circus style hooping

Triple Threat

Image posted on by jennabee25

I preparation for the second class in the series of circus style hooping classes that Jenny is teaching and I am attending, I decided to make what I am dubbing the Triple Threat Hoops, which are basically just a set of three polypro matched trio of hoops that I whipped together last night.

I didn’t use really expensive hoop tape on them, mostly because the sparkly ones are too wide and I’d have to cute them down anyway, so I decided to use electrical tape, this transparent colored tape called Plexi Deco,  and what gaffer grip tape I had on hand, which wasn’t much.  I stretched it across all three, so at least they have some grip to them.

The tubing I used wasn’t normal polypro, but rather it was repurposed polypro, i.e. recycled, tubing from hoopsupplies.com.  It only comes in 5/8″ outer diameter size, but it’s decent to handle, though it is a little harder to get the connectors in.  I recommend getting an appropriately sized HDPE connector rather than a polypro one.  It seemed easier to insert using the one I had.   The tubing only comes in black, but it still is san-dable and tape-able.

I’m anxious to give these hoops a spin tonight in class, and am looking forward to another hard workout.  I have a lot of steam to blow off tonight.  I’ll tell you about that next post as to why.

Until then, keep on hooping!

 

 

Photo by Ava Dae Photography

Starting Circus Style Hooping

Image posted on by jennabee25

My first thought this morning was “Crap, why do I hurt so much?”  And then I remembered why.  I started taking Jenny Hill‘s class on circus style hooping the previous evening at Studio Spin.

Circus style hooping is different than most of the hooping many of your are familiar with.  First, it’s mostly on body, specifically your core.  Second, it involves multiple hoops.

Jenny is a circus style hooper.  Here’s an example of her doing multiple hoops in her hoop reel.

Yes, she is that awesome!

We started off a circus warm up drill that I’ve probably have written about before, but as a reminder, it an exercise that starts at the top of your body and you work your way down.  Here’s a great video by Kristin McQuillen, who is also Jenny’s sister, that explains and demonstrates how to do it.

It’s a pretty hardcore workout.  Give it a try.

Then we worked with hooping with two hoops at the waist, and then Jenny added a third for each of us.  We did multiple (haha) exercises with that, and worked with placing a second hoop on different parts of the body while maintaining one at the waist.

Now you see why hurt even as I write this.  It’s not as bad as it was when I woke up, but my abs are gently reminding me of the workout I got last night.  And, it reminds me that I’m out of shape.  Oi.

I recommend checking out circus style hooping if you need to try something different in your hooping life.  Core hooping is the base of what we do, anyway, and circus style hooping seems to be a great way of exploring the multiple (tee hee) ways and variations of how that can be done.

Now, go do those drills!