As part of the This Girl Can Series, we've been catching up with some inspiring women who have found their passion through getting active.
Meet Emily, the current President of the UCL Pole Fitness Club. Find the right This Girl Can session for you by signing up to one of our events today.
Barriers to getting active - can you provide a short summary of the barriers that stopped you from getting active in the past?
When I first took up pole i was instantly faced with this mass amount of stigma. I had friends and family alike making jokes about me preparing to drop out of university by getting my ‘backup plan ready’. It made me feel like by practicing I was doing something wrong or being inappropriate, it took me quite a while to feel comfortable talking about pole with my friends and family.
When I was 17 I developed an issue in my hip and was told that I couldn’t do any form of intense physical activity for an unspecified period. I had to go through a few months of physio and was still being told I couldn’t do sport, I asked about a sort of time-line for getting back on a pole - and was laughed at. The process of simultaneously being told I couldn’t pole and essentially being laughed at for even bringing it up was a difficult one to get my head round - especially when it came from a health professional.
Motivations to getting active - can you provide a short summary of what motivated you to get active?
When lockdown hit I was doing every kind of YouTube workout i could find, hoping that it would make me feel some sort of enjoyment or level of productivity. I wanted a sport that would train my entire body, would get me to do some form of cardio (the part I’ve always hated) and would make me feel strong - and I decided the way to achieve this was with pole. I bought myself one off eBay, set it up in the shed and taught myself the basics (falling in love with the sport in the process).
Just saying you do ‘pole fitness’ is a bit like someone who plays football saying they do a ball-into-net sport: ‘okay but what kind?’. There is so many avenues in pole, you can walk into one studio and see people doing hard core exotic, theatrical, old school or pole sport all in the same place. Personally, I have always loved a bit of pole sport but recently have been trying out more ‘low flow’ elements. Knowing that my training options are endless, that whatever I want to practice is still a full body workout and anticipating the mental reward you feel after a good training session are all such incredible motivators for getting, and staying, active.
"whatever I want to practice is still a full body workout and anticipating the mental reward you feel after a good training session are all such incredible motivators for getting and staying active"
Juggling exercise with other commitments - can you provide a short summary of how you fit exercise into your routine and juggle it with other commitments?
I am very lucky in the sense that I can pole on campus - it makes coming onto campus more appealing but also means that I can have a quick workout before or after class if I have a spare hour.
As a third year it has been a struggle to balance my course, exercising and being president of the club. It becomes very easy to think of pole as something to treat myself with when all the other work is done - but I know that (pessimistically) uni work is never done and therefore I have to find time to allow myself to pole, even when I have other work to do. By dedicating specific hours throughout the week to go and enjoy pole it means the time I have is both regular and enjoyable - as I don’t feel guilty for it.
Impact of exercise - how does your chosen way of being active make you feel?
I think the only word for it really is proud.
There is so much stigma still surrounding pole that means that I feel just doing the sport makes me feel proud of myself for being so happy to exist without constant approval. When i joined pole there were a few elements which intimidated me as a result of the sexualised nature of the sport, but over the last few years I’ve had an incredible education in the experience of being sexual verses being sexualised thanks to the support of the pole community. Now I genuinely feel so proud for allowing myself to just enjoy something without the concern of how others are perceiving me
Finally, I am so proud everyday of the community we have at UCL pole fitness. I put myself forward for president simply because of how much I adore the people within the sport itself. The community we have created is so supportive and tight knit, every show we have I find myself welling up at the sound of the unwavering support everyone has for one another. Joining pole can be quite intimidating, but the reception the pole community has for every beginner makes it (a lot) less scary and because of that I will forever be proud of our UCL pole family.
"I am so proud everyday of the community we have at UCL pole fitness ... the community we have created is so supportive and tight knit"
Impact of coronavirus - the coronavirus pandemic had a big impact on the ways in which we were able to exercise. Can you provide us with a short summary of how or if you managed to stay active or how your exercise routine was disrupted during this period?
As I mentioned earlier, Covid was actually the reason why I took up pole in the first place: it was something I thought I would be able to enjoy training alone and I could potentially teach myself. The other key reason, though, was my perception of the online community of pole.
As I could only teach myself pole I turned to YouTube and Instagram tutorials to get to know what I was even doing. In my search I became acquainted with the (now online) pole communities from around the world. There was so much support, love and respect for one another that I began to feel more and more comfortable talking about pole with family/friends and wanting to learn more and more about pole on the basis that I would be recognised within this amazing community. The pandemic in a lot of ways is to thank for my current love for the sport.