Breaking the routine

Three trainers explain their sexy methods to help you get fit

 

By Brian Francis Smith

Philly EDGE Correspondent

 

           Summer is almost here. How’s your beach body?

           Shoddy?

           Well, fear not, Philly EDGE has found several non-traditional training methods that are a lot sexier than mindlessly thumping away on a treadmill

           Our fitness plan is sexy.

           Our three experts in the art of fitness include a hottie fitness instructor who whips bodies into shape, a former personal trainer for Delilah’s Den and a professional belly dancer who has all the right moves.

           Read on and you just might break a sweat.

           Sheri Jacquelyn, 41, teaches striptease aerobics classes at the Center Club in Newtown Township. The exercise program, which incorporates dance moves often used in stripping, has experienced a mainstream boom in recent months.

          “At first, newcomers might be a little hesitant” Jacquelyn laughs. “But that goes away quickly. You would not believe how many girls out there want to learn this, and the husbands that want them to learn this (workout).”

           Much like a standard workout routine, Jacquelyn’s striptease aerobics program emphasizes a gradual increase in difficulty levels over time.

         “After six weeks they learn the Naughty School Girlroutine and then the Biker Chickroutine and right now we’re working on the old-fashioned Pussycat Doll Burlesqueroutine,” she says.

             Since she started teaching the class, Jacquelyn’s clientele have included, gays, straights, housewives, girlfriends and a rare mother-daughter pair who Jacquelyn claims, “knew every trick out there!”

            Striptease aerobics are a full body workout which works core muscles (legs, abdomen and back) by incorporating elements of Pilates, yoga and, um… high heels.

        “[Students] wear the ‘stripper’ heels and we do a lot of deep squats and booty-thrusting, and your butt is just screaming in pain,” Jacquelyn says.

            If you want a good workout, but stiletto heels aren’t your thing, you may want Pondeli Hajioannou to train you. A professional trainer since 1984 and owner of Lift for Life gym in Bensalem, Hajioannou has worked with athletes, celebrities, body builders and exotic dancers.

            “I was the in-house trainer for Delilah’s Den and the old Dollhouse in Philly,” he explains.

          Hajioannou, who has a solid, stout build, is philosophical about his former job.             

         “When it comes to exotic dancers, they can be in just as good of shape as your average housewife. The difference is that the women at Delilah’s Den give the illusion that they have no limitations.”

            Hajioannou says his training sessions for strippers attempted to physically expand the grand illusion for his pole-dancing pupils.

 

           “You gotta make the calf look incredible. People don’t realize that the dancers are up on stage, so when you look at them, you literally look at them from the calf up. If the calf is good, then your eyes are gonna wanna travel farther up,” he says.

            And what’s the biggest difference between training say, a Philadelphia Eagle verses an exotic dancer?

            “With someone for the Eagles, their bodies are about how they function. With an exotic dancer, their bodies are about how they look. And when it comes to training people for what they look like, and not how they perform, you gotta make sure the (body) symmetry is there.”

            So the next time you’re at Delilah’s ogling a perfectly symmetrical body, or admiring a finely-crafted calf, you may be able to thank Pondeli Hajioannou.

            We conclude our noveau-fitness routine tour with a walk through the sometimes mysterious world of belly dancing. 

            Lurainya Koerber, 33, a belly dancer of eight years and instructor at studios in Doylestown, Furlong and Hatboro, attempts to explain common perceptions and misconceptions of the what she calls the “world’s oldest dance.”

            “Belly dancing started as a birthing ritual. A lot of the movements aid in the tensing of muscles needed in labor and helping the mother through the labor itself. So it started as women dancing for women, and that’s the big part of the story that the general public knows nothing about,” Koerber said. “It’s not about men!”

            Koerber cites many fitness benefits derived from belly dancing, including weight loss, muscle toning, improved posture and increased flexibility. But perhaps the greatest reward Koerber has garnered from the dance is self-esteem.

            “As a child I was very shy and repressed. And one day I finally got brave and realized that I didn’t want to live my life in chains anymore, so I signed up for belly dancing lessons,” Koeber said.

           “And after the first two minutes of the first class, I realized that this would be a part of me for the rest of my life.”

           

Striptease Aerobics

Center Club

2132 S Eagle Rd., Newtown Twp.

215.579.7600

 

Pondeli’s Lift for Life

Woodbine Plaza

2636 Bristol Pike, Bensalem.

215.245.0802

 

Lurainya Koerber

Belly dancing classes in Doylestown, Furlong and Hatboro