Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Haley Phelps on February 2, 2012 at 7:37pm

Hey! If you like YouTube videos, check out http://hoop-trix.com/ there is slot of good ones on there you can try! Good luck and welcome to the Happy Hoop Love World!!! ;-)

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StudentPermalink Reply by Sei Tu on February 3, 2012 at 1:24am

Thanks for this awesome resource!

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StudentPermalink Reply by Shannon "HoopLove" on February 2, 2012 at 9:53pm

Work on waist hooping and then focus on offbody movements and transitions like: lift offs and downs, halo, hand hooping, figure 8s, passing, orbit/hover.  Make sure you are not getting in the old chicken wings habit!  Most of all, just have FUN in the hoop.

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StudentPermalink Reply by Cheez Hoops on February 2, 2012 at 11:45pm

Waist hooping is key.  And learn it in both currents. Then I would start trying lift offs.  There are good youtube videos for those tricks.  Also try to learn everything in both current, it really helps later! Good luck and hoop-trix.com is great and if you can afford it sign up for one of Safire's classes!  Have fun!! If you need anything just let me know!!!

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Permalink Reply by Fauna on February 3, 2012 at 9:01am

Isolations! When I first started hooping I neglected learning how to do a simple isolation and it was such a pain in the rear to learn later! As everyone else has said, lift offs are very basic as well. I would also say that knee hooping is essential (don't forget to practice bringing it back up to your waist). Something a little more advanced that you should start trying to get the hang of: chest hooping in both currents (this will help prepare you for reversals and breaks when you're ready for them).
Happy hooping!

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StudentPermalink Reply by Tilly Whirls on February 3, 2012 at 9:30am

I just posted a response to a similar question on Wednesday so I'll post it here too! 

I have a YouTube playlist of hooping tutorials that sort of go in order of skill (beginner to intermediate). A lot of the videos on it are ones that I used and that helped me. 
http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLAF45B4C9B61AB44E&feature...

Once you're waist hooping get REALLY comfortable there. Start working on walking around, turning in circles (in the same direction as your hoop), and dancing just while waist hooping. Be sure to work on going the opposite direction too (reverse current). Make sure you're really conscious of what your arms are doing, because I suffered from T-Rex arms for a LONG time. I didn't focus on it at first so it was a hard habit to change. (Proof of my T-Rex arms: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ia52iB9woL4.)

Also know that some moves take longer to learn than others and we all learn at a different pace. I've been hooping nearly a year and even though there were a few more advanced tricks I learned early on (because I was so excited about them!) there are other easier moves that took me way longer to learn (I'm just NOW really getting chest and back rolls). Everyone learns differently and if you decide a move doesn't really interest you all that much, shelf it and come back to it later.  

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Permalink Reply by Vikki perry on February 3, 2012 at 6:11pm

Ditto.  Some things come easier for one person than they do for another.   Patience and persistence  are  important parts of hooping.

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Permalink Reply by Cheshy Grinns on February 3, 2012 at 7:07pm

Thank you to everyone! Your advice is coming in very handy and I've got my first hooping bruises :3

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Permalink Reply by Megan James on February 3, 2012 at 8:14pm

my advice is to learn everything in both directions. i made that mistake early on of only learning/perfecting things in one direction and it wound up being a really limiting factor for my hooping. going back and re-learning everything in the opposite direction was a pain -.- just be patient with yourself but be persistent and don't give up, it can be really frustrating at some times but you'll get it eventually :)

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Permalink Reply by ash!ey on February 4, 2012 at 3:07pm

^ Vert good advice. I'm getting to be pretty advanced, and I'm beating myself up that I didn't take time to learn things in both directions. You become less patient when you start to perfect things in one direction to go back and learn it in the other direction. At least on my behalf.

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