Fall River Park Pole Fitness Attracts Attention for All the Wrong Reasons

Many people take to parks to work out and play. For a few people at Fall River's Heritage State Park recently, that meant bringing along a pole for some exercise you don't see every day.

A video of the workout, in the park next to Battleship Cove, surfaced on Instagram. In the comments, people wondered who was up on the pole. Unfortunately, some bad-mouthed the woman for partaking in what's widely considered to be a legitimate form of exercise with a host of physical and mental benefits.

She was simply trying to get a workout in on a beautiful SouthCoast day.

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"Finally, something I can show to people when they ask why I avoid Fall River," one Instagram user wrote.

"This is the most Fall River thing to ever Fall River," another wrote, adding a cry-laugh emoji.

"Things are weird south of Boston," yet another person chimed in.

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It wasn't long before the poster of the video responded, noting the intent wasn't to make fun of anyone: "I was actually pretty impressed and the sunset was a nice little add-on."

The mystery woman on the pole is Lucie, a trained and certified instructor of pole fitness for the last eight years.

The mother of one said she discovered a love for pole fitness at age 42.

"It was a nice day," said Lucie, an instructor at RI Pole Space. "My friends and I always practice pole fitness at my home once a week. My friend Tammy owns a portable X-Pole so we decided to take our workout outdoors and get some nice sunset photos and videos at the same time.

Lucie said in her RI Pole Space bio that she enjoys the "confidence, strength and flexibility" the practice has given her.

Lucie said she didn't think anyone else would be filming the workout, never mind post it online.

Some on Instagram seemed supportive of Lucie's practice.

"That's a serious workout," one wrote.

No kidding.