The American Council on Exercise (ACE) did a great study a few years back about the fitness benefits of hooping.  (Read and download the study here.)  Basically, a 30 minute workout, with a warm up, choreography, and a cool down, burns on average about 210 calories with an average heart rate of 151 beats per minute.  I wish I had a copy of the video they used on their study subjects.  I would love to compare my own results to theirs.

Speaking of results, here’s where this all comes in.  See, I recently was the winner of a very nice Fitbit.  Jenny gave me the idea of blogging about my fitness results from class last night, so I am.  Here are my stats:

• I hooped for a total of 63 minutes, including a warm up and cool down.
• My heart rate average was 99 BPM, with the highest point being 119 BPM. This being said, my heart rate had me in a fat burn zone, according to my charts on Fitbit.
• I burned 212 calories, at a rate of three calories per minute.
• I took 1,691 step in class.

That’s about half of what the ACE reported on as average.  Hmmm….

Here’s what was different in my workout, compared to what was used in the ACE study.

1. Our class was focused on double hoop work with light hoops.  The ACE study participants used weighted hoops, but I’m not sure if they mean those wretched padded ones you get from fitness equipment places, or heavier PE tubing hoops.
2. Again, I wish I had the video that the ACE used.  I would do the workout and compare my own stats to it.  Perhaps I should ask them for it. Hmmmm, again.
3. I am pulling stats in for only myself, and not a range of participants.

I think I’m going to pursue this as a further study for myself.  Since Fitbit keeps track of all this lovely data, I may start taking deeper looks into it.