When do you introduce your students to chest/shoulder hooping? (4 posts)

Topic tags: Chest Hooping, classes, courses, shoulder hooping, students, teaching
  • Profile picture of Jo Mondy Jo Mondy said 1 year, 6 months ago:

    Hi guys,

    I teach beginner classes in 6 or 8 week blocks. And usually I intro students to chest hooping pretty early on in the piece, week 2 or 3, even though its one of those moves that takes most people months to get the hang of.

    My rationale is that
    a) everyone loves it! And if my students have googled hooping on youtube before coming to the course, that’s the move they tend to really want to learn.
    b) since it does take a long time to integrate into your body, by introducing it early on in the learning process, students can get the jump on it straight away.

    But lately, I’ve been wondering whether it might be a bit overwhelming for beginners to be presented with chest hooping quite so early on. For most, it’s completely foreign to isolate the chest from the rest of the body, and can get quite frustrating in contrast to other ‘easier’ tricks that can be picked up fairly quickly.

    I do mix up my classes to keep the vibe positive and I definitely emphasise that chest/shoulder hooping takes a lot of time and practice. Mostly I think my students understand and appreciate that.

    So I’m curious – when do you tend to introduce your students to chest/shoulder hooping?

    #
  • Profile picture of lynnspencernelson said 1 year, 6 months ago:

    I teach Chest/Shoulder combo to beginners too and we work on it a lot in class as the session progresses. As it does take a long time to learn, I think being exposed early is key. Its an important component that opens up so many possibilities. Everybody has their own preference as to what “tricks” they take into practice and work on. Some really want it and work on it all the time and others are drawn to work on other things that I give them in those first classes.

    #
  • Profile picture of Rayna McInturf Rayna McInturf said 1 year, 5 months ago:

    Jo, I’ve pretty much followed along the same lines as you. When I teach an intensive series like a 3 class series, taught once a week, I introduce chest hooping in the 2nd class, and shoulder hooping in the third class. The 1st class ends with hip hooping, so I find that this leads nicely into chest hooping because it involves 3 power points – 1 more than waist hooping, but 1 less than chest hooping. Then when I introduce chest hooping with its 4 power points, it seems to be a little bit easier for students to wrap their minds around. In the warm up for the 2nd class in which I plan to introduce chest hooping, I include some chest isolation exercises to get them used to the idea. I’ve definitely taught a longer series than 3 classes, which gives students more time to work with new moves than a 3 class series, but any way you slice it, upper body hooping takes lots of practice and time for most students! I have found that once I teach students how to spiral the hoop up from the waist to the chest and shoulders, a light goes on about upper body hooping. It’s all a progression….

    I agree with you Lynn that at least introducing it early on gives students a chance to grapple with it. Including other fun, easier moves in these classes also helps move them out of any frustrations.

    #
  • Profile picture of Jo Mondy Jo Mondy said 1 year, 5 months ago:

    Thanks for that, Rayna,

    I’ve got a question for you though — I get what you mean about power points for waist being 2, and chest being 4, but what are the 3 points for hip hooping?

    #