Every successful person or business needs to be aware of their, past, present and future. Without reflection and analysing the past, it’s hard to improve the future. Knowing what went well, what didn’t and why, can guide you moving forward. Whether it’s learning from mistakes, accepting that failure is part of both business and life in general or celebrating our wins and successes, all are very important.
Looking back at 2025
Looking back at 2025, Polisthenics didn’t achieve what many businesses would label as ‘successful’. Not even by typical first-year standards. But Polisthenics is different.
Currently, Polisthenics only consists of one clinician (hello, I’m Anita:)). 2025 was not about profit or ‘being successful’. It was about building solid foundations so the business can expand and grow sustainably and support the pole community. The goal has always been to provide education, resources and physiotherapy-led services that help polers recover from injury, get stronger than ever, prevent injuries and better understand your training so you can train with intent, work towards goals safely and efficiently and make informed decisions rather than guessing or copying trends.
The reality behind Polisthenics
Although Polisthenics was technically established in 2018, 2025 was the first full year of operating. For years, perfectionism and imposter syndrome held things back. I convinced myself that until I had a physio degree, I had no right telling anyone how or what to train. Looking back, that mindset slowed everything down far more than it helped. I was already a qualified personal trainer and could have started much earlier, but at the time it didn’t feel enough (and a lot of times it still doesn’t…).
Running Polisthenics alongside a full time job as a physiotherapist in a busy MSK outpatients clinic, teaching pole at both a university and a studio, keeping up with CPD learning, training for myself, maintaining relationships (thanks Joe for sticking with me!), travelling, hiking and dealing with everyday life doesn’t leave much spare capacity. Even so, the mission stayed the same – improve access to evidence-based injury prevention, rehab and conditioning for pole dancers. And despite limited time and energy, a lot of work went on in the background, which I’m super proud of!
On the surface, the output might not look huge. But behind the scenes, countless hours were spent building systems, platforms and content that will support future growth. Not everything went to plan, but we’re learning from those mistakes and carry on getting our basics right. Guess, business isn’t much different from pole – you build foundations – strong invert, split grip, etc before you start progressing to Ayeshas and handsprings…
2025 in numbers
- 1 course
- 1.5 ebooks (yup, got distracted half-way through…)
- 3 personalised training programs
- 6 blog posts
- 8 conditioning classes
- 8 Instagram education series
- 9 clients/patients
- 12 appointments
- 284 Instagram posts
- Countless hours setting up websites, platforms and systems
The work behind the numbers
- Over 300 hours spent creating the warm up course
- Injury prevention ebook half written
- Conditioning classes started but not fully completed due to time and space constraints
- Different platforms and systems, newsletter and forum all set up
- Significant time spent fixing and adjusting things that’s gone wrong on the website
- Website fully redesigned
- Multiple blog posts planned or partially written
- Personalised training programs launched
- Business identity and strategy designed
Alongside that came the inevitable technical issues. Several microphone issues wasting hours of content, website incompatibilities requiring weeks of recoding, automated emails failing and needing manual fix, hosting changes and unreliability, limited space for content creation and training, too many projects ran in parallel and phone storage not enough.
Despite all of this, new clients and patients came on board and outcomes were positive. And the warm up course is finally finished.
Looking ahead to 2026
Most of the foundations are now in place. Next year’s focus is clearer and more intentional:
- Finally finish the injury prevention book
- Launch a handstand course
- Design a shoulder prehab program
- Set up a conditioning class platform
- Develop an app
- Build a community space
Alongside all of that, one of the biggest goals is internal – less overthinking, less worrying about what others think, less perfectionism (not gonna do any sloppy work though!!) and more action.
Thank you
None of this would exist without the people who showed up along the way. The patients and clients who trusted Polisthenics, the people who joined classes, read blogs, followed content, sent messages, asked questions or shared feedback. The pole students and wider pole community who continue to reinforce why this work matters.
And Joe behind the scenes who listened to endless tech frustrations, half-finished ideas and ‘one more thing I need to fix first’. Your support, patience and encouragement genuinely matters.
If you’ve followed along this year, thank you. If you’re new here, welcome. Polisthenics will continue to evolve slowly, deliberately and with the aim of supporting pole dancers through physiotherapy, strength and conditioning and education.
Read the blogs, join the conversations and share what would actually help your training or recovery. Polisthenics is being built with the community in mind and that community helps shape what comes next.
We offer virtual physiotherapy, strength coaching and personalised training programs tailored to pole dancers whether you’re injured, want to avoid getting injured or want to get stronger and achieve your pole goals.
💻 Book your appointment or message us here or on Instagram @polisthenics!
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Book a session, start training with our programs, read our guides or enrol to our courses today!
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