Bring back the Hula Hoop
How would you like to use 70 calories in 10 minutes by standing still and not moving your arms, hips, knees or feet doing a fun exercise? Then hula-hooping is the answer.
John Parnell talked and demonstrated his skill of hooping at our last meeting. He became interested when at the age of 53 he was made redundant, and not only learned how to hula hoop but to juggle as well.
Hoops have been with us for a long time. They were used in Egyptian times and there was a craze here in Britain in the 14th century. It was in the late 1950s that two friends in America formed a company called ‘Wham-O,’ and started making plastic ones.
Until then hoops had been made from plaited reeds, wood or thin branches.
Is your hoop the right size?
John gave us a demonstration of his impressive hula hooping and full guidance on how to hoop correctly. The main reason why people find it difficult is because they are using the wrong size hoop, the bigger the hoop the easier it is.
He appeared on ‘Britain’s Got Talent’and managed to reach the semi finals hooping with a hoop over 2 metres in diameter! The hoops we used had a diameter of 110 cm.
These hoops came in four parts which clipped together and were very strong, and yes, it was much easier. It is centripetal force which allows the hoop to circle your body. It brought back childhood memories to most of us.
John told us that if we had a go we would be very pleased with ourselves and all who tried could hoop almost immediately giving us a very good feeling. A fun evening with lots of laughter!
Monica Griffiths
