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Have you heard of rebounding? Rebounding is exercise that takes place on a mini-trampoline. It is a type of exercise that works on the entire body at once. Rebounding improves circulation, helps more effective nutrient absorption, and assists the body in ridding itself of toxins. All this helps your body at the cellular level, where nutrients are converted to energy.

Because rebounding uses gravity, acceleration, and deceleration, it strengthens not only the cardiovascular system but also the bones and muscles. At the top of each bounce you experience a split second of weightlessness, and at the lowest point you descend to, your bones must bear your weight as you decelerate. Doctors have known for a long time that weight bearing exercises strengthen bones.

Jumping on a rebounder is a resistance exercise, keeping muscles strong as well as bones. On top of all this, rebounding burns up calories, helping you lose excess weight. It also happens to be a lot of fun to bounce up and experience that tiny moment of weightlessness with each bounce. It isn’t just post-menopausal women that must be concerned with bone thinning. Men can experience bone thinning as well, and regular, weight bearing exercise is one of the best ways that doctors know to keep bones dense and strong. Rebounding is a fun way to take care of bones, as well as the muscular structure supported by the skeleton.

Rebounding is exercise done on a mini-trampoline. It is a good weight bearing and cardiovascular exercise, and it also promotes better circulation. One relatively unknown benefit of rebounding workouts is improved lymphatic circulation and drainage. Unlike the regular circulatory system, the lymphatic system doesn’t have a pump, but is moved by doing physical activities. Rebounding, it turns out, is ideal for lymphatic drainage. Better lymphatic circulation and drainage prevents swelling and helps remove toxins from the body. Good lymphatic circulation helps return trapped blood proteins to your circulatory system, and just the simple up and down movement of rebounding starts the process working.

Massage and vigorous exercise are the two best ways to get the lymphatic system pumping effectively. It is filled with one-way valves that allow the lymphatic fluids to flow in one direction, and this direction is usually upward and away from gravity. The repeated up-and-down motion that comes from rebounding helps the valves to open and close at the same time, dramatically increasing the process of lymphatic flow.

Rebounding as a form of exercise has plenty of benefits. It strengthens bones and muscles, improves cardiovascular fitness, and it promotes good lymphatic drainage, discouraging swelling and encouraging the removal of toxins from the body. It is a great all-around form of exercise that doesn’t require a large investment of money, takes up little floor space, and is easy to incorporate into your daily routine.

When you bounce on a mini trampoline not only are you stimulating circulation and cleansing of your lymphatic system you are also building muscles throughout your entire body. When you bounce on your mini trampoline your every time you come in contact with the mat every muscle in your body reflexively contracts. This in includes all the tiny connector like the ones between your ribs. This contraction of all the connector muscles helps to rapidly tone your body in a way that almost no other exercise match. When I first started bounding on my mini trampoline I was amazed that after only a few weeks of rebounding I could see a noticeable improvement in my muscle tone. A side benefit of strengthening all these tiny muscles throughout your body is that it ends up being much easier to maintain good posture. This was great for me as posture has been something I have had to work on most of my life.

Daily aerobic exercise is one a fundamental keys to sustained health. Unfortunately with our modern lifestyles many of us have found ourselves becoming increasingly sedentary. We get up drive to work, sit in front of a computer for most of the day, come home, eat dinner, watch some TV and then go to bed. Contrast this to our nomadic ancestors who spent much of their waking time hunting or gathering food. Our bodies evolved over millions of years to function at their best with the aid physical movement!

So the question is how do set up our lives in a way that encourages us to move more often? One thing that is really easy to do and is surprisingly effective is to keep your mini trampoline set up in the living room or somewhere else where you are likely to walk by it on a regular basis. Whenever you walk by it take a minute of two to jump on it. By doing this you are getting your blood circulating and increasing your heart rate even if you don’t jump that long, by taking lots these little exercise breaks throughout the day they will add up over time and naturally lead to better health.

Jumping on a mini trampoline is one of the most effective exercises ever devised for weight loss. Studies have shown that you will even burn more calories while rebounding than jogging. This coupled with the fact that jumping on a rebounder is a lot of fun makes rebounding a highly effective tool in your weight loss arsenal. If you leave your rebounder set up in your living room you will be surprised how often you find yourself gravitating towards using it, not just as a means of losing weight but also for the simple enjoyment of it. This fun factor can be a powerful ally on your journey toward a thinner, healthier you. Its common sense that if we enjoy our exercise routine then we are much more likely to stick with it.       

With all the great aerobic and cardio exercise routines that can be done on a rebounder it’s easy to overlook some of its other great uses. And no I am not talking about as a dog or cat bed, sorry Fido.

Here is an exercise that works you triceps, chest, shoulders and abdominal muscles.  

Start by squatting down with your back to your rebounder. Reach behind you and grab the frame of you rebounder for support. Extend your legs out in front of you so that just your heals are touching the ground while supporting most or your weight with your hands. Lift your hips so that your body is more or less straight. From this position bend your arms to lower yourself as close to the floor as possible and then push yourself back in to the starting position. Repeat this exercise as many times as you can for a great upper body workout.

Over the next few weeks we are going to be posting a series of fun exercises that you can do on your rebounder / mini trampoline. We are going to start with some pretty basic exercise that everyone should be able to do and then work our way into some more advanced ones that you may want to work up to slowly.

Our first exercise is the Simple Bounce – The most basic of all trampoline exercises, the simple bounce is a great for the beginner, or as a way to warm up for the more advanced exerciser.  To do this, simply stand in the center of the trampoline and space your feet evenly.  Now, while bending your knees slightly, simply bounce gently up and down while keeping your feet on the trampoline.  The more confident and fit you are, the deeper you can bounce.

I have had more than one person ask me if a mini trampoline is the same thing as a rebounder. In a sense the answer to this is yes a rebounder is simply another name for a mini trampoline. However the term rebounder is typically reserved  to describe a specific type of mini trampoline one which is designed specifically for use as an exercise device. A child’s mini trampoline on the other hand is not usually referred to as a rebounder and in most cases is not sturdy enough to support the weight of an adult.  

It is pretty easy to tell the two apart for example here is an image of a child’s trampoline.  

And here is an image of a exercise rebounder by needak.

1.       Use shopping lists! So you buy healthy stuff and avoid the junk.

2.       Don’t shop on an empty stomach. It is a scientific fact that if you shop on a empty stomach you will not only buy more but be more likely to purchase junk food.

3.       Drink lots of fresh clean water. People are often surprised to learn that something as simple as drinking water can help them lose weight but it’s true.

4.       Cut down on salt. This one is pretty obvious salt causes you to retain water and causes high blood pressure so should be avoided.

5.       Get plenty of sleep. Now this one is counterintuitive. It has actually been proved that when don’t get enough sleep you are more likely to over eat.

6.       Eat more often. That’s right eating small meals though out the day is much better for weight loss then starving yourself and then pigging out at dinner time.   

7.       Mix it up! Switching up your workouts routine will keep you from getting board which will make you much more likely to stick with your exercise program.

8.       Work out before breakfast.  By starting your day with some form of aerobic exercise you essentially jump start your metabolism. It is also much easier to stick with your workout program when you get it out of the way first thing in the morning.

9.       Make fruit your snack. Instead of candy bars or other sweet thing try eating fresh fruit. Fruit is loaded with natural enzymes, antioxidants and is a good source of fiber.

10.   Listen to music while you exercise. The most important thing about exercise is that it’s done regularly. Anything you can do to make your workouts more fun like listening to your favorite music will increase the likelihood of your sticking with it.