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Feb. 11, 2011 -- Working out with a hula hoop burns about as many calories per minute as step aerobics, boot camp, or very brisk walking, a new study shows.

For the study, researchers recruited 16 women between the ages of 16 and 59 and had them learn a 30-minute aerobics routine that uses weighted hula hoops twirled around the waist, arms, and legs.

After two practice sessions to get familiar with the moves, volunteers wore portable oxygen analyzers and heart rate monitors to record their exertion.

Hooping It Up

The study participants’ average heart rate was a brisk 151 beats per minute, about 84% of their age-predicted maximum heart rates. Their average oxygen consumption was about 20 milliliters per kilogram per minute, resulting in about 7 calories burned for each minute of hooping, or about 210 calories burned in a half-hour class.

Researchers say there’s one important caveat; the study used weighted fitness hula hoops, which can be ordered online, rather than the lightweight plastic hoops sold at toy stores.

Weighted hoops, the researchers say, may actually be easier to use because they rotate more slowly around the body.