Hooping for Exercise!

"Exercise" hoops (not to be confused with children's hoops) are becoming more and more popular these days ... and, at anywhere from $39 to $59 for a colorful hoop, it pays to experiment a little and make your own! I found a great website with video tutorials here on Squidoo.

The hoop is recommended to be from about 39 to 43 inches across. I made this one to fit my son, really ... measuring the tubing from the ground to just under his chest. It is 47 inches and probably a little too big for the rest of us, but I've been using it, anyway.

I used the 3/4" 160 psi plastic irrigation tubing. I bought mine at Lowe's for about $30 for about 100 feet of tubing. Just pick up a package of connectors (my package of 10 cost about $2.97 or so) and a roll of black duct tape. This will make roughly 10 hoops!!! I followed the directions on Squidoo and it took less than 10 minutes from start to finish to make the hoop! Not fancy or pretty at this point, but definitely hoop-able!

I ordered holographic tape, vinyl tape and gaffer tape from Identi-tape and, if you order $100 worth or more for taping hoops, be sure to type in: hula hula in the code box and you'll get a 15% discount!! As you can see, above, my wrapping skills need much improvement ... but for a first try, I thought it wasn't half bad! The instructions say to put down the foil or specialty tape first, as it needs to have its edges covered by the heavier tapes or it tends to peel up and get ruined. So, apply the tapes in this order: specialty (mirror, mylar, glittery, holographic, etc), then the vinyl tape and finally the great-gripping gaffer tape!
Colette is kindly holding this one for me. She thought the colors looked very mermaid-like. I have to agree!

Here is Colette, testing it out. Even though this hoop is WAY too big for petite Colette (who barely reaches 5 feet and 1/2 inch, she's hooping magnificently. Somehow, the bigger hoop really gets going without a hitch!

She was really enjoying it! The dvd "Hoopnotica: Hoopdance Basics" is an incredibly good one! I LOVE it! I never could get a child's hoop to stay up. It always fell. Hoopnotica has a whole "troubleshooting" section so you can fix what you're doing wrong! In only about three tries, after watching the troubleshooting part, I was able to get this hoop to stay up and keep spinning until I wanted to stop, not stopping because my hoop fell! I have to say, it gave me a big boost of confidence! I'm just now trying to master walking while hooping. I'm having a difficult time with this ... but hooping with my hand over my head (halo), is quite easy and feels really fun. Just watch out ... when I first did this, my hoop took off and landed across the yard! I can't explain what a freeing feeling it is to get out there and hoop. I felt quite gloomy the last few days as it was too rainy for me to get out there and get going. I can't wait to make hoops for everyone in my family! If you don't have the time or the energy to make your own, Hoopnotica sells a lot of very cool, already-made hoops.
It's so much fun. It's still light outside. I must go. My newly taped hoop is calling to me!