Hula Hoop History Loop

Hoola hup game (Unsplash)

JAKARTA - Hula hoop is a game using a large bracelet, which is rotated around the abdomen and hips. The hula hoop player must move the hips to prevent the bracelet from falling. It's not easy to play the hula hoop. If you can, it will be addictive because of the thrill of maintaining the balance of the big bracelet on our hips.

This game was also popular in Indonesia in the 1950s. However, the popularity of hula hoops in Indonesia at that time had decreased due to protests. The Indonesian Women's Movement (Gerwani) considers that hula hoops are very disturbing and damaging to Eastern culture. Gerwani also spoke out loudly for the Sukarno government to ban the game in Indonesia.

The Hula Hoop was first marketed in America by a company called Wham-O in 1958. The hula hoop was then patented by one of the company's founders, Arthur "Spud" Melin. It is estimated that 25 million Hula Hoops were sold within the first four months of production.

Earlier, in 1948, Arthur Melin's friends set up a company in California to sell catapults made for hunting. The name of the company, Wham-O, comes from the sound the catapult should have emitted.

Wham-O ended up producing not only catapults, but also boomerangs and other sporting goods. Wham-o's production included a flying plastic disc known as the Frisbee, which was very popular in 1957. The Frisbee was originally marketed as the Pluto Platter, in an attempt to capitalize on America's fascination with UFOs.

Arthur Melin and his friend Richard Knerr, were inspired to develop the Hula Hoop after they saw the large wooden bracelet Australian kids played around their waist during gym class. Wham-O began producing a plastic version of the big bracelet.

It is nicknamed 'Hula' because the big bracelet play is the same as the Hawaiian dance which is also called 'Hula', where some of its movements move the waist. Unfortunately, however, Hula Hoop's immense popularity was short-lived and within months, the masses were looking for other popular games.

However, Hula Hoop has never completely faded away and still has its fans today. Ripley's Believe It or Not notes that in April 2004, a player at the Big Apple Circus in Boston simultaneously spun 100 hula hoops on his body.

Early the same year in January, according to two people in Tokyo, Japan, managed to play the biggest hula hoop, with a width of 3.9 meters recorded on Guinness World Records. The giant hula hoops circled each of their waists at least three times. After Hula Hoop, Wham-O continued to produce unique toys such as Superball, Water Wiggle, Silly String, Slip n Slide, and Hacky Sack.

For health

Not only for games, hula hoops also have health benefits. The study, conducted by a professor of medicine from the University of Helsinki and a group of researchers, specializes in studying metabolic syndrome and nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD).

In the study, there were 55 people who were overweight, dominated by women, using hula hoops for six weeks weighing 1.5 kg or walking 10 minutes more than usual.

Then, the groups changed their form of physical activity over the next six weeks. Muscle and body fat and metabolic parameters were measured at the start of the study and after the first and second exercise periods.

From these studies it is proven that hula hoops for 13 minutes a day reduce waist circumference by an average of 3 centimeters, some even up to 8 cm. In addition, belly fat is reduced and body muscle mass is significantly increased. Playing the hula hoop also significantly lowers bad cholesterol.