The fitness industry is a very dynamic one, even though exercise is not a pleasant experience for the vast majority of the world’s population. With obesity and lifestyle-related diseases on the rise in Australia, fitness trainers and instructors need to keep up with work-out trends and keep innovating to ensure that exercise, fitness and great health is more fun and less of a chore.

Hula Hoops Made Cool

One of the latest exercises trends in Australia is hula hooping, which has been made all the more popular by the image makeover that Coola Hoops has given the traditional old Hula Hoop. Coola Hoops allow people to match their hoops to their body size with corresponding hoop sizes and weights. This is, apparently, which is critical for successful hooping. As an added benefit you can also customise your hoop’s colour combinations – because everyone likes a personal touch.

As an exercise, it’s legit

If you are a fitness trainer and you are struggling to take the idea of hooping seriously (perhaps you think it’s something just for kids), think again. The American Council on Exercise recently conducted a study into the effectiveness of hooping and found that a hooping class is equivalent to a step, aerobics or kickboxing class when it comes to heart rate and calories burnt. Hooping is officially a recognised form of exercise. Half an hour of hooping burns approximately 210 calories and strengthens and tones the back, arms, legs and abdomen.

Work out for the mind

Researchers have also found that beyond the great physical effects, the rhythmic motion of hooping calms the mind, and lowers stress levels in the same way that meditation can. This may seem odd at first glance but hooping does take a great deal of concentration. As anybody who has ever managed to swing a hoop around their waist for longer than 10 minutes will tell you, there is no time to think about that presentation for tomorrow’s meeting that is for sure. This allows for that silence in your mind that lets stress out and peace in.

Hooping in your class

As any good instructor knows, you need to keep the fitness regime in your classes interesting and original or the number of people in the class will begin to dwindle. Hooping is original, fun and requires a relatively small range of movement at first, so everyone on the class will be able to do it; some better than others, of course. Hooping can easily be brought into just about any class as part of the warm-up, the cool-down or even for a bit of mid-class fun.

This post was written by Natalie Simon, a Cape Town-based freelance who likes exercise, provided it doesn’t feel too much like work. Natalie writes on behalf of Now Learning, which aims at encouraging education in Australia by promoting online short courses and undergraduate degrees.

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• Fun Workouts | Fun Alternative Workout Routines to Make You Feel Like a Kid Again (massageenvy.com)
• Hula Hooping for Fitness (caraputzrath.wordpress.com)