If you’ve been reading the blog long enough, you’d know by now that I rarely stick to just one workout to avoid boredom and plateauing. I love to try new styles and cross train and when I heard that Vesna- one of Delhi’s best trainers and physiotherapists had opened a studio close to home – I was ecstatic. Known for Pilates, Bosu Ball training, Vesna is highly adept at dealing with postural alignment and sorting out gait and balance issues. She had written about introducing Pole Fitness (a huge hit in the west), Aerial Pilates and Barre (also extremely popular in London).

I walked into her studio one afternoon for a session on the pole. Picture this- Beyoncé, Ciara and 50 shades of Grey playing in the background, dim lighting and a pole and mirrors. Vesna cleared any misconceptions about her pole fitness class. Her focus was on core stability, learning how to walk and agility and balance and not so much the “fluff” like strutting, sitting and dancing to choreographed music. She told me that it is very difficult to spend an hour on the pole and it required a whole lot of strength, balance, flexibility and core strength. I agree with her whole heartedly and I still have sore muscles and bumps to prove it. We performed some gentle restorative stretches to open the body and prime it for the pole. Vesna made it look very graceful, effortless and easy but it wasn’t for me (at first). My hands would get clammy and the pole would get clammy, if you lost your balance you’d trip and hurt yourself and if you lost your balance or toe hold you would slip right off.

A Pole Fitness class usually begins with stretches to make you feel limber, followed by lifts and moves on the pole. It takes anyone several weeks or months to get comfortable with the pole and the spins and turns require a lot of patience and practice. It is a lot harder than it looks and it fuses the best of several workouts- body weight training, Pilates, TRX and Yoga all rolled into one. Expect to walk out of class with bumps, bruises and aching joints.

I was extremely inhibited with my body but as soon as Vesna dimmed the lights and taught me how to focus on the music and the pole without feeling uncomfortable- it started to feel a lot easier. We learnt how to walk around the pole, climb and hold onto it (balance and stability) and spin. I must admit to you here that this was harder than any workout I’ve ever attempted so far and I fell on my butt several times. I got back every time and Vesna didn’t stop until I had perfected the spin. The caveat- let your body go with the flow and don’t control every movement. Pole fitness is about embracing the body and making fluid movements unlike other workouts that have square, rigid movements. I was in a lot of pain the next day but decided to call my girlfriends to convince them to join the class with me.

Here is why I think you should give it a shot-

• It is a total body workout that works on balance, agility, stability and building core strength.
• It’s a lot harder than it looks and there are various degrees of difficulty. It takes weeks and months of practice to look effortless when you are spinning on the pole.
• It’s a great way to bond with your girlfriends and boost your body image and confidence while you are at it.
• You get more attention than you would in other group classes. Most group classes have a teacher student ratio of 1:20. Pole fitness, however, has a ratio of 1:2 or 1:4 so you can be sure that you will be moving more confidently after a few sessions.
• Despite what people say and the looks you might get, there’s nothing wrong with being comfortable with your own body. Vesna’s studio- Alta Celo allows you to practice this in a safe environment. With Vesna there to supervise and correct your posture- you are in very capable hands.

I’m heading back to her studio for a Barre session and another attempt on the Pole. Let me know if you want to join me?

What to bring-

If you are attempting Barre or Pilates- wear comfortable clothes. If you are coming for pole fitness- don’t apply any lotion or oil to your hands and body because it will make the pole slippery. Try and come barefoot to class and wear shorts so that your legs can grip the pole better.

Quick Notes-

Vesna Jacob

Alta Celo Studio

Inquiries- vesnajacob@gmail.com

202, Kailash Hills, East of Kailash

Near C Block Market

# 9818260645

Website- www.vesnawellness.com (Alta Celo website under construction)

Membership is Rs.10,000 which gives you the access to all group classes done by my trainers.

Personal sessions with my trainers -1hr session Rs.1,500

30min sessions Rs.750

Semiprivate sessions Rs.1,000 per person

My group sessions Rs.1,000

Pole Core sessions Rs.1,200

Personal session with Vesna Rs.3,000

Assessment, class and consultation with Vesna Rs.3,000 (initial one, follow up Rs.2,000)

About Vesna-

Vesna Peričević Jacob is an Author, Pilates & Wellness expert,Speaker, Clinical Hypnotherapist & Healer and CEO of Chhoo Mantr Wellness Angels Home Spa service providing skill sets and career opportunities to young women from the North Eastern part of India.

Over the past 20 years, she learnt and developed her knowledge of fitness techniques as well as of Pilates and began teaching 12 years ago. Vesna has richly used her time in India to understand fitness and health issues first hand and finding a correlation between most physical issues and postural alignment. This combining of techniques and postural awareness has evolved her into a unique and highly effective fitness expert. She took Pilates philosophy and Pilates Principles and created her own unique “Vesna’s Method” of teaching

Pilates, which is based on Postural Alignment Fundamentals and Functional Movement and now applies her philosophy to increase the efficacy of other exercising techniques in her training of fitness enthusiasts.

She is also the author of two highly successful books, “Work It Out Without a Workout” and “Fit to Fight” published by Random House India. She has just opened her new studio named Alta Celo (it means higher purpose in Esperanto) which is a unique blend of restorative and rehabilitative movement work with elements of fun and fitness while keeping a holistic, well rounded approach.