Heather Anderson, 32, a single mother of two, was desperate to lose weight and make new friends following the birth of her second child. New to the area, Heather was four months pregnant with her second child when her partner left her with no family or friends nearby. Following the birth of her second son and desperate to lose weight and regain her confidence, Heather joined a gym and set about getting herself back in shape, when she spotted a poster which advertised a different kind of gym class, pole dancing. Despite finding the initial leap into the unknown terrifying, she stuck at it and was amazed to discover that it was very effective for her weight loss; in fact she lost a staggering four stone in just four months.
 | | Pole Dancing Lessons |
Now buoyed by her own success, she has set up her own pole dancing keep fit classes which have gone down very well with the women of Peterborough and have been hugely over subscribed. Heather joined Andy Burrows from BBC Radio Cambridgeshire's Peterborough breakfast show to explain all about her weight loss, flexible skills and new found confidence. Andy: Wow you've lost four stone, you look amazing, as thin as a pick? Heather: Well looks can be deceiving. Andy: You had a baby but when did this all start? Heather: I had a son on my birthday, the 1st May last year, I'd finished feeding and started putting weight back on and being on my own I was feeling a bit insecure and not very confident, I hadn't wanted to go out and meet new people, I hadn't lived in Peterborough for long. Whilst I was in hospital having my son, in labour actually waiting I was reading a magazine, you know what it is like in hospitals the magazines are always 10 years old. The most recent one I could find was about six months old and there was an article in there about celebrities and what they do to keep fit because we are all fascinated as to what they do to look so fascinated all the time. I read that Sadie Frost and a couple of other celebrities did Pole Dancing and it caught my eye and it was just something that was different. Obviously when I started trying to get back into shape I joined a gym and there was a sign up saying there were Pole Dancing classes and I thought it would be full of skinny little 18 year old models. Andy: It was still fairly brave to go? Heather: I called the lady, Debbie, who taught the classes at the time, and it took her about an hour on the phone to convince me that I won't be the only 30 year old there and there were lots of reasons why people went and that they weren't all skinny and professional. So I did go along in my baggy tracksuit bottoms and t-shirt and shied away to begin with but they got me up there and in a couple of weeks one of the ladies said that I looked really good and that I was losing weight. The next week I ventured to knee length shorts and a vest top and it kind of became addictive because you then want to do it, you are trying to do a move and you can't so you get frustrated and you want to learn more, so I got a pole at home. Andy: At the classes at the gym did everyone get their own pole? Heather: No, we had podium poles so they weren't fixed; they were on a weighted stage. Andy: There is a seedy side to pole dancing where men go and stare at women but you do have to be really fit? Heather: Well the whole point of the classes and what I do is that it is not seedy. I have to say that Angels (Table Dancing club in Peterborough) have been a great support to me and have helped push the business forward because without them we wouldn't have been able to do it. It also takes a lot of strength and a lot of guts to get up there and do what they do. Andy: Have you seen a different side to it then? | "Even though I know how to dance I couldn't perform like they do, to be able to perform and keep dancing to the end of three or four minute song." | | Heather explains why she couldn't be a professional pole dancer. |
Heather: Absolutely, I have total admiration for the girls who get up there, I've actually got to know some of the girls who work there and am friends with some of them and I don't have the bottle do what they do. Even though I know how to dance I couldn't perform like they do, to be able to perform and keep moving and dance to the end of three or four minute song, it is actually quite exhausting. It is not until the girls are in class and they are choreographing their routine for us to record at the end of class that they realise just how difficult it is. The lesson lasts for an hour and most of them are sweating and out of breath at the end of it. Andy: I'm not sure I'd be able to cling to a pole for an hour? Heather: It is not constant, you take it in turns to learn the moves but it does work because you are using all of the body and toning muscles that you didn't even know that you had. Andy: You've lost four stone in four months, you must have dieted as well? Heather: For two weeks I did try to just have fresh fruit smoothies every morning for breakfast and lunchtime and it was very expensive and the summer soon went and all the fruit wasn't as good as it should have been and I enjoy my pasta and potatoes and cheese too much. Andy: And you are teaching classes already? Heather: Yes I've been teaching classes since January, initially people were very wary and that is the one thing that all of the women who come to the class want to go and watch the professionals and we go and watch and they are sitting there going 'I can do that move'.
 | | Women take it in turns on the pole. |
So it is a sense of achievement watching the professionals do it thinking and knowing that they can do that too and it makes people feel confident, more empowered and better about themselves and that is what the classes are about, it is not about training to be a pole dancer. It is about being happy and loving the person that you are regardless of your age, size or shape and achieving something and feeling good about yourself. Andy: What do your children think about it? Heather: My seven year old thinks it is fantastic and he thinks he is Spiderman when he climbs up the pole and he is rather proud of himself being able to flip himself upside down now, but I think that is more to do with him being seven and being a skinny little thing, he doesn't have any weight to hold. My 15 month old thinks it is funny and likes to walk round the pole, but he was my inspiration to do it. Andy: Where do you do the classes? Heather: We do the classes at Angels, we do three a week at the moment but we are fully booked until the end of September and I have a waiting list of about 30. I've also just found some new premises which we are in the process of converting into a pole dancing studio. You can contact Heather for more info by email on info@polefunroadshow.co.uk | 
