Start your new year with an alternative fitness routine

By LESLIE GRAY STREETER
Palm Beach Post Staff Writer

So this is New Year's Day. And what have you done, besides suck up every holiday cookie, piece of gingerbread, glass of seasonal nog and mini quiche in sight, as well as replace your usual workout with a series of parties, tree-trimmings and other low calorie-burning activities? (Gift opening is a sport, right?)

Add the extra holiday fluff you've added to your middle with whatever you may have been trying to get rid of before, and you're back at the resolution portion of the New Year's ritual.

And you're reading this story expecting the usual tips from some hard-line personal trainer or aerobics instructor. Surprise!

Since same old, same old doesn't work in the long term (it's a proven fact), we've rounded up a collection of experts with a different approach. Why not replace that treadmill with a ballet barre, or that elliptical machine with a boxing ring?

These tips are specific to each area of fitness expertise, but what they all require are commitment, time ... and the courage to start.

MICHELLE MARTON

Fitness method: Certified pole dance fitness instructor, Cheeky Fitness, Royal Palm Beach

Things pole dance fitness is good for: Balance ("I do this in 6-inch heels"), legs, core, and confidence — "I think most come here for fitness, and some come because it's the new craze, but some come to dance and look at themselves in the mirror. They really like that."

Be prepared: "You do your warmup barefoot, no matter how good you are on the shoes. The warmup for this is like a workout — pushups, stomach exercises. This it about being able to hold your own body weight."

It's about baby steps: "It's all gradual, like anything. Say I can't do a pushup. So I start with one. Day 2, I can do two pushups. And soon I can do 10. It's like with New Year's resolutions. People go to the gym for two weeks and then give up. It's all gradual."

Don't bite — or dance — off more than you can handle: "The new people all want to just jump on the pole the first day. But you have bones (in your pelvis) that you could hurt. There are things you want to learn, like being able to invert, that you can't learn unless you know the basics."

Photo: BILL INGRAM/The Post

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