Fitness through fun! Hula Hoop Fitness
Last month I spoke about my career change at a Careershifters workshop. They decided to turn it into a video so they can use it as part of their regular trainings. As I said in the video it still makes me laugh every time I say 'I am a professional hula hooper!!'
Enjoy xX
Sometimes I get tired of hearing people say that they can’t hula hoop. I hear it ALL the time. It’s exhausting and frustrating but then I remember I get to prove them all wrong!!! Every last one of them! You just need the right hoop and teacher. Three People Who You Might Think Can’t Hula Hoop, That Can!!!
Stroke Patient Can Hoop – A friend of mine is a Neuro Physiotherapist, who does amazing work reprogramming the brain and teaching people to walk again, decided to use the hoop in a therapy session with a stroke patient. Her stroke patient can hoop.
People Who are Blind Can Hoop – I’ll let the video speak for its’ self on this one but this is really inspiring.
My Dad who has Parkinson’s Can Hoop – I took hula hoops to my Dad’s 60th Birthday. I was a little worried he wouldn’t be able to participate as he has had Parkinson Disease for 18 years and has spent periods of his life in a wheel chair. But when I started explaining how to push the hoop he gave me this look that said ‘Don't patronise me, I have this’. And my Dad hula hooped, in fact he was a bit of a show off.
So come on tell me you can’t hula hoop, I dare you!
Has anyone shocked you with their ability to hula hoop? Tell us about it!
When I saw this video on YouTube it made me smile right to the end so I decided to find out more about Yvonne. Here is our interview.
Tell me a little bit about yourself? My name is Yvonne, I’m 52 and I have 2 daughters Astin and Ashlyn. I’m in a long term relationship with Prince , I have 3 grand children Tatiyana 5 Christian 2 and Jayden 8 months I’m from New Jersey.
What inspired you to start Hooping? As a child I was the only daughter out of 3 brothers so I had to find games that I could play alone like jump rope, jacks and the hula hoop, and always loved it. It’s been years since I even seen a hula hoop, so one day last year I was looking at YouTube videos and came across a video of Ji Min Hwang that young lady was throwing that hoop all over her body and I was hooked all over again. I started looking at more and more videos trying to learn this thing called hoop dance which I had never heard of and then I seen mini hoops which I never knew there was such a things, so I ordered me a hoop and began practicing. And I fell in love all over again.
What is your favourite trick? The trick I’m working on now is hooping on my foot and on one leg can’t wait to get that down pack.
What has changed for you since you started hooping? I’ve been hooping for a year now and can’t imagine it not in my life. I use hooping to maintain the weight I have loss and to keep my in shape I hoop at least 4 times a week.
What would you like to do with your hooping in the future? There are no hoopers in my town and I had made it my mission to change that and I will be spreading the word that the hula hoop is back. All my grand children will be learning to hoop my granddaughter Tatiyana been hooping since she was 3 she is 5 now and loves it
If you would like to see more you can follow Yvonne on Twitter @katana229
My mum is about to fly all the way from Perth to London for my 30th birthday and I find out that there is an event in India, which needs hula hoopers, on my birthday weekend! I have always wanted to go to India and it’s with Marawa’s Majorettes so I know this is going to be the trip of a life time. I call my lovely, understanding mother and tell her the news. She says I should go; she can go visit her friend in Saffron Walden while I am away.
Then begins the mad rush helping Marawa The Amazing sorting out visas for all the girls, all 10 of us!! I cancel my party and move it forward to my local pub in Maida Vale. My mum arrives and we have to sort out how she is getting to Saffron Walden, which has worked out perfectly because it happens to be her friend’s 80th birthday that weekend, WIN!
Thursday night it’s my 30th Birthday and I have a lovely meal with my friends at The Elgin. It’s not the big party that I had planned but I have my favorite people there, balloons and the most amazing rainbow cake.
I pack that night and get up super early the next morning and fly to New Delhi. We get some time to sleep when we arrive and then it’s off to the event. I’m immediately in love with India, the craziness of it all, the contrast of beautiful rich colours against the absolute filth. Women dressed in hot pink saris doing hard labour, carrying bowls of stones on their heads. Every tuk-tuk is decorated so beautifully with bright paint and glitter tassels but all this is covered with an inch of dirt. The imperfections are what makes it so beautiful!
The event is on a whole other scale to what I have ever seen. The entire venue was built the week before and we have to be taken up to our stage in cherry pickers. There is no safety what so ever, someone stops by our change room, holding an object in her hand and says ‘These are flares, they are very dangerous and they seem to be everywhere. Do not touch them.’ The event is super fun and over before we know it.
Back to the hotel, I sleep for an hour and then up to go to the Taj Mahal! It’s a long drive and a hairy one too but I think all the years of being a passenger with my Dad and brother (both race cars) has made me more comfortable than most. We have a great driver and AMAZING COMPANY! The whole day was perfect but I’ll let the photos speak for themselves. We go home, sleep again for just an hour before we get up to go back to London. It was a whirlwind trip but one of the best experiences of my life and its only made me want to see more of India!!
After a recent hoop class I was in the change room with a student. Who asked me if hooping would give her good abs? I said yes but then she went on to tell me how terrible hers were and even lifted her top to show me......the tiniest tummy I have ever seen! Really it was toned and everything nothing wrong with those abs. Why do women always criticise their own bodies? We should be embarrassed that we would be so cruel to ourselves. If you talked to a friend like that you wouldn’t have many! So why do we do it to ourselves.
When I was a teenager I read an article in Cleo that said ‘if you don’t point out your flaws chances are men won’t notice them’. For some reason this one article stuck with me for life and I rarely speak badly of myself in front of men. I do remember slipping up one time and showing my cellulite to a long term boyfriend (clearly I was getting to comfortable). He took one look at me and said ‘don’t ever do that again’ and I never will. The thing is he didn’t know it was there till I told him!
I wish I had this same attitude when I am surrounded by women but for some reason I struggle. I talk about how I’d like thicker hair, browner skin.... I’ll even point out my spots to another woman.
Men and women still have such different attitudes to their bodies. I know men are now facing enormous pressure to look good but it’s still far more frequent to hear women beating themselves up.
I have to say that we are part of the problem! The other night watching TV some glam celebrity came on TV and said ‘I’ve always had a good body, I guess I just have good genes’. My friend said ‘does she have to be so arrogant’, the thing is it’s not feminine to be cocky. We don’t actually like to hear other women talk about how great their bodies are but they are great and we should talk about it!
I love my legs. I think they have just the right amount of shape. Also I’m a bit fascinated (yes I said fascinated) by my arms... I never had muscle there and ever since I started hooping they are so toned... I’ll show you them if you ask, yes the gun show! Get a ticket!
What is your favourite body part?
