When you miss your best friend’s hen do you really need to go all out to make up for it. ‘Whatever you want to do, I will make it happen’ I grovelled having been geographically unable to get to the formal occasion. ‘I’ll think about it’ she said ominously.

This is the girl who has been known to rope me into muddy obstacle courses in the pouring rain and cider making in the middle of a field (harder work than it sounds) I was dubious at best.

How did I get here?

‘I want to try pole dancing or aerial hoop’ came the email… I had to Google the latter and basically it means becoming a one woman circus act. As someone who would prefer to bury my head in the sand than make any sort of spectacle of myself, this did not bode well.

Where did we go?

But I was not in a position to negotiate and managed to defy expectations with a private class combining the two, a little pole dancing and a little swinging about in a hoop suspended from the ceiling courtesy of Herts Dance and Fitness… at 8am… on a Saturday. ‘Amazing!’ she said… ‘are you sure though? I don’t want to give you PTSD – that wouldn’t be cool’… too late now.

What happened?

Turning up to the class all bleary eyed (I wish I was a morning person, but I’m not, I’m barely an awake person), we were greeted by the bounciest person I think I have ever met. Steph was our class instructor – she would be helping to lift us into hoops and catch us if we looked like we were about to take a tumble… I was definitely twice her size, but 90 minutes later I was in awe of the strength she had… and was in total girl crush territory, on a complete high from the class…

What are the benefits?

So what are the fitness benefits of all of this? Well, it’s mostly about upper body strength and ab work (I know this because I couldn’t move the next day). It takes a lot of core strength to do pole dancing, but the classes can be made more about conditioning the arms, biceps and shoulder groups, or more of a cardio based dance class. Plus it’s a massive confidence booster!

What to wear?

We asked our eager instructor what she would advise beginners before they come along and so I pass her words of wisdom onto you… 1) phone and find out what it’s all about to find the best class for you. 2) For your first class just wear what’s comfortable, leggings, sportswear, you don’t have to be in short shorts. 3) Have a nice hot bath when you’ve finished.

Seriously on the bath front… you ache afterwards… in a really good way, but the kinda way that means you can’t get anything out of the top shelves in the cupboard.