So you got a new gig teaching at a fabulous women’s gym? Congrats!
But you are freaking out because even though you have been teaching hoop dance for a while, you have done lots of training and you know how to facilitate creative and safe classes you NEED NEW MATERIAL! New class ideas. Hoop fitness class plans. Fast!
Here are 5 ways you can quickly whip up fun, fitness choreography for your hoop class.
You got this!
1. Anatomy of a song
Get to know the chorus, verses, and bridge of the song you are creating a choreography for and break down the hoop dance moves to suit each part of the song.
If the song repeats the chorus 3 times, create a short sequence of hoop fitness moves that match the chorus and then every time the chorus comes on you all repeat those moves. This gives your students extra chances at success AND it makes it faster for you to whip up a fabulous hoop fitness choreography to the song.
Next create a short sequence of hoop fitness moves that suit the verse, if there are 3 verses in the song you do the “verse sequence” everytime a verse plays in the song.
Lastly, create a short sequence of moves for the bridge of the song. Or for extra speedy hoop fitness choreography creation use the bridge of the song as “waist hooping only” or “freestyle rock out time”
Here are some examples of hoop dance fitness created to match the anatomy of the song. Notice the repetition of moves for the chorus and verses.
2. Reps and Sets
Pick a variety of hoop workout moves and then pick the number of reps and the number of sets. For example, you could pick 4 moves that you are going to do, 8 reps on each side, 3 sets of each.
- Waist Hooping Walking Lunge = 16 lunges across the room (8 lunges each leg), rest Repeat, rest Repeat for 3 sets
- Waist Hooping One Leg Balance = Right leg balance hold for 8 left leg balance hold for 8, rest Repeat, Rest repeat for 3 sets
- Squat Jump Hoop Above Head = 8 squat jumps x 3
- Waist breaks = 16 waist breaks with toe tap (8 on each side) x 3
You can count the reps and sets while doing the moves with your students safely. It is also good to factor in time to demonstrate the safe practice of each move and observe your students to make sure they are supporting good form and correct, comfortable posture.
Tip : you can mix it up and make it fun by adding a Mystery Set and asking a student or two to suggest a hoop fitness move they love; if time allows and class relationship has been built.
3. Tabata:
This is a style of high-intensity interval training set to music with a 20 second workout time and a 10 seconds rest, with typically 8 rounds.
Here is a Tabata playlist for you to listen to. One or two of these tracks in your hoop class can be super fun, pick up the pace and because the music has built-in verbal cues you can spend your time supporting your students and demonstrating the moves in the 10 seconds rest times.
Tabata is typically performed with high-intensity moves for short bursts so you might want to pick 4 highly active hoop moves and put them on repeat for the 8 rounds of Tabata.
4. 7 Minute Workouts
I am a huge fan of the 7-minute workout, you can pack a lot of fun and variety into 7 minutes. I like to do these in two different ways, I either pick 7 moves and do each for 1 minute. Or I set a GymBoss or iPhone interval timer and do 7 moves each for 40secs with a 10-second rest in the middle. These are a great way to build strength and stamina for your students and you can focus on different trick styles or work towards bigger challenges like coiling the hoop up the body or vertical hooping. You can even add an 8th round for 40 seconds of flow time.
5. Circuits
You can set up stations in the room like you would in a circuit room at the gym and get as creative as you like. You might use the 4 corners of the room or maybe just the front and back of the room. Assign a hoop move or workout to each of those areas and break the students up evenly into teams.
Use a timer or Tababa style music to guide the students from station to station. While they are at the station they do the hoop move on repeat until the music changes or the buzzer rings then they move onto the next station.
At the recent Biggest Hoop Workout event, we had 4 circuits, one in each corner and did the circuit for the length of one Tababa track. The circuits were: 1. Speed hooping (hoop as fast as you can on your body for 20 seconds) 2. Hoop wars (carefully, without breaking each other, while waist hooping try to knock each other’s hoops down to the floor, without using hands. This is a surprisingly strong workout) 3. Hoop jump rope (skip with the hoop for 20 seconds) 4. Hoop head (hoopers balanced the hoop on their heads strengthening coordination and neck muscles)
Using a combination of song choreography, hoop Tabata, 7 Minute Hoop Workouts, Sets & Reps and Circuits is going to make for a fun and dynamic hoop fitness class. You can mix and match these methods to whip up a safe 1hour class in no time!
Do you teach hoop fitness? Where do you hold your classes? Let us know in the comment section below so that we can come and visit!
BONUS PLAYLISTS
Biggest Hoop Workout Class Playlist
