DEL.ICIO.USMY FAVORITE WORKOUT: JAMES ABELE
High on hula: Atlanta in the loop of the latest exercise trend
For The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Monday, March 23, 2009
When James Abele tells people he enjoys hooping, they often respond with, “Isn’t that for kids?” or “Isn’t that for girls?”
JESSICA MCGOWAN / jmcgowan@ajc.com
Lara Eastburn gives tips on hooping it high during the class she teaches at Jai Shanti Yoga.
JESSICA MCGOWAN / jmcgowan@ajc.com
James Abele (center) practices hooping with his legs during a hooping class at Jai Shanti Yoga.
JESSICA MCGOWAN / jmcgowan@ajc.com
Hoopers James Abele and Cara Morantz participate in hooping class. Hooping has evolved from a kids’ activity with a plastic Hula Hoop to an intense cardio workout.
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But Abele, an Internet consultant who lives in Little Five Points, says, “Unless you’ve seen people doing this it’s hard to imagine. It’s not just back and forth across your waist.”
And while Abele and others in Atlanta’s hooping community — yes, there’s a whole community — do indeed hoop around their waists, they also hoop around their arms, legs, torsos, heads, wrists and feet. And these hooping enthusiasts aren’t messing around with plastic, pink Hula Hoops. They use bigger, heavier hoops made out of irrigation tubing that are much easier to rotate around the body.
Hooping is back
According to hooping.org, an online magazine, the hoop is experiencing a resurgence. The magazine gives some credit to the band the String Cheese Incident for tossing hoops out to fans during concerts in the mid-1990s.
But now the hoop has gone beyond just a concert prop; people are incorporating it into their exercise routines. Celebrities like Marisa Tomei, who used it to get in shape for her role in “The Wrestler,” thank the hoop for their fabulous bodies. And Wii Fit has a hooping game.
The trend seems to be spreading from west to east, starting with California and in recent years, here in Georgia.
Lara Eastburn of Midtown discovered hooping at a music festival in Louisiana back in 2002. “I’ve never been a dancer. I was embarrassed to dance in public,” she says. But when she saw a hoop lying in the grass, she says she thought she could dance without technically dancing. “I had so much fun that I hooped for 12 hours straight.”
After returning to Atlanta she decided to make her own hoop. “I finally figured it out and I must have hooped four hours a day for a year.” In fact, she loved hooping and making hoops so much that she and a friend decided to start their own hoop-making company, Superhooper.org.
Healthy hooping
Eastburn also teaches hoop dance classes at Jai Shanti Yoga in Candler Park. Abele became one of her hooping students about a year and a half ago. He says that taking one of Eastburn’s classes is similar to going to a dance club and not leaving the dance floor for an hour.
But is it a workout? “Oh God, yes,” says Eastburn. “You’re jumping, moving your arms; there’s not a body part that you don’t use.”
Abele says, “The reason I like it as a workout is I don’t feel like I’m working out; I feel like I’m having fun listening to music. I get my heart rate up and, ‘oh, wow, I get some exercise.’ “
And besides the cardio benefits, both Abele and Eastburn say that hooping allows them to meditate. “It’s very much about flow and it makes you focus on the present moment, not thinking about problems at home or what happened yesterday that didn’t go right,” says Abele.
“A lot of people, including myself, find it amazing for depression,” says Eastburn. “I actually started hooping in the middle of a break-up.”
Eastburn insists that absolutely anybody can hoop — even those with no coordination.
“Most people will say, especially adults, ‘Oh, I can’t hoop.’ They’re thinking of children’s hoops. I can’t hoop with one of those things either. But the way that these things are weighted and built, I’ve never seen anybody pick one up and not be able to do it.”
She invites new hoopers to attend her “Hooping for Beginners” class. Eastburn has hoops you can borrow, so you can easily give it a try — whether you need some exercise, relaxation or just a pick-me-up.
“It changes a bad mood in seconds,” says Eastburn. “There’s no way to hoop without smiling.”
HOOPING HELP
Want to start dancing in circles? Here are a few ideas:
www.superhooper.org is based in Atlanta and sells hoops and offers classes. Classes are $12, and hoops start at $38.
www.hooping.org has instructions, videos and links to local hooping groups.
At www.hoopnotica.com, you can order an instructional hooping DVD
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