One of the latest TikTok trends to take the world by storm is the weighted hula hoop. There’s been a lot of buzz on social media lately, and I heard that Michelle Obama loves hoops, too. Wanting to understand what all the fuss is about, I added one of her daily workouts to her routine for a week to see what happened to my body.
according to some the study Despite some people believing this method, the main benefits of a weighted hula hoop include strengthening your abdominal muscles and toning your core muscles. Hoop enthusiasts even claim that you can reduce belly fat, tighten your waist, and burn tons of calories in just 30 minutes a day.
Intrigued (and suspicious), I decided to hop on Amazon and buy one, hula-hooping while striving for stronger abs and a toned tummy. This is the result of one week of research. If you’re planning on trying your hand at a hula hoop workout, here are the best headphones to keep you motivated for your session.
How to use a weighted hula hoop
Here’s how to do hula hooping safely.
- Look for a hula hoop that reaches your waist when you lay it down.
- Wear activewear that does not interfere with the hoop
- Stand tall and straight, step through the weighted hula hoop and hold it with both hands around your waist.
- Stand with your feet hip-width apart and step one foot slightly forward.
- Tighten your stomach and tone your core
- Place the back of the hoop so that it touches your hips
- Begin moving your hips back and forth in small circles, shifting your weight from your heels to your toes as you move.
- Release the hoop and rotate it around your hips over your hips.
- Walking or hula can be done for a certain amount of time or distance.
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I exercised every day for a week using a weighted hula hoop – this is what happened to my abs
Hula hooping with a weighted hoop was one of the most fun challenges ever. I’ll explain what happened.
i had a great time
This challenge took me back to my school days when I used to play hula hooping with my friends in the schoolyard (if I do say so myself, hula hooping used to be very impressive).
It was so much fun that I completely lost track of time. Although weighted hula hoops require space, hoops come in all shapes and sizes to fit most people and are more compact than standard playground designs.
Even the dog took an interest in my new hobby, even though I almost skipped the dog several times. I was pretty sad when the week ended, but I plan on keeping hoops on standby for the foreseeable future.
Weight and fit are important
I expected the weighted hula hoop to be popular, but I was surprised by the subtle difference it made in core training, and I could feel my abdominal muscles working. Days 1 and 2, I even had a little pain when I woke up.
Some models have built-in weights, but mine was made with hard plastic parts that can be removed to fit your waist size and a shock-absorbing massage ring. Next, attach a weighted ball (in a variety of weight ranges) to swing along with the hula, giving you a 360-degree core workout that includes your abs, flanks, and lower back.
It’s a much tighter fit than I expected, so I can’t control the large hula hoop. Instead, it fits snugly around your hips and has a weighted ball that moves around your body. This movement is more subtle, the movement of the hips as you rotate back and forth is very gentle, but it makes a big difference.
It was easy to mix things up
Throughout the week, I used a 60 seconds on, 30 seconds off format for a total of 30 minutes per day. It may sound boring, but I was able to make calls and listen to music while exercising. After a few days, I tested my mind and muscle coordination by switching between clockwise and counterclockwise movements and walking set distances around my apartment. I’ve also seen videos of people dancing while hooping. This is next level ability.
The last few days I took my boyfriend to a hula hoop workout. While the other person worked, we alternated between 60 seconds of weighted hula hoops and 30 seconds of planks. It was so much fun, and after it was over, I felt like his core was hot.
Aesthetically, nothing has changed
Sorry to be the bad news, but fat loss comes from regular daily exercise (if you want to increase your calorie burn, we’ll talk more about the NEAT process), consistent exercise habits, diet, and lifestyle factors. We know that this is the result of. To name a few examples. Swinging a hoop around your torso (albeit fun) is unlikely to shape your waist without help, especially in just seven days.
Many people are genetically predisposed to gaining fat in certain areas (such as the abdomen or thighs), and it is not possible to reduce fat locally. That is, fat loss occurs not in one area, but throughout the body. If your goal is to lose fat and get six-pack abs, here’s how to calculate your body fat percentage and why it matters.
I felt the burn
Every day, I felt my core hurt and my abdominal muscles and hip flexors work during and after using the weighted hula hoop. I don’t often incorporate ab training into my exercise routine. I prioritize CrossFit and yoga. As you know, compound exercises and heavy weight lifting strengthen your core muscles to promote safe movement. This targeted sit-up exercise shocked my system, and I’m still amazed at how much my core felt activated at all.
The weighted design, like the best weighted jump ropes, trains your muscles stronger through resistance. As energy demand increases, calorie expenditure and muscle activity also increase. But don’t get caught up in the hype of big accomplishments.
There’s a science to it
As a personal trainer, I’m skeptical of bold claims about fat loss or high-calorie burning workouts, so I was surprised to see research supporting the benefits of weighted hula hoops.
small study The American Council on Exercise (ACE) found that during a 30-minute hula hooping session, hoops burn 7 calories per minute, for a total of 210 calories. And you don’t need to add any other interval training or the best bodyweight training. These results show similar calorie burn to a HIIT workout class or a gentle 5K run, indicating that this session increases participants’ heart rates and is a solid cardio-based workout. I also found this out through research.
One more photo the study What caught my attention was weight loss. After a six-week program, the study found that about 12 minutes of weighted hula-hooping a day reduced belly fat, increased core muscle mass, and reduced “bad” cholesterol more than walking nearly 10,000 steps a day. It turned out to be effective.
That’s what I was told.
Even the dog took an interest in my new hobby, even though I almost skipped the dog several times.
I exercised every day for a week using a weighted hula hoop – here’s my verdict
Hello, my name is Sam. He is a weighted hula hoop enthusiast. What I loved about this challenge was that it was fun and easy to work on. This means people are more likely to continue doing it as a regular exercise.
A weighted hula hoop can help strengthen your core and tone your upper and lower body muscles, but it requires consistency (some hula hooping companies recommend 30 minutes every day, 5 days a week). ). We also recommend checking out his five elements of weightlifting and physical fitness to build a balanced routine in parallel with hoops.
For me, this experience was more of an experiment than an aesthetic one. However, if you want to use a weighted hula hoop to tighten your waist, consider some of the lifestyle factors listed above.