How to Make a Hula Hoop

 

Last night we made our own hula hoops! I've been wanting to try this ever since seeing how much easier it looks to hoop with one of these large hoops....the ones you buy at the dime store are just too small for grown ups. They turned out to be very easy to make and to use! And ...whew! You can get a pretty good workout hula hooping! So here's how to make a hula hoop:

 Label from the couplings-------label from the Sil-O-Flex tubing

I bought some 3/4 inch irrigation tubing in the plumbing department at Lowes. It's the 160 psi, and seems to be a nice weight for hula hoops. Not too heavy, and not too bendy. I bought a roll of 100 feet for 25 dollars. We made 4 hoops last night and probably have enough left for four or five more.

 

In this photo I'm figuring out how big to make the hoop. They say when the hoop rests on the ground it should come somewhere from your belly button to your chest....the larger the hoop, the easier it is to use. Since I'm a beginner, I'm making mine chest high.

 I got these nifty cutters at Lowes too...but you could use a saw. This tool is  made to cut this type of pipe and is sold right next to the pipe. It cut through the pipe like a hot knife through butter!

 The connectors are sold next to the pipe too...just get the same size as your pipe (3/4 inch). I think they are called couplers.

 Dip the end of your hoop into boiling water for about 20-30 seconds....

 And then slip the coupler into the softened pipe...be careful...it's hot! Do the same with the other end, so that you have a hoop! When it cools it will be a nice tight join. If you want you can put a little duct or gaffer's tape around the join...I did.

 Here I'm wrapping the hoop with some gaffer's tape. This tape has a texture to it that gives the hoop a little grip. You do not have to use gaffer's tape, but I had some because I sometimes use it to reinforce the bindings of my journals and books. The only color I've ever seen in a store around here is black, but you can get it in all kinds of cool colors. A good place to get tape is hooptape.com. I just used what I had.

 Here I'm adding some electrical tape to make it pretty. I picked up several different colors at Lowes. The electrical tape is easy to use because it's stretchy.

Here's a couple of videos for you. The first one is my sister trying out a hoop we just made for her. The second one is an instructional video of a good hooper teaching some moves...you can find lots of videos teaching you how to do all kinds of hula hoop moves on youtube.

 

 

How to Workout with a Hula Hoop -- powered by eHow.com