Trampolines aren’t just fun apparatuses for kids, they’re great entertainment for adults too. And, not only are they a ton of fun, they actually provide quite the workout!
In fact, trampolines have been used for fitness for decades, probably since some time in the 1980s. In the year 2000, trampolining even became recognized as an Olympic sport. If that doesn’t tell you a little something about how beneficial it can be to your fitness, we got nothin’!
Whether it’s a large trampoline you jump on while playing with the kiddos, or a small trampoline or rebounder you use exclusively for working out, there’s no denying that trampolines and rebounding exercise can provide numerous health and wellness benefits that should not be ignored.
Benefits of Jumping on a Trampoline
Improves Blood Flow
Jumping on a trampoline is classified as a cardiovascular or aerobic exercise. This means that it increases your heart rate, pumping your blood through your body faster. This increase in blood flow affects every part of your body positively. For the same reasons, it also improves your heart health.
Full-Body Engagement
Bouncing on a trampoline engages all the major parts of the body. It forces your leg muscles to work hard to balance out the gravity and push you upward. It also causes the muscles in the legs and buttocks to contract and release frequently, which in turn makes them stronger and helps tone them. Hello, sexy hams!
Bouncing also uses your abdominal core as you twist to stay balanced and move in the air, making your abdominal and back muscles contract each time you jump.
Builds Muscle Mass
Since jumping on a trampoline increases something called g-force, it engages all your major muscles and bones. G-force is the force that’s generated when you jump into the air, and gravity and acceleration force you back down.
Imagine jumping into the air on a trampoline. You have a split-second moment where you’re utterly weightless before gravity takes effect and pushes you back down to earth. The bigger and higher your jump, the stronger the g-force.
The effects of g-force ultimately result in an increase of muscle mass and muscle tone, so that you can withstand the impact without injury. To learn how to build muscle and burn fat rebounding, check out our article on mini trampoline exercises to lose weight.
Increases Bone Density
Jumping on a trampoline has also been shown to have a positive effect on your bone mass. Bones—much like muscles—can grow weaker without regular exercise. However, they typically become stronger under stress. Jumping on a trampoline forces your whole body to experience the impact of g-force. That means your bones grow stronger as a way to withstand it.
Increases Oxygen and Nutrient Flow
Trampoline health benefits don’t stop there. The blood in your body carries oxygen and other nutrients with it. When you jump, your lung capacity increases. As your lung capacity grows, your blood flow also increases
With increased blood flow, the amount of oxygen that every organ receives is boosted significantly. This oxygen boost makes you feel alert and energized.
Increased oxygen saturation also makes your body inhospitable to germs and harmful cells, which can help improve your body’s resistance to colds, cases of flu, and other diseases.
Enhances Endurance, Flexibility, and Strength
As mentioned, jumping on a trampoline engages all the major parts of your body. Since your whole body is moving and working, it enhances your endurance and stamina, strengthens your muscles, and improves your flexibility. It’s like oiling up with invisible lube to optimize your performance.
Minimizes Impact on Joints and Bones
Unlike most aerobic exercises, jumping on a trampoline does not create strain on your joints and bones. That means you can work out longer, without feeling pressure or worse, pain in your joints.
Increases Lymphatic Flow
The lymphatic system is responsible for maintaining healthy fluid levels in your body, draining waste and toxins, and infusing your bloodstream with lymphocytes that help boost your immune system.
Trampolining increases your lymph flow because of the alternating sensations of weightlessness and double g-force. Think of it kind of like jumping up and down with a garbage can that has a flip lid.
When you jump, gravity forces the lid down. When you drop back down to the ground, the lid flies up. Similarly, this is how your lymph valves work when flushing your lymphatic system.
Improves Your Immune System
Trampolining reinforces your entire immune system, helping to make it stronger, by enriching it with nutrients and cleaning out toxins at a rapid rate. Lymphocytes, also called white blood cells, are designed to defend your body against attacks from germs, bacteria, and viruses. Rebounding increases the number of white blood cells up to 3 times, and transports these cells through your body to help create a strong line of defense.
Improves Digestion
Did we mention the tummy benefits yet? The rhythmic up-and-down motion of jumping on a trampoline promotes the contraction and release of the muscles in your small and large intestine, along with the rest of your digestive tract. This helps promote better absorption of nutrients in your body, reinforcing overall good overall health, and reducing the likelihood of uncomfy constipation. No small thing, since many believe constipation to be the mother of all disease!
Improves Coordination and Posture
Jumping on a trampoline has been shown to have a positive effect on balance, coordination, and posture. No big surprise there! Jumping strengthens your back and abdominal muscles, and when those muscles get stronger, it automatically improves your posture. Jumping also stimulates the ocular nerves and inner ear canals, conditioning your body to react faster and allowing it to better coordinate between muscles and reduce your risks of falling.
Promotes Detoxification
Since the lymphatic system naturally flows in an upward direction, the drainage function of your lymphatic system depends entirely on your movements to help circulate lymph fluid through the body. That’s where the bouncing motion comes into play and helps promote lymphatic circulation so that it can gather up all the toxins and flush them out quickly.
Strengthens the Eyes
Interestingly, along with most all other muscles in the body, trampolining also strengthens your eye muscles. This is due to the increases in g-force on the body. When rebounding, you’re helping to stimulate the cells of the eye lenses, which may even restore their original shape and function. Who knew?
Reduces Varicose Veins
Since regular rebounding increases blood flow, it also helps reduce the pressure caused by varicose veins, and may even decrease the pain and inflammation that often comes with them.
Promotes Weight Loss
As mentioned, jumping on a trampoline increases your metabolic rate, prompting your body to burn through calories faster. This causes weight loss. The increases in your lymphatic flow also help you in losing weight and have even been shown to help reduce the appearance of cellulite.
Rebounding is considered to be a much more efficient form of exercise than jumping or running. Twice as effective in fact, according to a NASA study, but only as long as g-force is kept to about 4.
Promotes Mental Health
Finally, arguably one of the best benefits of jumping on a trampoline—although potentially true of most all other exercises, too—is the rush of chemicals and positive hormones that flood the brain when you exert yourself for a period of time.
These goodies include adrenaline, resulting in more energy and sharper reflexes, dopamine, considered the “feel good” chemical, and serotonin, the chemical that stabilizes your mood and impacts your overall health, including eating, sleeping, and digestion.
There’s no mistaking how good for you jumping on a trampoline can be. Trampoline jumping can improve muscle tone, bone mass, bone density, blood circulation, reduce stress, and aid in the drainage of lymphatic fluid all without placing undue stress on the joints. These multiple benefits that impact not just your physical health, but also your mental and emotional health too. It doesn’t have to be complicated or difficult, either.
So, what is rebounding exercise and who can do it? Rebounding is so simple even the elderly can try a gentle “health” bounce on a sturdy rebounder and reap many rewards. The health bounce is simply bending at the knees and bouncing gently, without letting your feet leave the surface of the trampoline. This can be done for 10 minutes a day to start with, and slowly increases as your strength and ability increases.
Why not let your inner child out to play and experience for yourself the many wonders of jumping on a trampoline?
If you’re convinced, check out the variety of trampolines offered by SkyBound! From mini options, to large, full-sized options, we have a high-performance trampoline to fit your needs. Visit our website today for more details!
