Keep Fit over the Fourth!

Moxie's hoop classes are on break for the holiday. In the meantime, we bring you an exercise from Hoopnotica's Fit program. Lead Master Trainer Jacqui Becker demonstrates the lunge, within your hoop.

A Growing Trend in Exercise -- Hooping

Every day people do it. The First Lady does it. Overweight people do it and shrink themselves, changing their lives for the better. Adults do it. People who couldn't do it as kids.... they do it.

What is it? It's hooping. As exercise. As fun. As play. As something to do while watching TV, sending email, thinking, or getting lost in the moment. And it's spreading. You're going to be surprised. Everyone can learn to hoop, when given a size that fits and instruction that works. Try it and be the first to tell your friends.

Proof of its rise and accessibility is everywhere. See a recent New York Times article:

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/11/18/fashion/hula-hooping-is-a-trend-thats-getting-around.html?smid=fb-share&_r=0

It's fun, it's aerobic

Veteran hula-hoopers have long stood by its aerobic virtues. “A lot of people are interested in hooping for its health benefits, which might get them hooked, but it’s also such a fun way to do cardio,” said Bex Burton, a hula hoop instructor who founded Sense of Motion, a Brooklyn-based company that teaches hula-hooping, Pilates and yoga.

 It's not about being perfect

“One of my constant quotes in class is if you’re giggling, you’re doing it correctly,” Mr. Pildes said. “It’s not about how graceful you are, or what trick you can do. It’s about finding the joy in your workout.”

What do you have to lose? Don't wait. Classes are here. I teach in the Farmington area at Dancing Feats. New single-day workshops in December on Wednesday nights, 7:30pm. Details coming soon. In the meantime, you can create a class of your own at the above link. I can also come to your home, or workplace. Message me for specifics on your class.  

Easy lifestyle change -- join a hoop group

Good news for people who wanted an evening class time! I am offering a 7:30pm hoop group on Wednesday nights, beginning in September. Tuesday nights at 7pm are an option - contact me. Space will be limited, so register early.

It will be a series that runs 6 weeks at a time, and continues through the end of January, so if a make-up session is needed, I will allow that. Cost per series is $51. The first series will begin September 19 and run through mid October. Small class size will ensure you get all the help and motivation you need.

Come in to the studio, where you can learn and practice hooping without concerns over moving furniture, weather, obligations, etc. It's just your time to play!

I have been to Allegan and Algonac, two Michigan cities where there is a strong hooping community. Come build with me a community in the Farmington area! Many people have found that hooping not only changes their bodies, but their lives as well. Some have been trained to teach hooping, others have found confidence in themselves and everyone has made friends and expanded their social circles. There are meetups around the state and country where fellow hoopers gather to play in a park, dance in a parade, or camp and hoop for the weekend... families included. The fun and fitness reach beyond the studio. I teach hooping because it fits the message I promote, which is to make activity a part of your life. The lifestyle must change in order to encourage permanent health and weight change. With hooping, the transition to that is very enjoyable. You make time for it because it's so much fun... you want it to be part of your life.

Any questions before you register? Contact me here.

day and time

Wednesdays 7:30pm 9/19-10/24

Personal Hoop Classes now available - It's all about you

I am pleased to draw upon my experience as a personal trainer and offer the hoop instruction in a personalized format. In so many aspects of our lives, we are asked to conform to a schedule or format that's already set for us and it's not always the best fit. Sometimes, it doesn't fit at all.

I want to say, it doesn't have to be that way.

For some people, trying something new may be embarrassing. Feeling silly among friends is one thing, but strangers? Not everyone makes fast friends. I walked out of a step class early in my workout days, because I couldn't follow the directional changes on and off the step. No one came to my aid and the instructor was oblivious in the large class. Among all of those strangers, I couldn't have felt more alone.

It doesn't have to be that way.

I'm offering small hoop groups that you create, with your own friends and family... or coworkers you're close to. Fun and silliness among familiar faces. I don't let students suffer in silence. If there is a struggle, I'm right there to help and offer a solution. No one is going to leave class without achieving some success among the skills. If you don't have a circle of friends or need more privacy, private and semi-private hoop lessons are available. In either case, we work together to choose a day of the week, the time, and even location. Travel charges may apply, but I will visit outside my general area, too. Choose the length of your series, and class format, and you've built yourself a custom class.

The benefit to being a group leader is discounted class tuition, or your very own private lesson where the whole hour is all about you. How often can we claim an hour for ourselves???

By doing so, you've taken a step for yourself toward fun, fitness and health. How's that for charting your own destiny?

Visit my hoop class page here.

Summertime, and the people go hooping

If you've been thinking about it, now is the time! Hoop classes starting up June 19 in downtown Farmington. Registration info here and online payment and class descriptions are found on the classes page here.

Welcome back to those who have discovered the joy of hooping already, and a warm welcome to people experiencing for the first time how great it is to play like a kid again, and get fit in the process!

Don't be left out of the fun! Many people who didn't think they could hoop are now finding out they can and others are rediscovering the joy. Come out and play. Southeast Michigan has it! Subscribe to get updated information on hoop fitness classes.

Does your workout ever make you laugh?

Hoopnotica's newest workout, created in response to demands of its fans, is called HoopnoticaFit. I am offering it in locations around Farmington, Farmington Hills, Novi and surrounding communities. It is everything a workout should be: fun, effective, customizable. The workout uses the body for resistance - you choose your degree of lunges and squats. You can choose to waist hoop while doing the lower body exercises, or follow along and use the hoop as a ballet barre in front of you. Each class begins with waist hooping instruction and with our adult hoops and teaching points, everyone can learn to hoop. We also use the hoop as a resistance tool for upper body work! Just with gravity, resistance pressing in on the hoop and the size and weight of the hoop, we work our arms to a burn and beyond. This is your cardio workout, your resistance workout, your hour to play and laugh... all rolled into one.

Ready to play? Want to join me? Contact me here.

The decision that changed her life

Jen Moore -- Hoopnotica Master Trainer, Rochester, NY

One of my fellow Hoopnotica-certified instructors (now Master Trainer) is a great example of how hooping can help you to lose weight and reshape your body and in effect, reshape your life. She lost over 40 pounds in her first 3 months of learning to hoop with the Hoopnotica DVDs. During her weight loss she committed herself to the teacher training program so she could share hooping with others. Overall, she lost 140 pounds. Her husband lost over 100 pounds. Hooping! So true. They both teach, their young daughter hoops, and they have a successful business. They are setting a beautiful example for their children, especially when childhood obesity is such a concern. I am hoping the Moore family will begin to represent normal FIT America, rather than being an exception. I share the link to her story with you because it fits with the Moxie Personal Training message that anything is possible when you set your mind and body to do it! To believe in the power of that choice to change your life today. She shares a great story with us but the pictures alone say a lot. This is what hooping can do for you. Or anything that you do with great frequency. Hooping is effective because it's not your traditional grunt workout, so it's more enjoyable for more people, for longer periods of time, more frequently. That frequency is going to get you results. On top of frequency, you have the intensity which can be controlled with your hooping speed and types of moves, and duration.... round and round the hoop goes, nobody knows where the time goes....

While I don't have the weight loss story in common with Jen, I had my own epiphany with the hoop. My core business is personal training -- hard work like treadmills and weight lifting -- but I liked how group exercise instructors can motivate whole rooms of people to move. In a culture of quick food and conveniences, there are a lot of people who need encouragement to move. I was pondering how I could reach larger groups of people, when I fell into the hoop in April of 2010 after trying the Hoopnotica travel hoop at my local Lucy store. That May, after just 3 classes with my instructor Shavonne, I attended a teacher training among people who looked like veterans in the hoop, doing things my instructor could do. I was asked to practice teach a move in front of the group and despite my newness, I got up and did it. I passed the exam and throughout the summer and fall I practiced and improved my hooping skills, continuing to go to weekly hooping class, which was so fun! In December 2010, I received my teacher certificate for Level 1 and began teaching in 2011! I couldn't hoop as a kid. I'm not a comfortable dancer outside of the hoop. But with it, I am transformed. I can hoop, you can hoop. Just as Jen Moore built up her community of hoopers in her area of New York and is changing lives and having fun, it is my goal to have a similar effect here in Metro Detroit. Hooping is accessible, it is fun, it is affordable, it is here, and I am so excited to share it with my community.

Read about Jen here:
The decision that changed her life part 1

The decision that changed her life part 2