Remember them? The hula hoop you played with when you were a kid, twirling that hoop around your waist, seeing how long you could keep it from falling to the ground. Well, I do. And... I just purchased one for little old me, and let me tell you times have certainly changed. Now they come in different sizes (diameter), different weights, different this and that. Mine is green and yellow. I purchased it on Amazon.com from Canyon Hoops. https://www.canyonhoops.com/about-our-hoops/ Hooping is now used for fitness and I can see why! You work a lot of different muscle groups when spinning the hoop. The first time I used my new hula hoop, I was able to keep it up for four twists. Yeah, just four. But, after a few more tries, I reached a grand total of eleven twists. That's progress folks!
What a hoot! Hooping is so much fun, I can see where eventually I'll be putting on my headphones and listening to my iPod tunes while I spend time spinning. There really isn't much technique to being successful. Put the hoop on the floor, step into the middle of the hoop, put the hoop against your back, put one leg in front of the other if you desire and give it a twirl. Move your belly area either sidewise or back and forth. They say (whoever 'they are), right handers spin counter clockwise and lefties spin clockwise. I can see where that makes sense for me -- a right hander. At first I was leery of spinning inside the house, so I did it outside in my backyard, then progressed to the patio. Later on I tried it inside my large living room and that works very well! Happy Hooper Here!
I think, but am not certain, that the other craze of the same time frame, the "Slinky", may have come close in popularity to the Hula Hoop. Try as I might, I could never master either! Frank
There were only boys in my family so we didn't have any hula hoops. I did try them a few times in school, though. Around the same time were pogo sticks. Someone bought me one of them for Christmas one year, but I lived in a small town, where there were no sidewalks or even paved driveways. Most of the roads were gravel, so I never found a place to try out that pogo stick.
They came and went a couple of times, I remember my daughters had them, but I don't recall ever trying one, wouldn't attempt it now as I would probably fall over.
I never had one of my own, but I played with my friends' hula hoops or the ones we had in GYM at school...I was always good at using them I could keep them turning for ages ....but my back would break if I tried today..
@Ken Anderson as shown in pic boys also played with hula hoops. My brothers & their friends got creative using neck & arms.
I also had hula hoops as a child. A few years ago before my back problems started I bought one of those bigger, thicker ones from "Curves". It's still in my garage, I would be very afraid to try it now.
Hula hoops were sort of a girl thing, weren't they? Other than brief forays into it, none of the boys in my school did hula hoops, but a lot of the girls had them.
Maybe not back then but I see them now. When I was in Maui with my other grandsons years ago, they had a hula hoop contest for the kids at the resort and my grandson is GOOD!