The truth about strippers' poles

There's a reason pole-dancing classes have become a popular form of exercise: spinning around a pole makes a damn tough workout.

And trying to look sexy on top of mastering the moves requires a whole other level of skill.

But while you may have marvelled at the agility of a scantily clad woman on a pole, there's something they're not telling us about how they swivel and twirl with such ease.

Taking to Reddit, someone has dropped a truth bomb, writing: "Finding out stripper poles spin in place (instead of strippers around the pole) is the grown-up's [version of] finding out Santa isn't real".

Commentors on the thread were genuinely baffled by the revelation. But one Reddit user had heard it all before, explaining: "The poles can be either spinning or not spinning. There's usually a locking screw in the base so you can adjust it either way."

Metro.co.uk asked dancer Kirsten Neil from East London Strippers Collective to verify the claims.

Neil explained that generally the poles can be set to "spinning or static".

But she said to successfully use a pole as it spins you need to know how to employ different techniques: "You need less momentum and if you pull your body in you will spin faster; if you lean your body out you will slow down."

"So you can control the speed at which you spin by varying the moves. Pole competitions have one static and one spinning pole on the stage so people can show off both techniques."

This article was first published on nzherald.co.nz and is republished here with permission.