Some advice if you wish to try one: Take it slow.
Weighted hula hoops are everywhere on TikTok today, with many people declaring they’ll provide you with a tighter waistline and more powerful core. However, not everybody has had a great experience utilizing them, including one female who claims a heavy hula hoop gave her internal wounding. Diamanté Fontes shared a message in late March, breaking down what occurred. “Acquires a heavy hula hoop so my waist can be [hourglass emoji],” she created, before “inner bruising” pops up in the video clip. Then, Fontes mouths, “no more weighted hula hooping.” Her subtitle for the whole point? “The discomfort.”
Individuals had blended reactions in the comments. “Appeal is pain I presume,” one composed. “However did it function?” one more stated. However, some stated Fontes’s video clip guided them far from getting a heavy hula hoop. “Omfg I was gon na get one,” someone wrote. “I was right [concerning] purchasing one– this is a sign,” an additional individual stated. As well as a minimum of one other individual said they had a comparable experience to Fontes. “I stopped after regarding two weeks. The discomfort was horrible,” they said.

For the record: Fontes responded to the remarks in her blog post, attesting to her heavy hula hoop, despite the wounding it triggered her. “GUYS IT WORKSSSS but use layers of garments or some individuals are saying a bodice to avoid discoloration,” she composed. The consensus for heavy hula hoops resembles the communications on Fontes’ TikTok video– some people claim they’re magic for obtaining a toned torso; others, like Fontes, say they can create injury, consisting of a hernia and extreme discoloration. All of it increases a massive inquiry: Are heavy hula hoops risk-free to make use of? Right here’s what professionals desire you to understand.
First: What’s a weighted hula hoop?
There are several different ways to heavy hula hoops around, however, the principle is the same for every one of them: It’s a heavier-than-normal hula hoop, which is meant to function your core and shed calories as you swing it around your waistline. Real weights differ by hula hoop, but several autumns squarely right into both- to three-pound variety.

Several of them make some quite horrendous insurance claims– this on Amazon.com, which is almost sold out, states you’ll melt “60,000 calories” by utilizing its device for 20 minutes. (FYI: The Mayo Clinic claims women melt about 165 calories for thirty minutes of heavy hula hooping.) One more business on Amazon.com claims its hoop will help you “maintain an excellent state of mind daily.”
So, are heavy hula hoops secure?
Medical professionals claim a lot depends on your physical fitness level when you start using it. “Assuming the hoop is a ‘risk-free’ weight of under two pounds, the danger of internal injury seems remarkably low,” Lewis Nelson, MD, professor, as well as chair of emergency medicine at Rutgers New Jacket Medical School, and also principal of service in the emergency department at University Hospital, tells Health.
Many injuries that have been reported involve the abdominals or reduced back muscles as well as “are connected to the motions done during a workout– not as much because of the weight,” Dr. Nelson says. However, he points out, “better weights however may require more powerful motions, which might result in injury.” Those powerful movements could bring about injury of the cells around particular interior body organs like your kidneys, he states.
For the most part, it’s more likely that you’ll obtain bruising to your skin and body fat “from the friction as well as the weight of the hoop,” Cedric Dark, MD, MPH, assistant professor of emergency medication at Baylor College of Medication, tells Wellness. As well as, he states, that if you’re in pain or end up being hurt from your heavy hula hoop, you possibly want to ease up on using it.
How can you safely utilize a weighted hula hoop?
Alleviate right into it. “Begin with a low-weight or unweighted hoop and intensify when your physical problem enables,” Dr. Nelson states. “Beginning sluggish and raising as your tolerance develops, similar to any exercise, is a tried and true technique.”
Seriously, it’s important to take it easy initially. “Do not overdo it,” Dr. Dark cautions. “I have seen individuals that start new energetic exercise plans as New Year’s resolutions as well as get things like muscular tissue stress or even a hazardous problem called rhabdomyolysis. It occurs yearly,” he states. Several hula hoop firms recommend using their item for simply five minutes at once– as well as it’s an excellent idea to stick with that duration, at least at first till you get utilized to it.

If you obtain excessively out of breath, have chest discomfort, or have any other pain concerns quit utilizing it and talk with your medical professional, Dr. Nelson states. Keep this in mind, too, per Doug Sklar, NSCA-CPT, NASM-PES, individual instructor, as well as the founder of New York City-based health and fitness training studio PhilanthroFIT: There are much better means to tone your waistline. “Unless you have a strong affinity for hula hooping, it’s extremely low on my list of recommended exercises,” he tells Wellness.
Instead, he advises doing HIIT workouts as well as slabs, in addition to “a head-to-toe strength training program, coupled with audio dietary selections.” If you intend to see what all the weighted hula hoop buzz has to do with, that’s alright– simply go sluggish as well as listen to your body. “If it harms, stop,” Sklar states. “Exercise should not cause discomfort. If it does, there’s a likelihood you’re doing it incorrectly.”
