Roc City Hoopdance, Rochester

After giving birth to her son in 2009, Jen weighed nearly 300 pounds. Enticed by Hoopnotica’s unorthodox, fun approach to cardio, Jen began teaching herself and hooped through an entire song within three weeks. After a year of hoop and an improved diet, she shed 140 pounds. Inspired by her discipline, Jen’s husband, Keith, became her first Hoopnotica student and has lost more than 100 pounds.

These days, the Hoopnotica master trainer and certified hoop dance instructor teaches more than 15 Hoopnotica classes each week. With hoops made by Keith, students in private lessons, group classes, and workshops learn basic moves such as waist hooping, hip hooping, and whoop hooping, the Victorian method of curing whooping cough by just regular hula-hooping. Once they get the hang of it, pupils begin fortifying their cores, building stamina, and burning upward of 300 calories an hour.

After class, pupils can purchase Hoopnotica products such as DVDs and travel hoops or request a custom hoop with more than 60 tape choices. Outside the classroom, Jen and Keith train and certify new Hoopnotica instructors throughout the country and continue sharing their stories through media outlets such as Today.