Buying Your First Hula Hoop

Buying a hula hoop can be a daunting task. There is so much information out there, some of it good and some of it bad! How could you possibly know who to listen to? I remember looking at so many sites and wishing someone would just tell me what to do. Well I am going to simplify it for you! My standard advice is to get a 39inch diameter, 20mm thickness hoop. It’s what I started with and it’s what I still use in my classes. For most adults this size works. If you are really tall or curvy you can try a 41inch or really short you can go down to 36inch. To be honest though everyone is different (thus all the varying advice out there) and you won’t know what the perfect hoop is till you try it so take a stab at it.

In class I sell 39inch fitness hoops for £15. I don’t sell them online but you can get them from The Hoopermarket. They are fitness hoops with a slight sparkle in them and they are solid so impossible to break...just done leave them next to the heater, I learnt that the hard way.

Purely from an aesthetic point of view people love customising their hoops. The first hoop I got was from Live Love Hoop it was pink and blue with some white grip tape and I loved it!! I’ve still got it tucked behind my bed but I’ve absolutely trashed it. Jo has a great eye for design and her hoops are good quality. The Hoopermarket also does really beautiful glitter hoops in various colours.

There are lots of different travel hoops out there. In my experience they either break or they don’t feel solid spinning around your waist. I know when I was looking for my first hoop I didn’t want to have to carry around a big hoop, not just because it seemed cumbersome but do I really want everyone staring at me?! The thing is you just pop it over your shoulder so carrying one hoop really not that bad. The other thing is people smile at you when you’re carrying a hoop.  It’s actually quite a remarkable thing, something I still enjoy so you shouldn’t miss out on that. When you actually need (it will happen) to take your hoop on holiday get a travel hoop then.

Hand Hoops - when I started I didn’t buy any but I now recommend everyone does. They are cheap, super fun and they’ll stop you from bruising your hands. They are simply kids hoops ,you can get them from pound stores, they should be light at about 30inches just check that they aren’t filled with water or sand they should be hollow and light. If you can’t be bothered going to the pound store then you can get them from Valentine Sport . They do break easily so take care of them.

When you get more advances you may want to try a smaller hoop or polypro but we’ll leave that for another day.

If you are in Australia (I know lots of you are) then try Soul Hula in Perth or Hooplovers in Melbourne. I’ve tried their hoops and they are great! They are also both lovely people who can give you more advice if you need it.

Happy Hooping x

My Mum is a Hula Hooper

When I first started hooping I couldn’t shut up about it! Actually not much has changed but it was worse back then. I would talk your ear off, I knew I was doing it but I just couldn’t stop. So of course when I visited home (Perth Australia) I took hoops with me to show my family. My mum and my sister both loved it (everyone does).

When I went back to the UK I was learning to be a hoop teach. I used my Mum and sister as guinea pigs. I would pick a hoop move then create a tutorial for them, it was great practice for me but it was also really useful for them as there weren’t any classes in Perth or at least that is what they thought.

My Mum was looking for classes in Perth but couldn’t find any. She did however find a hooper who was willing to teach her in her backyard. This is the text I got afterwards!

She obviously loved it but my Mum is a social butterfly and she wanted to share the experience with other people so she kept looking for classes and eventually found Soul Hula.

Then I get an email saying ‘I can do aback roll!!! I’m running away to join the circus! Xx mummy xx’ I could completely relate to this... I had just quit my Accounting Job to work full time on Happy Healthy Hoops.

When she came to London for my 30^th last year, she kept telling the other students in my class ‘I go to classes in Perth and it’s my favourite hour of the week’.  I actually found this sweet but a bit embarrassing. A lot of my students tell me this but I thought my mum was doing the hard sell on my them and I cringed every time she said it.

A few weeks later I met my Mums hoop teacher Shannie and she told me that my mum had said her that her classes were the best park of her week! And it dawned on me that my Mums hooping had nothing to do with me. She is an addict!

Who have you shared your hoop with that surprised you?

New Years Resolutions

In March this year I sat on a flight from Perth to London and I wrote two headings: My ideas for what I want my life to be.

What do I need to do to achieve it?

I didn't read it again until yesterday when I was on a flight from Perth to London again. It made me so happy that I was able to look at what I had written and know that I had done everything in my power to achieve my goals.

If you are writing new years resolutions today I suggest you start with those two headings. Often people write long lists and achieve one or two of them. What people don’t realise is that will power is a finite recourse. So if you’re being super strict with your diet you’re more likely to buy those shoes. Luckily for us the emotion of love is an infinite resource so base your resolutions around self love.

So don’t write a list that starts with ‘cut out carbs, excercise 7 days a week, drink less’ just write ‘be healthy’ and you’ll treat your body like a temple. Or instead of ‘reduce stress at work, travel to new places, spend time with family’ just put ‘be happy’. And don't make so many that you forget what they were, make it 3 max! Throughout the year the specifics with change but if you make your new years resolution a concept rather than a specific goal you’ll achieve it more easily. Remember small every day changes can really add up.

My resolution last year was to ‘change my life’. To give it meaning I wanted to create something, to be proud of what I was doing with my life and inspire people. With Happy Healthy Hoops I have done this, I’m so proud to tell people I’m a professional hula hooper (even if I still want to giggle every time I say it) and every class I teach gives me so much motivation to go on and inspire more people to pick up the hoop!!

This year my resolution is to ‘bite off way more than I can chew, then chew away’. I read this in my star signs yesterday during my flight. I don’t normally read my horoscopes but this one just fit so perfectly, so for me this year is not just about dreaming big but doing it. Taking big monstrous steps towards my goals and being fearless!

What are your new year’s resolutions??