Hula Hoop Fitness: What Do The Experts Say?
The San Jose Mercury News invited a few fitness experts to sound off on five fitness trends, including the hula hoop. Some of their so called experts though didn't know what they were talking about. Valerie Orsoni (pictured), celebrity coach and owner of Le Boot Camp is a smart one. She explained, "If you are able to use this for 15 minutes a day, you will have a slimmer waist. Start with a larger hula hoop, as they are easier for the beginner. You won't burn many calories, but this is a cheap device and, for me, a must have." While Dr. Clay Hyght, a chiropractic doctor and professional bodybuilder, didn't even know the score. He said, "For weight loss? No. The caloric expenditure is not going to be substantial. If you're doing steady-state cardio like walking, you're going to want to do it for 30 minutes several times a week. Who can hula hoop for 30 minutes besides a hula hoop champion?" Pretty much everybody reading this post Clay, for starters. Full story: San Jose Mercury News
Comments
Silly experts. I hooped to one high-energy song while wearing my heart rate monitor and these are my [interesting if less-than-scientific] findings: http://www.kitchencourage.com/2009/12/hoop-sweat.html
Posted by: Betherann | January 5, 2010 3:34 AM
LOL! Yes indeed, who in the world could hoop for 30 mins? :) I have to go at least an hour.
Posted by: Aimee | January 5, 2010 8:34 AM
I can't believe he didn't know about hooping! You would think that if he was cultured enough in fitness education he would have some sort of an idea! We should definitely spread the hoop love and send him an e-mail with this url attached.
Posted by: Sarah | January 5, 2010 5:05 PM
Silly experts. Wow wonder how they get that title. What I'm reading is both Dr. CLay and Valerie who appear to be credentialed fitness experts basically say the same thing in this article. One says "you won't burn many calaries" while the other says, "the caloric expenditure is not substantial"? What I'm reading from Dr. Clay's comments is the majority of people could not hulahoop long enough to have any effect on waste size. I would have to agree. I enjoy cardio and could not keep a plastic round device above my hips for more than 10 turns at best. Happy Hooping....
Posted by: Stacey | January 6, 2010 9:18 PM
BTW where is the link to the whole article? I'm curious to see how hooping compared to the other trends.
And steady state cardio requires a longer period of time to achieve a similiar effect to interval training so yes, you'd have to make a good 30 minute minimum out of hooping to get your heartrate up. Not a problem for most hoopers!
And not to generalise too much but I have noticed that most fitness competitors ( bodybuilding particularly) are very scornful of most kinds of cardio. I wasn't surprised that he dismissed hooping so easily.
Posted by: shimarella | January 7, 2010 9:42 AM
Stacey,
The hoop I use is made of rubber and will stay on my hips for hours on end. My capacity for aerobic activity is average. Maybe you should alter the hoop you use. I believe it would make a huge difference in the amount of time you could keep it up.
Best wishes,
Wonton
Posted by: Wonton | January 7, 2010 10:00 AM
Did I forget to post the link? Oh I did. My bad. It's been added now.
Posted by: Philo | January 8, 2010 3:34 AM
I am 55 years old and I can hula hoop for hours at a time....without missing a beat! I just got back into it after having been a hula hooper as a child. I love it. I need to lose about 6 inches off my waist - so I am doing the hula for about 2 hours a day. We'll see how it works out. (I would love to become a professional hooper - but don't think there is such a thing).
Posted by: j. elizabeth | February 23, 2010 2:06 PM
I can go way longer than 30 min :D
Posted by: rosy | February 28, 2010 3:29 PM