My 100 Day Curriculum: A Self-Taught Hooping Course to Enhance Your Dance

Hoop for 100 Day Group on HOOPCITY.CA: 

http://www.hoopcity.ca/group/hoop-for-100-days-challenge
----------------------------------------------------------

I'm no savant and I confess to not being able to track 100 days in my head. So I am going to get out the calendar and write a  number a a checkbox to get me motivated and in it for the long haul. I think this calendar will help others if they are interested in a 100 day challenge as well. As a hooper I tried to remember all the lessons I learned from instructors and how I can blend the questions they helped me ask into a format where you can ask yourself the same questions!


Resuming my 100 day challenge:
I just searched the hula hoop archives on YouTube.com and it has me pretty motivated! I also want to make a "Watch me Lose Weight" variation with my hoopdancing. There are a few out there now and they are lovely to watch and I'd love for my results to motivate people too. Pending I get results! haha... I did last time so I know I will this time too. Especially since I'm much more aware of foods now.

For instance I'm avoiding gluten since my husband discovered it was bad for bellies (which pretty  much makes it disappear from the dinner table). Hopefully that'll give me the strength I need in the battle over my bulge.

I now only need to find a good time of day to hoop it up. I am in the countryside and the mosquitos are killer at dusk/night time. I think the early morning may be my only time that won't give me a heat stroke too. It was 109 yesterday and I ain't gonna let the heat keep me from sweatin'.

I also want to make videos. I did this last time but lost them all and it was very upsetting. However I am having a bit of a confidence issue. I sell hoops online and I guess I don't want people thinking "wow, she's fat and she sells hoops for weight loss, they must not work... " so on. Let me tell you now that BABIES MADE ME FAT. haha... and my lack of willpower over gluten. Both of which are not in my life (except the babies are in my life, just not in my tum). I want to inspire, be inspired, and keep up the conversation of hoops as a great weight loss tool.

If I've learned anything from the OTHER weight loss programs I've been looking at, its that every week has to be different. So I am going to mix it up. Also, there must be RESTING! So I am going to substitute some of the work to other days to allow for resting. Here is my outline for the 100 days!

-------------------------------------

Week 1: LEGS
Homework: Look up 3 video tutorials from YouTube that involve hooping tricks with your legs - Make sure to bookmark them! (Some tricks to get you started: hooping below your knees, hooping on one leg, kicking while hooping on one leg, passing the hoop from your hand to your foot while laying on back)
ALSO THIS WEEK. TAKE A BEFORE PHOTO OR VIDEO OF YOURSELF. YOU CAN BE STANDING OR HOOPDANCING. IT WILL HELP TO MOTIVATE YOU, I CAN'T STRESS THIS ENOUGH. DOCUMENT YOUR BODY MEASUREMENTS TOO IF YOU'D LIKE!


Day 1,2, Stretch for 5 minutes, Try to master hoop tricks for 15 minutes, free hoopdancing for 20 minutes, Stretch for 5 minutes
Day 3, REST DAY
Day 4, 5 6, Stretch for 5 minutes, Try to master hoop tricks for 15 minutes, free hoopdancing for 20 minutes, Stretch for 5 minutes
Day 7, REST DAY

Week 2: ARMS
Homework: If you have twins or minis - use them! Look up 3 video tutorials from YouTube that involve hooping tricks with your arms (not tosses)- Make sure to bookmark them! (Some tricks to get you started: thread the needle, isolations, making poi flowers, lasso, horizontal isolation, vortex)

Day 8, 9, Stretch for 5 minutes, Try to master hoop tricks for 15 minutes, free hoopdancing for 20 minutes, Stretch for 5 minutes

Day 10, REST DAY
Day 11, 12, 13 Stretch for 5 minutes, Try to master hoop tricks for 15 minutes, free hoopdancing for 20 minutes, Stretch for 5 minutes
Day 14, REST DAY
Week 3: OPPOSITE DIRECTION
Now that you got your legs and arms trained its time to work on your opposite direction, or the reverse flow of your hoop. Think of the hoop tricks you like the most, now let's reverse it!  My natural flow is clockwise and I am right handed. So this week I will NOT use my right hand and will only hoop counter clockwise during my first 15 minutes. Also, when doing hoop tricks, I will hoop on my left leg, not my right (I am right dominate) In the last 20 minutes of free hoopdancing I will resume using my dominate direction and arm/leg.
Homework: Find 3 hoop videos that are different from how you hoopdance, See what they do that you don't. Do you like it? Do you want to incorporate it? Try to during your 20 minutes!


Day 15, 16, Stretch for 5 minutes, If you can, try your 3 leg hoop tricks in the opposite direction, free hoopdancing for 20 minutes. Stretch for 5 minutes
Day 17. REST DAY
Day 18 Stretch for 5 minutes, Opposite Direction (Clockwise/counter-clockwise) hoopdancing for 15 minutes, free hoopdancing for 20 minutes, Stretch for 5 minutes
Day 19, 20, Stretch for 5 minutes, Opposite Arm/Leg Dominate hoopdancing for 15 minutes, free hoopdancing for 20 minutes, Stretch for 5 minutes
Day 21, REST DAY

Week 4: TRANSFORM
There's been a lot of input lately, now its time for the output. Its time to evolve, transform, create! Play with your hoop this week and work on something you've found yourself creating. Stop yourself halfway through a move and find out where the hoop is, now stop the direction it is going and move it somewhere else. Make it flow? Did you just create something new?? Share it on YouTube if you want. I'm sure by now you're getting pretty darn good at hooping.
Avoid watching YouTube videos this week. Let  your body guide you to create something original. Make a video on YouTube and share it. It may even have been made up by someone already, but that's okay! Make a video anyways! Everybody is different and the same move will inevitably look different for each person.
Day 22, 23, Stretch for 5 minutes, Manipulate the hoop and do moves you don't usually do while hooping, even if you're not good at them. If you like a certain move see if you can make a variation of it. Do this for 15 minutes. Even if you're standing there listening to music and imagining moves that is fine. Give yourself the time to create. Free Hoopdancing for 20 minutes, stretch for 5 minutes
Day 24, REST DAY
Day 25, 26, 27 Its time to close your eyes. As advised from Baxter of HoopPath, using a blindfold or closing your eyes and FEELING the hoop can help you develop certain senses that will change the way you  hoop. Stretch for 5 then try this for your first 15 minutes on these days. Free Hoopdancing for 20 then stretch another 5.
Day 28, REST

Week 5: ISOLATIONS
Isolations are very popular tricks that can be translated to any of the 3 dimensions. Look up videos on YouTube for video tutorials, pick 3 you really like then work on mastering them this week.
Day 29, 30, Stretch for 5 minutes, Try to master hoop tricks for 15 minutes, free hoopdancing for 20 minutes, Stretch for 5 minutes

Day 31, REST DAY
Day 32, 33, 34 Stretch for 5 minutes, Try to master hoop tricks for 15 minutes, free hoopdancing for 20 minutes, Stretch for 5 minutes
Day 35, REST DAY

Week 6: VERTICAL
It can get pretty boring standing there with the hoop and feeling like you are completely rooted. This week lets get some height. Throw the hoop, jump, roll, lay down, Its time to move up and down the vertical dimension.
Homework: Find 3 more videos where a hoopdancer is using their vertical plane. Let's not forget POI videos have vertical plane videos that you can translate to hooping!

Day 36, Day 37, Stretch for 5 minutes, Toss the hoop in a pizza toss, straight up from elbow hooping, Anyway you can toss the hoop or keep from having it in your hands (but not on the ground), do it! Do this for 15 minutes. Free Hoopdancing for 20 minutes, Stretch for 5 minutes
Day 38, REST DAY
Day 39,Stretch for 5 minutes, Jumpin Jelly beans! Jump into your hoop, roll it horizontally and try to jump over,
Day 40, 41, Stretch for 5, Get grounded. Lay on your back and leg hoop, do whatever you can to get low. Pretend you are in martial arts, or you are sitting on a horse. Bend you knees to a right angle, step down on your knees when you go low and then up to your tippy toes when you go high. Really excentuate the vertical plane! Beautiful! Do this for 15 minutes then resume free hoopdancing for 20 and stretch for 5.
Day 42, REST DAY

Week 7: HORIZONTAL
Open your arms wide with a hoop in one of your arms, feel the stretch across the front of you chest. During this week try to have your muscles make this feeling as often as you can. Its time to open your heart and move along the horizontal plane.
Homework: Find 3 more videos where a hoopdancer is using their horizontal plane. Don't forget POI videos!
Day 43, 44 , Stretch for 5 minutes, Try sustained spinning and move the hoop in the same direction you are spinning, most moves are forced into the horizontal plane and this will help you identify what moves those are, when not spinning, practice those horizontal moves! Don't forget your opposite directions, ... 15 minutes, free hoopdancing for 20 minutes, then stretch for 5 minutes.
Day 45, REST DAY
Day 46, 47, 48,  5 minute stretch,Excentuate the horizontal plane by jetting your arm out to its side during your moves. See if you can get 5 hoops on your body at once (definitely an advanced move, practice more horizontal plane moves for 15 minutes, free hoopdancing for 20 minutes, 5 minute stretch
Day 49,  REST DAY

.... 
Week 8: LEGS
Homework: Look up 3 video tutorials from YouTube that involve hooping tricks with your legs - Make sure to bookmark them! (Some tricks to get you started: hooping below your knees, hooping on one leg, kicking while hooping on one leg, passing the hoop from your hand to your foot while laying on back)


Day 50, 51, Stretch for 5 minutes, Try to master hoop tricks for 15 minutes, free hoopdancing for 20 minutes, Stretch for 5 minutes

Day 52, REST DAY
Day 53, 54 55, Stretch for 5 minutes, Try to master hoop tricks for 15 minutes, free hoopdancing for 20 minutes, Stretch for 5 minutes
Day 56, REST DAY



Week 9: ARMS
Homework: If you have twins or minis - use them! Look up 3 video tutorials from YouTube that involve hooping tricks with your arms (not tosses)- Make sure to bookmark them! (Some tricks to get you started: thread the needle, isolations, making poi flowers, lasso, horizontal isolation, vortex)

Day 57, 58, Stretch for 5 minutes, Try to master hoop tricks for 15 minutes, free hoopdancing for 20 minutes, Stretch for 5 minutes

Day 59, REST DAY
Day 60, 61, 62 Stretch for 5 minutes, Try to master hoop tricks for 15 minutes, free hoopdancing for 20 minutes, Stretch for 5 minutes
Day 63, REST DAY

Week 10: OPPOSITE DIRECTION
We did this before but now we are going to go beyond the level we were before! Try your new 6 tricks from the past 2 weeks for your opposite direction and dominate leg/arms.
Homework: Find 3 hoop videos that are different from how you hoopdance, See what they do that you don't. Do you like it? Do you want to incorporate it? Try to during your 20 minutes!


Day 64, 65, Stretch for 5 minutes, If you can, try your 3 leg hoop tricks in the opposite direction, free hoopdancing for 20 minutes. Stretch for 5 minutes
Day 66, REST DAY
Day 67 Stretch for 5 minutes, Opposite Direction (Clockwise/counter-clockwise) hoopdancing for 15 minutes, free hoopdancing for 20 minutes, Stretch for 5 minutes
Day 68, 69, Stretch for 5 minutes, Opposite Arm/Leg Dominate hoopdancing for 15 minutes, free hoopdancing for 20 minutes, Stretch for 5 minutes
Day 70, REST DAY

Week 11: TRANSFORM
Its my favorite week again. Hoopdancing to music and freeing and will unravel your creative side. Trust me on this! You can take it easy this week and if you feel the creative juices flowing, feel free to use them on your rest days to pick up a craft or something new. Let your outside creativity influence your hooping.

Day 71, 72, Stretch for 5 minutes, Manipulate the hoop and do moves you don't usually do while hooping, even if you're not good at them. If you like a certain move see if you can make a variation of it. Do this for 15 minutes. Even if you're standing there listening to music and imagining moves that is fine. Give yourself the time to create. Free Hoopdancing for 20 minutes, stretch for 5 minutes
Day 73, REST DAY
Day 74, 75, 76 Its time to close your eyes again. Stretch for 5 then try this for your first 15 minutes on these days. Free Hoopdancing for 20 then stretch another 5.
Day 77, REST


Week 12: ISOLATIONS
Try to incorporate the isolations you learned on Week 5 into your dancing with a better flow. Stand in front of a mirror and make sure the hoop doesn't move while you are doing your isolations, this will help you to get a better handle of its movement.
Day 78, 79, Stretch for 5 minutes, Perfect your isolations for 15 minutes, free hoopdancing for 20 minutes, Stretch for 5 minutes
Day 80, REST DAY
Day 81, 82, 83, Stretch for 5 minutes, Perfect your isolations for 15 minutes, free hoopdancing for 20 minutes, Stretch for 5 minutes
Day 84, REST DAY

Week 13: Move your legs
Pretend you are walking on fire this week. Be light on your feet and fly. Try skipping and hooping if you can't think of anything else.
Day 85,86 stretch for 5 minutes, light on your feet hooping for 15 minutes, free hoopdancing for 20 minutes, stretch for 5 minutes
Day 87, REST DAY
Day 88, 89, 90, stretch for 5 minutes, light on your feet hooping for 15 minutes, free hoopdancing for 20 minutes, stretch for 5 minutes
Day 91, REST DAY


Week 14: The Final Countdown
Remember those 12 arm tricks and 12 leg tricks you worked on? Hopefully you have been writing them down or still have them bookmarked. Now... DON'T DO ANY OF THEM! Haha, got you. Now its time to create again. You will find that when hoopdancing you get into a rut of doing the same moves over and over. If you don't feel this way you are one of the few. If you're like me, about now you are wanting to do something different, something that looks unbalanced. I would recommend looking into local dance classes  to add dance styles to your dancing and some yoga to improve your flexibility. You can add bellydancing, acroyoga, yoga, and even ballet into hoopdancing. Take a Zumba class, even. You will have a lot to show off after 100 days of hooping. Feel free to go crazy during your last 20 minutes like always, but as for the 24 arm and hoop tricks from before, don't let yourself do em! You may be saying, well... I will just be standing there, Don't let this happen either. I promise you there are moves you haven't learned yet. If you don't know them then you can use YouTube again! Its time to unravel the hoopdancing you've learned thus far.
Day 92, 93, stretch 5 minutes unravelled hoopdancing without 24 tricks for 15 minutes, free hoopdancing 20 minutes, stretch 5 minutes
Day 94, REST DAY
Day 95, 96, 5 minutes stretch , 15 minutes unravelled hoopdancing without 24 tricks, free hoopdancing 20 minutes, stretch 5 minutes
Day 97,  REST DAY
Day 98, 5 minutes to stretch, 15 minutes of unravelled hoopdancing without 24 tricks, free hoopdancing 20 minutes, stretch 5 minutes

Week 15:
Day 99, REST DAY

Day 100,  VICTORY DANCE. MAKE SURE YOU TAKE A VIDEO OF YOUR BEAUTIFUL NEW DANCE!

Day 5

     Its been rather easy so far to keep track of what day I'm on. Day 5! I don't even feel like I'm on a work-out regimen and that's wonderful considering that I am. I've lost an inch around my hips already. Its such a great feeling to be successful in something. I'm not one who reads self-help books, though this book Today is YOUR Day to Win has really been putting me in the mood of achieving goals; not just setting them.
     In my 5th day of hooping I've learned that watching a TV show and hooping around my waist for a half hour is a great way to work up a light sweat. I've done that two of my nights so far because I haven't had the time during the day to get outside to hoop all three types of hoops. The heavy hoop is great for exercise when the weather is bad outside, I just need to remember to stretch and move my joints to increase my range of motion.
     After the 3rd day I had a bit of a pain in the right side of my lower  back. It went away with a good night's rest, but I am very aware of back pain after my 36 hour labor with Zora. I never used to have it, and now it seems to plague me whenever I rely too heavily on my back for supporting my body. One of my other goals for hooping is to strengthen my lower back after my 9 months of hauling.
     I believe my back labor would have been much more painful had I not hula hooped throughout my pregnancy. It really wasn't that bad of pain. Actually, hooping helped me with a lot of the pain management as I had a natural birth. I imagined my body moving in circles along a vertical spiral as the pain swelled up and out my body. Hooping strengthens the lower back a great deal. I know that this pain I felt a few days ago was due to muscle being born, just as my  young girl made me feel pain through her birth. So despite the nuisance, its good news! I hope to feel little aches all over as my body tightens and becomes stronger.    
     I need to make up 100 calorie desserts for myself to enjoy. I don't deprive myself of dessert when I want it. I've tried several diets to lose weight after my baby was born. However, unlike some people who would opt for the low calorie foods or utilize portion control, I have been breastfeeding the past few months and I know it is essential that I NOT diet. Hmm, so how does one accomplish weightloss when they are simultaneously not supposed to deprive their body of nutrients?
     My answer was to follow a No Flour, No Sugar diet. I did follow it, quite strictly, for almost 3 months... but it only isolated me in a home with a vigorous bread lover, my fiancee, Harold. I would still bake him delicious treats, but not being able to enjoy them myself was difficult. I just pretended he wanted to eat all of it, so that I shouldn't sum up the desire to want any. However the No Flour, No Sugar diet was great at keeping my nutritional foods at a maximum. Sugar and Flour really are very nutrient-poor choices. I'm glad I did it for my young one.
    My new goals for hooping are to hoop for an entire song without dropping the hoop, either my twins, heavy, or standard. I'll start with a slow song because I usually throw my hoop off into the distance when I'm moving quickly and the hoop is flying all over the place. A slow, rhythmic song will make it easier to maintain hold. I can achieve this with the heavy hoop but the other two types are not as easy.
    I'll post my goals at the end of my posts a bit more obvious; like this:

Goals:hoop for an entire song without dropping the hoop, either my twins, heavy, or standard

Accomplishments:I discovered two new moves that I made up through flowing with my standard hoop. After doing a "jack rabbit" move, which is where you jump through the hoop as it moves from right to left then repeats, you jump completely out of the hoop, spin it along your vertical plane, then spin it towards you, but across your body and jump into it from the other side of your body....


I realize how confusing that sounds. Its so difficult to dictate a movement! Just try it yourself then don't be upset if I sound completely baffling. I'll have to embed a video of it so you can understand! Which is what I mean to do in the next week anyhow. Happy hoopin'