"Hoopnotica: Find Youself in The Hoop": Review

As many of you know, I have been on an attempted health-kick lately. I read in a magazine recently that a lot of celebs have been using the "Hoopnotica" workout to slim and trim their waistlines. When I read this, I had to go check it out myself. As an avid "hooper" in the 80's and early 90's, I figured this might be a workout for me. Here's my take so far...

General Info:

Where to purchase: Hoopnotica.com (I really wasn't able to find any used ones on eBay or anything, or I would have done that! Although, it's easy to find additional DVD's for Hoopnotica on eBay, Amazon, etc...)

Price: about $50 for the starter set (plus shipping - bummer!) You can buy just a hoop or instructional DVD (but what's the point?) for less, but a starter set is the best deal. I purchased the "NEW & IMPROVED Hoopnotica Fitness Travel Hoop" and added a Level 1 DVD for about $67 with shipping.

What is it? You get a hoop (choose between travel hoop that breaks apart, and regular) and an instructional DVD. The point is to learn how to "Hoop Dance". The DVD breaks down the basics of "Hoop Dancing" and then show combinations at the end. There is also a stretch / warm up section at the beginning, as well. (of course I skip that ... but that's just how I am!)

My Review:

The hoop arrived in about a week (but July 4th was in there, so it should have been less!) via UPS. The packaging for the hoop was very pretty (the box that is .... it doesn't really matter ... but it's pretty!)

The travel hoop is super easy to snap together and apart. I choose the travel hoop because I could travel with it (duh!) and so it would fit in a smaller sized box when I decided to hock it on eBay after getting frustrated and sick of it (honestly, that did factor into the equation!) The hoop is larger and heavier than the one you had in your garage middle school, and the website claims that using a toy hoop would not result in the same benefits as this 'special' hoop.

I was excited to get started, so I chose the "getting started" menu selection. There is a warm up {skip} and then they start into the basics of hooping. It gets harder as you progress from 'waist hooping', to 'hip hooping', 'passing and floating', 'halos', etc...

Moment of Truth:

This is hard!! Not so much hard in the sense of cardio strengthening, but difficult in general. IF I had not already been pretty decent at waist hooping, I would have given up on this immediately and pawned it on eBay. HOWEVER, since I had already mastered that first skill, it gave me the patience to go further. Each skill has taken me about 20-30 minutes to even get, and I still haven't mastered them yet.

I think if I keep working at it 3-4 times per week for about 20 minutes, I'll eventually be able to do all the moves on the "Beginner's" DVD that I bought with the hoop. For some reason, I am truly motivated to get this thing down. Not only does it work the waist , but it looks pretty and impressive when you're doing it!

Bottom Line:

If you do not know how to hula-hoop at all, I would not buy this. If you have a dance background and can hula-hoop, this is a fun addition to your regular, boring workout. Are you going to shed like 10 pounds a week? NO. Maybe once you are a super expert... so if I ever get to that point, maybe I'll come back and re-review.

I'm going to keep working at it. Right now, I use the Hoopnotica routine and practice time as a warm-up before I do my cardio dance DVD or the elliptical. There is a huge sense of accomplishment when you are finally able to complete a difficult move... so it can be fun and rewarding .... but also frustrating!