Weighted hula hoops: Exercise gimmick or good idea?

I'd like to vary my exercise routine. Are weighted hula hoop workouts for real, or are they just an exercise gimmick?
- No name / No state given

Mayo Clinic physical medicine and rehabilitation specialist Edward Laskowski, M.D and colleagues answer select questions from readers.

Answer
It's not a gimmick. Weighted hula hoops, available at most sporting goods stores, are bigger and heavier than traditional hula hoops. You can use weighted hula hoops as one component of an overall fitness program or simply as a fun way to burn calories. In general, the bigger you are, the bigger the hoop should be. The weight of the hoop is up to you. Lighter hoops require more energy to keep them going. Heavier hoops are easier to keep going, which may lead to a longer workout. How do you get started? Hold the hoop against your back, slightly above your waist. Put one foot ahead of the other. Then push the hoop around your waist, and shift your weight back and forth from one foot to the other to keep the hoop moving.

By Mayo Clinic Staff
July 10, 2007
© 1998-2008 Mayo Foundation for Medical Education and Research (MFMER). All rights reserved. A single copy of these materials may be reprinted for noncommercial personal use only. "Mayo," "Mayo Clinic," "MayoClinic.com," "EmbodyHealth," "Reliable tools for healthier lives," "Enhance your life," and the triple-shield Mayo Clinic logo are trademarks of Mayo Foundation for Medical Education and Research.

http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/weighted-hula-hoops/AN01638

The Inexpensive Way to Get in Shape and Have Fun

By Charles Stuart Platkin

Benefits: "Great transverse [rotational] and frontal [side-to-side] plane movement, which are important for reducing injury. Develops static balance [a foundation for the more important dynamic balance], improves core/trunk conditioning and flexibility," says Fabio Comana, an exercise physiologist for the American Council on Exercise. Plus, it requires "considerable abdominal or 'core' muscle activity, and promotes balance," adds H. James Phillips, School of Graduate Medical Education, Seton Hall University. Good for pelvic flexibility.

What you need: A Kinesi-hoop

How you play: Get the right size hoop, says Ron Klint, the founder of Canyon Hoops. "Most hoops sold at the big box stores like Target or Kmart are kids' hoops. Unless you are very small or have the energy of a 6-year-old, you should avoid buying a kids' hoop. Adults need adult-size hoops that are larger in diameter and heavier. The measurement from the floor to the top of the hoop should be between 36 and 42 inches, or more for larger men and extremely overweight individuals. Anything from as little as 1 pound up to 5 pounds is common for adult hoops." You can get a lighter hoop to make your work a bit harder.

How to get started? First, give yourself plenty of room. "Step into the circle, and place the hoop firmly against your back with your hands on both sides. With your knees slightly bent, put one foot a bit in front of the other in a relaxed, comfortable position. Give the hoop a fast spin around your waist [the hoop should rotate over your bellybutton]. Using a rocking motion, mostly back and forth, catch the hoop and 'bump' it in the front of your body then the back. Do not try to turn with the hoop in a circular motion. Get in the rhythm," says Klint.

Having trouble keeping it going? "Try putting the opposite foot in front and rotating the hoop in the opposite direction. Most right-handed people rotate the hoop from right to left, and left-handed people clockwise, left to right. Try it both ways and you will immediately see which is best for you," says Klint. If you want to put more spice to your hoop workout, Klint recommends adding some music.

How many calories you burn (based on a 155-pound person): Basic hula hooping burns about 5.2 calories per minute, or 158 calories for a half-hour. If you get fancy, dancing and moving around, you could burn up to 7.6 calories per minute, or about 229 calories for a half-hour.

Hoops in the News

Minnesota News: Get Fit With The Hoop
KARE 11 in Minneapolis/St. Paul, Minnesota, let viewers know that hoops are not just for kids. Chris Freytag reports, "Hooping can burn around 100 calories in ten minutes. ten minutes in the morning, 10 minutes in the evening; not too hard! Hula hooping is also great for low impact exercise, you can do it at home and it's just plain fun. I have a client who had foot surgery and was worried about not being able to do any cardio exercise, she had a boot on her foot and could stand up but couldn't power walk, bike, etc. So I sent her home with a weighted hula hoop and she was able to get her heart rate up without using her foot. Now that's getting creative!" An event was held at the Mall of America.

Workout Hoopla in Iowa
The Telegraph Herald in Dubuque, Iowa, reports, "Cindi Haugen 'hooped' her way to a smaller waist.’In one month I lost 2 inches, in the second month I lost 2 inches and I have lost 5 inches since April,' Haugen said. Haugen used a weighted hula hoop to shed inches. The Dubuque woman thought so highly of the workout, she decided to create weighted hula hoops and she sells them to raise funds for her children's school, Resurrection Catholic Elementary School. ... 'I couldn't hula hoop when I first started -- I had never hula hooped before,' Haugen said.'"

Washington D.C. Hoops For Fitness
WUSA9 in Washington DC reports, "You need a little bit of rhythm at least to learn the basic stance, but once you get going participants say you don't even realize you're working out, because it's so much fun. A revolution is happening these days in the fitness world says participants like Jocelyn Gordon. Jocelyn is a movement therapist who teaches dance, yoga and movement, but these days she spends most her time teaching people the joy and benefits of the hula hoop exercise. ... From the kids at Camp Oje to the women working out in Arlington, Hoopers say, doing it for just twenty minutes and you will reap the benefits of building strength and muscle tone. Sheila Cordaro, owner and fitness instructor of Fit4Moms says don't mistake hula hooping just for fun. "It's an exercise that hits every part of your core. You get a full body workout," she explains

Take Care Of Your Waist!
Over at Women's Health Blog they're urging women to take care of their waists - by hooping of course. "During centuries-old existence a mankind thought up lots of ways to stay fit. Various diets, starvations, physical exercises… But hoop remains one of the most original and in many respects pleasant ways. ... We offer a list of advantages of hoop exercising: 1. Pleasant pastime. Hula-hoop makes struggle against superfluous pounds exclusively pleasant. 2. An irreplaceable assistant in training of muscles of hands, backs, feet and shoulders. Its use provides a set of various exercises on extension. 3. Effective organization of time. Hoop rotating for only 10 minutes a day in a waist zone will provide you a considerable effect in its reduction and strengthening. Each of us tried hoop in childhood. Now we matured and forgot about an old hoop. But, having left the childhood, we have not left our dreams: we dream, as before, of a beautiful harmonious body and smooth skin. There is a simple way to embody this dream in reality. It is a way from our childhood, it is a hula-hoop."

Hulaerobics Hits Scotland
Dozens of people have taken part in the first sessions of "hulaerobics" at the Cowdenbeath Leisure Centre in Fife, Scotland. Glen Rorrison, Fife's sport and leisure manager, told the BBC, "We have had to rush through an order for more hula hoops." Class instructor Debbie Leitch informed them, "Hulaerobics is a great body toning class in which you learn to hoop on your torso, arms and legs. It's ideal for losing those unsightly bulges around the waist and hips and it will also tighten your behind, improve your posture, elevate your heart rate and allow you to have a lot of fun while you are getting fit."

WHAT DOCTORS SAY ABOUT HOOP FITNESS:

“Hoops promote health and healing while stimulating the body and the mind. You can't help but smile! I recommend you give it a try."
-Dr. Rey Alcerro, Chiropractor

"You can use weighted hula hoops as one component of an overall fitness program or simply as a fun way to burn calories."
-Edward Laskowski, MD and colleagues from the Mayo Clinic

Health Benefits

1. Builds incredible abs while blasting fat from your belly
2. Speeds weight loss by jumpstarting your metabolism
3. Sculpts super sexy thighs, arms and gives you an awesome butt!
4. Energizes sexuality by stimulating libido
5. Relieves stress with fun fitness which makes you feel happy
6. Saturates your body with energy and a feeling of well-being

Hooping Videos Available Online

This thrilling DVD delivers a sweat-drenching workout! Includes warm up, basics and an express workout based on movement patterns and visualizations. Bi-directional drills, freestyle dance parties and combinations included. Imagery and the motivational power of positive thoughts to make your experience uplifting and emotionally healing. Costumed performance included!



Perfect for novice hoopers. Express workout blasts away fat. MTV feel: sections to sculpt abs, buns, back, arms and legs. Bonus costumed hoopdance performances and more! 80 min.



HoopGirl, will give you tips on how to keep it spinning around your waist, and how to gracefully pick it up if it falls.

Says one individual after trying HoopGirl: “Since I'm not much of a hula hooper, I spent the first 20 minutes trying to learn how to get this basic rhythm down, and I could feel my heart pumping, my abs, hips, and lower back working, and I was stripping off layers because I was working up a sweat. All that from the very first chapter of the video!”

Hooping for fitness

Hooping is back and it isn't just for kids anymore. The new hi - tech hoops are larger and weighted which allows the hoop to move and maneuver around an adult body with ease. This new movement art is known as 'hooping' or 'hoop dancing', and is a perfect warm up activity for all kinds of group fitness classes.

Hula hooping will warm up your core, abs, back and you can try spinning the hoop around your arms and legs for a full body warm up and pulse raiser.

You'll learn cardio moves and how to dance with your Hoop As a result, class participants gain both a cardio and strength workout. In fact, ten minutes of vigorous Hula Hooping can burn as many calories as running an eight-minute mile or high impact aerobic class. In addition, Hula Hooping promotes correct body alignment from the circular motions and proper posture in the upper body routines. Not to mention it's a lot of fun.

Selecting a Hula Hoop
Let us first look at how to select a suitable hula hoop to use in your workout. Size does matter, choose the correct sized hoop. Fitness hoops need to be slightly weighted to help them stay up around the body.

The size of your waist has to be taken into account. So the bigger you are, the bigger the hoop should be. The speed of rotation is inversely proportionate to the size of the hoop. Bigger hoops will rotate slower and smaller hoops faster.
Bigger hoops that rotate slower will make it easier for you to learn hooping initially. Faster rotating smaller hoops are great for doing tricks with and harder to master, but are excellent for a harder workout.

Try to strike a balance on the rotation speed and difficulty level of the hoop that you pick. Try them out in the store, get a feel of the rotation speed and how hard it is to use. You wouldn't want to get something that rotates slow and doesn't provide a good enough workout or something so fast that you ended up giving up hooping because it is too hard.


To get you started on your very first hoop workout, try this:

1. Stand with one foot in front of the other
2. Hold the hoop against your back, slightly above your waist
3. Push the hoop around your waist
4. Shift your weight back and forth on your feet

Try to find the momentum of the hoop's rotation in relation to your body movements. You might find yourself trying to move your hips in a circle to follow the hoop; it is easier if you shift your weight back and forth. As for which way to rotate the hoop, try out both ways, you will instinctively find out which way is more comfortable for you.

Things to remember

Start with power
Wind up your hoop fully to one side and give it a firm, fast push on an even plane, then immediately start moving. If you start off with a weak or wobbly push, you will not gain enough momentum to keep the hoop going.
Move in the right direction
Push hips back and forth and avoid circular gyration. Build core stability and strength by pushing your belly forward when the hoop lands on it and pulling away with your lower back when you feel it land there.

Be instinctive
Try not to think too much about your movements. It's more about sensation - be aware of where the hoop lands and move in response. Use your hands, arms, shoulders, legs and feet. Avoid looking down and holding limbs rigid. Instead, open your chest, extend and dance.

Save the hoop at all costs
Recover the falling hoop by pumping your hips faster to pop it back up. You can also squat and shimmy to lift it on to your waist. Try different movements to keep the hoop moving - your creativity can build even more dexterity.

Balance
Distribute the weight evenly on each part of each foot. Try not to rock, though; instead, press the ball and heel of each foot down firmly to activate your leg muscles, which will propel your hips.

Breathe
Remember to breathe deeply so that your muscles - including those in your face - will relax, and your shoulders will drop down. It's impossible to hula hoop well when your body is stiff and tense.

Stand tall
Keep your spine elongated and your head high. And don't slouch. The hoop will reflect your posture, so if it slopes to one side, you can right it by leaning in the opposite direction. Remember to look ahead.

Recruit friends
Hula hooping is a sociable activity. Get friends to come along to a class so that you have more encouragement to stick with the new exercise

Benefits
Lifts the spirits
A study in a psychiatry journal found that people with depression who regularly went to aerobics experienced significant improvements in their wellbeing compared with those on medication.

Improves posture
Hooping helps to improve body alignment and promotes good posture in the upper body.

Eats up calories
One minute of hooping burns as many calories as running an eight-minute mile or doing a high-impact aerobics class.

Helps to trim the waist
Hooping is one of the few activities that target your midriff. With circular trunk movements, it focuses on the abdominal muscles, hips and waistline.

Firms the thighs
A variety of leg exercises in hooping improves muscle tone. And a combination of low- and high-intensity resistance exercises gives optimum strength in the quadriceps and hamstrings.

Well, that is basically what you need to get started. Once you have mastered these simple steps there are many more advanced and fun techniques that you can try.

Do You Want To Be Bootylicious?

From FitSugar.com



Beyonce is famed for her award winning music, thriving acting career and one hot, curvy bod. Maybe you can sing or act like her, but could you hula hoop like her...

It has been reported that Beyonce disclosed that one way she keeps such a hot bod is by hooping. It turns out that hooping is a great way to diversify your workout.
The Hula Hoop is one of the few ways to primarily target your troublesome middle area. With circular trunk movements, it directly works abdominal muscles, hips and waistlines. As a result, you gain a cardio and a strength workout. Ten minutes of hooping can burn as many calories as running a mile. Hooping also promotes correct body alignment from the circular motions and proper posture in the upper body routines.

Interested? Buy a Kinesi-Hoop and check out Health.com's easy hula hoop workout: http://living.health.com/2008/02/25/hula-hoop-workout/