How Many Calories Does Hula Hooping Burn?

A new Australian fitness magazine recently featured a slender young model holding a hula hoop, the caption states that a weighted hula hoop will allow a hooper to burn up to 418kJ (99 calories). My inquiring mind has always wanted to know if these figures are the facts. So today I did a test.

I used a 95cm, 20mm tubing, 450g hoop and a heart rate monitor to track calories burned in each session. Test 1: 10 minutes of relaxed waist hooping, no movement of the legs or arms. Test 2: 10 minutes of moderate hoop dance, moving the entire body and coiling the hoop up and down the torso. Test 3: 10 minutes of intense hoop dance action.

The results were interesting; I recorded them in this video.

The results are likely to vary based on age, weight and fitness level. For me the heart rate monitor showed that 10 minutes of relaxed waist hooping burned 27 calories, 10 minutes of moderate hoop dance burned 54 calories and 10 minutes of intense hoop dancing burned 82 calories. The results clearly prove that the more you move it the more you loose it! So pump up your favourite tunes, clear some space and work that hula hoop!