I am a terribly uncoordinated person. I tried to get away with the least amount of exercise and P.E. when I was young. I didn't start exercising faithfully until my mid 30s. This even carried over to basic stuff like not learning to ride a bike or swim until I was about 8, never being able to really rollerskate or rollerblade well at all, and stumbling around during dance segments of school musicals I was in. It is no surprise that I could never get a hula hoop to go very well either.

But the idea of hooping as an exercise held an appeal for me. I could see how it was a whole body workout with emphasis on your core. Certainly it's one of the more fun ways to exercise too.

Here in Sacramento you can learn and exercise with hoops through Allison Miller of BloomHoops. Allison offers classes for all skill levels at a couple of locations. My first class I attended was at La Sierra Community Center in Carmichael. In a large, empty classroom I learned the basics of hooping. The first half hour is devoted to body hooping and the second half is for arm hoop exercises and other tricks. She has a beginners and intermediate class here. On Wednesday nights you can find her teaching outdoors at McKinley park.