Marawa the Amazing has a flamboyance, drive and passion that has put hula hooping not just firmly on the East London fitness map but across the world. She holds the world record for 200 hoops at once, has performed with Kenzo, JackU, Refinery29 and Hula Hoop crisps, has four pairs of high-heeled roller skates and holds 12 world records.
Marawa’s Hoola Schoola workshops have been a huge hit with groups and workplaces looking to boost energy and get back that fighting spirit. While normally, Marawa and her Majorettes hold hula hoop classes at any location, right now you can check out her free classes at YouTube.
Here are Marawa’s top tips for getting you hooked on hula!
- Okay so you might have been great at hula hooping as a child, and then had the trauma of realising that you’ve lost the ability as an adult, which can feel like losing a piece of your childhood. Don’t panic, the explanation is simple. You are using the wrong sized hoop. Most adults when they attempt to hula hoop again try with a child-sized hoop. Even I can’t hoop with a kid’s hoop. You need a hoop that comes up to your hip. Just try it with a big hoop and I bet you’ll be able to do it.
- Stop overthinking it. Don’t over analyse what you’re doing and just do it. We’ve done a few corporate training days, one recently for Nike and another for Sweaty Betty, and the only people in the class who couldn’t do it were the CEOs. They were so frustrated and so furious because they are clearly competitive, super powerful people. But they were faced with this challenge that they couldn’t help overthinking while their employees just got on with it.
- To really get a proper workout from hula hooping you need to know the technique. Even if you come along for just a few classes, you’ll realise that just spinning the hoop, while great fun, isn’t going to give you the work out you want. It’s mainly about how you stand, keeping your feet parallel, and not rodeoing and putting one foot in front of the other. Basically, it’s all about using your core muscles, a bit like pilates, but a lot more fun.
- Once you’ve got your adult-sized hoop and understand the technique, all you need to do to keep a basic level of core fitness is practice about ten minutes a day. I recommend that when you get up in the morning, do one song in one direction and another song in the other. This will wake up your core muscles and it means that for the rest of the day, while you’re running around, picking things up etc. all your movement is led from the core.
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