Hula hooping every day provides a world of benefits to your mind and body. It’s a fun, effective workout. Its growing popularity, especially among plus size folks, has empowered countless individuals on their fitness journeys.
I’m not going to give you general information today about the benefits of hula hooping. If you want that, take a stroll around our website, and you’ll find a world of information.
No. Today, I’m going to tell you what happened to me personally when I started hula hooping every day.
I’m Teresa, your humble hoopmaker at Ruby Hooping. Read on to hear my story: what happens to your body when you hula hoop every day?
As I write this, my hoops are leaning against the wall in my dining room. Inviting me. It’s been a beautiful few days; it’s early March and spring is starting to bloom.
It’s also 2025. Every time I pick up my phone, something worrisome pops up. The world is heavy right now.
My thoughts keep drifting back to hooping outside, with a pretty breeze and warm sunshine. I pick up my phone in my spare moments. There I am again, feeling the weight of the world.
I catch a glimpse of my hoops and I know that’s where I want to go.
Today, I will move my body with intention. I will break free of the clutter that’s holding my mind back. Today, I will step into my hoop, and into the space I choose.
Hooping Unlocks Stronger Mental Health and Releases Stress
Hooping can be your new happy place, too. It’s the opposite of being dragged down by doomscrolling. Lift yourself up; let hooping focus your thoughts. It’s you and the hoop. Your body movements and your mind pulsing together. Your thoughts can’t run too far from what your body is experiencing, can’t get lost chasing the rabbit holes of stress or daily life. Likewise, your body is occupied, challenged, working to stay in motion.
While you’re hooping, there’s less temptation to reach for a phone, open an app, check your messages. Your peripheral senses are tuned into your surroundings, the music, the breeze, the other people and animals in your space, but your mind and body are yours, centered. As you continue, those exercise endorphins kick in and you start to feel amazing!
Hooping days, no matter what else happened in daily life, are good days.
Getting Started Hooping: Overcoming Fear
When I first started learning about hula hooping, I really wasn’t sure about it. About me. My hoop, a teal and black beginner hoop, was sparkling and beautiful. A large, weighted hula hoop circle that I wanted to use! Honestly, I struggled to feel confident, doubted my ability to start a new exercise, to learn new skills. As a plus sized person, I had a long history of talking myself out of things that I, and society, deemed “for” skinny people. Would I fail at this too? Spoiler alert: daily hooping made amazing things happen for my body!
Want to experience the benefits of hooping for yourself?
Take my free Hoop Finder Quiz and I’ll help you choose the best hula hoop for your body, goals, and experience level.
Motivation to Commit to Exercise Hooping
I trusted that there was something to exercise hula hooping. I had read testimonials, and seen plus size people thriving in the Ruby Hooping community. Watching their videos, I felt like, “hey if their plus size exercises can move and flow so beautifully, maybe I can too…”
I decided to start hooping every day. Have a true go at hooping for fitness. At first, it was about thirty sweaty minutes at a time. I was out of shape, and got winded easily. The hoop crashed down again and again. Rather than feeling frustrated though, curiously, I started to feel… excited? I started to have a DRIVE to keep that damn hoop up. Each day that I picked it up, I found it to be easier and easier. My body was starting to remember how to move with the hoop, and it was really fun!
One of the biggest mistakes beginners make is starting with the wrong hoop size.
Not sure which hoop is right for you?
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Unlike other types of exercise, it’s easy to be motivated to exercise hula hoop. It’s so fun, and actually something you will want to keep doing.
Hula Hooping Connects You with Friends and Family
My kids, I have two sons, watched me. “Mommy can I do it too?” Uh no, my hoop is custom sized specifically for my plus size adult body, with a 50 inch diameter. It was definitely not going to work for them. I decided to get them child sized hoops. Now, I had my kids egging me on to keep going. Begging to all get out our hoops for our daily exercise routine. Turns out, it’s so fun to hoop with other people! Even small ones! They could’ve just hooped alone, but they didn’t want to- they wanted to hoop with me. Hooping became something we would do together. Hooping became something I could do for myself in my time alone too.
Soon, friends started noticing my hoops when they came over, and wondering about them. “Does exercise hula hooping actually work?” or “I haven’t hooped since I was a child, can I even do that?” Hula hooping is a great conversation starter! People are always curious when they find out that hula hooping is amazing exercise for adults. Next thing you know, your friends will be starting their fitness hula hooping journeys too.
My Body Started to Tone and My Cardiovascular Health Improved
Once I started hooping almost every day, I noticed some changes in my stamina. I wasn’t getting winded as quickly as I had before. This was true while hooping, but also true when I was on a walk, going up stairs or chasing after my sons. My heart health improved through regular hula hoop exercising.
Hula Hooping is a true cardio workout! You target muscles throughout your body to keep the hoop moving. You may not be wiggling your eyebrows while you hoop, but head to toe, from ab muscles to calves, you’re working hard and doing exercise to build muscle. In order to keep the hoop up, you’re targeting and engaging core muscles. Your arms and legs help you keep your balance, tightening and toning along the way.
With all that sustained movement, you’re burning calories. For me, the pounds started to fall off. After about three months, people in my life started to notice. I was googling things like “how to firm up loose skin after weight loss” and “what does 20 pounds of fat look like?” I’m pleasantly surprised at the way hula hooping has started to transform my body!
Want to make cardio fun? Try our weighted exercise hula hoops for an effective, enjoyable weight loss workout!
Hooping Adapts to Your Low Impact Needs
I had an injury several months back. It involved going to many physical therapy appointments aimed at strengthening my weakened and healing muscles. I was bummed, would this mean I couldn’t hoop? I soon found out that hooping is completely adaptable. My hoop was useful in my PT exercise practice at home. I could adapt hooping to be gentle on the areas that were more tender (always check with your doctor before starting a new exercise routine!). Simply sitting inside my hoop and taking some deep breaths, would make me more present. In short, having an established hula hooping exercise routine that I loved, that I could adapt to my changing needs, helped unlock my healing.
Hooping Boosts Confidence and Self Image
Before hooping, I was quick to limit myself. I’d think, “I’d better not embarrass myself in front of strangers,” or “I couldn’t possibly do that exercise as well as they could.” Now, I can flip that hooping confidence switch on. I know my body can overcome challenges. I know I can stick with a new workout routine. My success with hooping has taught me that I’m capable of so much more than I thought I could be!
Countless hoopers have found their confidence through exercise hula hooping every day.
Taking the Six Week Beginner Challenge for All Bodies
The next step in my journey is that I am taking Mama Ruby’s Six Week Beginner Challenge! I know I’ll love it because literally thousands of people have already taken it, and I’ve seen the results in our Ruby Hooping community! In the course, Lindsay, aka Mama Ruby, teaches dozens of movements, tricks, and how to use a hula hoop to find your “flow.” It has everything a beginner needs to get started, in easy, online lessons you can do at your own pace. The best part is, the lessons can be watched again and again. I know I’ll continue to see results and grow my skill set, just like so many other plus size hoopers have.
The truth is, hula hooping has brought countless benefits to my life. I know it can bring you amazing results too.
Ready to discover what hula hooping can do for you?
Take the free Hoop Finder Quiz and I’ll personally recommend the best place for you to start.
Whether your goal is weight loss, stress relief, fitness, or simply having more fun moving your body, we’ll help you find the right hoop.
