Aim: to investigate the physical and physiological demands of a pole dancer's performance studied during a simulated competition, lasting 3 min 30 sec.
Methods: one single woman pole dancer, (age: 22 years; height: 1.56m; body weight: 52kg; BMI: 21.4kg·m-2; estimated HRmax:192.6 bpm) participated in the study. Physical data pertaining to accelerations and rotational values were collected by the means of a tri-axial accelerometer device integrating three gyroscopes. A complete video footage was recorded using four video cameras, using different sampling rates. Blood Pressure, Heart Rates, Breathing Rates, Blood Lactate concentrations were recorded during the performance.
Results: Accelerations (positive and negative), along the vertical axis reached 2G and rotational movements around the pole, reached 400°/s. Blood Pressure values ranged from 120/75 before and to 145/58 mmHg at the end of performance, respectively. Heart Rates reached a peak value of 96% of the Maximal Estimated Heart Rate (HRmax) and a mean %HRmax of 92.85 ± 3.15% during the simulated competition. Breathing Rate reached a peak value of 37 bpm and a mean value during competition of 31.87±3.42 bpm. Blood Lactate concentration ranged from 10.2 to 10.7 mmol/L measured at 1 min and 5 min after the completion of the competition, respectively.
Conclusions: The results of this case study confirm that the Pole Dance is a performing art requiring heavy physiological and physical demands on the performers. Specific training routines should be designed in order to cope efficiently with this physical activity, taking into account the performance model we provided with this study.