Jana Khalifa graduated from high school with the international baccalaureate diploma in 2014 and later went to AUC study psychology where she received her Bachelors degree in 2018. Amid some personal struggles that she was going through during her university years, Jana decided to try a new sport known as pole fitness, which was introduced by Mint in 2014. Of course, Jana was criticized by a lot of people, including her parents, for playing such a controversial sport as it has a sexual connotation attached to it due to the common idea of pole fitness being only for strippers.
Jana refused to succumb to these stereotypes, and continued attending pole fitness classes on a regular basis for four years as it relieved her from all the stress she was going through, boosted her self esteem and made her feel empowered during her studio hours as a result of everything she was accomplishing such as building so much muscle, strength and flexibility in the shortest time possible. Jana Got so obsessed that she even bought her own pole and placed it in her room in order to be able to train for extra hours during her free time. Another motive for Jana was the fact that the moves she started doing, many men couldn’t do with all their strength as it is again extremely challenging.
With pole fitness becoming more accepted in Egypt over the past four years, there are many branches of pole studios in Egypt as appose to the one studio Mint started with. The classes are always fully booked with over 60 people attending on a regular basis. The idea of pole has changed completely, as people started understanding the fact that it is an intensive sport that combines acrobatics, gymnastics and dance that is challenging in every way possible.
Jana is now a professional pole instructor and an Idol for many youngsters as well as adults, and this is all because she never gave up on what she loved doing and didn’t let the negativity of others get to her. There is nothing wrong with trying something new, even though pole fitness was not accepted at first just like everything that is new, nowadays it is a booming sport that empowers women of all color, shapes and forms to workout and feel good about themselves. Jana is positive that this industry will keep on rising over the next couple of years with the amount of positivity that it brings to everyone who attends.
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