The very fit Emma Sawyers says she knows what it’s like to hate exercise.

“I used to be very shy, very self conscious and I didn’t like competitive sport,” said Orange’s Spinnin' Pole studio owner.

“This changed my life, it brought me out of my shell.”

Seven years ago a friend encouraged Miss Sawyers to come along to a lesson, where she said she was surprised to find it wasn’t the “taboo, raunchy routine” she was expecting.

“Instead it was fun, fitness focused and challenging – I left feeling sore all over,” she said.

The revelation of enjoying working out hooked her in so hard that she opened the studio on Byng Street in 2003, which is now one of hundreds of similar businesses across the country whose class sizes are growing year on year.

Miss Sawyers said the trend has taken off around the world, with countries – including Australia – hosting miss nation competitions where the winners of state championships compete for the top title.

While the women who take part in these high energy routines are proof of the physical benefits of the sport, according to Miss Sawyers, many of the benefits are below the surface.

“From a mental health perspective, you might be in a crop top and you’re in short shorts because you need to be to stick to the pole but no one is thinking about anyone else’s body,” she said.

“Whether we’re a size 18 or a size 6 we’re all supporting one another with the same goals and when you look around the room you realise you’re the only one who cares what you look like.”

In addition to her pole pursuits, Miss Sawyers has just submitted her masters in the science discipline and works in agriculture research.

She said the women who enroll at her studio, who range in age from 20s to 50s, come from all sorts of backgrounds, from retail, the police force, to medical professions, which she said is shifting the image of what it is to sign up.

“People used to think ‘you’re going onstage to take your clothes of’, that’s changed though,” she said.