Just like Tigger on Winnie the Pooh, I think bouncing is fun. What I didn’t realize is what great health benefits there are for your body. One of my best girlfriends introduced me to it several years ago. She used to start each morning “rebounding”. If you haven’t heard the term, I’m not talking about basketball or dating after a break-up; I’m talking about bouncing on a mini-trampoline. If this is news to you, keep reading.
I want to give you two GREAT tips for starting your day. First is to start your day with a warm cup of lemon water. Think of the first things you put in your body. For a lot of the world, it’s coffee. For others it may be milk, store-bought juice, or pop (ouch). I could go into each one of these and describe the negative health benefits associated with each like acid, sugar spikes and digestive issues but instead I’ll explain why warm lemon water. Water will wake you up on the inside. Believe it or not, you are pretty dehydrated after sleeping through the night. It not only helps you with feeling awake and alert but goes in and gets the “gears” in your body working right. Your digestive track and all your major organs will thank you for it. The lemon (or lime if you prefer) is a nice addition as far as taste goes but it helps with your body’s alkalinity, hydration factors and has detoxing benefits. Some people say you should drink ice cold water. The thought behind this is thermogenics; meaning your body has to work to warm the water thus burning some additional calories. However, if you are talking about what’s best for your body, the warm water is easier on your liver and gallbladder than slamming some ice cold water. Additionally, the lemon can make up in other “weight loss” attributes and you’ll burn the extra calories on the trampoline as well.
Next you can go to the mini-tramp and get your bouncing going. We have ours in our room and would start the day that way. I believe that’s the easiest place to keep it and make it part of your routine. I’m not sure about you but with two small kids and the fact that I live in Ohio, I am at least one hundred times more likely to get up and rebound than go for a jog, walk or jump rope first thing in the morning. It’s nice because if you have a high bed, you can just turn it upside down and slide it under there or roll it behind a door. The list for the health benefits is HUGE. There are the common sense ones like it just helps your body wake up, gets your blood circulating… helps with your mood. This exercise helps with prevention and those who have symptoms of “diseases” like cancer, diabetes, blood pressure issues and depression with the movement of the lymphatic system. What’s great is that if someone is not well, this is one of the few exercises you can do physically that can help them get victory over the symptoms. Some women that have issues with cellulite see products or machines out there that are said to help with cellulite. Cellulite is just fatty stores and rebounding is a real solution to getting rid of it. Rebounding helps your lymph system – it can increase the flow by 15-30 times! It’s like doing a little maintenance cleaning every day – helps your body get out the gunk.
In the beginning you may feel your muscles are loose but as you rebound more, you will notice everything gets tighter. Everyone keeps telling me about Spanx but I have yet to discover them. I imagine rebounding is like making built-in Spanx for your body. You may not believe it but this exercise can even help with menstrual comfort. You can get a mini-tramp at most sporting goods stores, maybe even Meijer. I got mine at Dick’s Sporting Goods, I think mine cost $40. Now it even doubles as a toy since my daughters “rebound” too. If you know what to look for you can find workouts online. I think just doing anything on there for 10-15 minutes will make a big impact for your life. Rebounding for longer than 20 minutes at a moderate intensity at least 3 times per week increases the mitochondria count within the muscle cells and increases endurance. You can add arms, do one leg alone, jumping jacks, kick your legs front/back, swing your arms… Imagine all the health benefit of jumping rope and this is basically low impact rope jumping. If you want to burn the extra calories you can even move your arms as if you are jumping rope or do small circles at your sides to really feel the burn. If you Google rebounding workouts you will even find routines or workouts online.
Here are some listed benefits:
1. Provides an increased G-force (gravitational load) and strengthens the musculoskeletal systems.
2. Protects joints from the impact of exercising on hard surfaces.
3. Improves body fat composition.
4. Stimulates lymphatic circulation helping fight disease and illness.
5. Delivers more oxygen to the tissues promoting repair and creates more available oxygen to the body’s environment.
6. Assists in the rehab of heart issues with blood pressure and circulation but in a low impact state. Increased flow creates less stress on the heart.
7. Increases the proper activity of the red bone marrow in the production of red blood cells.
8. Improves metabolism so calories are burned during and after the workout.
9. Benefits alkaline reserves assisting in fighting acidity.
10. Improved balance and brain activity.
11. Aids digestion and elimination – crucial to health.
12. Benefits body alignment and posture thus relieving neck and back pains, headaches, and other pain caused by lack of exercise and improper alignment.
13. More energy means less need for naps and better sleep in the evening.
14. Boosts the immune system and cuts the number of colds, allergies, digestive disturbances, and abdominal problems.
15. Rebounding tends to slow down atrophy in the aging process.
16. Enjoyable and easy to maintain through the years thus improving quality of life and self-image.