Trampoline Exercises | Rebounding Drills, Exercises & Workouts
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Are Rebounding Exercises on a Trampoline or Mini-trampoline effective?
What is rebounding exercise?
Rebounding is when jumping on a small trampoline for exercise.
Rebounding has been known to affect your overall health in astounding ways.
It helps everything from preventing cancer, strengthening your immunity, to lifting you moods {more research needed}.
It goes further and of course is one of the best ways to shed the unwanted weight you may be carrying around.
Total Body Exercise?
Rebounding uses all your muscles, and works all different areas making it one of the best ways to get in your exercise.
Rebounding is also a lymphatic exercise, which affects the lymphatic nodes in the body.
This will help to remove all the unhealthy things in your body and detoxify your body of toxins {more research needed}.
These are just one of the many, various reasons why rebounding is one of the best ways to exercise.
The list of different exercises that you can do on your rebounder is truly limited less. You can concentrate on one specific area of the body, or give yourself a full workout, and work all areas of the body.
These are the benefits some studies show but are they better than resistance and bodyweight training? I will reveal my doubts later.
Rebounder Exercises
The Basic Bounce
The basic bounce is when you keep your feet slightly spread apart in a comfortable stance, and you are going to just use the weight of your body and the pull of gravity.
You are going to bounce up but not come off the trampoline. These bounces are going to be gentle. As you keep your balance, you will start slowly, going a little more off the trampoline when you go up.
It's advantageous to start out with the basic bounce before doing anything else. This will increase your balance and slowly work your body up to a more advanced exercise.
Cool Variation:
1. In the middle of the two feet standing rebounder, twists at your torso so that the lower body {hips and legs} turn to one side and your upper body {chest and shoulder} turn to the other side. On the next repetition, reverse the move.
2. Advanced trainers can do a tuck version. Here when bouncing, tuck your knee to the abdomen on the bounce and land on both feet by extending legs.
Leg Lifts
Once you have the basic bounce ready, you will be able to do just about any exercise.
If you'd like to work more of your body out as you bounce, you can do leg lifts.
You are going to start out in the basic bounce stance. Make sure you are comfortable and well balanced. You are going to start bouncing and when you are comfortable, you will pull up one knee as high as you can and bounce on the opposite foot.
Pull it back down, and do the same with the other foot.
For more body exercise, you can put your opposite hand up to your neck and use your elbow to touch the leg in the air. So you will use your opposite elbow touching the leg that is in the air. Pulling your abdomen in as you go.
Seated Bounce
Another great exercise for a different area of your legs would be the seated bounce.
You will sit at the edge of the trampoline with your feet on the floor. You will use your upper body to bounce up and down.
Keep the control with your upper body. You will work your upper body as well as your thighs.
Sample Rebounding Workout
There are so many things you can do with your rebounder. You can switch your exercises all around to give yourself a well-rounded workout.
1. A complete workout would be to start out with a warm up. Starting with the seated bounce exercise.
2. Start with twenty intervals. As you do this routine more frequently, you will want to increase the amount of seated bounces.
After you've completed the seated bounce, you will want to get into the basic bounce position. Decide on a time frame or intervals.
If you want to bounce for 2 minutes, or you would like to do 20 intervals that is your choice. After the basic bounce pull up your knees and do your knee lifts.
3. Follow the knee lifts with jumping jacks on your trampoline.
Make sure you are concentrating because you can lose your balance easily.
4. After jumping jacks, you will want to start slowing down your routing by jogging in place on your rebounder.
Remember to stay in the middle of the trampoline. Slow down your routine by walking in place, followed by some stretches.
5. Stretch out your arms, your neck, your abdomen, and your legs one by one and you've had a well-rounded workout.
Rebounding is a lot of fun, and you can do it anywhere.
The trampoline is easy to fold up and store, as it is small enough to bring anywhere. If the weather is nice out, bring it outside or do it inside.
Wherever you want to do your workout, the rebounder is easy to move. The price and the portability as well as the benefits rebounding brings is the reason most people choose to rebound.
Is Rebounding everything it claims to be?
Although rebounding on a mini-trampoline is a fun way to train and certainly helpful, beware of the many claims of its proponents who say it is better than anything else.
Here are my few observations
1. Does rebounder make you more healthy than athletes as claimed?
Athletes are the most healthy people around and very few, if any use rebounders. Other forms of training are proven for athletic performance.
2. Rebounder works on every cell in the body
No exercise is proven to strengthen every cell of the body. Do not fall for it.
3. Rebounder works on improving lymph flow more than others
Not true. Although trampoline exercises are useful in lymph system improvement, no studies show they are better than other form of exercises like stretching, bodyweight or resistance training.
Conclusion: Trampoline exercises may be fun and will work for you if you like them but they may not be better than brisk walking, bodyweight training, or weight training as claimed.
If you love the way you workout with rebounders, then by all means enjoy it but I would suggest you add resistance training for bone and muscle health, especially if you are over 50 years.
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