WEIRD Pole Science: Does practice help?

Okay - this one was just a bit weird, confusing and bizarre. From title to data to conclusion it was a constant "Wait...what?!"

In pole dance, there are NO mistakes and, if you feel awkward, it means there is something there to EXPLORE. This works reading science too... so lets get to it.....

New data sets on Pole Fitness just crossed my path, and it has been a fascinating—and slightly hilarious—couple of reads. One article was an absolute dud, but the other has been hiding out on Research-Gate since it dropped. Holy cow, what other secret science is hiding over there? That's up next!

Let’s dive into Article One, which attempted to look at absolute vs. relative strength in pole dancers.

Here is the official reference if you want to check it out:
Lanferdini, V. d. F., & Portela, B. S. (2026). Influence of practice time on absolute and relative strength in pole dance fitness practitioners. International Journal of Multidisciplinary and Current Educational Research, 8(3). https://www.ijmcer.com/volume-8-issue-3/

The Shocker Conclusion 🤯

The paper concluded that there was no statistical difference in strength across different training levels.

Excuse me, what?!

Who did this? How did they test? Were the participants ninety years old? There are at least 15 different styles and 5 levels of pole dance—what levels are we even talking about here?

This study was done by a university in Brazil connected to an international pole sports federation. Honestly, as empirical articles go, this one is just a bit odd. I even ran it through an AI protocol, and it agreed: super low statistical power with a statement of fact that simply does not compute. I read it 10 times to get unconfused!

Why Am I Even Ranting About This?

Because it matters! As women, we are smarter than ever. We are flooding universities, earning degrees, and refusing to just swallow whatever "science" is fed to us. We ask questions. We want to know what’s under the hood. So, let’s look at what this study actually gave us that we can actually use.

Before you completely cringe at the methodology, let’s remember how science works: you ask a simple question and check some data. That data is supposed to generate better questions to build a foundation.

How This Actually Helps Pole Fitness

Pole is still the new kid on the block in the scientific research world. Right now, it's pending possible Olympic sports inclusion (we are grinding through the gauntlet, right alongside Jiu-Jitsu!). Because it's so new, coaches are usually forced to rely on "borrowed" data—applying facts from sports like gymnastics to pole dancers. It's like comparing apples to oranges.

So, even though this study was quirky, the federation actually did something. They started a baseline. Millions of women swear by aerial work, but funding for actual research isn't exactly flowing in the way it does for women's soccer or tennis.

• Fun Fact: The first major physiological science on female soccer players wasn't done until 1993! It was catalyzed by the first FIFA Women’s World Cup in 1991. That was a mere 30 years ago. Pole has a long way to go, but the science is finally happening.

The Science Breakdown (In Actual Human Speak)

If you have a head for ridiculous academic jargon, the paper basically suffered from low statistical power. Translation: the sample size was way too small, the background noise was too loud, and it was a one-time snapshot instead of tracking the same women over time.

Here is the breakdown of why the data went a bit sideways:

• The "Three Classes" Mystery: The study looked at a tiny group of 23 women who had taken at least three classes. We don’t know when they took them, what kind of pole fitness it was, or if they had the same instructor.

• The Muscle-Mass BMI Mind-Blower: The researchers noted that advanced students had a higher BMI than the beginners. I could not stop laughing at this. Have they ever heard of muscle mass? Yes, muscle weighs more than fat. Shocker!

• The Missing Control Group: There was no baseline group of "Average Janes" who have never touched a pole. Instead, they pulled a completely separate systemic review of women over the age of 50 to use as a comparison. The data somehow made the polers look weaker than average nursing home residents. Yeah... I don't think so, Timmy.

• The Moving Goalposts: The title is about relative and absolute strength, and the raw data actually did show a positive correlation with practice time. Yet, the final conclusion just hand-waved it away as "no statistical difference" because their statistical analysis tool (an ANOVA test) doesn't work well on tiny groups.

The Silver Lining: What We Can Take Away

Even with its flaws, we can absolutely use a few golden nuggets from this project:

• Cool Equipment Insights: The researchers used specialized lumbar and lower limb traction equipment to measure core and back strength. It turns out this gear is widely available in university physiology departments, non-invasive, and amazing for tracking rehab progress..and POLERS STRENGTH!

• The "Armor" Core: Polers and aerialists build an incredible, constant inner core structure. As we use literal physics to fight gravity and transition between poses in the blink of an eye, that engagement builds serious muscle fibers and end-range flexibility. We can see hints of this "armor" right in their raw data tables from their equipment!

• Newbies Trend Older: One of the coolest takeaways? The data showed that beginners in pole fitness actually tended to be older! It SHOWS that pole is welcoming to women entering new phases of fitness later in life. The studies we read that are the best are capturing women age late 20's to 70's now, so here is one more to add to the pile!

• Practice matters, to ALL levels:

  Which is exactly why we need to fight for more open pole practice time in our exercise lives! MPF&F has practice slots BUILT IN to our memberships and, we give homework for off days if you want it! We KNOW practice matters!

It’s a bumpy start, but pole science is officially on the map. Keep training, keep building that muscle mass, and let's keep questioning the status quo!