Side Stitch
I've been walking around with an ache in my side for a few days now. It isn't troubling me, it's just a little mysterious.
Then it dawned on me: I hurt myself trying to hula-hoop.
Okay. So what's the deal with this? My daughter got a newfangled "wave" hoop that has water in it, and it totally prevents me from getting the right momentum to hula. Do they make the regular ones anymore? And could I even hula with one of those? Why is this not like riding a bike...one of those things you never lose once you master it? It's not like my hips aren't capable of holding the thing up.
Somewhere in a photo album buried at my mom's house is a photo of my aunt, cigarette in one hand, drink in the other, in an exaggerated, hip thrust to the side pose, hula hoop a blurred circle. Now, I'll never be a smoker. I don't really care about managing a drink while hula-hooping. But by Gods, I will have a photo to show my embarassed grandchildren of the grownup me hula hooping like it ain't no big thang.
Which, of course, means that I have to learn how to do it again. You know what else I can't do anymore? That thing where you put the hoop around one ankle and swing the attached ball-n-chain around, leaping over it in a skipping motion. My daughter also got one of those, and I nearly keeled over trying to demonstrate it. (She got it on the first try.) In my defense, some brain trust added three foot long streamers by the ball, and my leg kept getting tangled.
Hula-hooping, combined with my lofty goal to swing all the way across the monkey bars at the playground (hand blisters are sexy, right?)sounds like a good workout to me. Now I just have to find a hula hoop that isn't filled with water, and a ball thing without streamers.
Comments
You Can Do It!!!
I believe in you Jenny :)
Posted by: Lindsey | April 21, 2005 7:56 AM
i bought a couple jump ropes thinking it would be a fun thing for me and the boy to do... and get me some exercise in the process. boy golly, i can't do it anymore! i keep tripping over the rope and if i do get any momentum going, it made me have to pee.
i guess those things are best left in childhood.
Posted by: monique | April 21, 2005 8:04 AM
I could never do any hula hoop tricks, but I can keep it going quite awhile. I made the mistake of confessing this to my daughter's teacher when she was in first grade, and got put on the spot at Field Day. They had much smaller hula hoops, and I could NOT keep that thing moving. But perhaps today I will go out and try our normal sized one--no water!
Posted by: Bluegrass Mama | April 21, 2005 8:29 AM
You should see me try and jump rope.
On second thought, maybe not. It is not a sight for the faint of heart.
My son asked me yesterday how to play hopscotch, and I drew a blank on how to explain it. You just do it.
Posted by: ben | April 21, 2005 8:30 AM
get a weighted hula hoop. google sports hoop. They are about $30 and come in a 3-5 lb weight. They are an awesome workout, burn a crap load of calories and are way easier to keep up due to the added weight.
Posted by: steph | April 21, 2005 8:35 AM
I haven't hula'd since I was... err 8? I guess its really not a guy thing anymore.
Posted by: Tim Pintsch | April 21, 2005 11:37 AM
I can't hula anymore either and used to be really good at it. In my case I think it has to do with the additional poundage added to my body, that keeps me from doing those childhood activities. Just a theory.
Posted by: Jazzy | April 21, 2005 11:46 AM
I used to be so good at hula-hooping...one around the neck, one around the waist & one around the foot...now, I can't remember how to move my hips the right way...and perhaps my waist is a tad bigger than it was back in the day. :)
Posted by: aka_monty | April 21, 2005 12:19 PM
I'll bring my camera!
Posted by: lu | April 21, 2005 12:33 PM
I can't hula anymore, either. I don't know where that knowledge goes. I tried teaching my daughter how to summer sault the other day, and the sight made Hubby snort Coke out his nose. Turns out I can't do THAT, either.
Posted by: Tammy/averagemom | April 21, 2005 2:15 PM
Try a cheapy $1 store. How do I know? We have 5 of the silly plastic rings in the garage. Well really 4 because Kyle tossed his up in the air and it's caught on a tree branch 20 feet up. I'm waiting on a tornado to blow it out.
Somewhere along the line the ability to hula hoop must have gotten erased in our brains to make room for directions to the nearest emergency room.
Posted by: Katie | April 21, 2005 5:00 PM
They have hula hoops with water in them? YIKES! I can't seem to remember how to do that either. And I remember the strange aches that followed my attempt. Took me a while to figure it out as well. Getting old is hell!
Posted by: buffi | April 21, 2005 9:03 PM
Well just found out I can’t Hula either! I went over to my neighbors across the street (they have young kids) and asked for a hoop. I can’t do it. And to make matters worse, Brandi, their young mother, (she is 23) could do it. GRRRRR I wanted to slap her. She kept saying, “Swing your hips more.” Well if I could have done that I wouldn’t have needed instruction! Hula Hoops are stupid!
Posted by: The Staff Sergeant's Wife | April 21, 2005 9:04 PM
I used to be a champion hula hooper when I was a kid, I won an endurance competition once. I tried to do it years later and the damn thing kept on ending up round my ankles. I think it was due to the new ones being plastic and therefore not heavy enough, the ones we used when I was a kiddy were wooden, much easier to get the momentum going.
Maybe I'll see if I can get one of those sports ones someone mentioned up there.
Posted by: Kitty | April 22, 2005 6:48 AM
Like I tell Pat (co-worker) every single day at work. You're not a kid anymore. You're gonna hurt yourself. So what happened to him two weeks ago? He was playing around on the floor trying to do shit he used to do when he was a kid. He ended up with a slipped disc and tons of pain.
Yes I did tell him I told you so. He deserved it.
Posted by: Big Gay Sam | April 22, 2005 10:02 AM
There is a way to practice that you know.......
What?
I'm a man I'm on track to meet my quota for the day.
Posted by: Genuine | April 22, 2005 11:02 AM
Ahh, sidelined with the old hula hoop injury...on a very special ER ;-)
Posted by: Chris | April 22, 2005 4:04 PM
I lost 40 pound went from size 18 to 6 with a water weighted hoop. could never hoop before trying these. I still do it every day and its been two years now.
Posted by: playhoop2004 | June 6, 2005 3:33 PM
They (heavy hoop) make the original and best quality weighted hoop, by fitness trainer and creator Wendy Iverson
Posted by: betty | July 20, 2005 4:36 PM
you should check out
www.hooping.org
they have instructions on how to make good hoops
Posted by: jane | May 16, 2006 3:20 AM
After MANY years (my childhood - I am now 62), I decided to get a hula hoop to work off some extra pounds around my waist. I got a water filled one. Someone told me this is easier. Easier? either I forgot how or this thing is worthless. Are they different? If so, someone PLEASE tell me and how to work the thing. Thank you so much.
Posted by: Carol | March 10, 2007 2:49 PM
Doesn't anyone think that hula-hooping is a little asinine? Seriously - you people are keeping up a thread about hula-hooping, sharing your hooping hopes and dreams... Hula-hooping, for heaven's sakes, really? Is the unemployment rate really that high now?
Posted by: Sylvia | June 16, 2009 6:22 PM