Jennifer Lopez shares her pole dancing journey for Hustlers, confirms we’re not all athletes

Jennifer Lopez is currently rocking the pole dancing routine along with her Hustlers co-stars on the big screen, but even for a former Fly Girl like herself, she says it was not an easy skill to learn. J. Lo shared a behind-the-scenes video on her YouTube channel tracing her journey to master pole dancing in extremely high heels that began weeks before pre-production.

The crime drama—which just premiered at TIFF to critical acclaim—is based on the 2015 article in New York Magazine about a group of strippers who embezzled money from their rich Wall-Street-mogul clients. Lopez’s veteran stripper Ramona Vega takes co-workers Constance Wu, Lili Reinhart, Keke Palmer, Cardi B, Julia Stiles, Lizzo, and Madeline Brewer under her wing to help them through the scheme.

In playing den mother of sorts, Lopez had to perfect her pole-dancing skills—not only does Ramona perform, but she has to teach pole-dancing to her co-workers, as shown in the opening shot of her BTS video. The 50-year-old entertainer is clearly up to the challenge (with the help of her personal instructor). “This might be the hardest thing I’ve ever learned,” she admits, before acing all her moves, naturally.