Hoopla.

So a couple of weeks ago I ordered a weighted hula hoop - the Bradex Acu Hoop Pro. You can read the product description on their website here, and this is where I bought it from on eBay for £15 and free p&p (posted first class as well).

The hoop came unassembled in a box similar to the one in the photograph, however the exact box I got came only in Russian with no instructions what so ever, I did manage to figure it out after a while.

Basically you get 7 black curved lengths of hollow plastic with white links which you lock each piece together with which then creatures the hula hoop. You literally slide the black bit into he white bit and twist the white bit into the lock position until all pieces are together. You can use the hoop just like this (which I would recommend if you haven't hooped since a young age or want to get used it it for a while). However one of the selling points are the "massage" (nothing massaging about it, my ribs and stomach kill from internal bruising) balls with magnets in (the company claims that the magnets aid blood circulation and remove toxins from the body). What hurts more than hooping with the magnetic balls on is fixing the balls together - you have to put a transparent bit into a white bit (with the magnet in the middle) and they are so hard to put together I was close to having blisters on my fingers, relatively easy to snap onto the ring and also easy to take off if they really do hurt too much. Just a quick note there are no spare parts, which is a bit crappy really.

This is the hoop once everything is pieced together.

The product brief claims to "slim your waist line" and burn 100 calories per 10 minutes use and it's recommended to be used for 20 - 30 minutes a day, which I'm guessing is a light exercise for beginners.

Once pieced together I set about hooping and it was pretty funny trying to hoop after not having done since being a child, dropping it every few seconds, bashing my knees etc. I found it a little too painful with the massage balls on at first so I took them off and set about finding a hoop workout video on youtube. I found this gem which really is a workout (and I can't do half of what this woman does), however she is obviously a hoop trainer/instructor (it is a video for beginners apparently haha) so I don't expect to be amazing instantly. After one go of the work out (basically me spinning a hoop for 10 minutes), I put the massage balls back on and did it again. By this point my brother and his girlfriend had come out into the garden for a cigarette and were laughing at me but also wanting a go. My brother was hoop-less and his girlfriend was pretty much the same as me, we ended up playing with my hoop outside for about two hours, taking it in turns, trying to do the moves on the video (with little success between us).

It is honestly so much fun, if a little painful, and I would recommend it to other as a fun way to exercise and I will definitely be doing it again as a form of getting fit. However, I would like to add for those that bruise easily, or don't deal with pain very well to be wary.

Bruises from day one of hooping.

That's just from he first day or hooping for about 40 minutes over the course of three hours.


So I am going to keep up hooping, to see what happens and if the bruises become less as time goes on.

I've also bought an exercise mat from Argos and have started doing POP Pilates, it is so much fun, Cassey is so motivational, and it was a great work out for me so I'm going to keep this up too. GWEN STEFANI ABS WILL BE MINE.

Hairy Mary vs Bald Eagle

The topic of body hair is weird, but is body hair weird or normal?
Many people find it very disgusting or think it’s unhygienic or whatever, it’s certainly not unhygienic, but what’s disgusting is generally a matter of opinion. I myself am rather confused over my stance on body hair - regarding both men and women.

Personally, if I’m working all week or plan on lazing around the house all week, or just popping to the pub, or it’s Winter, I generally don’t worry about my body hair, even on some nights out I’ll just wear a cardigan and some tights and not contemplate it because no one else is going to see it and it doesn't feel gross or anything. However, if I know I’m going to be wearing just a vest or shorts in public, I worry. I even worry at festivals, and festivals are basically an excuse to live like a tramp for a few days (I am by no means saying that by having body hair is tramp like). It is just odd how I feel I need to change my appearance, my natural appearance in case other people see me as “disgusting”, especially the opposite sex.

What is even more odd is that I generally have no qualms about body hair on myself, but boys being hairy really grosses me out, like chest hair, back hair and dear God bum crack hair, yet I have no issues with a beard or tache or a guy having long hair. I mean how can I expect a guy to not be bothered by my body hair yet be repulsed by theirs? It's entirely hypocritical and makes no sense.

It is just a really weird relationship many of us seem to have with our bodies, and other people's bodies (which really is nothing to do with anyone else). I mean by no means am I going to stop getting rid of my body hair, because I really enjoy being smooth all over, but at the same time, I shouldn’t be afraid of what other’s may think if I flash my four day old arm pit stubble accidentally when it’s sunny (sunny...in England?), right?

How do you feel about body hair, on yourself or others?

Beautiful Garbage

This may be a bit sketchy as it's my first post and initially I was a little unsure what to write about. Then it was kind of obvious - what's the one thing I love above most other things? Music. 


I saw Garbage recently and they were amazing. I've been a fan for almost ten years after first hearing "Stupid Girl" on Kerrang! or MTV2 or some other "alternative" music channel, I was finally able to see them live.


When I first discovered Garbage, I instantly I fell in love with the angst and awkwardness of not only the music but the front woman - Shirley Manson. I was just discovering "alternative" music in those early years between 11 and 13, from radio play and music television and sharing CD's with friends, so this video was very vital to me. It introduced to me to a whole new world of music - grunge, alternative, indie, etc. I started researching the band and through them discovered bands like Nirvana  (I would also cite Foo Fighters but One By One was released around the time I saw the video for "Stupid Girl" and dear God did I play that album to death) because obviously Butch Vig (Garbage's drummer) is also a producer and had no less produced the seminal "Nevermind" by Nirvana.


I have always been a fan of music - my parents brought me up on Jimi Hendrix, Blondie, Sex Pistols, the Clash, The Eagles etc, and I was the prime age for the prime of The Spice Girls career (and many other pop groups) so it's safe to say my music taste was vastly influenced from many genres from a young age, however, discovering bands such as Garbage, Placebo, Foo Fighters, No Doubt and Nirvana at the age of 12/13 was seminal to my teenage years.


No less the music, but the musicians in these bands, and even more so, the strong female characters in some these bands who would very quickly become my role models. Shirley Manson was certainly my first teenage role model - fashion and style muse and a bit of a mentor.


Garbage taught me many life lessons, some of which I realised very quickly and others I'm only just noticing, here are just two of them or I'd be here forever.


1. Never change yourself to suit others, only to suit yourself (a lesson I subconsciously learned very quickly).

"You pretend you're anything just to be adored."

"Stupid Girl" is quite clearly about this. I was never bullied or anything at school but I never quite "fit in" with many others at secondary school, and it was quite clear from Garbage's lyrics and musical style that Ms Manson also never really seemed to fit in. She obviously stands out a lot more, aesthetically - bright ginger hair, freckles, piercing green eyes, I was just very plain and simple (until I discovered hair dye obviously). Many teenagers often change the way they think, or the things they do or simply the clothes they wear or they way they do their hair to fit in with different social cliques. Some people just experiment, others genuinely feel they need to look and act a certain way to fit in. I was the experimental kind, feeling the need to rebel against the norm of slicked back pony tails hardened with gel and the baby blue eye shadow. I piled on the black eye liner and black mascara, wearing fishnet sleeves and what not (greeb central). I went through most phases but I never once felt uncomfortable and hoped people would like me more because of my choices. I started experimenting with fashion, make up and hair choices around the time I discovered Garbage and this was obviously some sort of subliminal lesson I had learned then, and I am very grateful that I learned to this day. Shirley Manson and Garbage made me feel stronger, made me feel more human for wanting to rebel against the norm and not like I was some weirdo.


2. Integrity (a lesson I have learned recently).
Garbage have never been a massive band, they quite possibly in fifty years won't be remembered by those who aren't fans, but they have been around for almost 20 years (18 I think) and haven't had a single line up change since their conception. Completing the line up with Manson are Butch Vig (drums and percussion), Duke Erikson (bass, guitar, keyboards) and Steve Marker (guitar and keyboards), they honestly seem to have a great working relationship and great friendships as well (quite often they'll tweet about having drinks to celebrate someone's birthday), and after being in a recording and touring band for almost 20 years that must be something hard to maintain, there is obviously a lot of trust and honesty within the group which in turn must be one of the main reasons they still continue to make new music and to continue touring together (they could all be successful in other bands, or in Vig's case as a producer with Green Day's 21st Century Breakdown winning a Grammy for Best Rock Album in 2010). 


Does anyone have any one they feel this way about? Some one that you feel helped you "find your feet" as it were, as a teenager? I'd be interested to hear of other's experiences.