Hooping.org + IslandHoopfit = Love

Hold on to your hoop! You're reading a post from one of Hooping.org's new contributors! That's right---I'll be a regular contributor for everyone's favorite hoop site. Created by Philo Hagen, a Seattle boy who hoops it up in L.A. now, Hooping.org is THE site for hoopers and wanna-be hoopers to gather, exchange info, and feel connected to the greater hoop community. If you're looking for tips, uplifting stories, or insight into the circle that is world hooping, then roll your hips over to Hooping.org and share the love.

Island HoopFit's Happy Hoopmistress Hearts Inside Bainbridge

You gotta love the peeps at Inside Bainbridge---they give us such great, up-to-date info on our rock and beyond, and now they covered little ol' me! Power to the Hoopers! Check out their site---you'll be happy you did!And don't forget our free August classes--if it's not raining, then we're hooping!

What Have You Done For Me Lately?

Sure, it looks like a blast, but what can hooping do for me? Well, I'll tell you over the next few posts. That way, you can jump into hooping with a head full of knowledge and a heart full of joy.

I was talking with an adorable, spunky woman about hooping yesterday, and she expressed that she had terrible back pain, sat all day in her chair at work, and was fascinated by hooping. My goodness! There was a perfect hooping student, right in front of me. While I blabbered on about how fun it is, what a great workout it is...blah, blah, blah...it dawned on me that this blog would be a good place to help educate folks about the hooping life. So, stay tuned, I'll post as often as I can, and save you some time. Sure, you can type in hooping in Google and do your own research. Or...you can come to Island HoopFit. Let's face it--you're busy and Google can be a pretty kinky kettle of soup.

So for your first bowl of clean, pure hoop soup, please...read on.

Hooping is being used in both the U.S. and the U.K. for treating back pain and pelvic floor problems (read:incontinence). When you hoop, you're using your ENTIRE core, focusing on balance and stability. This works your abs, legs and glutes, and strengthens your pelvic floor muscles while simultaneously loosening your hips and spine. It essentially untangles a body that is spending the day sitting at a desk, on the ferry, in a car, and on the couch. The motion your body makes when properly hooping is a slow, steady realignment motion for your spine and pelvis, teaching your body how it is meant to move.

If you don't believe any of this, go ahead and Google it. You'll see.

Adding to that is the reality that when you're hooping, whether in a class or at home by yourself, you will have more fun exercising than you've ever had. In your life. You can burn about 100 calories in 10 minutes of a hooping class. That's 600 calories an hour. While you're playing! Think about it. In my Island HoopFit classes, we work on basic moves, incorporating arms and legs to give you a full body workout. While you play.

Now, I'll do the standard disclaimer--you should, of course, talk to your trusted health care provider before you begin hooping. That said, the ultimate trusted health care provider is you. Pick up a hoop and give it a whirl, trust yourself, listen to your body. You know what's best for you.