Hula hooping is more than just a childhood pastime; it’s also a fantastic exercise that can tone your muscles and help you shift weight. It’s a super fun way to improve your overall fitness and you can do it by yourself or with other people. All it takes is a good beginner hoop and some free tutorials and you can be on your way to a healthy dose of hoopin’!
Caloric Expenditure
There are a few factors that can impact just how many calories you can burn while hooping. The main ones to consider are your body weight, the intensity of your hoop sesh, and how long you’re hula hooping for.
Body Weight
Heavier people tend to burn more calories than those with lower body weight. This is generally because more energy is required to move a heavier body.
Hooping Intensity
The speed and vigour of your hula hooping can significantly impact the calories burned. An intense, fast-paced hoop sesh will burn more calories than one with slower, gentle movements. The size of your hoop can impact the general speed at which you hoop – a larger hoop will spin slower than a smaller hoop which makes it easier to learn with as each rotation takes longer, giving you more time to catch the rhythm and find the feeling. As you get more comfortable and confident in the hoop, you will be able to waist hoop with smaller and smaller hoops – which means you will be able to increase your hooping speed.
Duration
How long you’re hula hooping for also significantly impacts the amount of calories you can burn while hooping. 30 minutes of hooping is going to burn more calories than a 10-minute spin.
How many calories are burned hooping?
Hula hooping burns around the same amount of calories as a dance class or a similar aerobic exercise. Taking the above into consideration, a 70kg person hula hooping at mid-intensity for around 30 minutes could burn somewhere between 165 – 200 calories. As a rough guide, waist hooping burns 6-7 calories per minute.
Bonus Benefits
There are plenty of bonus reasons to start spinning besides the calorie burn:
Cardio Health
Hula hooping is a great aerobic exercise and can help improve your heart health by increasing your heart rate.
Core Strength
To keep a hoop constantly spinning around your waist requires your core muscles to be switched on and engaged. Even when you are doing other tricks (off the body for example), all the stabilising muscles throughout the rest of your body are working hard to hold you strong and give you a good base to move from. And even when you are lying on the ground foot hooping, your abs and hip flexors will be active to make the leg and foot action possible. All these movements help to improve your core strength and stability.
Balance and Coordination
Your balance and coordination will also be getting a work out and gradually getting better and better, all while burning those calories. These skills are useful in everyday life and for other physical activities too.
Stress Reduction
Taking time out for yourself to crank some tunes, get outside, and connect with your body can be a marvelous way to reduce stress. Engaging in an enjoyable activity such as hooping really can give your mental health a boost.
While how many calories hula hooping burns is impacted by a range of factors, consistent hooping can contribute to weight loss, cardiovascular fitness, and overall health and wellbeing. So, what are you waiting for? Turn up the tunes, grab your favourite hula hoop, and start spinning!
