‘
Hooping’
by Andrea Lambert
Now if we have to exercise we might as well make it fun! What science has been learning is that the human body must move. Since we have such sedentary lives as required per modern living, we have to put a little more effort in planning activities that meet this need.
Today I am going to share some health benefits of FUN exercise. Specifically, we are going to cover the hula hoop, AKA “Hooping”.
Core strength and muscles toning are just a few benefits of this fun and beneficial exercise for all ages!
1. Improves mood: Right away you will notice a big smile on your face as you practice keeping that hoop on your hips.
2. Improves coordination: If you have trouble with coordination, keep at it and see the improvements over time as you tone up and learn to use muscles you didn’t know you have. Also, try Suhaila’s Pilates Belly Dance where she explains in detail how to develop your hip muscles better along with specific exercises. Another FUN workout!!
3. Tones the body: The side benefits of this type of exercise is that while having fun it tones your body. Your core will be activated and, if you remember from my classes, the core includes all the muscles from knees to nipples. These are the muscles that will help you sit up straight, stand tall, and be able to lift things off the ground without throwing your back out.
4. Burns fat: While you are toning your body and having fun, you will be burning fat. Muscles require fat for fuel and for hours after you have stopped hooping you will continue to burn fat.
5. Improves spinal flexibility: The actions you make with your hips will help increase the flexibility of your spinal muscles, tendons and ligaments helping them to be healthier and work better for you.
6. Increases your fitness level: As you continue to laugh and play while hooping you’ll notice that you can do it for longer amounts of time with ease as your fitness level increases. Try going for a brisk walk after a few weeks of hooping and notice how much farther and faster you can go before getting tired out (1).
Other benefits are stress reduction, body awareness, improved self-image, improved joint health and cardiovascular benefits (2).
Make hooping a part of your workout choices and maybe weekly routine and see not only your fitness level improve but your motivation to stay on your fitness program. It’s like a domino effect resulting in goals reached!
Sources for this article include:
1) http://www.3fatchicks.com/
2) http://www.livestrong.com/
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