It was supermodel Kate Moss who writhed around on a pole in the music video “White Stripes” and since then pole dancing has become the latest fitness craze for women of all ages. Pole dancing is providing women with fitness along with fun.

Earlier pole dancing was related to sex appeal. Today the changing scenario has converted this art to offer cardiovascular benefits and muscle-building workout. Women from California to the Bible Belt have benefitted from this exercise. They appreciate the increased fitness and self-esteem that comes with learning pole dancing. For women who practice pole dancing at home have installed removable poles in their recreation rooms.

According to pole dancing instructor Angela Edwards, “We get preachers’ wives, teachers, nurses, accountants, lawyers, anyone between the ages of 18 and 70. The dancing part is where you get the cardiovascular benefits. You see good results. We have women who come in here 40 to 50 pounds overweight and drop it in about six to eight months and they get great, nice, hourglass curves.”

On the pole, the dancer learns to balance and exercise at the same time. These movements are actually forms of weight training. Pole tricking is an art and to learn this skill, students need to do a plenty of stretching before getting started. This will avoid undue accidents or injuries. The students should also warm up, cool down and exercise carefully when learning new moves.

Few popular pole tricks that students learn in class include:

Fireman Spin – the pole allows the dancer to balances her weight while spinning.

Bridge – in this form of pole dancing the dancer holds the pole with one hand and straddles it between her legs. Then she arches her back while bending her knees to see the person behind her.

Walk Around – While performing this trick, the dancer pulls back her shoulders, pushes out her chest and buttocks. She holds the pole in the crook of her arm and confidently walks around the pole.

Leg Grip – to perform this art, the dancer holds onto the pole with both hands. She then jumps on the pole and grips it between her thighs with one leg bent and the other extended while she spins around the pole.

For safety measure mats are laid under the poles. Before attempting pole exercises, the trainers train students to perform stretches similar to Pilates. These stretches help the body muscles to become flexible and the students do not get injured.

Pole dancing has given women a fit body and has increased their level of self-confidence. Most women who have mastered this skill have received praises from their partners, who find them attractive and sexy.

Pole dancing is thus a smart way to feel more sexy and fit.

Weight Loss Surgery

For shedding all that flab that envelopes a person, regular exercises and a perfectly balanced diet should go cheek by jowl. When these combine together into a harmonious regimen, most people are able to maintain the proper weight.

Nevertheless, this equation does not balance for everyone. By a combination of reasons resulting from a bit of lethargy, genetic tendencies, and hormonal or eating disorders, flab in some people may become comparable to the blubber of a blue whale.

Surgical procedure for weight loss might become necessary in such extreme cases, where diets and dietary supplements are rarely effective. When zeroing in on a particular type of surgery, its side effects have to be carefully considered, besides the result it is supposed to produce.

What a weight loss surgery essentially does is manage to reduce the food consumption. This is brought about either by reducing food intake itself or by restricting the amount of food absorbed into the system.

Gastric bypass surgery is a common form of weight loss surgery. The procedure involves removal of a part of the digestive system and stitching together the remaining portions to make it continuous. Though the procedure results in weight loss, the users have to be on nutritional supplements for the rest of their lives. Other nutritional problems also being rampant in them, this is not a highly recommended method.

Another method, stomach stapling, is also a much used method, though not as old as gastric bypass surgery. The procedure has become comparatively safer in the last ten years, though risks cannot be completely ruled out.

In stomach sampling, parts of the digestive system are pinned with surgical staples. A modification has been effected over the time in that there is no need for abdominal incision nowadays. Laparoscopy has made it possible to drill a hole in the abdominal area and carry out the surgery through it.

Insufficient nutrition is the risk of this method also, forcing the patients to be dependent on supplements for the rest of their lives. And they will never again be able to have more than a specified amount of food. The risk of bleeding is also there.

All these surgeries work towards shrinking the digestive system in one way or another.  Those who have undergone the operation are able to eat only little, forcing the body to burn up the stored fat for daily requirements.

A Lap Band constricting the stomach is a novel weight reduction method. It eliminates the need of incision and the band can be adjusted when fat gets reduced. It is much simpler than surgery at any rate, but is expensive and cannot be reimbursed via medical insurance.

Weight loss is ensured in this method also. The risk here is that of hormonal changes. The patient has to be monitored constantly to avoid risks.  All these surgeries, collectively known as bariatric surgeries, can be Biliopancreatic Diversion, Sleeve gastrectomy, Vertical Banded Gastroplasty, Roux-en-Y gastric bypass, or Adjustable gastric band.

A proper regimen of diet and exercises is any day a better bet than surgery.  Those who are left with no option should at least be careful enough to get proper medical guidance.

My opinion is to think about it twice if Weight Loss Surgery is the best option for you.