Hoop away those calories!

Hooping has come a long way since its widespread popularity in the 1950s, as it has moved from being a toy to being a dance and exercise aid.

It is fun, childlike, and meditative, all of which make it good for the spirit. Hooping is a form of aerobic activity using hula hoop exercises to firm, tone and burn body fat.

There are more and more people hooping all over America and around the world. Everybody can hoop, regardless of age, size, or sense of rhythm. In San Francisco, USA, the green grass of parks is normally filled by brightly coloured hoops twirling at improbable angles around people grooving stylishly to dance music under the afternoon sun.

For fitness enthusiasts, hoop is a way to shift one's attention from the head to the rest of the body. For others, it is more than just a fun form of exercise. People who practice talk of improved self-esteem and revived social lives as they learn to take basic hoop-swirling to the next level.

Hula Hooping, named after the Hawaiian hula dance, was made popular in the 1950s when Australian businessman Alex Tolmer started selling plastic hoops at his department store, Toltoys, according to the Encyclop198dia Britannica.

It is estimated hooping can burn up to 600 calories an hour.