Why’s it called rebounding? A rebounder is another name for a mini trampoline. What’s great about the mini trampolines is that they take minimal space and can be used in the garden or home, they’re pretty cheap too, much more affordable than a treadmill.
Why You Should Start Rebounding Right Now! Top Ten Health Benefits
- Rebounding helps strengthen the muscular musculoskeletal system by increasing your g-Force (Gravitation Load)
- When we exercise on hard surfaces our joints take most of the impact, rebounding helps protect joints from chronic fatigue
- Rebounding benefits lymphatic circulation by stimulating the millions of one-way valves in the lymphatic system. “This benefits the body’s immune capacity for fighting current disease, destroying cancer cells, eliminating antigens and preventing future illness,” says reboundair.com
- Increases respiratory capacity
- Increases red cell production of the bone marrow, this aids oxygen delivery capacity
- Helps stimulate metabolic activity
- Circulates greater oxygen to tissues
- Promotes growth and tissue repair
- Lessens the high blood pressure issue period after exercise
- Helps lighten the heart’s workload by enhancing the muscular and valvular fluid exchange
I was slightly dubious as to how jumping on a little trampoline could have such a positive effect on your health, I’d always thought of trampolining as a sport for very bendy individuals such as gymnasts who loved somersaulting in the air for competitions and such. Never once did I think about the health benefits of bouncing up and down on a trampoline.
As soon as I heard the words amazing health benefits I thought I need to know more, getting ever more curious I started to dig a little deeper and it’s only now I have realized just how beneficial this type of cardio workout is.
And it’s this vertical axis where the beneficial forces of gravity, the G-force factor comes into play. After looking much further into it, I realized rebounding isn’t something to poke fun at, it’s a unique form of exercise that can offer deep cellularization that even the most hardcore of training cannot provide.
When you start to understand some of the physics involved it becomes apparent just how beneficial to you health rebounding is, so as not get too boring I’ll try and explain what I’ve learned simply and quickly.
Cellular Decompression
Just how does rebounding help with cellular decompression and tension relief? As you bounce up from the rebounder speed increases causing acceleration, at the top of the bounce there is a short period where your body is suspended feeling a sense of weightlessness, it’s for less than a second, but it’s here that the mechanical stressors that cause pressures and irritation in the body when you stand are lifted, this allows for cellular decompression and tension relief.
Returning to the bottom of the bounce the body momentarily stops as the feet sink into the trampoline, in a split second you are exposed to the joint forces of deceleration and gravity, and it’s this dynamic impact that forces the cells to adapt, in turn strengthening them over time.
I can see now why this excellent form of exercising is becoming so popular and it’s an extremely fun way of exercising. Rebounding burns calories, builds heart and lung fitness and will help give your balance a boost too, so if you want to try it out here’s a few of the most popular exercises.
The Health Bounce
This one is a complete beginner exercise, it will help you get used to using a rebounder whilst still providing you with a host of health benefits. To perform the health bounce, you can simply bounce up and down on the rebounder without letting your feet leave the mat. This is the lowest impact of all health bounces.
You can use a stability bar if you are nervous about trying this for the first time and worried about your balance.
The Strength Bounce
The next step up from the health bounce is the strength bounce, this is where you jump as high as you can on your rebounder. The stress created from such a g-force increase will bring the stabilizer muscles throughout the whole body into action. This is a great toning workout for your lower body and core.
The strength bounce is great if you already lead an active lifestyle, be sure to leave enough headroom for bouncing high.
“Many trampoline exercise experts advise a simple vertical bouncing routine as one of the best exercises for general muscle toning. The repeated cycling between weightlessness and multiples of normal gravity stimulates flow in your lymphatic system, which enhances clearance of waste from exercising muscles and stimulates your immune system” says Walt Picket of Livestrong.com
The Aerobic Bounce
The aerobic bounce includes any manoeuvre you can think of whilst bouncing on your trampoline. This can include twisting in the air, bouncing on one leg, dancing and anything else you can think of. This type of high-intensity aerobic exercise will get your blood pumping, your lymph system activated and will help you sweat out the toxins.
Aerobic bounce best for burning calories and fat fast!
Muscles Used In Rebounding
Abdominal muscles – When we bounce on a rebounder it requires our body to hold or flex the abs as you hit the surface and then release again as you bounce up, so without even trying you are giving your abs a workout. This consistent training has been reported to be more beneficial than regular abdominal crunches.
Leg Muscles – The muscles in your legs are used to control the jumps and maintain your balance, even the small movements on the rebounder will help strengthen leg muscles.
Back Muscles – The lower back muscles, particularly those around your spine, work in tandem with your abdominal muscles to strengthen your core. ” As the muscles in your back contract with each bounce, the strength you gain will help you balance better, providing you with a stronger core and shoulder blade area,” says Michelle Hogan thenest.com
Upper body – Although we don’t use our upper bodies to bounce with, we do use our shoulders and arms to help us keep balance, this brings the stabilizer muscles into play, giving you an overall upper body strength increase.
