Does Pole Fitness cause Body recomposition: Fat to muscle study! YES!!!! PICS!
Maze Prince | JUL 18, 2026
Does Pole Fitness cause Body Recomposition:
Fat to muscle study!
2,715 words · 10 min read
Science Article Happiness! Pole WORKS Before/after pics - included!
The Medical study abstract of course, caught my eyes immediately. I had been in pole dance class about 6 months or so when I found it on G-Scholar.
I knew pole dance was changing my body, how I felt physically, but also, mental & emotional changes about being in the body I had wasted for most of my life. They kept saying it was hard but that: “all pole dancers get “abs”"abs"in about 3 months”, “this is a form of progressive weight lifting””” Trust the process”, “It’s going to take some time to get where you want to be, just don’t stop!”.
Every statement was so accurate, but only recently has it been even social acceptable to: admit to DOING pole fitness . I was alone, and I started looking for medical information. Was I imagining it? Was I just “acting out? Was I delusional?! I wasn’t. The body changes continue to happen in year 6 of poling. I give articles away all the time these days but not everyone enjoys the minutia of the statistics, so I’ll give you a bit of a summary, how it applied to me and how it gave me hope and still does.
2021 Historically: Pole Sport/Dance study Summary
Pole sport, at that time, had been admitted to the Olympic Games observation status and science was behind the times. Many sports science institutions, all over the world, ramped up research on the sport to include: how to coach it, the muscles used for it, the athletes' health & nutrition needs, how to even Set the criteria for judges to score with numbers. They had some help but nothing “valid”.
Some time in 2020 a couple of high level Universities in Europe did a study on pole dancers and how their bodies differed from “controls” (those who didn’t do pol dance/sport). Not just that different in women but, also at exactly what part of pole dancing seemed to change body composition. Specifically fat free mass and the new fangled impedance ratio machine (paraphrased of course, lots of other science stuff they did check)
Pole sport, at that time, had been admitted to the Olympic Games observation status and science was behind the times. Many sports science institutions, all over the world, ramped up research on the sport to include: how to coach it, the muscles used for it , the athletes' health & nutrition needs, how to even Set the criteria for judges to score with numbers. They had some help but nothing “valid”.
Pole sport is practiced in Italy apparently more openly than the US and the International Championships have been there logging information for Olympic type federation data since 2016. Several polers I follow from there & Spain . One is actually 82 this year and expects to compete NEXT year. That is a good reference on the popularity of pole fitness outside the US.
So these scientists in this article looked at
What is a pole dancers body composition like beginning, intermediate to advanced: (Muscle, fat, bone & water),
What contributes to the increase in strength and stability in the pole athlete’s different levels versus a control group just starting :specifically muscle mass?
Can it be compared to rhythmic gymnastics training of another sport for a way to gather data for coaching, to decrease injury and scoring?
Was there a difference in the body fat mass and the BMI numbers of the two groups of women compared to muscle mass?: One group athletes professional/One group athlete amateurs. Wow, good questions. And my favorite part…
They compared studies done on sedentary women who take any choreographed dance class that showed decreasing fat mass and increasing muscle mass…. What’s the correlation here? (Ie: Is pole comparable? Better at something we don’t know? Etc.…
Who was studied
They took 40 pole dancers and 59 regular women” from 2 separate “pole gyms” which we in the US call - Pole studios. And public women folk.
Here is the scoop on how they classified the groups
Label Hours per week training Total time in Months In Pole Classes
Amateurs 2-4 hours per WEEK 18-36 months
Professionals (trainers) 6 hours per WEEK > 5 years
Sedentary 1 hour 2 x's per WEEK non pole 0 - no experience in pole
What did they compare, and how was it set up?
PRACTICING Pole dancers (professional & amateur) underwent physiological measurements for the study in 4 sessions (classes) and recorded them.
Sedentary did pole training in 6 sessions and were recorded.
They checked “metrics” by hand and a diagnostic machine.
The contrast (experiment comparison) in the groups was
1) fixed training( a set routine) with level intensity of the training being the variable.... To see what happened to the muscle/fat & health outcome scores information in the women. Geeky? Yep.. so try this…
In other words: they noticed the lifting and heart rate zone intensity of each group and session for all the ladies, based on the type of instruction: Sport tricks, and Choreography comparing the “level of difficulty for each”. Example: How long they were in HR zones, how long ON the pole (1 trick?, 2 tricks, > 3 trick combo?)
Why: to see what each type of class DID to the different participants BODY composition (the 4 factors).
What did they measure? Lots!!!!! and the article is NOT behind a paywall so you can see all the comparisons over TIME that changed per group!
They did Body composition measurements for body fat using equations as well as the machine impedance scan for 1)MUSCLE MASS, 2)Fat percentage 3) Bone and 4)water %’s.
They did the measurements at least 24 hours after each training session.
The raw data is fascinating, and I appreciated they kept height and weights pretty close together as well as the stating the ages Which were a nice sample of ages 20-47). So you can see it wasn’t just 18 year old super elite athletes they were testing to compete in the Olympics! Yeah! for the 97% of us who aren’t that! We need information about US!
So what was the Outcome?
The professional polers were only a year older than the sedentary group mean. So the results were pretty clear that being older wasn’t a biggy.
The “TIME in the sport” factor (professionals/Trainers) did show LESS Aerobic work because they were already fully conditioned to it, and it showed with time on the pole intensity ratings
Body mass and BMI did not matter, the pole dancers 2 groups exhibited lower body fat percentage and the arm muscle area was larger start & finish. The whole body muscle mass correlated exactly with the arm muscle mass (they weren’t lying that pole dance builds muscle everywhere all at once. The classes worked on body re-composition, pretty much the same across the board, no matter WHAT LEVEL they started at! Wow!
While there are other fascinating geeky statistics, I’ll keep it pretty simple here. Since there hadn’t been any other studies on pole dance athletes, there is nothing to compare it all too to check for validity. The equations they used in comparing athletes in other sports and pole are considered valid for “young athletes” so folks older than around 35 can only hope. This one went up to Menopause.
Personal Experience: I am 64 and this study was spot on. If your 50...just do it anyway, it's way more fun than lifting boring weights while being ogled by weirdos, string beans and mean girls.
The comparison with gymnast’s and professional dancers did show a correlation, with body fat decrease, so we are not wrong when we talk about pole being vertical gymnastics or vertical dancing now are we?
But they called for more research since GRAVITY changes force applied to muscle! Something else was happening with the % of mass forming…Hmmm, yes, yes gravity DOES do things to muscle - ask any poler!
And finally: “Overall, our results suggest a significant, but small effect of pole dance training on body composition, with a moderate to high effect size for BF% (d = 0.74 and p = 0.001).”
SIDE-NOTE: No Pole studio ever will talk to you about fat loss. They have known for YEARS it is irrelevant and muscle focus works. I’m so proud to be a part of that tribe!!
Problem ONE with this study:
Ladies, that just said it decreases body fat BECAUSE there was a recomposition (change from fat to muscle)- the WORLD is fat focused (so was this institution) but you have to understand how healthcare WORKS.
My #2 problem with the study: One pole trick can work over 175 different muscles. Composition studies always take muscle MASS seriously only in the arms & legs. This study did say Core but did NOT specify muscle groups. Like was that the psoas?, the spinal erecters? what?! No shoulder, adductors, abdominal or back obliques were even looked at but lumped into core to limbs. They did not ASK what muscle complexes were forming other than the “core”,arms and legs. This would be fascinating to record how many chopper inverts it TAKES to get those LATS poppong wouldn’t it!? But hey its’ only the beginning!
WHY I grumble
Personal experience: Multiple DEXA-S scans over 4 years show muscle mass added through my COR, chest and back with only a pound per limb. When results are taken in percents & read by a professional sports provider: Total mass gain is 12lbs, 8 of that is core & back side. My weight is the exact SAME. Fat mass decreased by 12 percent and the dangerous visceral belly fat has stayed at .05% since 18 months into pole. So yep, we still have a ways to go before Pole Science catches up!
The article warning:
Data studies state “cautions” when publishing to medical science journals to be clear about the conclusions they make: this one said "it was a relatively small study with no other past data to compare it " with for “definitive statements”. They just know it works across the board for women at any level of poling in their study. That is AWESOME! It is the repeated documentation that moves health information forward as VALID. It’s been a while but I checked since the publication and this article has been cited 27 times as the continued study of Pole sport for documentation is ongoing.(Thank you baby Jesus !)
Science is quantifying POLERS thru this Study:
Pole with choreography builds muscle for pole sport - you need both Pole sport (tricks) and dance (floor work) for the best outcome - good to know. The combined sessions group(those that did both) showed MORE body composition & health indicator changes.
Pole sport after 18 months DOES increase full body muscle mass specifically arm mass which is where women “muscle waste”( caused by hormone decrease and ignoring themselves for others) sooner than our legs (can’t carry laundry, groceries, pull ourselves up from the floor). This was ME! And yes we saw changes after 18 consistent months at 2-3 hours per week.
The longer we do pole sport of both kinds, the MORE muscle mass we have and the less body fat we have regardless of our BMI. In other words our WEIGHT was irrelevant to the changes.
So the BMI is as has been stated by medicine/insurance companies and a million other places??? Not even a THING. Science has known this fact for about 5 years (see Female medicine BMI studies on Google scholar) Data showed years ago it is irrelevant in the non-fertile population (age 35-36! males & females! Weight MUST be assessed based on the 4 body composition FACTORS.
All this could highly-possibley mean pole dancers have a unique ability for body RE- composition while weighing about the same while health factors correct!
What is relevant here for pole training commitment per WEEK
When I first saw this study “in error” ....thought I needed to train more.
I had on Romanian instructor at the time that said if you can’t “commit to 4 days a week then you won’t get better”. I quickly over-trained. She was an Awesome Professional athlete. I was not.
This study actually negates that way of thinking and I’m glad. I mean who has time to train like a professional Olympian 12 months out of the year !
Pole sport works very well using the 2-4 hours per week idea, according to this study, even for sedentary folks. They documented it. And I plan on posting others just like it!
It is a FULL body work out that is aerobic, anaerobic and HITT in nature and I am so very glad we are getting definite science confirmation of what all polers know!
It works!
So WHEN do I train and what kind of classes!? Answer-
At the studio, instructors always watch students and suggest a training to rest day for each individual. The 175 muscles they just worked for 1 move and the other 6 you tried are different based on the muscle you stressed. They will need rest. If someone tells you “Daily”, well okay then, but are you hearing them correctly? Ask? do WHAT daily? The same thing or something different?
1 hard pole sport session, 1 conditioning and one dance class with home conditioning cookies daily? Might be 1 persons training
1 easy pole trick day, I choreo class and 1 “to failure” pole trick day may be ideal for someone working 3-4 days per week.
1 hard Pole to failure and 5-6 floor-work home days might be perfect for someone spending days catching a 2 year old every day.
Another cool thing about Pole is "this isn't high school!" Pole community and it's members can be seen at several DIFFERENT studios, just doing a class here and there, because each place has a different way of training which mixes it up, makes it fun to learn a trick a different way for different body types! A Pole trick session here, a slinky dance session there and a conditioning pole or session somewhere else - marvelous!
What does Mage Flow Pole & Fitness Recommend for a Good Consistent Program
Mage Flow Pole Fitness Curriculum is based on the combined pole tricks and choreography and does teach using the Brand moto of: Grace Strength & Longevity
for best outcomes based on this study and the others Maze has found.
It works and it works fast with consistency!
Variety of training can be done in several ways so it is sustainable and not boring.
Another cool thing about Pole is "this isn't high school!" Pole community and it's members can be seen at several DIFFERENT studios just doing a class here and there because:
each place has a different way of training which mixes it up, makes it fun to learn a trick a different way for different body types! A Pole trick session here, a slinky dance session there and a conditioning pole or floor-work session somewhere else - marvelous!
Mage Flow Pole recommends starting with what your budget and time ALLOW. We give conditioning and movement “ homework” if those schedules are just not in someone's time and $$$ budget!
WE would LOVE to have you here everyday learning something, having fun, socializing and we won’t stop you! Especially if you are training for competition, a performance or a certification but…
We want smart training and safe happy students! We haven’t even gotten into “training cycles” yet and we will real soon! Sustaining a long term dance athlete at any level is a must! And even AMATEURS are athletes according to this study- SWEET!
Beginner amateur pole dance chair spin
2022
Age 60
2 years non consistent
116lbs
Muscle mass 72lbs
FM decreased to 35%
Edit Image
2024 - Pole sport/Pole dance
18 months consistent 2-3 per week
Training: 2 hard pole 2 conditioning days
Muscle mass 78lbs
FM 28%
Same weight
2026 3rd year consistent 5th year total
1 pole sport to failure, 1 floor work, 1 pole dance training schedule
Muscle mass 80lbs FM at 24% Same Weight all photos
Hope you enjoyed the article as much as we have!
Book a Class at Mage Flow Pole & Fitness or ANYWHERE!
Just get out there and DO IT!
2026
Maze Prince | JUL 18, 2026
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