable in my clothes just more confident,” said Roddy.
She is so confident that she is having her 40th birthday party in the studio.
Erika Parker is a mom who also wanted to get fit after the COVID lockdowns.
“I definitely lost weight. I just feel more confident about myself in general. I think when I first started coming, I was really shy about what I was wearing, and would other people look at me, or how do people feel about it, and I was just really conscience of what everybody else might think,” said Erika Parker.
If you own your own pole and crash mat, you can take the class virtually. They log on as far away as England.
There are also Lyra hoops, where you can learn circus art, or if you need the feeling of more support, you can add in pole silks. Liquid motion teaches you how to move on the floor, and the Hell on Heels class strengthens your ankles to work in those high platforms. And believe it or not, they are functional. They are heavy so you gain strength, plastic so they stick, making it easier to climb, and high to elongate your height for when you have to reach for a posed position.
The walls are lined with Krystal's awards from competition, but for women like Cheryl Van Geffen, the competition is with her own body to stay fit and healthy.
“I live with discomfort and nausea every day, yet I can come into this studio and for an hour. I'm not feeling pain, and I'm not nauseated, and I work through it and forget about it,” said Van Geffen.
At almost 59, she is a cancer survivor.
“I came, one for the fitness, the fitness aspect, and what I found was a family, and what I found was a great creative outlet,” said Van Geffen.
Meg: “Of all the dance you've done in your life, why pole dancing?”
“It just gives me freedom. Today I might want to be slow and sexy, tomorrow I might want to be powerful and push our power moves. Every day it can change,” said Adams.
Women who are taking the class range in age from 16 to the 60s.
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