Starblayde
5pointboy
- Joined
- Jan 26, 2002
- Posts
- 7,281
Stripping becomes a healthy workout
By Henry Naccari
As Diane Rodriguez, a 6-foot-2-inch statuesque blonde, walks through the gym doors at Tower Fitness, all eyes -- male and female -- are upon her. She struts past the front desk to the aerobics room in the back of the Mahopac, N.Y., gym and, dropping her gym bag on the floor, calls the 15 women gathered there to attention.
"Ladies," announces Rodriguez, "I hope you're ready for this class."
With Britney Spears' "I'm a Slave 4 U" blaring from the stereo system, Rodriguez, an exotic dancer at a local gentlemen's club, starts to move as if she's on the job. Wearing a tight black leotard, she dances and sways seductively, swiveling her hips and shaking her body to the amazed looks and muffled laughter of the women before her.
This is erotic aerobics, a new offering at Tower Fitness and a class increasingly making its way into aerobics schedules at gyms across the country. Here in this suburb of New York City, Rodriguez draws 15 to 20 women a week at $10 each to bump and grind, work up a sweat and have a good time in the process.
"I hate working out and lifting weights," says 42-year-old Michelle Simpson. "This class gives me a better aerobic workout and is a lot of fun."
The trend seems to have started with Laurie Conrad, a former professional stripper for 23 years who started teaching exotic dancing at aerobic studios in Philadelphia and New Jersey two years ago. Her "Unleash the Goddess Within" classes proved so successful, Conrad was inspired to take erotic dancing even a step further -- into women's living rooms.
A psychotherapist, Conrad recently produced a video that includes step-by-step instructions on how to connect with your body rhythm and shimmy your way through a striptease routine at home. The video has sold almost 1 million copies in the past year, said Conrad.
Her goal is to teach women how to use body movements to communicate their feelings while getting in touch with their sensual side.
"I want women to have positive images of themselves," says Conrad. "It's very liberating to dance provocatively for yourself and your mate and it provides a great workout that leaves you gasping for air."
Conrad has even taken her act overseas. A year ago, she introduced the concept in Britain and plans to tour other nations in the near future.
While neither the teachers nor the students shed their clothes for class, the classes do force students to overcome their inhibitions and address any bad impressions they might have of the stripping industry.
"I always thought strippers were sleazy chicks who stripped because they couldn't find real jobs," said 24-year-old Megan Smith, a patron of Gold's Gym in Carmel, N.Y., which offers an exotic dance class. "Then a friend took one of the classes, had a great time, called me, and now I come every week. I've enjoyed learning how to move my body suggestively."
Rodriguez first heard about other classes from friends in the adult entertainment business and thought it could be a good sideline business. In her class, which she started teaching a few weeks ago, women learn to walk seductively, roll their hips in different ways and writhe on the floor alluringly. The class is getting more and more popular, and Tower Fitness is considering adding more classes to the schedule.
"I can't believe how this has caught on," said Stefan Schwarz, Tower's owner. "There are housewives who have worked out for years in my gym that I never would have expected to take the class."
By Henry Naccari
As Diane Rodriguez, a 6-foot-2-inch statuesque blonde, walks through the gym doors at Tower Fitness, all eyes -- male and female -- are upon her. She struts past the front desk to the aerobics room in the back of the Mahopac, N.Y., gym and, dropping her gym bag on the floor, calls the 15 women gathered there to attention.
"Ladies," announces Rodriguez, "I hope you're ready for this class."
With Britney Spears' "I'm a Slave 4 U" blaring from the stereo system, Rodriguez, an exotic dancer at a local gentlemen's club, starts to move as if she's on the job. Wearing a tight black leotard, she dances and sways seductively, swiveling her hips and shaking her body to the amazed looks and muffled laughter of the women before her.
This is erotic aerobics, a new offering at Tower Fitness and a class increasingly making its way into aerobics schedules at gyms across the country. Here in this suburb of New York City, Rodriguez draws 15 to 20 women a week at $10 each to bump and grind, work up a sweat and have a good time in the process.
"I hate working out and lifting weights," says 42-year-old Michelle Simpson. "This class gives me a better aerobic workout and is a lot of fun."
The trend seems to have started with Laurie Conrad, a former professional stripper for 23 years who started teaching exotic dancing at aerobic studios in Philadelphia and New Jersey two years ago. Her "Unleash the Goddess Within" classes proved so successful, Conrad was inspired to take erotic dancing even a step further -- into women's living rooms.
A psychotherapist, Conrad recently produced a video that includes step-by-step instructions on how to connect with your body rhythm and shimmy your way through a striptease routine at home. The video has sold almost 1 million copies in the past year, said Conrad.
Her goal is to teach women how to use body movements to communicate their feelings while getting in touch with their sensual side.
"I want women to have positive images of themselves," says Conrad. "It's very liberating to dance provocatively for yourself and your mate and it provides a great workout that leaves you gasping for air."
Conrad has even taken her act overseas. A year ago, she introduced the concept in Britain and plans to tour other nations in the near future.
While neither the teachers nor the students shed their clothes for class, the classes do force students to overcome their inhibitions and address any bad impressions they might have of the stripping industry.
"I always thought strippers were sleazy chicks who stripped because they couldn't find real jobs," said 24-year-old Megan Smith, a patron of Gold's Gym in Carmel, N.Y., which offers an exotic dance class. "Then a friend took one of the classes, had a great time, called me, and now I come every week. I've enjoyed learning how to move my body suggestively."
Rodriguez first heard about other classes from friends in the adult entertainment business and thought it could be a good sideline business. In her class, which she started teaching a few weeks ago, women learn to walk seductively, roll their hips in different ways and writhe on the floor alluringly. The class is getting more and more popular, and Tower Fitness is considering adding more classes to the schedule.
"I can't believe how this has caught on," said Stefan Schwarz, Tower's owner. "There are housewives who have worked out for years in my gym that I never would have expected to take the class."
