I'm finally publishing this blog post I wrote *almost* one year ago.. Update - I have taped the sum total of ONE more hoop since...

This week I decided to retape one of my (many) old and battered class hoops. You know the ones.. the grip tape, once gloriously bright and exciting is now, well, universally dull brown with scuffs and encrusted with a varying amount of hall floor mixed with the sweat of many tricks learned. They are either scuffed or have peeled revealing the blue pipe below or the once helpful grip tape has become so shiny with use that it might as well be untaped. And, let’s be honest, they have a certain smell that you can’t quite put your finger on. They are the unathletic, unpopular kid waiting in vain to be picked for the team (I speak from experience).
I didn’t make this hoop. I’ve made *one* hoop since I started my hoop journey.. an ‘LED’ hoop to use for a group gig a few months after I started hooping.. 25mm MDPE pipe taped with grip and the most fragile of all tapes – photoluminescent – which broke every few turns and made me cry with the level of difficulty I hadn’t forseen, holes drilled by my dutiful boyfriend for little red LEDs to poke through. It was no Atomic Evoke. My class hoops I have either inherited from my time teaching for Emma of Hooping Mad, I’ve bought new from hoop making friends or bought second hand batches.

Why don’t I make hoops I hear you ask? Simply, I am equal parts impatient and busy. Add to that my recent downsize from a three storey house to a two bed and the fact that my entire family have developed a hatred of hula hoops from tripping over them in the hallway, finding them in their bedroom or sitting underneath them in the car.. I don’t think I’d have a strong case for adding coils of pipe to the already shaky camel’s back that is our living environment.

Back to the hoop I retaped this week. I had ordered 2 rolls of grip tape from the fabulous Sue at Fancy Tapes. The hoop in question had a coil of purple and a coil of *I have no idea what to call this colour’. When stripping the unknown coloured tape I discovered two things: 1) It used to be UV pink 2) There was no way I was peeling both tapes off the hoop.. the purple was staying. It took me a painful 45 minutes to peel and retape one swirl of tape from the hoop. I felt pleased that I had done it but also incredibly glad that there are only two others in my batch in need of the same treatment. It also made me think about the hoop makers. The ones that do this professionally. I had a newfound respect and gratitude for them. Why?

Aside from having to learn their craft, buy in bulk, store pipe of different widths, buy and store all the tools and tapes, measure and cut, create connectors, and tape the new addition to your collection or.. *gasp* your very significant and much awaited first hoop? How long must it take from having a conversation with a potential buyer that isn’t sure whether they like ‘Unicorn Golden Shower’ or ‘Tears of a Leprechaun’ holographic tape and then if the teal grip tape will go with their outfit or if they should go for powder blue to match the sadness in their eyes. How long does it take to argue with the post office because they just changed their parcel rates and it doesn’t fit through the plastic mock letterbox?
Think of the investment of hard earned money into equipment, storage, websites, computers, the need to eat and live somewhere.. and then the hourly rate. And then think of your brand new beautiful hoop that makes your heart dance and other hoopers go ‘OOoooOOOOOOoooOHHHHHHHHHHHHhhhhhh’.

Guys. These people don’t do it for the money. Value the hoop makers. They are angels who walk amongst us.
 
Let's hear from a hoop maker:

Debby Earle (Debby Trubble) runs Hulala Hoopers and lives with her two children in Wiltshire.

“For a beginners hoop it takes me about half an hour to tape, and 10mins to measure cut and connect, and three years of making hundreds to get to be that quick. In the beginning it took me about an hour or an hour and a half. The most expensive hoops I sell are reflective colour change, the reflective tape is the hardest tape to work with, thick like the glow one you mentioned, breaks easy and has absolutely no flexibility to it. That's then taped with a colour changing one which is almost as much of a bitch to use and then clear protective tape. I like to make all three tapes overlay each other exactly so the finish is neater, those take me about three hours from start to finish. I have cried over reflective hoops before and often wondered what the hell I am doing! It took me 6 months to build my website. (And I'm still constantly adding things!) Then you've got the costs of buying a camera to photograph things and a drill, rivet gun, pipe cutters, and all the other tools you need. I do love making hoops though, and making them is making a piece of art, when they come out perfect it's all worth it.

I probably spend about 4 hours a week talking to people about what hoop they should choose and what size they need, before my website was live it was probably double that! I have pretty much invested my whole life and all my savings into hooping and hoop making. I don't regret it one bit. I love hooping and the more new people I make hoops for the more I feel my choice was the right one."

Website: hulalahoopers.com 

For legal (and friendship) reasons, other hoop makers are available ;)
If you're Bristol local and after a hoop you could try posting in Bristol Hula Hoop Sales on Facebook

I'm proud of this photo for a few reasons.. and possibly not the ones you'd think.

Firstly, this photo was taken by a Totterdown hoop student, who has been coming to class, along with her Mum, since I started teaching years ago. They were a great addition to the class and still are - their ability to laugh at themselves and inject humour whilst hooping in their own unique styles is exactly what I love about teaching. I've gained two good friends in Maria and Serena Tottle. I've seen Serena grow up into a fantastic self-assured and utterly hilarious woman who's now studying Photography at Bath University.

Secondly, I can look at this photo and see my smile, my lit up face first and foremost, rather than lingering on the size 18 body that's crept up on me in my later years. I am happy that I can view this photo as someone who, at this captured moment in time, truly Gives No F***s.

The genuinely relaxed and smiling woman you see before you is a product of a great photographer who I felt completely at ease with and a self acceptance that's at times been hard won.

Thirdly, I am proud to be associated with the 'This Girl Can' campaign.. A campaign that has broken down long standing barriers to women and girls exercising and delivered results. Sport England aim to help identify and break down these barriers.. and I think hoop ticks a lot of boxes towards this.

If you haven't watched the This Girl Can campaign video, or it's been a while.. take a minute and a half for yourself now. Why not try out the app and create yourself a This Girl Can poster complete with slogans like 'I jiggle, therefore I am' or 'Damn right I look hot'? Try and look past what you perceive as your imperfections. I dare you.

Check out the Bristol Girls Can Facebook page for more inspiration.

Right, I'm off to jiggle ;)

Bristol Girls Can
8 August at 09:34 · ‪#‎BristolGirlsCan‬-Cat’s Story
I first started hula hooping in 2009. Having been completely unable to do it as a child, I had my doubts but I saw a friend with a hoop and she assured me that it was much easier with the modern day dance hoops. I still remember how it felt when I first pushed the hoop around my waist and it kept going! If someone had snapshotted it, it would have been a photo combination of disbelief and total joy rolled into one. ‘Wait, I can do this?! -‘YES!’

Every now and then, I wonder about how I am still hooping 7 years later. I’ve always been one for taking up something but not carrying it on. For me, hooping is a kind of ‘stealth’ exercise – I enjoy it so much that it doesn’t feel like I’m exercising. Maybe that’s because I had always associated exercise with being unpleasant or unachievable - running has never been my thing and don’t even get me started on those aerobics classes where I seemed to just flail around in a confused, uncoordinated mess!

For me, hooping has so many benefits other than physical fitness. I LOVE the hoop community – I feel as if I gel with everyone – that somehow although we’re all pretty diverse in background, we get on because we share a common passion. It’s such a supportive network and I have made some lifelong friends. I have found better self-acceptance and confidence through hooping.

Hooping can turn around a bad day – true fact! Occasionally, after the day job, I feel exhausted and the last thing I want to do is to go and teach two hours of hoop classes. Within minutes of starting, I’m grinning like a fool and by the end of the night I am so energised I don’t want to go to bed! I completely love helping other people to find their potential. Learning new hoop moves gives you an amazing sense of achievement. I love, and fully encourage, creativity and expression within hoop dance.. I guess the lack of rules and scope for doing your own thing is something that really appeals to me. There is nothing better than putting on your favourite tracks or hearing an awesome tune playing at a festival and being able to grab a hoop and let go of everything – who you are, who you think you should be, how you look, you know, all the pressures that we carry just spin off into nothing, where they belong.
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If you’d like to find more about what I do, take a look at my website www.cathoops.co.uk,
find me on Facebook www.facebook.com/hulahoopbristol 
and Twitter @cathoopsbristol 

I run 6 week blocks of classes on a Thursday evening, in Totterdown, Bristol. Keep an eye out on my Facebook page and website for special events, workshops and taster sessions.
You could also join the Bristol Hoopers Facebook page for local news and the Bristol Hula Hoop Sales group for .. yes.. buying hula hoops!
‪#‎ThisGirlCan‬ ‪#‎Hooping‬ ‪#‎Fun‬

... is not necessarily a true statement when it comes to hula hoops.

If you Google 'What is the right size hula hoop for me?', you will find a multitude of posts and videos attempting to answer this common question. I know - I just did exactly that. The problem is that the answer very much depends upon your body shape, what you want to do with said hoop and what country you live in (really).

What is my hard and fast rule?

Not those bumpy ones. Ever. No. These are sold for 'fitness' purposes. I haven't seen the science, but I have seen the bruising. Similarly, if you buy a tiny, light as a feather hoop off the shelf in the toy section, you are setting yourself up to fail.. Bigger IS better when it comes to beginner's hoops.

So, where do we start?

Here in the UK, we commonly tend to refer to the type of material used (you will fast become an expert in plastic science) and combine this with the diameter of the tubing in millimetres and the diameter of the circle (hoop) in inches. Because we like to make things complicated for ourselves. Worry not, you will soon become fluent in this mixed metric / imperial way of doing things. Step across the pond to the U.S. and they sensibly adopt an inches policy for both measurements. My head cannot cope with this level of advanced logic.

I'm guessing that if you are reading this blog post, you are fairly new to hooping. (I am also going to assume that you are an adult).

When we first start hooping, we tend to learn 'on-body' and 'off-body' (hands, feet etc) moves. Rarely do we free-flow between. I learnt with the same hula hoop for on and off body - a big heavy dance hoop. Nowadays, when I teach, I swap between heavy hoops for on body and lighter, smaller hoops for off body. This is purely because I like to hurt my students as little as possible and spending long periods of time on delicate appendages such as hands can bruise, in the beginning. It also means that injuries from fellow classmates accidentally throwing their hoop at each other are minimised (I once got a large, heavy hoop thrown at my nose by a fellow classmate learning a lift..she apologised, but our relationship never blossomed) . People may argue that separating on and off body and swapping between hula hoops prevents fluidity. I say, fluidity will come - let's maximise chance of success at the beginning and minimise chance of injury.

In a nutshell, what do I recommend as a starter hoop?

"What thickness should my hoop be?"
Get yourself a 25mm MDPE hoop, taped with some grip tape (in addition to any shiny tapes).

"What diameter should my hoop be?"
The commonly used rule of thumb is that the hoop should reach from floor to tummy button. However, this totally depends upon you -  how you are put together and how you move - no-one can tell this via email.

"So how am I supposed to know if you don't know?!"
If you are going to a hoop class, they should have plenty of different sized hoops for you to try / use. Make sure you try a few different sizes and ASK YOUR HOOP TEACHER WHAT THEY RECOMMEND. They will have spent time watching you hoop and are best placed to advise you. If you aren't in class, try friend's hoops, or rely on the floor to belly button rule. Go bigger, rather than smaller, especially if you are carrying weight around the middle.

Tiny anecdote - I have never recommended a hoop smaller than a 36 inch diameter for a beginner (and only after I have watched them use different sizes) but as standard, I always recommend a 38 inch or larger diameter.

If people are keen on practising at home, I also recommend a lighter hoop for off body moves - the drive to practice indoors is strong.. In a recent poll, fixtures, fittings, ornaments, partners, children and pets replied that they prefer getting hit with smaller rather than larger hoops. (This may of course have been made up, because my *all the above* prefer it if I don't hoop inside, at all, ever.)

Last words: If you can only afford one hula hoop, buy one that you can hoop on body with. You can hoop off body with larger hoops, but at the beginning, on body hooping with a small light hoop is near impossible and it's easy to get disheartened.
​

So this should be enough information to send you merrily on your hoop journey! Hooray! 
​
Here also starts your journey into hoop collecting.. let me know how many YOU end up with!



More resources:

Deanne Love (U.S.A) talks about hoop size WATCH VIDEO

Lara Eastburn (U.S.A.) writes about hoop size READ BLOG

It's Friday, it's my first Cat Hoops blog post, I've only had one cup of tea and it's THE AFTERNOON, and I've had a challenging day, so I am hoping you will forgive any lack of finesse in my 'creative writing'.

In 2013, Zoe Pither and I taught a workshop at SWhoop in Bristol as our smutty alter egos Flo Ho and Dutty Trix.. less burlesque, more a fascination with school boy humour. 
Mileygate happened and we came up with the 'Miley' move.. combining angle hooping with Twerking (as much as our bottoms were able). We thought we were very original.
A YouTube search today returned a multitude of results for 'hoop twerk' in varying states of dress..  some of which made me worried the Vice Squad would be bursting through my door any second, some made me want to cry and some DID NOT contain any hula hoops at all. I now need a pot of Dr Stuart's Valerian tea and a tub of Ben and Jerry's to soothe my violated mind.

These ones are safe - don't make me look through any more.

Hoop Twerking: How to save the hoop (tutorial)
A video containing useful tips for beginner hoopers and a mild twerk reference towards the end.. 
Clothing rating: Full

Twerking Unicorn: 
Anah Hoopalicious throws grace and beauty aside to marry two words never before uttered together in a sentence.
Clothing rating: Full, some bare hooper toned midriff.

Hoop class shenanigans:
End of term class video from yours truly.. features me attempting the Miley from around 3.00 minutes.
Clothing rating: Very full.