And now I have an excuse for my hot pink hula hoop that I bought last year...

Charlotte, over at the Great Fitness Experiment, never ceases to amaze me. Every month she and her "Gym Buddies" do a different "fitness experiment." This past month was their Great Hula Hooping Experiment. Awesome.

I've heard some amazing things about the health benefits of "hooping," such as toned abs and arms, greater stability, and everything good that happens when you incorporate cardio into your regular routine (stronger heart? better lungs? overall health?), and have been definitely meaning to check it out. It doesn't hurt that when I was a kid, I was pretty magnificent with a hula hoop (and no, I don't feel like 14 years of aging, a two foot height difference, and twice as much weight should have any significant impact on the very apparent natural talent I exuded as a child). In fact, you could say (probably inaccurately) that I was kind of a hula hoop child prodigy (am I overselling my expertise yet?), and I was kind of a big deal in the hula hoop community (or more accurately, I once entered a contest at my country club's Fourth of July barbecue, and came in second place, behind my sister).

So of course, given my obvious prowess with a hoop, it is only natural that I would want to pick up this activity again as an adult. I actually got so excited about this potential new workout, that on a semi-recent late-night Walmart run, I ended up walking up and down the toy aisle hula hooping for quite some time. What I found that night, though, is that Walmart does not carry hula hoops meant for adults. I found the largest hoop I could (which granted, worked pretty well... I mean, the only reason it eventually fell was because Teddy Westside started hitting wiffleballs at me), but it wasn't nearly large enough or sturdy enough for most of the activities and moves that I'd read about in my magazines. Fortunately, when Charlotte and her "Gym Buddies" started this experiment at the beginning of the month, she dedicated an entire post to making your own hula hoop (and as we all know, I am a sucker for craft opportunities).

I'm thinking of actually turning this into an entire nostalgia-themed workout. Hannah has a skip-it. We all have jumpropes. All we need are some roller skates (preferably with Barbie on the side to emulate my old roller skates - shown on the left), and we'll be ready to go!

What other childhood activities would make a great workout? Do you think Kirsten would notice if I stole her light up hula hoop? How many times could you skip it?


Note: you really should go look at Charlotte's post on hula hooping (link above). It has some awesome pictures and a fantastic video of their hula hoop routine.