We Tried a Weighted Hula Hoop for 6 Weeks

My weighted hula hooper was the most surprising purchase I made from all the things TikTok suggested I buy. I was captivated by the claim of a Gen Z-er that it was her main exercise method and helped her tone her body.

A weighted hula-hoop was something I was drawn to, not only because it looked amazing but also because it was so much fun. The first was that I was still recovering from a minor injury to my hip from weight lifting and treadmill sprinting at the time I saw the video. The second was that I was scheduled for a nasal septum procedure in just a few days. This would have an impact on my fitness routine for at least one month. The weighted holla hoop seemed like an easy, low-impact option to increase my heartbeat during recovery. So, I immediately went to Amazon and hit “add to cart.”

About Weighted Hula Hopping:

I decided to take my TikTok fascination to Google to see if weighted hula hooping was legal. ActualBenefits of hula hooping were. To be honest, I was surprised at the amount of information available on the subject.

Many of us find the hula-hooping we grew to love a bit difficult. However, adding those extra pounds can help boost our aerobic health. If you’re not too familiar with what exactly that translates to, here’s the rundown: Known benefits of aerobic activity include a stronger, healthier heart, improved blood flow, lowered stress levels, and improved immunity. A strong case for hooping, if you ask me. A randomized controlled trial that took place in 2019 showed that the hula hooping group had higher core strength. This made my almost-impulsive weighted weighted hoops purchase completely worth it.

Arrival and assembly

It arrived and I had to put it together. It was quite a spectacle. Assembly took probably five minutes and, besides the near-tragic mishap that occurred when I didn’t fully lock one of the bendable poles into its adjacent piece (it slingshotted back at my face before I could even blink), I’d consider it fairly effortless to put together. After weeks of waiting, my weighted hoops were finally in my possession. I was eager for it to go for a spin. 

Though I would consider myself a prodigy hula hooper (I won a contest at a backyard barbecue in third grade, no big deal), I definitely had to reorient myself on how to use it–especially with the added two pounds that were likely going to throw me for a bit of a loop. Here are my unfiltered thoughts after six weeks of constantly turning to my weighted-hula hoop.

The Pros

This will increase your heart rate quickly. My usual hula-hooping routine involves hula hooping for six minutes clockwise, and six minutes counterclockwise. Within three minutes, I can feel my heart pumping at a speed of around 130 beats per minute. It is important to sweat.

Second, I was pleasantly surprised that this was a low-impact exercise that would get my heart pumping without ever leaving the house. It was easy to do from my living room, in whatever clothes I wanted, and it didn’t require any planning. 

The Cons

Like all things, there are downsides. I have not given up on my previous workout methods. The first being that, if you’re doing it for long enough, it can be boring as hell. Sure it’s fun for the first few minutes, but if you’re going to do it long enough to see any sort of results, you’ll have to commit more time to it than 12 minutes. And for me, that’s just about as much as my brain could take before I was ready to jump to the next activity. It was great to be able to choose a playlist that I like, watch TV, or listen to podcasts to pass the time.

Another big downside to hula hooping is that while you’re getting your heart rate up and activating your core, you’re missing out on opportunities to practice other functional movements. Sure, it’s good as a supplemental activity to get your heart rate up, but for the most part, your feet are staying in one place. I Do use hula hooping as an additional way to get some cardio in, but I don’t use it as an excuse to skip other full-body movements like stretching, yoga, or HIIT workouts.

The Final Verdict

Overall, I love my weighted hoops. It gives me the opportunity to have a little dance party for 12 minutes each day. It also helps me to get into aerobic activity to improve my heart health, immunity, stress reduction, and overall well-being. It was an easy, low-impact way to help me feel less couch potato and more active while in recovery. Now that I’m recovered, I use it as a tool to help me get moving on days where I’m feeling particularly unmotivated, as a way to make TV time more efficient, or as a warmup to other forms of working out like yoga, lifting, or running.

Can I live without my weighted hoops? Sure. But do I want to? Not particularly. I’ve bought plenty of less useful items under the influence of the TikTok, so this solid addition to my workout routine is a 10/10 in my book.