Barack Obama has made no secret of his love for shooting hoops, but you may be surprised to learn that Michelle Obama is apparently more comfortable spinning them. She was photographed at her daughter Malia’s birthday picnic last year showing off a few tricks.
Although a transition aide asserted that it’s not something the soon-to-be first lady does regularly, she did allow that Michelle Obama is quite adept with a hoop. “She can walk and stuff” while keeping the hoop rotating, our source divulged.
Word of her skills has the hooping community buzzing, particularly in Washington, D.C., where several instructors have been recently certified by Hoopnotica, a California-based group that has standardized ways to teach moves. And just about all hooping enthusiasts are waiting for that invitation to get together on the East Lawn.
“I’ve created this daily vision of me hooping with Michelle, Malia and Sasha,” said Jocelyn Gordon, a Washington, D.C., area yoga instructor who’s also a hoop enthusiast.
Hooping has transformed from the 1960s-era kids fad into adult-friendly hoop dance, a bona fide art form that requires fancy footwork while you swirl the prop on and off your body. Also key to its broader appeal: the introduction of heavier, larger hoops that are easier for grown bodies to keep in motion.
While hooping feels like silly fun, after a lengthy session you’ll know you’ve worked out. “You can do it on your arm, wrist, neck, shoulders, chest, ankles. Most people think it’s just the stomach, but it’s total body and requires incredible stamina,” promised Noelle Powers (www.hoopingpowers.com), who has taught hooping workshops at the White House Athletic Center under the Bush administration.
Just ask Tina Bauch (www.hoopurr.com), who teaches at the World Gym in Gainesville, Va., and credits the hours she has spent doing her new hobby with “lifting up areas that gravity pulls down.”
Martine Koissy, who teaches hooping at FemFit in Rockville, Md., was shocked to drop 8 pounds in eight weeks when she picked up the sport in 2006.
Koissy added another benefit of hooping. “You can hoop in a slow, meditative groove. It helps me with anxiety: If I’m stressed, I can hoop it off.”
And hooping can involve some complicated feats: walking with the hoop, turning, hooping on the hips (which requires a slightly different motion than abdomen hooping). Find detailed instructions at www.hooping.org.
But please be careful about where you’re spinning that thing, Powers warned. “I would shy away from hooping near important vases.” In most people’s houses, you might wreck the TV. At the White House, an errant hoop could cause global catastrophe.
Start swirling
Hope to hoop? These sites have instructional DVDs along with wider, heavier hoops meant for adult bodies, in regular and collapsible, travel-friendly models. Expecting? You may want to go a bit wider and lighter; hence, the new Hoopnotica Preg-O Pregnancy Hoop.
Hoopnotica: www.hoopnotica.com
HoopGirl: www.hoopgirl.com
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