The first three critical elements to hooping, which lead to many adults giving up on hooping before they truly give themselves a chance, are as follows…
It can be natural to believe the smaller the hoop, the easier it will be. They are lighter, and you could hoop with a small hoop as a kid, so it must be easy? Right?
Wrong!
Most ‘dance hoops’ are too light for a beginner.
Most ‘exercise hoops’ are too heavy.
What weight is ideal for a beginner??
Many believe that as the hoop is circular, they need to move their body in a circular motion.
Unless you have perfect rhythm, this is likely to make hooping more difficult than it needs to be.
For most adult beginners, hoops in the range of 40-52 inch diameter (100 – 130cm) make an ideal starting point.
For most adult beginners, the ideal weight is generally in the range of 800 to 1100 grams.
Many beginners try too hard with an exaggerated circular movement. All you need is a simple rocking motion that can be, side to side, or forward and back. For most people, the most natural is to place one foot slightly forward and use a slight diagonal rocking motion.
Practice this a little before you grab your hoop!
Stand up straight but relaxed
Hold the hoop against the small of your back
Then throw the hoop around your waist, level with the floor. If you are right handed, throw it with your right hand, left handed, throw it with your left. Add in the gentle rocking motion as mentioned above.
Unusually, you might find you prefer hooping in the opposite direction, so be willing to give this a try if you feel it might help.
With luck you should find yourself hooping, or so near, that you intuitively know what you need to do differently.
If you are still struggling, you are likely to be trying too hard!
Try the exercise below:
Stand up straight, and STAND STILL! (But relaxed!)
Position the hoop against the small of your back and throw it as if you are trying hoop, but allow the hoop to naturally fall to the ground after about 3 to 4 revolutions
Try the above a few times…
You should now be getting a feel of the hoop’s rhythm and may find yourself rocking to it, and already find yourself hooping!
If you do have total self control, and have found yourself standing absolutely still as per the guidance above, you now need to add back in the gentle rocking motion as mentioned under ‘motion’ above, in time with the hoops own natural rhythm.
If you follow the suggestions above, you should soon find yourself hooping, and sharing this new found skill with your friends!
If you would like further help and guidance, after COVID-19, we are aiming to host a number of free hooping get togethers, where we would love to see you. We have a few more tricks up our sleeve to help get you hooping. This includes our selection of larger hoops, and we may also be able to give feedback where things may be going wrong.
If you would like to be kept informed of these events and when we start to arrange them, we encourage you to follow us on social media:
