FITNESS REVOLUTION HOOPING PUTS NEW SPIN ON A SLIMMING AND TONING WORKOUT.

Byline: Diana McKeon Charkalis Lifestyle Editor

A bright pink and green hoop revolves around her waist as instructor Rayna McInturf drills students with lunges and squats.

``Shake it like Elvis,'' she says with a smile as the women surrounding her, all with hoops in motion, pick up speed.

This is an intermediate hooping class at a dance studio in Hollywood, and it's a far cry from the schoolyard practice many may remember from childhood. These days, ``Hula-Hooping'' is gone. It's been transformed into ``hooping,'' a practice for adults that enthusiasts say is part exercise, part dance and total fun.

``It just feels good, and it's almost meditative,'' says Sammi Triolo, a student of McInturf's from Hermosa Beach who has been hooping for more than a year. ``I also do a lot of yoga, and the two really complement each other.''

In Los Angeles, as well as other cities across the country, the spirit of hooping is catching on, with private classes being offered for novices as well as advanced students. McInturf's six-week class for beginners costs $240 for 12 sessions, and she offers it several times a year.

``A lot of people who've never done it before don't think they can,'' she says. ``But I have the full belief that I can teach anybody to keep a hoop moving around their waist in about five minutes.''

That's because these are not the old-fashioned, lightweight plastic rings from the toy store. Instead, larger, weighted hoops are used, made from heavy-duty irrigation tubing and then decorated with colorful tape. McInturf says the weight and larger dimensions make them much easier to use than hoops of the past.

To start, participants begin to propel the hoop around their waists using an undulating movement in the hips. ``If you make a mistake, you just pick up your hoop and keep going.''

Once the basics are mastered, more complicated moves are added, such as moving the hoop up and down the body using different muscle groups. Eventually, more advanced students may choose to practice with rings of fire.

In McInturf's intermediate class, house music with a strong beat plays in the background. ``You can hoop dance to anything you like,'' McInturf says, ``Even classical music or heavy metal.''

Because this is a grass-roots pastime, the specialized hoops are available from performers and instructors like McInturf, who makes them herself and offers them for sale in classes and online. They're designed for adults of all shapes and sizes and cost from $25 to $55 each. She even makes travel hoops, which can be taken apart and stored in an airplane overhead bin.

``You never know when you might get an opportunity to hoop.''

Once you've caught the fever, benefits can include better muscle tone and weight loss.

``My body has been transformed from hooping,'' says Anah Reichenbach, who has been doing it for 10 years. She originally got McInturf interested in hooping and will teach an advanced workshop in Los Angeles in December. ``I've seen people happily lose a lot of weight. We're so trained in the 'no pain, no gain' philosophy that it's shocking that you can have fun and get in shape.''

McInturf calls it ``an amazing cardiovascular exercise,'' and says it strengthens and tones every major muscle group in the body. ``It's especially good for the core muscles, the abdominal muscles and muscles in the back.''

Things can get wild in class, and sometimes hoops start flying. But it's all part of the learning process.

``Hooping isn't painful unless you whack yourself on the head,'' Reichenbach admits. ``And that does happen, but not very often.''

Triolo says she practices hooping at home in front of the TV or in the park with friends. She relies on classes to stay on track. ``They give me a chance to learn new tricks, brush up on my skills and have a structured exercise time.''

When students arrive at their first class, they're often stiff and nervous, McInturf says. But by the end, everyone is relaxed and making jokes. In addition to the physical benefits, hooping also relieves stress, she says.

``It can pretty much eliminate a bad mood in five minutes. You cannot remain upset inside your hoop. Something magical happens when you get in there and move around.''

For Trioli it's like a trip back in time.

``It helps you get really comfortable with your body, and it's like playing,`` she says. ``It really touches that sense of letting go and being a kid.''

Diana McKeon Charkalis, [phone]

diana.charkalis(at)dailynews.com

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3 photos

Photo:

(1 -- cover -- color) SPIN ZONE

Hooping offers fun and fitness

Photos courtesy of photos.com

(2 -- 3) Rayna McInturf leads a hooping class at the Hollywood Dance Center, above and opposite. ``It's especially good for the core muscles, the abdominal muscles and muscles in the back,'' she says.

Michael Owen Baker/Staff Photographer