Is Jumping on a Trampoline Good Exercise? [FACTS]
Some athletes in sports training use trampolines as an acrobatic tool to improve performance. Coaches can significantly help their wards by incorporating trampoline training into their regular workout routine. And while athletic training is more sports-specific, does merely jumping on a trampoline improve one’s health?
Jumping on a trampoline is good exercise and can help improve your physical fitness in various ways. Trampolines offer low-impact workouts and can help improve the cardiovascular, muscular, and skeletal systems without the risk of injury.
The best part about using a trampoline is that you can adjust your workout depending on your age, fitness level, and specific goals. In this article, I’ll go over the health benefits of jumping on a trampoline and why you should include it in your fitness regime.
Health Benefits of Jumping on a Trampoline in Ireland
Bouncing around on a trampoline can be fun and challenging, especially if you include certain workout routines into the bouncing shenanigans.
In a country like Ireland, where it’s often cold and damp, it can be challenging to start running, lifting, or engaging in other intense workouts outdoors. Luckily, bouncing on a trampoline can be done fully indoors, takes almost no effort to get started, and you can slowly build up your body temperature, increasing the intensity as you go along.
Now that you know that trampoline bouncing (better known as rebounding) is an effective form of exercise let’s look at how this activity helps the body.
1. Safe for the Joints
One of the most straightforward benefits of trampolines over most other exercise equipment is the impact bouncing has on your skeletal system, specifically your joints. Bouncing on a trampoline is a low-impact exercise, cushioning the force with which your joints land after your jump.
Sports like running, squash, or regular aerobics are intense forms of workouts with several health benefits to the cardiovascular system. However, when you engage in these activities, nothing can protect you from the jarring impact of landing on hard ground.
While you may not realize it, this kind of impact can put excess strain on the joints if not practiced with proper form and technique. This could cause your joints to deteriorate over time. On the other hand, a trampoline absorbs most of the impact when you land, reducing the strain on your joints.
Fortunately, there’s still some strain on the joints while trampolining, giving them just enough resistance to grow and develop over time. So aside from being safe for your joints, this exercise can help improve joint strength and bone density.
2. Boosts Weight Loss
Trampolining is similar to running in that both functions involve cardiovascular activity at some level. And if you jump intensely for a while (where you’re sweating and panting), you’re sure to lose a considerable amount of weight over time.
A trampoline helps you lose weight by initiating a series of body processes during vigorous exercise, just like running would.
As you work out on a trampoline, your body must harness more energy to supply to the muscles. This energy is drawn from the fat and sugar stores in the body, thus helping to decrease weight in the healthiest way possible.
And the best part is that bouncing on a trampoline is a low-impact workout, as mentioned before, meaning you can bounce for an extended period without getting tired. Unlike running, where you may feel like stopping after a while, a trampoline workout can last much longer, helping you burn fat more quickly over time.
3. Improves Coordination and Balance
If you’re not used to aerobic or acrobatic exercises, a trampoline is a perfect place to start! Jumping on a trampoline can be a little confusing for most people starting out. You’ve probably jumped on a trampoline before as a kid for fun, but is it any different when looking for a workout?
Truthfully, it’s not all that different. All you have to do is coordinate your leg muscles in a way that pushes off the mat once it sinks in properly. You must also propel yourself into the air using your feet and core.
When you see people bouncing, all of these muscular contractions seem natural. However, you don’t realize how many moving parts your body is actually coordinating when you jump on a trampoline. As such, working so many muscles and joints together can help significantly improve your overall coordination.
Jumping on a trampoline can also help enhance your sense of balance by making you more aware of the different body parts in action. This increase in balance is why trampolining is an excellent activity to include in your regime as you grow older.
4. Enhances Mood
While being in a better state of mind may not seem like a physical benefit, an improved mood can make it easier to achieve the fitness goals you have set in place. An improvement in mood typically accompanies any aerobic workout that causes your heart rate to go up due to the release of endorphins and other exercise-related hormones.
When you feel better during an exercise, you’re more likely to return to the activity that made you feel good and perform it again. On the contrary, running or specific other workouts have a higher impact on the joints and can be pretty painful sometimes. As such, to truly enjoy your workouts and improve them over time can get rather tricky.
And when you don’t enjoy the kind of physical activity you’re involved in, you’re less likely to perform it regularly.
5. Improves Heart Health
Trampoline bouncing is an effective way to perform a cardiovascular activity without excessively straining your muscles. Cardiovascular exercise helps improve the efficiency with which your heart pumps blood to different body parts.
Thanks to this feature of cardio exercise, trampolining can help decrease the effort your heart must expend to pump blood throughout the body. And over time, this efficient way of pumping blood reduces the chances of heart disease.
As mentioned before, trampolining also helps improve your mood. Aside from releasing the correct hormones, regular bouncing can help lower your blood pressure by relieving stress. Additionally, the frequent contraction and expansion of muscles as you bounce help improve circulation in the body.
Improved circulation means improved muscle function, a reduced stress response, and better overall health.
6. Develops Strength and Flexibility
We’ve already spoken about how trampolining can improve bone density and strength. And if something impacts your bones a certain way, it also affects your muscular system. Bouncing on the trampoline requires you to engage several muscle groups together, which can be a solid workout.
Bouncing on a trampoline affects the muscles of your legs, engaging them to propel you upward. However, while airborne, your core, hips, and glutes are in sync to keep you from swerving off balance. You also engage your back as you come back down on the trampoline to brace for the next jump.
As you can imagine, engaging many muscles will help develop strength. And while the strength gains may not be as significant as you’d like, staying consistent with your workout on a trampoline is easier.
Trampolines are also an excellent tool for practicing dynamic stretches (stretches with movement). While static stretching (holding a specific stretch) can improve your flexibility, dynamic stretching will allow you to explore a broader range of motion with your muscles.
You may have to incorporate specific stretches while bouncing to experience the full benefits. If you’re unsure where to start, here’s a YouTube video to get an idea of how to incorporate stretches into your trampoline routine.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1v4eF9Zpteo
Trampoline-Specific Exercises in Ireland
While bouncing on a trampoline effectively improves your health in the many ways discussed above, it’s best to incorporate specific workouts into your bouncing for better results. Here are a few to get you started.
- Jumping Jacks: These should be performed like regular jumping jacks and can be done on smaller trampolines.
- Tuck Jumps: Tuck jumps involve jumping and bringing your knees to your chest and should be performed on big trampolines.
- Twists: Here, you jump up straight, turning your hips one way and your upper body the other, as this helps improve coordination while building muscle.
- Pike Jumps: This exercise is a pretty intense core workout and involves jumping up and straightening your legs out in front of you while attempting to touch your toes with your hands.
- Jogging: A low-intensity exercise that’s best for seniors or those new to trampoline workouts.
All of these exercises can be performed in the comfort of your home. However, it’s best to watch a video tutorial and determine the proper technique for each workout before attempting it.
Final Thoughts
Workout out on a trampoline can be exhilarating and offers several health benefits that few other fun activities can hope to compete with. The low-impact nature of a trampoline workout also makes the exercises much safer, more enjoyable, and less taxing on the body. So, you can slowly build your fitness to higher levels without the risk of injury.
If you haven’t worked out before, get the help of a professional or gym friend to teach you some basic exercises. Fortunately, even if you start with the wrong technique, the trampoline will significantly reduce the risks involved. So get started!