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Your Way to Better Health
By John Anderson
Bouncing on a mini-trampoline may not be your idea of a strenuous aerobic exercise and it may not strike you as having significant health benefits, but, in fact, both are the case. Rebounding, as this form of safe, gentle, no-impact exercise is commonly called, burns more calories than jogging. Trampoline bouncing also can strengthen your heart, improve your circulation, stimulate the flow in your lymphatic system, help slow the effects of aging, revitalize vision, reduce stress, and benefit children with learning disabilities and cystic fibrosis. Rebounding offers an exercise that can be adjusted to your fitness level, is easy on your joints and back, and can be done in your home at your convenience. The rebounding device is a mini-trampoline with a flexible jumping surface measuring 28 to 36 inches in diameter and set six to nine inches off the ground. The jumping mat is attached to the frame with a series of coil springs, providing a good rebound while remaining firm on the downward bounce. Unlike a regular trampoline, the rebounding device is not meant for bouncing high or performing gymnastic tricks. Rebounding is a unique exercise in that you achieve a weightless state at the top of each jump then land with twice the force of gravity on each bounce. This twice-gravity bounce affects every muscle and cell of the body. Researchers at the University of Kentucky, in conjunction with NASA, concluded that "the magnitude of the biomechanical stimuli is greater with jumping on a trampoline than with running."
For example, a 150-pound person spending one hour on a rebounder will burn about 410 calories; the same person jogging for one hour (at the pace of five miles per hour) will burn only 355 calories. They further reported, based on their testing of physiological responses in eight men, age 19 to 26: "These responses measured by whole-body vibration [on the trampoline] resemble those during mild exercise and suggest that perhaps body vibration could be used in place of exercise."
In the words of medical journalist Morton Walker, D.P.M., in Jumping for Health: A Guide to Rebounding Aerobics (Avery, 1989), Rebounding is a "cellular exercise" that "uses gravity to cleanse your system and maximize your vitality."
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