Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Elaine McGarvey on March 24, 2010 at 11:22am

isolation's are a great arm workout in my opinion!

Permalink Reply by Siren of the Circle* on March 24, 2010 at 11:33am

Isolations are great! For those struggling with one handed, you could do two handed - but make sure to have them do it in both directions. Ooooh... and the weave!

Permalink Reply by Isa "GlitterGirl" Isaacs on March 24, 2010 at 12:02pm

you can have them do mirroring isolations -- two lines, one side leads, other follows, then switch. the arm workout and then connection. then you can have each line move one spot left and work with a new partner. then discuss what they learned working with each partner.

Permalink Reply by Isa "GlitterGirl" Isaacs on March 24, 2010 at 12:01pm

i have this fantasy of a hoop obstacle course - go here, touch the ground, turn around, walk through a figure 8 of pylons or whatever, then jump over something while hooping, and so on. make it a race. that kind of thing. you can do it teams and do like a hoop relay also. . . just a thought. HTH

Permalink Reply by Amanda of Hip Flick Hoops* on March 25, 2010 at 5:41pm

hoop obstcale course sounds awesome!

Permalink Reply by Lulu Hoop* of Spiraling Within* on March 24, 2010 at 5:49pm

I'm a big fan of the revolving door pass off. Get them in a circle, start with one hoop. Do a revolving door and pass of to the person next you you who continues the movement. It should flow seamlessly thru the person and on to the next (without stopping or changing direction of the hoops current). Then start adding other hoops staggered out so that people have to move quicker. They will raise there heart rate and get a good full body workout (esp legs and arms) at the same time as having fun and using their brains! :-)

Another one is using the jump thru (or jump hoop... like a rope). Get everyone in a tight circle with their hoops held out in the middle and stacked one on top of the other. The bottom person pulls their hoop down and back, jumps thru and sets it on top of the pile and then the next person goes. They'll get a good arm workout from holding the hoop up and out in front of them for so long. :-)

You can also play with tosses, using partners. If you have an odd man (or women) out, then you can play monkey in the middle (person in the middle tries to intercept the toss).

You could make a hoop chain (holding hoops above head) and have them run around and in between each other.

You could play the Hokie Pokie (while waist hooping).

Just play around with movement/games you know and mix them with the hoop. :-D

Permalink Reply by Natalie Zem on March 24, 2010 at 7:40pm

Thanks so far for the great ideas!!

Permalink Reply by Amanda of Hip Flick Hoops* on March 25, 2010 at 5:47pm

I find doing the halo above the head for a long period of time does work the arms pretty good. Isolations for sure!

Try doing some different foot work while waist hooping. For example: side stepping, heel touches, high kicks, knee ups, walking forwards and backwards. Also have them reversing the hoop into their non-dominant current.

Play with different songs for games too, like the YMCA and Macarena :)

I have also played a game that someone mentioned on this site before where everone piles their hoops in the middle and one at a time they try hooping with all the hoops!

Or break them up into partners and have them practice twin hooping, maybe one on the waist and one up in halo above the head.

This is a great topic for me too, Im getting certified to teach group fitness and need to start planning my trial classes!

Permalink Reply by Joan Warburton on April 12, 2010 at 8:41pm

I teach a hoop fitness class and we begin with an aggressive warmup (more of a fitness warmup than hooping warmup), then the class is broken down into sections. I can list what I do and you take the info and mix and match, add/subtract, whatever works for you. Keep in mind I'm teaching adults that already belong to a fitness club and they're used to fitness type exercises. The hoop is used as a tool as much as it is for spinning.

1- We start with an aggressive, fitness type warm up. I can break that down more also if you want. 5-7 minutes

2- Waist hooping, reverse, stalls, hips to waist and waist to hips. 3-5 min.

3- Hoop off, holding hoop doing various things with arms we do 3 variations of corner lunges, 3 squats and one revolving door, 2 fast squats and one revolving door, side lunges while holding hoop and pressing straight out to side from the shoulder, then the sequence gets repeated. 5-7 minutes

4- Hoop on: waist hooping, moving legs: forward, back, side and in, walking forward and back, side to side, grapevines, start adding arms and everything is done on the reverse side. If there's time we do turns, sometimes jacks while hooping, sometimes jogging while hooping. 5-7 min.

5- Hoop off: hand hooping, lasso, passing, helicopter (all while doing hamstring curls, knees, kicks, etc,), hold hoop vertical and duck through- jog around the hoop, place hoop on floor and jog one leg in, out (3xs) and plyo jump to other side, using the hoop as a jump rope etc. 5-7 min.

6- waist hooping with light weights (2-3 lbs) and performing arm toning moves: flyes, lifts, side laterals, bow and arrow, tricep french press, etc. They have the option of using hoop and weights, just hoop and move arms, just weights. All of this is intervaled with stalling the hoop and holding it in contact with your back and performing:
rear lunges, front lunges, plyo lunges, etc. It's an interval section between arms and legs. 8-10 minutes

7- hoop on for turns, liftoffs, corkscrew, and some simple combos are taught. 5 minutes

8- Freestyle hooping 5-12 minutes depending on the time left. We always add at least 5 minutes of abdominal floorwork because putting the back into neutral compliments all of the pelvic tilting they've done for 45-50 minutes.

I hope this helps. I was thinking of doing a short video on what we do but I wasn't sure how much interest there would be since most classes are more dance hooping.
This is long-winded. Sorry.

Permalink Reply by Joan Warburton on April 12, 2010 at 8:51pm

There's lots of things I can throw in here for variations like elbow hooping, vortex, chest hooping etc. I gear the hoop tricks to the class or demo something for the advanced people and go back and work with the basic hoopers. The advanced people will take a move and run with it. It's the basic people that need the extra attention.

Permalink Reply by Amanda of Hip Flick Hoops* on April 13, 2010 at 7:55am

I would totally LOVE to see a video!!! Your comment is so helpful, I am currently in the process of getting certicied to teach group fitness, and my class is going to be hooping focused. You lesson plan makes me feel like I'm somewhat on the right track with my lesson plan. More details on your warm up would be helpful too :)

What type of abdominal work do you do after the hooping? In my one studio we don't have mats to use so the floor might be too hard....

Although most of the videos are hoop dancing, I know alot of people on here are also interested in, or are teaching, hoop fitness classes. In the end I want my classes to be a little bit of both, teach students some tricks and moves and use those to create a work out.

Thanks so much for all the details on your class, and I would love to see a video :) Let me know if you post one.

Permalink Reply by Natalie Zem on April 13, 2010 at 9:17am

Wow Joan, I do my class a lot like you! I break mine up by song (i.e. Song 1: squats/lunges; Song 2: cardio hooping; Song 3: arms; etc...). I'm glad your post was "long winded" because I definitely got some ideas. Never thought about adding light-weight dumbbells for the arms, I love that idea. Most of my participants are "newbies" so I only introduce BASIC tricks during the second song, and then throw them in somewhere in the class, but I don't put too much emphasis on it. I mostly focus on getting good cardio workout because that's what they're there for.

I'd love to see a video too!

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