Farmington Hills resident Jan Henry will teach the basics of this new fitness craze.
By Joni Hubred-Golden September 16, 2011
Personal trainer Jan Henry was never much of a Hula Hooper.
"I really couldn't hoop as a kid," the Farmington Hills resident said. But after seeing a hoop on the wall of a fitness store in 2010, she decided to give it another shot.
"I made a few revolutions and thought, this is possible," Henry said. Just like that, she became part of a new fitness trend called Hoopnotica, a workout that utilizes weighted hoops and rhythmic movements to tone and build cardiovascular fitness.
The owner of Moxie Personal Training, Henry is now a trained Hoopnotica instructor. She'll be demonstrating the basics of Hula Hoop technique during a special Fit Farmington event at the Farmington Farmers and Artisans Market in downtown Farmington at 10:30 a.m. Saturday.
"The beginning class I teach is a skills-based class," Henry said, adding students learn waist hooping, hip hooping and other body moves. "When it's all fluid, we work on walking with the hoop and turning ... Once they comfortable with that, we teach them how to go from one move to the next."
Hoopnotica is a full-body workout that also increases flexibility and body awareness, she said.
Local residents may remember Henry from the Farmington Family YMCA, where she has been a fitness instructor since 2005. She's now building her own business, teaching clients in their homes, at local parks and the Costick Center.
"I want to reach more people with my message," she said. "It's about finding your strength ... finding the spunk in you and your confidence in daily life. That creates a better life."
In addition to the Hoopnotica demonstration, fitness-minded market-goers can do the Fit Farmington Walk, a one-mile course around downtown Farmington that starts at the information booth at 10 a.m.
For more information about the market, visit downtownfarmington.org.
Observer & Eccentric
Moxie's hooping classes were featured in the Observer & Eccentric! O&E staff writer Susan Dargay visited Moxie's introductory demo class in October 2011 and shared the experience with O&E readers. Susan wrote about how it's easy to pick up the moves and you get a good workout from it, up to 600 calories an hour.
She quoted me talking about how hooping is "total body, so it's cardiovascular. It's core because we're working our waist. When people get real comfortable with these I put them down into a squat and into lunges. When you're first working with waist hooping, you do feel it in your quads and you feel it in your abs the next day.”
