Hooplana's Trail: Short history of hooping

Hooplana's Trail: Short history of hooping: "Hi. My name is Svetlana Biscornet. Today I wanted to tell you about Hoopah Hooping, and why it might be the best way to exercize. I am ..."

Short history of hooping

Hi. My name is Svetlana Biscornet. Today I wanted to tell you about Hoopah Hooping, and why it might be the best way to exercize.
I am a hooping instructor, and wanter to tell you how hooping, togeter with healthy diet, helps me and my students to stay fit.

But first lets explain what exactly is hula hoop..

A hula hoop is a hoop that is twirled around the waist, limbs or neck. People have been playing with different versions of the Hula-Hoop since the days of ancient Egypt, over 3000 years ago, when children would fashion circles from dried grape vines and swing them around their waists, rolled them on the ground or tossed them to each other. Ancient Greeks used hoops as a form of exercise to lose weight. In the 1400’s hooping became popular in England until the British began to blame the practice on heart attacks and back disorders. Hula-Hoops have been made from every sort of material from wood to metal.

In 1958 Richard Knerr and Arthur Melin, the founders of Wham-O, released the first plastic hoop and trademarked it under the name “Hula-Hoop.” The name was inspired by the way that playing with the toy resembled the Hawaiian hula dance. The toy itself could not be patented because it was such an ancient concept. The Wham-O team got the idea to make the toy from Australian children who twirled wooden hoops around their waists in gym class. The first Hula-Hoops were made from a patented plastic called Marlex and sold for $1.98. Amazingly, twenty million hoops were sold in the very first 6 months of production which ignited the Hula-Hoop craze of the 50’s. In the first two years Wham-O sold over a 100 million.

Right now hooping is booming in San Francisco California Area. A lot of selebrities adopted hooping. Ms. Tomei, 45 years old Academy Award-winning actress, was instantly hooked: “You just can’t help but laugh and smile when you’re hooping,” she said. She also said that hooping helps her stay calm and ready during long waiting hours on the set. Among other selebs, there are Liv Tyler, Beyonce Knowles and the First Lady Michelle Obama. During a White House event, promoting healthful living, Michelle showed off her hooping skills. "We don't just want our kids to exersize because we tell them to. We want them to exersize because it's fun and they enjoy it"

Modern people are very busy, but they find time for athletic activities. I enjoy walking, riding my bike and yoga. Hooping was my favorite for years, and you are about to hear why. The first and main reason is - I see it as the most complete stretch and exersize. The rotating movement makes every muscle on your torso work. Even the ones you didn't know about). Plus you can rotate it on your limbs, and they also get tone. Rotation is good for the joints in your body and also makes you more flexible.

Second point is hooping takes "work" out of work out! It is fun, easy and non-competitive activity that suites everyone and enduses laughter. It doesn't make you feel like you are exersizing at all. The physics of rotation, sentrical forses seems to do wonders for one's mind, has calming effect and inproves coordination.

The third point I want to make is convinience. Hooping can be performed in your living room or back yard. No need for equipment. Hoops are easy to find or make yourself. Even if you only have 10 minutes to stretch, hooping will energize you.

So, if you are interested to learn more, there is wast information on the web. Sites like Hooping.org offer information on how to make hoops and hundreds of tutorials on how to start spinning.
To get involved locally, check out our new, but fast-growing group "Hooplandia" on facebook or contact Wells Recreation Department about hooping classes in Wells.

Sport for a nerd

Have you ever imagine the life of a shy and clumsy kid who also get called nerd, gig and book worm? Bad day at the gym where you were trying to avoid the ball for 45 minutes and then you finally dare to take a pass and hurt your finger? Obviously this would never happen to you! :) ...Do you sit on the bench while your girlfriends are rehearsing for the dance? Does somebody laugh when you dance?? Of coarse not! You stay cool and no one ever messes with you.

But just as a giving fact, hooping can help clumsy people get more coordinated and even graceful! The rotation brings music in the movements, makes them smooth. As the body syncs to the rhythm of the hoop, beautiful dance originates. Dance wakes up the body, life is flowing in. Everything is spinning and flying harmoniously. It is so inspiring, so effortless! Forget the world, competitiveness of it all and enjoy the movement, gravity, speed, pulling forces of the universe...

After a year of hooping, I know my body so much better, and my coordination certainly improved. I get my heart rate up on the daily bases, breath air and enjoy my new muscles, lean and strong. I take breaks from working on the computer. My video was a video of the day on hooping.org, and some people even find my movements graceful! Want to see for yourself? Try hooping - you will see ;)

When the hoop falls...

I have noticed that a beginner Hooper can become obsessed with hoop revelation count:) It might be fun for the record, but I advise you stay away from doing this often.
There are a few reasons why:

1. Let go! Don't try to think too much. Let your body do the work, and rest your mind. You may close your eyes. Put on some music you love.
When you just learn how to keep the hoop going around your waist, this activity may be really challenging for adults. Hooping will require muscle memory of this swinging and pushing in 4 directions motion. Rather than have your brain focus on revelations count, you should try to create perfectly straight posture - just like a rotation pole - and give all your focus to equal distribution of push in all 4 directions. Hoop should be parallel to the ground. Until the muscle memory of this move is developed, it will take a lot out of you!

When beginner Hooper performs waist hooping and the hoop falls, the common cause of this is the wrong posture, lost balance and insufficient push from one of the sides. Everybody will have a more challenging side to push from. I still notice the lack of back push with me. With some Hoopers it is lack or the belly push - the hoop is sagging on the front and eventually falls. Hoopers, who are heavy on the belly part face the challenge of their belly stroke being too powerful, which calls for a counterbalance from the back stroke. When the back stroke is insufficient, the hoop will ride up on the front, and eventually fall. All these conditions are natural exploration of our bodies in the search for balance. It is a first step to learn about your body strength and weakness and start working on the balance of each.

When the hoop starts to fall, take a notice of what happened. Where you standing straight, with your tail bone and belly tucked in or where you loosing your balance and hunching to the front? We learn when we drop the hoop.
Stop, pick up you hoop, bring it above your head, stand straight and breathe. Then, switch the direction.

2. Observe. When the hoop starts to fall, bring your arms to the back and catch it. Stop the movement, check on your posture, and push the hoop the other way.
If the hoop falls, you might be loosing energy and getting tired. Respect your body and stop to breathe. When the hoop is going counterclockwise, then your right side is giving more push than the left side and vise versa. That is why it is so important to switch directions for a balanced work out. One side is always more challenging, but don't be discouraged. Taking baby steps in pushing in the other directions, make your body more balanced and exploring the other side of your brain as well. Don't be surprised, if this activity unlocks new things within you. Crossing onto the other side can be an amazing journey.

3. Stop the hoop. Show control over that hoop! Catch it with your hands, stop the movement. Do not just go along with the hoop's inertia. Be the Master. Push again. Use your hands often. Count 3 revelations to one direction, stop, reverse, 3 times to the other direction, repeat. This is a good exercise for coordination, rhythm and timing.

Hooper, don't get competitive! Explore the possibilities, move along with caution and patience, LOVE THE PROCESS :D

Happy Hooping!