Hoop your way to fitness in Santa Rosa

Upbeat music, youthful giggling and rainbow-striped hoops fill Room 4 of the Person Senior Wing of the Finley Community Center just before 6:30 p.m. each Monday. That’s when a group warms up for the hula hoop fitness class taught by ?Kendra Heard, 29, a veteran belly dancer and seasoned hooper who introduced the class in September.

Heard kicks off with a tip of the day - don’t diet - which exemplifies her easygoing teaching philosophy of feeling good while taking baby steps toward permanent improvement. Over the next hour she took students through a strength-building, total body workout that included 30 minutes of cardiovascular exercise.

“It really brings out the kid in people,” Heard said. “There’s a lot you can do with the hula hoop that people don’t realize. It’s an expression, and it’s fitness.”

Up to 15 students can enroll in the five-week hula hoop fitness sessions, which are designed for men and women 18 and older. About half of those currently enrolled are continuing students, and most have registered through spring. Two are even considering a holiday hoop performance for family and friends.

Nurbani Rohrs has been with Heard since the beginning and is still enjoying the class. She does a lot of exercise, but says that hooping is the most freeing. “As goofy as I can be, I don’t care,” Rohrs says. “It’s just fun.”

The high-energy music toggles between pop, Beatles covers and tribal beats to which students spin the hoops around their waists, arms and legs. Occasionally someone loses their grip and a hula hoop bounces around the room.

After just two weeks in the class, Celeste Hoffman said she is drawn to its energy. “I like how colorful and uplifting it is,” she said. “I take a lot of exercise classes, but this is my favorite.”

Although Heard stresses that hooping is so easy anyone can do it, her class packs a wallop. During the hourlong session, she supplements the high-energy hooping most people do as children with belly dancing, Pilates and weight lifting moves. Heard also incorporates exercises such as wall squats, heel raises and lifts to strengthen core muscles.

The adult-sized hoops provided for the students weigh about 2 pounds, making for a better cardio workout than heavier hoops because faster movements are required to keep them going. The hoops also are used as makeshift weights, creating results like those from push-ups, and become makeshift ballet barres for students to rest their fingertips on while doing arabesques.

“You really get a diverse workout,” Heard said. “I don’t want this to be a class where we just hula hoop and that’s it.”

Diane Lane, a student who has been in both sessions, says she is enjoying the way her body is responding to the class. “I like that it makes my core feel really tight,” she says.

Hooping burns about 420 calories an hour, according to the American Council on Exercise, which is on par with most boot camp, step aerobics and cardio kickboxing classes. A study commissioned by the council found that hooping also builds flexibility, endurance, stamina, cardiovascular health and hand-eye coordination.

Hooping as exercise has gained popularity in recent years, promoted by Michelle Obama and recognized on World Hoop Day, which fell on Oct. 4 this year.

Several students have brought friends to the class and have more friends who would like to register, but classes are limited to 15 students because the current space is small, especially when it is filled with hula hoops.

The class is currently being simulcast for students in a second room, but starting in January, hula hoop fitness will be offered on both Mondays and Saturdays.

The next five-week session begins the week of Jan. 5, with classes held 6:30-7:30 p.m. Mondays and 11 a.m. to noon Saturdays in the Person wing of the Finley Community Center, 2060 W. College Ave. Cost is $44, or $34 for Santa Rosa residents. Register at 543-3737, santarosarec.com or at the Finley Center.

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