Drill It.

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https://instagram.com/p/7JDIpjuFRG/?taken-by=aprildesigns

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Geri and I are working on off-body hooping while I am preggers. Makes sense. For the time being, I am working on perfecting my weaves and such so that I can work up to doubles. Geri recommended practicing while I am talking on the phone, because it will help me to not think so much and I can get to the point where spinning that hoop is second-nature. That will be the point I can throw in a second hoop.

In my HOOP JOURNAL, I wrote a couple of drills for myself to practice this week. These isos and weave drills take NO TIME, and I did them 4 times yesterday and my arms and shoulders were actually SORE today! That means that even if you practice a little bit here and there throughout the day, you still get a huge benefit physically from the work you are putting in. DO IT!! It’s a great break from the computer, or if you have to let the dogs outside for a bit…I just go outside with them into the backyard and practice some drills for a few minutes. It’s still hot here, and I’m pregnant, so that’s really all I can manage at the moment unless I get up early.

Pregnant!

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Holy hoop hiatus!! I have not posted anything for a couple of months because I am PREGNANT!! I am now about 17 weeks and nausea has calmed down just recently. Up until now, I couldn’t even DREAM of hooping in my condition. Now, morning sickness is (mostly) past and I can sort of regain my life a little bit. Which includes, of course, hooping.

I had a session with Geri last week, which I will write about soon, but for now, I leave you with this pregnancy hoop video. I will try to unearth these as I move along in my pregnancy to give myself and others some pregnant hooping inspiration. It CAN BE DONE!! This girl is 17 weeks, right where I am, and clearly much further along in her hoop journey than I am. Always something to aspire to. 🙂

Feeling Iso-lated (heh)

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hoopprogressreport

I’ve kind of slowed down my hooping this month. You know, sometimes life & stuff just happens…nothing particularly interesting, really. I just got out of my routine a little bit, and I would LOVE to blame THE RAIN. If you are in Texas, you know what I mean. This weather is seriously bumming me out! But, this week I am determined to get back on track, crappy weather be damned.

Since I have been stuck indoors a lot, I have been working on my isolations.

Getting better at these one-handed isos! #hooper #hooping #hoopernewbie #hoopingintexas #hoopersofig @aroundjoy

A video posted by aprildesigns (@aprildesigns) on May 24, 2015 at 5:17pm PDT

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Not bad, not bad.

Last week I also successfully wiggled the hoop up from my legs to my waist. I have been using the big hoop for the leg hooping. My smaller hoop is great for the mandalas and weaves and what-not, but I still can’t quite keep up with it when it is around my waist. It moves FAST! One of my goals for the upcoming weeks is to get used to my smaller hoop, because I want to take it with me when we go Up Nort’, as we say in the North Country (aka Wisconsin/Minnesota.)

Check back later! I’m going to try and post once a week or so to keep me on the ball! Your comments here and on Instagram keep me motivated!

Lesson Recap.

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hoopprogressreport

My hoop goddess Geri says my chest hooping looks GREAT but I don’t believe her! I think I doubt her because I can’t do it for very long. I get tired. It’s really exhausting. Like, REALLY exhausting. If you are out of shape. Like I am.

She’s the expert so I will take her word for it. She has challenged me to turn while I am doing it, which I don’t feel coordinated enough to do, but I’ll do it…and she wants me to try to put an arm in. And then the other arm. And I’m thinking, lady, you are cray if you think I am good enough to do that…but I just do what she says. I am actually not as negative about it as I seem. I like hooping because it is a challenge, and therefore I don’t think about anything else except what I am doing. Feeling the hoop go around me, adjusting my body here and there to try to make it work better. I don’t listen to music very often because I work in short bursts, and it is too much to get the right hoop music going for such a small amount of time. So it is a very focused exercise each time.  Anyway. I digress.

Other things we went over:

  • Isolations. Love how these look, so I want to get good at them. Also, they hurt my arms so I am expecting to acquire some SICK MUSCLES.
  • Turning while spinning the hoop. I don’t know what to call this. Moving my hand from inside the hoop to outside and back again.
  • Mandalas behind the back. These are fun too, but a little tricky.
  • Leg hooping. We briefly touched on this. This is another area that I fully expect to be tricky for me (like the chest hooping is). I haven’t really tried it yet.

https://instagram.com/p/2UEo5TOFWC/?taken-by=aprildesigns

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Oh! And I almost forgot! I bought a new hoop. She’s a beauty, in my favorite colors (pink and black). She’s a lot smaller and lighter and I have quite a crush on her. I haven’t tried waist/hip/leg hooping with her yet because I have not been feeling so hot this week, but as soon as I am feeling better I will take her out for more of a spin.

GF Orange Muffins with Orange Glaze

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https://instagram.com/p/1vQgcROFZ6/

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I made a new gluten-free treat! Orange Muffins with Orange Glaze. YUM. I’ve been using Pamela’s Baking and Pancake Mix (many local grocery stores carry it in their gluten-free section) as a base for various muffins and goodies (and of course, pancakes). I’ve tried a couple different pancake mixes, and this is the one my family likes the best. Tastes like the real deal! Pancakes are my favorite, so it is embarrassingly important to me that I find a good mix. Pamela’s can be a little spendy, but the flavor is worth it.

I used the basic muffin recipe on Pamela’s website. I went for the “no fat added” version, even though I ended up smothering them with orange glaze. Instead of adding fruit, add the zest of 1 orange. Bake per instructions.

For the glaze, mix:

3/4 c. powdered sugar

1 tsp. orange zest

2 T. orange juice

You can add more/less juice or powdered sugar to get the consistency right if needed.

These turned out so yummy!! Will definitely add this to the rotation.