Page 79 - Demo

www.MOSTmag.com || FITNESS MAG A ZINE || 79ersonal trainer, fitness competitor, fitness seminar presenter, and business owner and entrepreneur, Sharon Polsky, is a dynamo. That%u2019s the only way to describe someone who blazed a trail in the fitness competition world with her acrobatic routines, first shocking and then wowing judges, and later developed the first Pole Fitness Teacher training program in the U.S. As a former athlete and dancer, Sharon knew she had a passion for all things fitness related from an early age, but she didn%u2019t just participate and follow the crowd, but rather she carved out a niche and made it profitable. The muscular, blonde beauty invited MOST Fitness to sit down with her and find out who inspires her, what her favorite work out is, and how she got into rental bikini costumes among all her other ventures.FMM: You were a former dancer-what type of dance did you do? Does dancing still have an active part in your life?SP: I grew up as an athlete and a dancer. As a child, ballet was my favorite, but most ballerinas aren%u2019t small with a lot of muscle; which I had even as a child. As a child I was also seriously involved in equestrian and swimming. I was just so much more talented at athletics than dance, so that is the path that I pursued. With that said I have always loved dance and have been able to pick up where I left off as an adult. Ballet and modern/lyrical dance are my favorites, but as an adult I can pursue anything as a hobby.FMM: How did you first know that you wanted to have a career in fitness?SP: Our generation was VERY different. When we were raised fitness was not considered a %u201clegitimate%u201d career. I was raised to be a doctor, By Darcy Tharpdentist, attorney, or to work in corporate America. I was a very successful sales rep right out of college. I made great money and was completely miserable. I wasn%u2019t passionate about what I did, and felt like I was running on a hamster wheel every single day. I actually opened my first fitness studio as a tax right off and a hobby. When the economy crashed I was downsized out of a corporate job and decided to do my fitness studio full time. I figured if I invested as much time into my studio as I did into my corporate job I should probably be able to make enough money to pay my bills. It was at that time that I realized that I should have been doing this my entire life. My new found freedom from corporate politics and my new career in a field that I was passionate about lit a flame in me that I had never felt before in my life. Fifteen years later I am just as passionate today as I was the day I started. I say at least once a week that I am so lucky that I have my dream job.FMM: What was the biggest challenge for you when you decided to start participating in fitness competitions? SP: My journey to the competition stage was very different. I was a professional acrobat traveling around the world and performing. I wanted to teach housewives how to flip and spin and make a household name out of what I did as an acrobat. A friend of mine thought that it would be a good idea to compete in fitness competitions to gain exposure for it. I was the first person to do a complete pole acrobatic routine as my fitness routine. It was not popular and the judges hated it. They felt like there was no place for STRIPPING in fitness. What is crazy is that my routines were 100% acrobatics and not like a stripper at all. In an effort to convince the judges that I was legitimate >>>