Hoop every day

Hoop every day? I know there are some amazing hoopers out there who would say, duh! But I never though of myself as one. But I won't get better unless I practice a lot, a helluva lot. I have hooped the last seven days in a row. Not too shabby, definitely a first. Tomorrow is derby, so probably won't do any. But hey, if I want it to be a habit, maybe I'll hit some leg hooping for like 10mins tomorrow. To be a hooper who hoops every day, I have to hoop every day. *wink*

Today's sesh was frustrating, probably more so because I was crazy winded. I stayed indoors with my big 40" dance control flex hoop. I worked on breaks and releases on the waist, getting pretty darn good at this. I worked on breaks and releases at the shoulder. The struggle for me here is to transition to something from this, so I would break and release four times, then try to spin it around my shoulders. This was hard.

I also worked on leg/knee hooping. I read a while back that a good learning drill for this would be to shimmy it down your thigh until just before you feel you can't get it back up, shimmy it back up. Repeat over and over, dropping it a little more if you can, until you can get it all the way down to your knees and back up. I can get it about mid-thigh and back up, but if I miss just a beat, and it drops to my knees, I can at least successfully keep it going there finally! But can't get it back up. It's kinda stuck there.

Wrapped things up with vertical hooping, spiraling it forward to chest vertical hooping, then trying to tuck an arm under. I can't quite tuck both arms under without it falling, so I simply worked on shoulder vertical hooping. I can keep this going a little while but not too long. I also worked on breaks and releases in the vertical plane at my shoulders. Gravity is a lot friendlier here.

38 minutes of intense cardio, with stretching. Average heart rate 137bpm. 398 total cals burned.

What's that saying? Find an exercise you love. If you love running, by all means. But you don't have to run to get your heart rate up. Skating and hooping are two of my favorite calorie burners!