Fudge on Pole Pressure (Alexandria & Logan Circle)

Pole Pressure, Landmark Mall, 5801 Duke Street, Alexandria, VA & 1322 14th Street, NW, Washington, DC

So...pole...yeah.

We went to two classes.  Both were the free intro classes, one in Alexandria and one in downtown DC.  I'm glad we did both and in that order.

The class at Alex was a good work out at the beginning.  We did some mat/floor exercises and some chair exercises.  Those were a decent work out.  The pole - not so much, but it was fun.  The poles at the Alex are vaguely reminiscent of childhood playground tether ball poles (in the days before people worried about things like playground safety).  Remember the poles that were cemented into the middle of old tires?  They were kind of like that.  Definitely more stable, but didn't necessarily feel that way.  There were one and half instructors to the class (one who was definitely the instructor and the other who obviously worked there and was often called upon to give instruction).  They were both incredibly friendly and obviously loved what they do.  They spent a lot of time going around and showing each person in the class how to do the pole moves.  It was a very social and fun class, but definitely disorganized.  The class was in the back of a dance or workout studio of some kind.  The way it was set up, it definitely felt like an afterthought.  It kind of like something organized in someone's garage: fun, but not very professional.

The class on 14th Street was way more professional, but less of a workout.  In that class we did floor/mat, pole, and aerial hoop.  The hoop was really an afterthought and each person was able to have one go at it.  Still, fun to try.  The poles were permanent.  Attached from floor to ceiling.  I definitely got the sense, however, that the class was designed to show you more of what you could do if you took more classes and less what you are able to do now.  A lot of the moves were really uncomfortable because I felt like my bones were grinding into the floor or pole and there wasn't a whole lot of instruction.  Definitely no personal instruction like at the Alex location.  Also, some of the stuff was quite painful given the limited ankle stiffness I still deal with.

All in all, I'd rather do pilates, zumba, or yoga, so I will probably not pursue pole any further.  That said, it was a fun experiment!

Post-Vegas Fudge

As you can see, I only managed to post once from Vegas.  We were constantly on the move, walking and dancing mostly.  Toward the end there was a decent amount of eating too.  I never quite made it to the point of sweating tequila, but I did discover the beauty of red licorice vodka.

We did dance to some great music, though.

As for exercise other than walking and dancing, we took a pilates barre class at the Bellagio Fitness Center.  The fitness center was nice (great spa area with a steam room, sauna, and hot tubs), but the class left something to be desired.  Maybe it is geared toward people who want to sweat out some tequila, but I can't imagine those people are choosing to take fitness classes in high enough numbers to justify such a low intensity class.  Anyway, it was nice to take a class and play around in the facilities, but if I had paid to take that class at home I would have been unsatisfied.  For $40, though, you get the class and access to the facilities all day so, for the price, it really is a fantastic deal.

Our last morning we spent some quality time at Wicked Spoon and in honor of that visit, I offer these tips on yoga poses for heartburn. :)

Chesti: Pole Dancing Update: Pole Pressure

I suck at pole dancing.  Seriously.  I might as well just throw out my clear plexiglass stilettos and tassels, but that ain't never gonna happen.  And flying hoop?  Oh god, no.  But the class was interesting.  I recommend trying it.  I am, however, very good at flirty floor dancing.  Chair dancing came somewhere in the middle.  FOUR types of "fitness" - that's what you get with the pole dancing freebie we posted a while back.  At the Landmark location of Pole Pressure you do floor, pole, and chair.  Downtown you get floor, pole, and hoop.   Don't be fooled, the way these two places operate, you would have NO IDEA they are connected.  Landmark is more fun.  Downtown is a serious business.   If you are just curious, I recommend going to Landmark.  Those girls are fun and the class actually has a workout component to it, but sooooo disorganized.  Downtown is almost too hard to be a work out and has a pretty serious sales pitch to it.  If you can do any of the moves, it will be a terrific body sculpting experience, but for an intro, way too hard.  One thing I did learn is that there is no way in hell strippers can drink while on duty.  It's just not possible.  If you are a stripper and can wear heels AND do those moves, then god bless you.  You are a very special lady.

Chesti: VEGAS!!!

Hey Friends.  SO, we are late on this post because let's face it, it was vegas and we needed time to recover.  I've been home for over a week now and still feel exhausted.  But TOTALLY WORTH IT!  We actually got a lot of exercise in during our trip- a ton of walking, more dancing than I thought possible, and a pilates class.  Yea us!  If you are in Vegas I recommend doing a class off the strip if you want a serious work out, but if you want a semi-workout and access to a spa for the day, then Bellagio is the only way to go.  They have several class offerings.  The classes are $40 each, and for BUT you get all day access to the facilities and things like waters and juice.  The facilities fee alone is $29, so its really like getting this class for $11.  This is a pretty good deal when you consider some places in DC are charging $25 for a drop in class.  The space and place- it's the Bellagio, people.  I'm not going to go into much here, but will say the pilates room was very small but they only allow 4-5 people per class so it's just enough room.  Typical studio.  The class- like I said, I didn't feel like it was a tremendous workout, but I am incredibly proud of us for doing it.  Hungover.  Or maybe that was just me.  The instructor knew her stuff and was friendly, but the class was a bit boring.  Classical music and very low energy.  I think for my "condition" I could have used a lot more music.  There were a few moves we did that left me huffing and puffing, but only a few.  If anything, I enjoyed the steam room/sauna/jacuzzi afterwards more which helped boil some of the tequila out of my body.  The pilates barre class we took was 50 minutes and she went over, which this time, I appreciated.  I can't say this is a class I would take back home, but I did like it.  And I really liked the fact that it kept us on some sort of a fitness "track" even while we were away.  Although, I think the dancing at Marquee was more of a workout.  :)

FREEBIE TODAY: ZUMBA AT NOON

Crystal City has two events today. From noon to 1 p.m., there’s Outdoor Zumba at 2121 Crystal Drive Courtyard. The free event offers, “Latin rhythms and easy-to-follow moves.”

Vegas, Day 1

So far today we've walked 8.5 miles and Chesti won $22 on a penny slot. WIN. 

THIS WEEK'S FREEBIE: POLE DANCING (VEGAS PREP)

In honor of our Vegas trip, this week's freebie is POLE PRESSURE (www.polepressure.com).  Pole pressure offers two different free classes.  One on Friday at 6pm in Alexandria, VA, and one on Saturday at 12 noon downtown.  The classes sample all of Pole Pressure's offerings: chair dance, flexy mat moves, pole, and aerial hoop (hoop is not offered yet in Alexandria).  We will be posting our review on Pole Pressure next week.