the benefits of using the trampoline for balance
if you’re not trying to join the circus with a tightrope act, why does the average person need to work to improve their balance? let’s chat.
let's talk about balance. the mat of trampoline provides an unstable surface which helps to challenge the stability of the body, but why do we care? if you're not trying to join the circus with a tightrope act why does the average person need to work to improve their balance? having quick and reactive balance actually works to protect you in most everyday activities. think about when you're coming down the stairs and miss a step or lugging a bag of groceries across an uneven surface. you want to work on your body's ability to react quickly and adjust. if you are able to fire your glutes and core in this moment without thinking, you can protect yourself from rolling your ankle. so while balance exercises aren't always the star of the show, they are equally as important in keeping you safe, healthy and injury free.
most rebounder workouts are spent bouncing on the mini trampoline giving you an amazing high intensity and low impact sweat, but a lot of people don’t know that you can use the rebounder for stability. start by trying a couple floor exercises like side lunges, single leg knee drives or step ups and translating them to the trampoline. the instability of the mat will make them that much harder. the trampoline will give and try to take you down with it. the key to success is to keep your knees soft and think about stabilizing from the core while staying calm through the lower body. think about your center as your foundation and remember that balance is dynamic. like a rubber band, you have to stay malleable and constantly activate proprioception to make minor adjustments to the position of the body. the more you tense the more you become a dried rubber band that is easy to break when it’s stiff.
we love bounce [stability] for this very reason. it introduces you to the trampoline as a piece of equipment and focuses on translating strength movements from the floor to the mat. plus it has built in cardio bursts for those that still want a few blissful moments of intensity.
