6 Reasons Why You Should Hula Hoop

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I have peaked a bit of curiosity in many this past week since I got out my weighted hula hoop and starting hula hooping for the first time in my life.

I admit, it is kind of curious why a 31-year-old mother of three would start hula hooping.  There are plenty of good reasons.  But, for the sake of time, I'll just give you six!

1)  It's great aerobic exercise.  It takes a whole lot of controlled motion and breathing to keep that hoop going!  If you hoop for at least 10 minutes, you will feel the difference.  For the average women, it can burn up to 165 calories in 30 minutes, and for the average man, a whopping 200 calories in just 30 minutes!

2)  It engages and strengthens more than just your core.  When basic hula hooping, you must engage several parts of your body--- your, knees, hips, chest, and shoulders---to move in rhythm with your waist.  Your waist, of course has to be moving back and forth and all those body parts I just listed have to move a bit less, but in rhythm with your waist.  That may sound hard explained in words.  Deanne from HoopLovers gives a great video instruction here.  This is the video that after not being able to hula hoop all my life, I was able to do it the first time after seeing her explanation of how to do it!

3)  It's fun and can improve your mood!  I will be buying hula hoops for my kids this weekend (or perhaps attempting to make them!) so they can participate with me.  It gets those endorphins going while I just let that hoop go around and around and around!  Turn on some music for just 10 minutes and do some hula hooping, and, honestly, you really can't stay in a bad mood!

4)  It's cheaper than a tummy tuck and a whole lot more fun (and effective) than crunches.  Seriously, though, folks.  After just one use, my core seemed firmer.  With each use, I can do more continuous rotations of the hoop---I'm up to 1,243---but whose counting?  Remember, before I started using this larger, wide, weighted hoop, I couldn't keep it going for more than 2 rotations.  I feel stronger in a very short amount of time, and it is awesome!

5)  It's low impact and activates joints.  People of all ages can hula hoop!  There are several in the 50+ crowd who reviewed the same hoop that I have and were very pleased and surprised they could do it!  I've noticed that high-impact exercise like jogging makes my previous abdominal injury from surgery hurt, but due to this exercise being low impact, the injury doesn't hurt a bit.  It also is great for those with joint conditions, like arthritis, as it improves joint flexibility.

6)  The hoop has withstood the test of time.  The Egyptians used it to test agility in their hoop games. Native American, Tony White Cloud, made the hoop dance popular in the1930s when he would perform at public events, and then he went on to tour the United States and Europe with Gene Autry.  It clearly became popular in the 50s and again in the 80s, for good reason!  (Hooping.org)

After these amazing benefits of hula hooping have been listed, I'm sure you want to get a hula hoop, right?*  I was able to get mine from a garage sale, but they are also available on Amazon.  If you read my post on how to build your home gym frugally, you would know I always check garage sales and Craigslist for deals before going to Amazon.  Craigslist may even have them in your area.  I just checked my area on Craigslist and there were several Acu-Hoops for sale from $15-30 dollars.  They run from about $32-$45 dollars on Amazon.

*Here is a bit of a disclaimer on the weighted Acu-Hoop:  After your first or second use of the weighted hoop, you may experience bruising around your hips or waist.  This is normal.  It's almost like building up a callus on your finger with working with tools or learning how to play the guitar.  That bruising will go away.  If you find you are bruised and it hurts to hula hoop, wait at least two days and try again.  You'll find that it won't hurt and you'll bruise less and less until you don't bruise anymore.  It may take a week or two for this process to work out.  It is well worth it, though, to keep trying.  Again, the bruising is normal and will go away.  You can read several reviews on the subject on Amazon.