You probably remember hula hooping as a kid, laughing in the backyard, not really thinking of it as exercise at all. Turns out that instinct was right, it is genuinely fun, but it’s also a real workout with real, measurable effects on your body.
Here’s what the science says hula hooping actually does, and why it might be worth more of your time than you think.
Note: if you have had a hoop laying around for a while and not quite sure where to start…you have come to the right place try these 10 hoop tricks for beginners
Or just get rightinto it with a core hoop workout
Hooping raises your heart rate more than you’d expect
The American Council on Exercise commissioned researchers at the University of Wisconsin, La Crosse to test hooping as a real fitness practice, not just a novelty. What they found: hooping raised participants’ heart rates to roughly 84% of predicted maximum, putting it ahead of advanced Pilates and power yoga for cardiovascular intensity. That’s a genuine cardio workout, not a warm up.
Check this out…this is what the study found
“At the conclusion of the test, researchers found hooping burns an average of 210 calories during a 30-minute hooping workout (approximately 420 calories per hour), which is comparable to the exertion of boot camp-style classes, step aerobics and cardio kickboxing.”
For calorie burn specifically, Mayo Clinic places hula hooping in the same category as other dance based aerobic activities like salsa, swing dancing, and belly dancing, with women burning roughly 165 calories and men roughly 200 calories over a 30 minute session on average. Do it consistently and that adds up the same way any cardio habit does.
It strengthens your core, and this one has a real clinical trial behind it
This is the strongest piece of evidence in the whole hooping conversation, and it doesn’t get talked about enough. Researchers at the University of Helsinki, led by Professor Hannele Yki Järvinen, ran a randomized controlled trial published in the journal Obesity Facts. Fifty five overweight adults were split into two groups: one hula hooped with a 1.5kg weighted hoop for six weeks, the other walked for an equivalent amount of energy expended. Then the groups switched.
The results: hooping for around 13 minutes a day reduced waist circumference by an average of 3 centimeters, with some participants losing up to 8 centimeters. Abdominal fat dropped and trunk muscle mass increased significantly, changes the walking group didn’t show to the same degree. This wasn’t a blog claim or a testimonial. It was a peer reviewed, randomized crossover trial.
Now I personally am in the hooping game for the love, the flow and the freedom that it offers but there are many different benefits for all.
A separate study published in the Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research, run by researchers at the University of Waterloo’s kinesiology department, found similar results: six weeks of weighted hula hooping produced measurable improvements in core muscular endurance and body composition.
The mechanism makes sense once you think about it. Every rotation forces your abs, obliques, and lower back to fire in coordination just to keep the hoop up. You’re not doing crunches, but your core is working the entire time you’re hooping, which is exactly why waist and trunk changes show up in the research.
It trains your balance and coordination
Keeping a hoop spinning requires constant small adjustments to your posture and weight distribution. That’s your proprioception at work, your body’s sense of where it is in space, and it’s a skill that genuinely improves with practice. This matters beyond hooping too. Better balance and body awareness carry over into daily movement and can help protect against falls and injury as you get older, which is part of why physical therapists and movement educators pay attention to it.
We love this! I am so grateful for my decades of hooping. I started when I was 30 years old and I truly credit my practice for helping me to recovery very quickly from a double mastectomy after my cancer diagnosis at the age of 49. Thank you hula hoops!
It’s genuinely good for your mood, and not just because it’s fun
Regular aerobic exercise is consistently linked to reduced stress, anxiety, and improved mood, this is well established across decades of exercise science, not specific to hooping. What hooping adds on top of that is the quality of attention it demands. To keep the hoop up, you have to be present with your body, right now, not thinking about your inbox or your to do list. That kind of focused, rhythmic movement is the same territory as what’s often called flow state, and a lot of long time hoopers describe exactly that feeling once they stop thinking about the trick and just move.
What this actually means if you’re starting out
You don’t need a weighted hoop to get started, though the research above happens to use one. A properly sized standard hoop still gets your heart rate up, still works your core, and still builds the same coordination. The weighted studies simply show what’s possible under controlled conditions, not a requirement to get real benefit.
What actually matters more than hoop weight is getting the size right for your body and giving yourself real time to build the skill, the same as any new form of movement. Here’s exactly how to find your right size.
If you’re ready to actually feel these benefits instead of just reading about them, start with the free 7 Day challenge, completely free, built for total beginners. Once you’ve got the basics, the 28 Day Hooper’s Starter Pack builds real strength and consistency over your first month.
The most fun thing is that there are so many ways to hoop. Here is just a taste for you…
Sources
- American Council on Exercise. ACE Reveals Findings on Hula Hooping Workouts. University of Wisconsin, La Crosse study on hooping’s cardiovascular and calorie burning effects.
- Lahelma, M., Sädevirta, S., Lallukka-Brück, S., et al. (2019). Effects of Weighted Hula-Hooping Compared to Walking on Abdominal Fat, Trunk Muscularity, and Metabolic Parameters in Overweight Subjects: A Randomized Controlled Study. Obesity Facts, 12(4), 385 to 396. University of Helsinki.
- Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research. A Six Week Trial of Hula Hooping Using a Weighted Hoop: Effects on Skinfold, Girths, Weight, and Torso Muscle Endurance. University of Waterloo, Department of Kinesiology.
- Healthline. Hula Hoop Benefits: 8 Reasons to Give Hooping a Try. Citing Mayo Clinic calorie comparison data.
