Hula hooping fans include everyone from Lucy Mecklenburgh and Kelly Brook to Kelly Osbourne, Beyoncé and even Michelle Obama. Closer's Roxanne Ridge, who's a qualified HulatFit® instructor, gives the lowdown and explains how you can make this new fitness craze work for you from the comfort of your own home
Why hula?
Aside from it being a seriously fun way to work out, hula hooping can improve your coordination skills, strength in the abs, obliques, glutes and thighs – and if you're using a heavy weighted hoop, you can reshape and tone all the right places.
A recent study found that hooping can burn around 210 calories in 20 mins, but depending on how hard you work, you can burn anything from 7 calories a minute upwards! Try for 10 minutes a day – Kelly O says she does five mins in the morning, five in the evening – and you'll really start to notice a difference. If you do a fast-paced, high-intensity HulatFit® workout for 10-20 minutes a day, for about 4-6 weeks, you'll start to see the benefits and get a flat tum!
Where can you find a hoop?
The bigger the hoop, the easier it is to spin it around your body. You need to find a hoop that comes up to your belly button if the edge is placed on the floor. There are two types of hoops you can choose:
- Weighed hoops are best used for resistance and development of core muscle strength (and great if you want to do moves such as squatting with the hoop or bicep curls). HulatFit® recommends using the Pro Fitness Weighted Hula Hoop. Find in Argos for £14.99.
- Non-weighted hoops are great for beginners. Try a 25mm, 40inch diameter hoop for hooping round the waist and a 20mm 35-40inch hoop for hooping on the arms or other body parts (or fast hooping round the waist). To order a hoop, visit www.hulafit.com.
The 3 steps to hooping…
- Get the position right. Hold the hoop horizontal at waist height with both hands holding the hoop, either side of your torso. Keep the hoop pressed against your lower back and your feet hip-width apart, with one foot slightly in front of the other. Maintain a slight bend in the knees.
- Rock the hoop from side to side in your hands then, when you're ready, give the hoop solid spin in one direction (you'll quite easily work out what your natural direction is) around your waist.
- Engage your core and move your waist forwards and backwards. As your hoop passes your abdomen, "push" it against the hoop. If it starts to fall, bend at the knee and drop your hips below the hoop to scoop it back up to your waist, continuously using your stomach to keep it going.
**Mastered that? Try these four easy moves to get your middle super-toned… **
BEANPOLE
Bring your feet together and raise your arms above your head with your hands held together, while pulsing the hoop around your waist. Maintain for a minute, then bring it back to your waist for regular hooping, before repeating again three times.
The benefits? An intense core workout.
**
TIP TOES
Get the hoop going around your waist, keep your core tight, stand on to your tip toes and continue to hoop as you would if your feet were flat on the ground. Repeat five times, coming back to regular hooping inbetween.**
The benefits? Keep this up and you'll get abs of steel.
WIDE SQUATS
Stand with your feet parallel and shoulder-distance apart with your feet pointing diagonally out. Keep the hoop spinning around your waist and gently bend your knees, pushing your bum down and back (ensure your knees don't go over the toes and the back is straight). Repeat five times for 30 seconds a time, coming back to regular hooping in-between as a 'rest.' The benefits? This will work your quads, hamstrings and glutes.
THE MILEY TWERK!
Get the hooping spinning round your waist, then start leaning forward and pushing your bottom into the air, bouncing up and down on your feet. The hoop should be isolating around your waist at a diagonal slant. The challenge is to stop the hoop sloping off to the left or right – practice makes perfect and, in the meantime, you'll be giving your abs a great workout.
The benefits? Fab for the abs.
We're giving away 10 Pro Fitness Weighted Hula Hoops, worth £14.99 each. To enter, click here.
Ts & Cs apply.