Photo credit: Katie Emmitt
1. You start to think… Can I hoop in this space?
Lounge rooms become places of sorcery, where suddenly couches are moved, furniture rearranged and chandeliers expertly dodged or politely removed. Kitchens become places to practice paddles and breaks and dining rooms become dance floors.
We get it. You’ve got the hooping bug.
2. You assess whether your clothes are going to work for hooping
I definitely had a shift to owning more lycra and stretchy comfortable hoop-able clothing after I started hooping more. Jeans and restrictive shirts started to fade away a bit because, y’know, I have to feel like I’m capable to hula hoop at all times, whenever I feel like hooping, which is a lot. And it can strike any time!
Photo credit: Ride With Fiks
3. Every circle starts to look like a hula hoop
They say when you buy a red car you start to see red cars everywhere. It’s called the Baader-Meinhof phenomenon (see the science here) and tooootally happens when you start hooping.
Sometimes I whip my head around when I’m driving because I think I see the SHINIEST hula hoop ever and then find it’s a wheel or a hubcap and I’m like….. Oh. Right. Not everything is a hula hoop. Good thing I’m alone in this car. Dooo, do do do doo…
4. The back of trade vehicles with piping starts to look like a giant exciting stack of hula hoops
Following on from everything reminding you of hooping, sometimes things REALLY look like hula hoops! For instance, irrigation piping from Bunnings on the back of trade vehicles (which is probably on its way to being used for irrigation) looks like a giant stack of exciting hula hoops.
Photo credit: Midland Irrigation
Photo credit: Monarch Hoops and Dance
5. Going on airplanes involves checking the fine print about whether a hoop is in fact oversized sporting equipment or just.. You know… a few hoops
Hooping is a weird thing that is part sport, part fun, part fitness, part dance, and not quite marked out clearly by all airlines as sporting equipment. I’ve travelled on at least 10 different airlines and usually don’t buy extra baggage. Most have let me take coiled hooping gear on board, and in one airport my LED hoops were deemed dicey and they made me check them.
As long as you read the fine-print you should avoid hefty airport fees and be able to get your hooping awn anywhere round the globe.
6. You start to wonder if you can bring your hoop to everything
Parties suddenly seem like a cool idea but mostly if there’s tunes and you can do some hooping. When I was learning I often rode my bike everywhere with a hoop slung over it, and one time I nearly crashed because it was a 100cm beginners hoop.
Ahhh, the things we do for hooping.
Photo credit: P-Tan Podcast
Photo credit: Imgflip
7. Suddenly exercise isn’t daunting or the worst idea in the world
As someone who’s played competitive sport and also done self-directed workouts (e.g. phases at the gym that come and go) hooping is this mega awesome practice that always leaves me feeling awesome and fun and fit. I find flow by chucking on some tunes and hooping my heart out.
Whether it’s in a class or in my backyard, hooping has given me heaps of freedom in my body and also made exercise the best idea ever (shhhhh, it’s not exercise if you’re giggling).
