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Retro-Fitness Update: Play Some
Hoops Fitness instructor Wendy Iverson was using a Hula Hoop to exercise alone in the basement of her Milwaukee home some years back when inspiration struck. If she could just add weight to the popular children's toy, she figured, she could make the gyrations smoother while boosting the aerobic and toning value of the workout. She sliced open the hollow plastic hoop, filled it with pellets from a BB gun, and resealed the hoop with duct tape. The pellets slid back and forth as she circled the hoop around her hips, creating an unsatisfying wobble. Iverson tried other fillers -- water, sand -- without success. Finally, she stuffed the hoop with telephone wire, resealed it and wrapped it in foam for comfort. Voilà. No wobble. "The weight made the Hula Hoop movement easier," Iverson recalled. "It gave me something to work with." Last summer, Iverson unveiled the pumped-up toy at fitness conventions in Reston and San Diego. Health clubs -- including some in the Washington area -- have since purchased more than 12,000 of the gizmos, said Buz Barlow, chief executive officer of Heavy Hoop Inc., the Dallas-based company that owns and markets Iverson's invention. Schools in Iowa, Kentucky, Georgia and Pennsylvania have bought it for their physical education programs, and several rehabilitation centers in Dallas and Milwaukee have ordered it for use with stroke and arthritis patients, he said. In the Washington area, Bally Total Fitness clubs in the District, Hyattsville and Springfield, as well as the Georgetown University Law Center's fitness facility, feature the Heavy Hoop in group exercise classes. Gym-goers who initially snicker at the retro-looking product tend to develop a greater respect after using it. "It's much harder than regular aerobics," said Jill Rendelstein, 30, of Silver Spring, who often joins a weekly hoops class at her Bally's gym. "It's really exhausting, but it feels good." Because of the weight added to the hoop, she says, "You're not only getting an aerobic workout, you're also getting some strength training as well." About 30 area gym-goers have bought the hoops, which sell for about $70 each, to use at home, Barlow said. The product has come a ways from the version Iverson developed in her basement. Available in different sizes, weights and materials (a rust-resistant steel coating allows some versions to be adapted to water workouts), the basic model is 36 inches in diameter and weighs three pounds. Colors? Heavy Hoop comes only in basic black -- by design. "I wanted it to . . . look like a solid piece of equipment," said Iverson, now a personal trainer at age 42. "It looks mean and tough, yet it's a lot of fun." Defying Gravity That sentiment, as well as a feeling of nostalgia, infused a recent Cardio Hoop class at Bally's L Street gym. The participants, 15 women ranging in age from their twenties to 65, displayed varying levels of competence. Some circled the hoop effortlessly around their waists while others gave vent to frustration as the ring slid almost instantly to the floor. My efforts placed me solidly in the latter group. Veteran "hoopers" counseled patience. "I did the Hula Hoop as a kid years ago," said Elinor McCormick, 47, of the District. "It only took a couple of classes here to be able to do it again. I think it's very good for your coordination." At times, the class appeared to be entirely in sync, such as when participants were instructed to hold the hoop as though it were a mirror and circle it in front of their faces -- a move designed to raise the heart rate while toning the arms. For the briefest instant the room resembled a dance line, with the large circles swaying in unison to the music. The traditional Hula Hoop movement, where the hoop is rotated around the hips and waist using circular movements of the trunk, targets the abdominal muscles, hips and waistline. This exercise comprised 10 minutes of the 60-minute class -- but it was a strenuous 10 minutes, as instructor Vivian Thurman challenged the participants to rotate the hoop first in one direction for several minutes, then in the opposite direction. "Relax your face," Thurman joked as exercisers, their hands out to their sides, concentrated on circling the hoop in the non-dominant direction -- the equivalent, for a righty, of signing your name with your left hand. While they labored, Thurman, petite but solidly built, twirled the hoop around her hips, occasionally sinking into a squat without allowing it to drop. For most of the rest of the class, Thurman incorporated the hoop into a wide range of high- and low-impact exercises, including crunches, squats, leg lifts, arm circles, jumping jacks and stretches. For the lunge, the hoop was placed on either side of the body and used to help maintain balance. For the shoulder press, hands were positioned on opposite sides of the hoop as it was lifted repeatedly, from shoulder level to overhead. Although the workout session I attended drew only women, Brad Seibert, who teaches a 30-minute Cardio Hoop class at the Bally L Street NW location, said two regular participants in his class are men. Still, he acknowledged that men may be put off initially. "I refused to teach Cardio Hoop at first," Seibert said. "I thought it was a very girlie class. Then I had to teach it one day because they needed a sub. I loved it. It's a very intense workout." The Plane Truth There was no argument from Kelly Wheaton, a two-month veteran of the L Street class. The 24-year-old Alexandria resident particularly likes the ab workout and the arm toning provided by lifting the hoop overhead. "The hoop weighs only three pounds, so you don't think you'll feel it," she said of the shoulder press. "After the first class, I got up the next day and my arms were on fire." A bonus: Mastering techniques involved in maneuvering the hoop, she said, keeps her mind off the fact that she's exercising. "I'm busy concentrating on controlling the hoop so I'm not thinking of my abs." Tests performed on the Heavy Hoop two years ago at the Cooper Institute in Dallas showed that vigorous hooping -- circling the hoop around one's midsection -- burns as many calories per minute as running an eight-minute mile. Hooping at a slower rate burns as many calories as running a 12-minute mile or jogging in place. Conrad Earnest, an exercise physiologist and director of Cooper's Center for Human Performance and Nutrition Research, described the Heavy Hoop workout as a legitimate means of cardiovascular exercise, but he stopped short of ranking it as better than or worse than other activities. "The best form of exercise," he said, "is the one you'll do continuously. If you like running, don't give up running for hooping. But if you like to hoop, do that." The Heavy Hoop emphasizes movements that are circular rather than linear. As a result, the hoop promotes correct alignment and works the body in all directions, like other core fitness exercises, said Ed Thomas, a health and physical education consultant for the Iowa Department of Education and a former instructor with the United States Army Physical Fitness School at Fort Benning, Ga. "There's nothing wrong with linear motion," said Thomas, who has evaluated dozens of fitness products. "We push in lines. We pull in lines. But to be really effective, the body must move through a number of planes. . . . The hoop, with its circular shape, allows the arms to stay consistently the same distance apart. It offers a number of advantages to helping the body move properly." Plus, as most of the exercisers I met emphasized, it's just plain fun. "I tell a lot of people at work that I'm going to my hoop class," said Wheaton, a video editor. "Everyone is interested. . . . I'm getting a workout and having fun."• Dana Scarton is a Washington area freelance writer. Her personal hooping record, to date, is 10 seconds. © 2003 The Washington Post Company
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