5 Reasons Hula Hooping Is the Best Damn Exercise Around
Looking for an aerobic, core exercise that’s universal, timeless and sexy? Get a hoop around your hips! Whether as a supplement to your yoga routine or just for fun and stress relief, hula hooping is a fun way for men and women of all ages to increase body awareness, build aerobic capacity, and even improve your mood. Read on, and you will surely be convinced to take up the hula hoop!
Works Core Muscles
Spinning a hula hoop works 30 core muscles, including glutes, thighs, abs and lower back muscles that support and stabilize your posture. The rhythmic, all-over workout is a low-impact way to balance muscle tone throughout your core.
Activates Joints
The regular push-pull motion it takes to keep the hoop up stretches muscles and introduces movement to your spine that helps bring nutrients to your intervertebral discs.
Builds Aerobic Capacity
As fun as it is, it takes a lot of oxygen and increased blood flow to keep your hoop in orbit around your waist. An hour of intense hooping (or hulaerobics) can burn as many calories as an hour-long run on the treadmill. The heavier the hoop, the easier it will be to keep it up.
Increases Body Awareness
Hooping focuses your mind on where your body is in space while working underappreciated core muscles that, once activated, are a nice reminder not to stagnate on the couch or at your desk. Add music to the mix, and it’s easy to understand how hooping can be an energizing form of stress relief.
Improves Your Mood
Hooping gets you animated. It’s hard to stay blasé while gyrating, and probably hard to frown once you get the hang of twirling. There’s a lot of anecdotal evidence that hooping, and exercise in general, is a great antidepressant and confidence booster.
You can do it anywhere and make it a creative expression with the variety of decorative cloth and tapes, LED hoops and a wide range of sizes and weights. Want to share the joy? Find a partner, join a group hoop, take a class, or find inspiration in Hoopnotca’s Daily Hooper video blog.
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