Fitness craze from playground days

California, New York and now…Wellesley?
According The New York Daily News,
the latest craze to make its way to New
York from the west coast is hula-hooping.
‘Hoopers,' as they call themselves, attend
classes, informal meetings or watch DVDs
to improve their technique or to learn new
exercises. An article in Time reported that
weighted hoops have been sold since 2001
by San Francisco-based HoopGirl Inc., and
Los Angeles-based Hoopnotica's sales "have
more than quintupled in over the past three
years."
For serious hoopers the draw is not just
that hula-hooping is a fun activity or a great
way to meet people, but that it's a great
work out. Specific exercises have been developed
to target different areas of the body.
"Pulse" works the whole body and engages
the whole core. The "limbo" is for the back
and thighs, and the "Wild West" tones biceps
and triceps.
When asking our own population if they
would consider replacing crunches or other
core exercises with hooping, Laura Kelleher
'13 responded, "Certainly! A trainer has
complimented my core strength because I
can hold planks for a long time, but crunches
are very difficult for me because of the strain
they place on your neck and back. So many
core-building exercises are based on crunches
that alternatives are always welcome to
someone like me who has so much difficulty
with them."
Not everyone feels the same, Christyl Watters
'11 said, "I do both. I wouldn't substitute
one with the other."
"What I should really be doing is pilates
to strengthen my core for skating," said astronomy
professor Wendy Bauer.
The draw of hooping tends to be that it is
an exercise where results are obvious but it
still feels like fun. People who are put off
by intensive workouts may be more likely to
participate in hooping, which can feel more
like reliving a fun childhood memory and
less like a chore.
Professor Beth DeSombre of the environmental
studies department said, "I hoop because
it's fun; it does clearly have a beneficial
effect on core muscles, and that's great
but when I do it I'm generally not doing it
for the purpose of exercise. Incidentally, I
started hooping a few years ago when hula
hoops started showing up at folk festivals—a
few of the ones I go to had hoops out that
you could try, and I loved it."
The fitness fad has yet to hit Wellesley with
full force but there are individual hoopers on
campus. DeSombre said she has "a couple
of hoops at home and like[s] to hoop while
listening to music."
But for the most part hoopers on campus
are few and far between. They take advantage
when hula-hoops are present but aren't
likely to go out of their way to do recreational
hooping.
Kelleher said that the last time she hulahooped
was this past Lake Day "for almost
half an hour. I was really excited to play with
them because they were the first hula-hoops
I'd gotten to use in five years or so."
Youyou Wu '13 said that the last time she
used a hula-hoop was her senior year of high
school.
Maybe the craze hasn't yet hit Wellesley
full-force, but who knows? Maybe the next
aerobics or PE