How My One Month of Pole Dancing for Fitness Classes Made Me Feel Like a Sexy Beast, Despite Being 10-15kg Too Fat for Society

I've always been a chubby girl, maybe not always but I've always had those "life would be easier if" moments. Easier if I were 10 cm taller, my knees didn't knock and weren't inherently skew. Easier if I could touch my toes without doing a ballet plie. Easier if I could go into a store and not spend 30 mins cringing under the fluorescents and cursing the Chinese sizing. Easier if everything would stay in place and not go wandering in various directions, here's looking at you 36C and 36C & a bit... But then one day I thought about it... Easier for whom?

Cliché as it is: sure I don't look like the girl on the cover of the magazine, but then neither does she... I love my life and how I look is only a small part of that. Am I completely happy with my body? Of course not! But that's why I'm on this lil journey called life, to work at things till I'm happy with them!

It's no use moaning and then stuffing my face with oreos and starving doesn't help either. I've found that the best solution is to have everything in moderation, find a balance, learn to throw punch, take a run and maybe do some spins on a pole...

I've been doing boxing fitness classes for a while, not competitively, just enough to channel my road rage and know how to kick ass if need be.

I'm also up for trying everything atleast once, so I jumped at the chance to do a trial month of pole dancing for fitness with my usual sparring partner and besties. We did our classes at Pole Dance Cape Town, Check out their website and Facebook page for details.

Pole is not for the faint-hearted or weak-willed. It takes quite a bit of grit and determination. Once you start achieving tricks and flips and spins though, it's really fun!

The combination cardio, yoga & dance is very fast-paced and builds your strength quite quickly. On the first day I couldn't lift my "Kardashianess" off the ground for longer than 5 seconds, by the last class I could atleast do full drama queen.

Pole Dance Cape Town has the nicest instructors, they are fierce, awesome and extremely helpful and encouraging. I implore society to have an open mind, pole dance for fitness does not make a woman a stripper any more than ballet for rugby fitness makes a man "gay". We really need to stop these narrow-minded ways of thinking... I will hopefully return one day when life permits it, but first I need to shed my final excuses!