The Hula Hoop Experiment

On Monday I bought a hula hoop. Yes, it does seem a bit silly for a grown woman with no children to buy a hula hoop. I bought it for myself. I read an article over the weekend in a magazine that said that hula hooping was good exercise. It uses all of the muscles that make up your core, including both the inner and outer obliques (which is not so common in most exercises). Also, exercise is supposed to be fun, and this seemed fun to me. So, I went to Kmart on Monday and purchased a shiny, silver hula hoop. It only cost $6, which for a piece of exercise equipment is a bargain. I have used it every day since I bought it. The article says you'll see benefits from using it for ten minutes twice a day. I've done at least that much so far. I've been looking for something that I can do at home pretty easily that isn't boring or expensive. This seemed to fit the bill perfectly. I don't even have to wear special clothes to do it. This morning I decided to take my pulse when I was done to see if it actually raised my heart rate significantly enough to do any good. My heart rate was at 120 bpm, which is exactly my target heart rate for aerobic activity (according to this heart rate calculator). I figure that's a pretty good deal. I'll let you know further results as they become more evident (i.e. better fitting pants, inches lost, etc.).