Saw Grace Jones with Hoola Hoop - Do they help you lose weight, keep trim?

sb44

jenniewb wrote: »

IMO, they don't 'keep you trim', they may help but where weight control comes into things, what you eat matters more, I'd say around 65% then anything else, followed by how much exercise you do and the rest is things like stress, hormone levels, genetics and so on.

If your looking at making an impact with exercise, its best not to select one and to have as much variety as possible, not only because your body gets used to things annoyingly quickly (in about 6-8 weeks) and you have to change your programme, but also to keep you interested and focused as well as improving your health rather then just the health of a single body part IYSWIM.

When exercising, cardiovascular exercise- things that make your heart beat fast and push you so you're out of breath/cannot finish a conversation whilst exercising, this is important.

Also its important to ensure you work your muscles because your muscles naturally depete as you age and its a losing battle the older you get. If you have more muscle your body requires more calories to maintain them so its an added benefit to some! Muscles also help you feel more energetic and help with things like your posture and so on, they are equally important to cardiovascular exercise.

Another type of exercise which is important is core exercise. It helps with your balance, your posture and your co-ordination. I'd imagine if the hoola hoop stuff would be of any benefit. it would be to help with core stability, I can't see it being of any benefit to building muscles as there are more efficient ways of doing things, I can't see if being of any real cardiovascular exercise- unless you've never done any exercise past a slow walk for the past few years- and if this is you, the coordination aspect of the hoola will make it very difficult for you to do this.

I think its a bit of a gimmick, the hoola thing was big a few years ago in many gyms, not so big now but you never know. Its easy if you just remember its a pevic thrust and not a circular movement (and yes, I did try this quite regularly for a few months in a gym a few years ago.)

Better then doing nothing but please don't let it replace a decent gym workout or aerobics class.

Thanks for the info and advice.

It was more of the keeping trim that I was thinking about as I am a size 10/12 so don't need to lose weight but wanted to firm up my stomach (can't do sit ups/crunches because of my back).

Never liked the idea of going to a gym don't think I am going to start going now at 50.

I see these cheap gadgets and they end up going under the bed!

I have a Boots version of a Flexi Bar and one those round spinning boards, I will have to dig those out and have another go with those.

Still haven't got the knack of using the Flexi Bar, I can't seem to get the momentum going.

Becks81

There is a hula-hooping exercise on the Wii-fit that I used to use quite regually.

I've never been able to do it in real life but obviously with the Wii you are replicating the movements to keep the hula-hoop going and completeing as many reps as possible.

IMO this is one of the harder activities to do on the Wii and does make you build up a sweat. So I would say it is good for toning of that particular area but I wouldn't say it would help weight loss on its on.

Saying that, I was amazed that Grace managed to keep it going throughout the whole song, I was watching waiting for it to fall and she just kept going - what a machine!

jacquismith30

Yes they do you burn around 300 cals per half an hour check out ukhooping and you can buy hoops there too

Jemma130

The weighted exercise hoops are great fun! You can stand there hula hooping watching Sex and the City if you want! Because they are weighted, they have better momentum than the lightweight children's hula hoops. Search online and get one, I love them!

jenniewb

sb44 wrote: »

Thanks for the info and advice.

It was more of the keeping trim that I was thinking about as I am a size 10/12 so don't need to lose weight but wanted to firm up my stomach (can't do sit ups/crunches because of my back).

Never liked the idea of going to a gym don't think I am going to start going now at 50.

I see these cheap gadgets and they end up going under the bed!

I have a Boots version of a Flexi Bar and one those round spinning boards, I will have to dig those out and have another go with those.

Still haven't got the knack of using the Flexi Bar, I can't seem to get the momentum going.

My mum has many gadgets but hers live in the loft! She has since restarted at a gym but as its a luxary gym she is happy to go so this seems to help. I used to go to classes at my gym which kept me going, the classes took out the thought process and made things feel a bit more varied, if a class repeated itself I could just swap classes.

Have you tried group exercises? They can be really useful because as well as something to keep you exercising, if the instructor is any good (-this can always be a variable point!) they can really help you out with small but vital points. Exercises like the plank for example where people think they have the correct posture but actually they don't. Or they do sit ups by yanking on their neck (not going to work your abs and just going to give you neck problems or a very musclar neck!) or people who push out their stomach when doing sit ups which gives you a nice 'domed' effect, otherwise known as looking like your expecting...

I think classes like Pilataes or Yoga can help more then ab classes to be honest as they teach you how to work the transverse abs which are important where as abs tend to go for the burn without developing the supporting muscles or training them in a varied way.

Anyhow! If the weather warms up, maybe check out some of the military fitness type classes. Some can be a bit hardcore but equally there are some for absolute beginners and people who are not actually ex-cadets wanting a workout. You can normally find info on these on the British Military website, local town publications/magazines -say for example TimeOut and newspapers and also information in your local gym and library.

sammyjammy

Hooping is fabulous exercise!

I go to a class every week and its amazing although I am still learning. Weighted hoops are much easier to use than the traditional ones and by the end of the class I am sweating profusely and breathing heavily, its great exercise nad really makes you ache when you first start.

The person who runs the class can keep the hoop up the whole hour whilst walking, talking and doing exercises that you would do in a normal class but with the addition of a hoop.

I started hooping after attending a class at Champneys, it was actually an aerobics class with the addition of using a hoop - amazing, hard and very funny for a beginner!

I'd recommend it to anyone as a good all round exercise and its easier than you would think with the weighted hoops.

sb44

sammyjammy wrote: »

Hooping is fabulous exercise!

I go to a class every week and its amazing although I am still learning. Weighted hoops are much easier to use than the traditional ones and by the end of the class I am sweating profusely and breathing heavily, its great exercise nad really makes you ache when you first start.

The person who runs the class can keep the hoop up the whole hour whilst walking, talking and doing exercises that you would do in a normal class but with the addition of a hoop.

I started hooping after attending a class at Champneys, it was actually an aerobics class with the addition of using a hoop - amazing, hard and very funny for a beginner!

I'd recommend it to anyone as a good all round exercise and its easier than you would think with the weighted hoops.

Thanks Sammy, I may buy one now, if I don't use it my daughter can have it (she will probably pinch it anyway when she sees it!).