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How many times a week would you have to do pole to lose weight?
Just out of curiousity. I walk/lift a lot at work, and live in apartment so I don't have a lot of ways to work out at home… how many times a week would you have to pole to actually lose weight if any at all???? I'm 170 and can't lose these last 20-30 pounds for the life of me!!!!! I'm counting calories and all, but if anyone has any cheap/easy ways to get fit i'd love it. It's rough being a bigger girl in pole.
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20 Replies
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I'm not sure. I pole for about an hour maybe 4-5 times a week and I am continuing to see more muscle and results. I'm pretty sure 3 times a week for an hour will help weight loss goals.
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Thanks!
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Try adding 1 hour of Cardio 2-3x a week. Zumba class is low cost or hula hoop @ home. Weighted Hula you can buy at any sporting goods store for about $20. Also get a cardio workout app on your phone. There are tons of free exercise apps, they’re what I use 🙂 Hope that helps.
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You will lose weight with pole but adding in more cardio will help with weight loss too.
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good luck quirky! I hope you reach your goals.
my ex lost 20lbs just by eliminating all sodas. no additionaly exercise necessary- no coke, no sprite, no mountain dew. just thought I'd mention in case it helps…
20 pounds!
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Ignore the scale, you're probably gaining muscle and losing fat. You will weigh more since muscle weighs more than fat. I second Katana, focus on small changes that you can keep yourself going with–eliminating pop/soda is a good one. The most important thing is keeping up with your healthy habits, the results will follow. https://www.studioveena.com/img/smilies/icon_e_smile.gif
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For me diet also factors in big time. Not really in the sense of eating less but definitely eating differently. I eat clean (or try to for the most part) and pole dance a bit every day and about 3 or 4 days more intensely
Here's an eating clean article: http://caloriecount.about.com/means-eat-clean-b583101
and here is Aerial Amy's blog about her experience with eating clean
http://aerialamy.com/blog/2012/09/13/pardon-have-you-seen-my-6-pack/
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Thank you to everyone! I'm trying not to get discouraged about numbers on the scale. My biceps have grown over an inch!! And I'm trying to cut the soda to just one a day and then to none at all… I just am kind of addicted to caffiene…
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Everytime you get an urge to drink a soda, drink 16 oz or a bottle of water. You should be drinking at least 64 oz a day. Adding lemon to your water will also help with your weight loss. Try cutting out anything fried, breaded, and dipped in grease. Reduce your sweets intake and try eating lots of fruits and veggies to curb your sweet tooth. Maybe tea will satisfy your caffeine cravings? I drink coffee and I've always been a coffee drinker so I never really needed to get it from sodas. Cardio will help condition your body in addition to pole. Try jogging at your own pace for a mile or two a day. I use the RunKeeper app and I run at least 2-3 miles (Army requirements) for at least 30 mins 5 times a week. If you aren't a runner, start slow. Briskly walk around a track for 30 mins. Don't kill yourself. If you don't have a track, try the Map My Run app for a course in your neighborhood. I hope this helps!
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When I started to lose weight I was going to 90 minute classes 3 to 4 times a week. Then after a couple months I did two 90 minute classes back to back 3 to 4 times a week. I've realized that I really needed to add cardio and flexibility into my schedule so now I try to do about 90 minutes of pole 3 times a week with 45 minutes of flexibility training right after. For leg flexibility I use Alethea Austin's Pure Splits and some stuff from Felix Cane's Flexibility. For back flexibility I use Alethea Austin's stretching for pole and some stuff from Felix Cane's Flexibility. Included in that 90 minutes of pole is about 15-30 minutes of strength training doing invert prep and the like. The reason why I don't pole as much as I was when I was doing two classes back to back is because I found that in two 90 minute classes, 30 minutes of each class was all warm up and cool down. Which meant that I'm really only getting 2 hours of pole and half of that is spent mostly standing around in the second class. Less pole per day is just more productive for me.
I also try to do cardio two times a week. There's this app – Zombies, Run! – that is my motivation for cardio. I'm not really a runner, but I'm starting with brisk walking and interval running when the zombies start chasing me. 🙂 It syncs with Runkeeper too. Gympact is also a cool app for keeping you motivated – but has a lot of issues syncing with Runkeeper. It works flawlessly for checking into the studio or gym to workout though.
Once a week I try to do Ballet. It really helps with fluidity. I use Element's Ballet Conditioning or Mary Helen Bower's Ballet Beautiful on Fridays or I go to a vertical barre class at the pole studio.
I try to do about 10 minutes of yoga when I first wakeup and 10 minutes of yoga before I go to bed. Nothing too strenuous, just yoga to wake up my muscles and relieve stiffness in the morning and yoga to to help me relax at night.
I know my workout schedule seems pretty intense – because it is – but these are my workout GOALS. This is not at all the reality of my workout schedule every week. But I do pretty much all the pole stuff and half of the other stuff every week.
As far as weight loss goes though, working out helps but that's not what really makes you lose weight. Working out converts that once stagnant muscle (and some fat) to toned muscle and makes you feel great! And in the beginning it's really going to piss you off because muscle is more dense than fat and the scale will tell you that your weight isn't changing much. What you eat is really what helps with weight loss. I was so much more strict with my diet in the beginning than I am now and I lost more weight then than I am losing now while working out MORE. I don't think of my diet as a "diet", it's more of a lifestyle change. I'm a big believer in low carb lifestyles. Especially after seeing my dad go though heart surgery and his low carb lifestyle has been the only one that brought his numbers down. Paleo diets are naturally low carb and low carb diets are for the most part gluten-free. Forget low fat low calorie high carb diets, you'll just feel like you're starving. What you really should be watching is your intake of sugar and wheat products. However! Most people think that low carb means that you can eat as much as you want. That's not true. You still have to portion control. There is such a thing as eating TOO much protein. A lot of people also think that low carb is all bacon and steaks. Nope. While fat is good for you it shouldn't be the only thing you eat. I eat more vegetables now than I ever did! I still drink soda but I don't drink anything but the zero and diet sodas. And sugar-free torani/davinci syrups for italian soda! There's controversy​ on whether or not the artificial sweeteners are good for you or not but it doesn't spike my blood sugar so as far as I'm concerned it's okay. As far as caffiene goes, coffee has zero sugar and zero calories! But if you're anything like me you add a crap ton of coconut milk to it. 🙂
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Throw the scales out, and if you really need to compare something, get a tape measure. Scales are deceptive, especially for women as our weight fluctuates so much even within a month. Weight is irrelevant – look a proportion, muscle tone, strength and above all how you feel.
If by weight loss you want fat loss, then there are a number of things you can do to help things along – but remember, you want it to be gradual, too fast and it is likely you are losing water. First – look at what you are eating – I am sorry to say that as much as we wish it weren't true, diet is the largest factor. Write a food diary – and be honest in it. You would be surprised at how just knowing you will have to write it down will stop you going for the naughty stuff. 🙂 Eat more, but in smaller sized portions and more often. Grazing does wonders. Also, don't starve yourself – this will make fat harder to lose as your body, with all the exercise, will hold onto energy stores. Stop eating sugar – so no honey, no chocolate sprinkles on things, no fake drinks, limit juice… Make sure you are eating enough calories, and that you are getting good carbs and good proteins, with good fats too (you need all of these).
Also – sleep! This is so often forgotten and is incredibly important. When I was cutting for competition, I had to increase my sleep by a huge amount in order to get the results. There is an old saying that every hour you sleep before midnight is worth double of what you sleep after – and it is surprisingly accurate.
Listen to your own body – it will actually tell you what you should be eating. Complex carb cravings often come from too much sugar (especially the evil fake stuff). What works for one person won't work for everyone – for me, cutting wheat out of my diet made me retain weight – I have to make sure I eat enough grains and bread for my body, as it uses the fuel in a good way – a paleo diet does not work for me and my genetic structure. Everyone is different. Stay away from fad diets – there is no real science in it, and if there were, the true results won't be available for another 30+ years. Caffeine is another thing that has mixed science on it – cutting caffeine did nothing for me for example, it might not for you – but it is what you have with your caffeine that might be the killer. My personal rule – if it is fake, I don't eat it (or try not to). You could eat a big fat chocolate eclair made with only real ingredients and it would do so very much less damage to you than one made half the size filled with corn syrup, pretend cream and fake sugar.
As for exercise, mix it up. Keep your regime, but after a couple of weeks, add something or change something. Our bodies plateau – this is normal and frustrating, but it can be dealt with.
One more thing – be realistic. I have gone through the crazy dieting and training (you would all think me insane if I put my old schedule here) and I got phenomenal results – but it isn't worth it long term. Plus I began to look scary. I want to be able to enjoy my food, still feel good and have energy, be strong and all, plus have a bit of womanly curve. Start to look at yourself in a positive light, give yourself a break – fixating on your flaws will make them appear bigger than they really are and will hold you back on rejoicing in your achievements.
Feel free to PM me if you want more. 🙂
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Thanks Koidragon. I get such bad headaches trying to cope without caffiene and I become sluggish. Last time I managed to cut it out,however, I lost about 10 pounds! I'm trying so hard to get back on track with healthy eating,but everytime I'm doing well at it, something happens where it becomes impossible. I'd be fine only losing 10 pounds, but losing more in inches/toning up. THAT'S what I want. I want to be toned and be able to not be so..chunky XD
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Since the beginning of the year I lost 28 pounds. I have been at my goal weight for about 6 weeks. I lost fat, but didn't gain much muscle. Muscle gain goes a lot slower. And I was pretty muscular already.
I hardly ever drink soda, cut back on my sweets. Added a bit more protein. No carbs after lunch. I only eat veggies and meat for dinner. And portion control.
And change up your exercise routine from time to time. I do cardio several times a week. 3 Months ago I started poling and from time to time I ad running to it all.
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Quirky, I'm at about your weight, and have been plateaued at that weight for about a year now. Not surprising since I haven't really focused on weight loss at all, just doing more of what I love (pole and yoga) but I was a little surprised when I was reading through an old journal from last year and realized I still weigh now what I weighed then (if anything, I'd expected to have gained weight, considering my lack of effort/focus).
My tip for you is to not think about "those last 20-30 lbs" but rather "the next 10 lbs." I found re-framing it this way has really helped me on the mental/emotional side. I have replaced thoughts of "Ah crap, I have lose freaking 30 pounds to get to my goal? Screw that!" with thoughts of "Ten pounds? That's not so bad, I've done it before and can do it again."
I just recently got on the scale again after not having weighed myself in a long time and was surprised to see I'd dipped down to 167, without any major changes to my routine lately. This has motivated me to start putting more deliberate effort into the Next Ten Pounds goal again. My husband is about to start a contract that will have him traveling all the time, so I'm going to look into one of those Meals by Mail plans (from PersonalTrainerFood.com – it's basically the South Beach low-carb method all over again) to make cooking & portioning really convenient. Last year when he traveled all summer for work, I was having cereal for dinner, if I ate dinner at all. 🙁 Bad juju. Knowing laziness is my weakness, I want to do what I can to make things easier on myself.
Wish me luck! Wishing it to you as well! Here's to 160. 🙂
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We can do this Pankake!! 🙂
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