The 30/30 challenge the warm up, Lynne

Hello and Happy New Year everyone.

I have decided to join in with Rayna McInturf's 30/30 Hooping Challenge, which basically consists of agreeing to hoop for 30 minutes a day for 30 days and recording what you do each day and how you feel you are progressing. Rayna chose the 8th January - 6th February as the 30 days, but I guess any 30 days will do.

I thought this blog would be a good place to recorded my daily hoop practice and a place to share with all of you in the Elephants Not Included group what I learn from doing this and maybe inspire a few of you to join in. You don't have to be a hooper, you can pick any prop you like and do your own 30/30 challenge. If you do decide to join in, and would like to track your progress here too, let me know and I'll add you as a author on the blog.

Yesterday was my warm up day and I did my 30 minutes in 3 x 10 minute sections as I was feeling fairly ouchy and tired. I have just made myself 4 small hoops of 32" diameter so I'm just getting used to them after having hooped for about 12 months with 36" hoops. This 30 minute challenge is when I am going to work on using these smaller hoops. I spent most of the time practising getting the hoops from my knees to my waist in both directions. I found it quite hard at first until I realised I had to hone down my movements. Smaller hoops seem to need smaller movements and adjustments than larger ones, but because they travel faster you have to get those movements spot on or you lose the rhythm and the hoop loses balance and flow. I managed to nail it in clockwise flow, but it's still a bit hit and miss in anticlockwise flow.

To give my knees a bit of a rest I moved on to vertical hooping. I started by trying to hoop around a knee bent out in front of me and flicking it up into the air and catching it on my neck. I got the flick and catch solidly, but have yet to work out how to catch it and keep it rotating around my neck without having to give it a bit of a cheating push with my hand. I actually found this move easier with the smaller hoop than I had with the 36" hoop.

In the last 10 minute section of the practice I tried to do the same vertical bent knee hooping and then flick it out onto the foot by removing the hoop from the knee with my foot and stretching it out straight to the side at about waist height. This was somewhat hampered by my lack of ability to stay balanced on one leg as I performed the extension and by my lack of flexibility in that leg which caused the hoop to fly off my foot. This is one I'm really going to have to work on when I have more space than just my front room, so look out Elephants, there maybe loads of hoops to dodge up at the hall on Thursday night this week.