Duke It Out: Strip-ercising

By Lauren H

[It's pretty obvious that the average CollegeCandy reader has some very strong opinions. Opinions that she likes to share with everyone on the site.  We love a strong woman, so we thought we'd give her a real forum to discuss her thoughts, feelings, and perspectives. Every Friday I'll be featuring a hot topic (like supergirls!) and leaving it up to you, the readers, to duke it out. So, read it and get your debate on in the comments section below!]

A few years back, it seemed like everybody and their mother (literally) was getting their workout by “workin’ it” on a pole (even here at CollegeCandy!). But now, even though the trendiness has faded away, a lot of these pole-dancing and strip aerobics classes are still hanging around. So is it still OK to work up a sweat exotic-dancer style, or is it just skanky?

On the one hand, most of us work out because we want to look sexy (sure, health is good, but let’s be honest; you don’t suddenly decide to be “healthier” around bikini season), but during most workouts we tend to look and feel closer to “recently dragged by a truck” than “sexpot.” So it makes sense to try and make exercise feel sexy – it boosts self-confidence and makes you want to workout more. And learning to give an aerobic lap dance is probably more fun than the elliptical machine (why do you taunt me, elliptical machine!?). Plus, in my extensive scientific research (AKA: asking guys I know) I have discovered that stippercising is the #1 workout your boyfriend is likely to support – you’re shocked, I know.

But isn’t the guy side of it kind of a problem? Sure, we all want to look and feel good, but shouldn’t we want to do for ourselves? And seriously, you aren’t going to use those pole-dancing skills to entertain yourself, which means that you end up taking the class for at least the fringe benefit of being able to turn a guy on (well, more “on”). Do we really want to encourage the idea that even the things we do for ourselves are really about guys? And do we really want to explain those inevitable pictures of us showing off our mad lap-dance skills after too many tequila shots?

So what do you think? Is strippercising a sexy way to get in shape (and acquire some fun new skills along the way) or an over-sexed trend that needs to die?