Smart hula hoop delivers a tech-driven workout

A Korean firm is set to bring hula hooping into the 21st century with a high-tech hoop that can deliver a much more varied and informed workout.

Hula hooping is an effective way to burn fat and work your core. Much more than just child’s play, hula hooping is loved by many adults too. But for those that are missing the data-feed that comes with nearly all other forms of sport these days, there’s good news: hula hooping is set to grow up with the advent of VHOOP. This smart hula hoop is packed with sensors that communicate with a mobile-based app. The VHOOP app works as a personal trainer, recording data about each workout and taking users through a individualized fitness plan.

The VHOOP is also more flexible than a traditional hula hoop, providing variable weights to change the intensity of the workout and – solving the perennial problem of hula hoop lovers the world over – splitting into sections so it can be packed into a easy-to-carry holdall.

The Korean team that has developed what they claim is the ‘world’s first digital IoT hula hoop’ is called VIRFIT. They launched a Kickstarter campaign to raise funds on the 18^th of July and hope to have their tech-heavy hoop spinning off the production line by the end of the year.

You have to go a long way to find an area of fitness that has not been digitised. This year we’ve already reported on a yoga apparel that vibrates to guide users through each pose and smart trainers that determine muscle fatigue and help wearers to modify the intensity of a workout. A digital hula hoop may be niche, but in such a crowded marketplace could this be an advantage?