Online Fitness Challenges

The pole and aerial community is exploding with online challenges these days that offer a fun way to stay motivated in your workouts.  I've been seeing so many of these challenges and have mentioned a few to my students.  I realize trying to keep up can be quite confusing so I decided to compile a list of some of the top challenges my pole and aerial friends are participating in.  If you have a favorite online challenge that is not on the list, please feel free to leave a comment with details below.

1. Finding Your Freestyle #fyfchallenge #findingyourfreestyle 
Category: Ongoing
Created by pole dancer Tracee Kafer and offered as a class at New York's Body & Pole Studio, Finding Your Freestyle followers stay connected with challenges via Facebook and YouTube by posting videos of themselves performing the current challenge with the pole.

2. @BeachYogaGirl
Category: Ongoing
Kerri Verna is a Yoga instructor in West Palm Beach.  Kerri has taken her teachings from local to national via the internet by offering online classes and Yoga themed online challenges.  Followers stay connected with the monthly challenges via Instagram. The monthly challenges have been posted in the form of a picture where each day of the month followers perform a pose of the day and share via social media by tagging the challenge's original creators.  Kerri includes videos with tips and instruction via her Instagram account to accompany each pose of the day. Check out July's challenge below:

3. BeSpun Flow Challenge #BeSpunFlow #VideoBattle
Category: Summer 2014
A recent installment to the online challenges, BeSpun Pole Workout Studio in Los Angeles, California, has recently launched a summer flow challenge.  Each week, BeSpun introduces a pole dance combo and follows up throughout the week with tips and tricks to smoothing out the combo and making it your own.  Challenge participants may also submit videos of themselves performing the combo and submit it for a video battle to win prizes.  Followers can stay connected and motivated for this challenge via the BeSpun Flow Challenge Facebook Group.

4. #MoreHandstandLove @shaktiactivewear @fitqueenirene
Category: Summer 2014
Another Instagram challenge courtesy of users @shaktiactivewear @fitqueenirene.
A trend I have noticed with all these Instagram challenges is the sponsorship of Yoga wear brands. Not only is this a genius idea to incorporate an internet motivational challenge, this is also a smart marketing move for companies that have a broader consumer base.  I've included this challenge mainly because it has been a popular challenge among my pole and aerial friends.

5. #Handstand365 @handstandsanonymous 
Category: Ongoing 2014
A handstand a day for an entire year!  Followers of this challenge can share their progress daily and draw inspiration for handstand poses via the Facebook group Handstands Anonymous™. Follow this group via Instagram and Twitter.  At the end of the challenge the images with the most likes will be selected for the 2015 Handstands Anonymous calendar. All proceeds will go to support addiction recovery.

6. StudioVeena Monthly Challenges
Category: Ongoing
A monthly theme for the pole, this challenge is part of the online pole community at StudioVeena.com.  Members share their videos via the online pole community site.  Membership is free and the community allows users to share their dance progress in one location where everything is all pole 24/7.  Video features allow users to share their own videos via Facebook and Twitter.

7. #aprilpolejunkies #polechallenge @yazminqc
Category: Monthly Ongoing
This challenge first came on my radar back in April with the instagram #aprilpolejunkies challenge.  A pole move a day for the entire month of April.  Since then, the instagram member has continued with monthly pole related challenges.  Even though it's now July and April is long gone, the April challenge would still be a great challenge for those wanting to have fun and stay motivated and explore their capabilities on the pole. Followers can stay up to date on the latest challenges and find tips and tricks to each move via @yazminqc on instagram.

8. Pole Dancing Bloggers Association Pole Photo-A-Week Challenge

Category: Monthly Ongoing

A fun challenge incorporating a weekly photo theme courtesy of the Pole Dancing Bloggers Association!  This challenge is open to all social media outlets.  Each month is accompanied by a blog post describing the challenge and how to participate.  Check out July's Blog Challenge here.

9. #100HappyDays
Category: Ongoing

This one is a challenge that is for everyone regardless of their pole and aerial commitments. Participants submit a picture every day via a specified social media platform.  The picture can be anything that made you happy for that day.  I'm pretty sure if I was to do this one, my dog would dominate my 100 Happy Days.  To get registered, visit www.100happydays.com. 

10. #boomkittenpole @boomloulou @lithiumkitten @polefly

Category: Ongoing

Three of the pole community members coming together to create a monthly challenge focusing on categorizing pole moves and working on the variations among that category. Follow @boomloulou on Instagram for the details on this challenge.