Yolanda Hughes and Fitness Exotica

Yolanda Hughes, Arnold Champion in 1997 and 1998

Yolanda Hughes, the 1997 and 1998 Ms. International women's bodybuilding champion, now runs a fitness studio in Bellingham, Washington.

December 24, 2008 

Not many gyms around town can boast a class selection that includes Cardio Striptease, Booty Camp, Sexy Flexy and Pole Dancing 101.

The classes are the brainchildren of Yolanda Hughes, who opened Fitness Exotica, a new fitness studio for women who want to tone up while stripping down.

Hughes said her driving force for opening the studio is her desire to empower women through what she calls “feminine strength,” or, recognizing the power of their bodies to make them healthier, happier and more alive.
 
The small studio is innocuously located next door to Alicia’s Bridal Shoppe on State Street — you could almost miss it. Once inside, however, the high-ceilinged, light and airy space feels larger than it looks from the outside. The studio has polished-wood floors, one wall of floor-to-ceiling mirrors and another with three gilded-frame mirrors. Six brass poles are evenly interspersed throughout the room.

In addition to working as a personal trainer for Gold’s Gym for the past 10 years, Hughes has trained and competed as an amateur body builder for the past 20. In 1992 she won the World Amateur Championship and also won the Ms. International titles consecutively in 1997 and 1998.

Four years ago, she took a pole-dancing class in Los Angeles and was immediately hooked. 

“It was fun,” she said of the experience. “I looked like a klutz...but it was fun.”

After she watched an episode of Oprah devoted to the new trend in pole dancing and strip tease fitness, she started thinking about opening a studio in Bellingham.

In Vancouver, Hughes trained with a pole-dancing fitness instructor — a Ms. World Pole Fit champion who won the best contortionist category — before opening the studio in August.

She said that in addition to providing an outlet for women to get in touch with their sensual side, the classes provide a rigorous work out — it’s not just dancing around a pole.

“You take the same moves and make them more physical,” she said. “I certainly have a whole new appreciation for pole dancing. It’s really an art.”

She said the pole-dancing aspect of the exercise is especially strength building because many of the moves require the person to hold their own weight up on the pole.

Hughes has never owned a business before and was frustrated that some of her attempts to market her new business were met with opposition. For example, she said the phone book hassled her when she wanted to place an ad because of her studio’s provocative name and that a local festival organizer refused to let her have a booth for the same reason.

“Coming into this I knew there would be obstacles, but when you’re on the front of something new, you’re going to face obstacles,” she said. “But that’s okay. I like a challenge.”

Source:  The Bellingham Business Journal