Working out on a mini-trampoline is known as rebounding, and it will get your heart rate up if you’re willing to stay with it.
I HAD A mini-trampoline at home growing up. I think my mom sometimes used it for workout videos; I occasionally jumped on it, but lost interest after a few weeks.
Mini-trampolines are still a thing, and working out on them has a name — rebounding.
A friend of mine who has gotten into rebounding told me I needed to try it, and loaned me hers for a whirl at home.
I like bouncing at trampoline centers, and go every couple of months or so. I know from experience that bouncing is all cardio and core.
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While there is one well-known study about the benefits of rebounding, those benefits have been disputed. I decided rather than worrying about the science, I would just bounce.
I looked up some workouts, and found a few different techniques. I pulled out the mini-trampoline and got started.
I bounced for a couple of minutes to warm up, then started with shoulder warm-ups, lifting my arms to the front and to the side while jumping. Many workouts recommend small hand weights, which I didn’t have, but they would increase the intensity.
After the warm-up, I added twists, which were pretty fun. Twists work your entire core and, if you keep your arms elevated, give your shoulders extra intensity. This was one of my favorite exercises.
The workout recommended straight up-and-down bouncing to work on form and keeping your core engaged. While it was challenging, I got tired of it quickly. Mini-trampolines don’t have the big bounce of larger trampoline squares at trampoline centers, and I wanted to do something more fun.
I mixed things up by adding jumping jacks, which for some reason were difficult to coordinate at first. Once I did a few, however, I got into it.
It was recommended I do each exercise for 30 to 60 seconds. While 30 seconds wasn’t quite long enough at the beginning, by the third or fourth exercise, I was getting winded and tired, and stopped around 45 seconds.
I sat down for actual crunches on the trampoline, rocking back and forth and using the bounce to add in core strengthening, though I think this is more for a break, because bouncing alone takes plenty of core work.
My favorite exercise was high knees. Instead of bouncing, you run in place and resist the bounce to get a workout. This one got my heart rate up fast, and after 30 seconds, I had to take a break.
After just 10 minutes on the mini-trampoline, my blood was pumping, and I felt reinvigorated after a morning working at my desk.
I’m not sure whether I could do this as my main workout, mostly because I didn’t want to keep going. I timed myself on the trampoline to keep myself engaged, but that worked only sometimes. My ideal scenario is to watch television and bounce for 10 to 15 minutes, squeezing in a mini-workout on days when I don’t have time for more. If I owned a trampoline, I also might build mini-trampoline time in as a break from work to get my blood pumping.
If you have the tenacity to do it for 20 to 25 minutes, however, it is a workout, especially if you challenge yourself. My legs and core tired out quickly when I pushed myself, and my heart rate went up. I believe any activity is better than none. If a mini-trampoline is calling your name, go ahead.