Trampoline has gone through it's fair share of rumours pertaining the the safety and the perceived positive effects of bouncing up and down. The big one being obviously that everyone scared to land on their head. But are there other good things about trampoline besides the exhilaration of the experience that can potentially over ride a few small risks?
1) Weight loss/ Cardio: DUUHHHHHHHH!!! Most people forget that trampoline is exercise just like running or elliptical or any cardio based movement. Yes, you will not lose as much weight as you would when doing a 30 minute High Intensity Interval Training session ( HIIT). If you are interested in learning more about HIIT please leave a comment and I will write another article. Most would be very surprised to discover how hard trampoline can be once you bounce for 15 minutes straight. I have seen 240 lbs guys who can bench and squat double their body weight who have had to fly off and rest for 20 minutes because of a cramp they have gotten after 5 minutes of bouncing. They were only doing seat drops and back drops. To get a little more technical there is an increase in capillerization ( formation of new capillaries) that allows blood flow to reach muscles quicker by taking shorter paths. It would be an interesting study to see what means of training increases cardio the most. I may be inclined to believe that trampoline would be better for cardio then traditional methods due tot he fact all muscles need to be squeezed during trampoline so that you don't fold in half. This causes a higher recruitment of muscles which causes a higher demand for oxygen rather then the normal amount needed for walking or jogging. Not to say muscles are not activated during running but it is not to the same degree because there is a lot less flight time. ie, less gravity to fight against. The body will have to make up for this extra utilization of oxygen by increase heart rate initially. Then the body realizes that that is too hard to maintain so it brings down the heart rate by increasing the amount of blood actually pumped our per beat. That is when you get the lower resting HR because the more blood being pushed out causes more preload ( end diastolic volume) which causes an actual stretch reflex within the heart which increases the amount of blood being pushed out passively. The body thinks this is awesome because it wants to work less and less so it will keep trying to increase the amount of blood ( ie, oxygen carrying cells) pumped with less effort. This has been shown to go to rediculus levels. For example the average resting heart rate ( BPM) is 72. An average athlete is 50-60. That is where I fall under ( 56+- 3). Then you have the VO2 max records of about 80+ ml/kg/min who have a resting HR of under 35. Ie Lance Arm strong. Enzymes are also creased when cardio is increased. The body breaks down Carbs, Fats, and Protein. The main energy source for cardio is Fat followed by CHO then protein is the last choice. Protein is only used after all the other substrates are used up. This is seen when athletes " hit the wall". The body wants to use oxygen as a fuel source because it is the easiest way for the body to make ATP ( the bodies main source of energy). It can do it in other ways but the largest amount of energy can be made this way. Unfortunately it can not be maintained. It takes longer to make energy from fats because you have to move the fats out of the storage deposits in the body before they can be used. Simply the fats are broken down into specific parts and these parts mix with other molecules in the oxidative metabolism pathways and creates energy. The body uses mostly oxidative pathways jsut to bounce on a trampoline so these fats that are broken down need the be moved and attached to other molecules such as acetyl COA which si the precursor to the Kreb cycle. Don't worry Ill put links. All of this changing and transportation of fats uses other transporters and enzymes. These enzymes increase in numbers when the stress builds up. The more cardio you do the more enzymes get made to counteract the new stress. Your muscle fibers also change. Please read my article on muscle fibers if you have not already. It will explain in detail what happens with exercise.
2) Spatial Awareness: Spatial awareness come from three semi circular canals within the ear. These have fluid inside of them and based on the movement of the fluids that sends a signal to the brain saying that you are facing a certain way. If you are up side down the fluids go upside down. This causes a signal tot he brain saying "HEY im upside down, yippie" . If the signal builds up and the brain literally overloads on the signal then dizziness occurs, head aches, nausea sometimes vomiting. Then the person has to rest and gain control over the fluids before resuming. After a while of flipping and twisting the body learned to control this signal and it becomes weaker so more signals can be tolerated and therefore you can be upside down longer before you feel dizzy, you also recover faster.
3) Joint stability: A lot of people have lax joints and don't even know it. There is a degree of anatomical variability that goes with this but a large portion of people with lax joints only have them selves to blame. For example flat footed people are not different then anyone else, they just don't use their muscles on the medial side of their leg like the flexor digitorum longus or their arch muscles on the bottom of the foot that cause the arch. This could be for many different reasons but that is not the point of this article. People witch lax joints need to tighten up the joints and exercise is one of the main ways of doing this. If a person has hyper extended knees then they need to bounce with legs slightly bent. For a normal person they will look straight but the person bouncing will know that their legs feel bent because they are normally hyper extending. Just thinking about this while you bounce will start to tighten up the knees. I have worked with many people who have this problem and they have over come in by simply remembering to bend their knees while standing and jumping and you can see a difference in their posture now. trampoline will help tighten your joints as part of a negative feedback system in the body. "uhoh joints being stressed, lets tighten them up so this body does not get hurt" - your body.
4) Coordination: Goes with spatial awarness but being able to move your body in weird ways does have its benefits and until you are put in a situation where you can look back and say " wow I am glad I could do that", you wont understand what I mean. Most people can comprehend this idea however. The body has to be balanced in trampoline at all times which is a lot easier said then done. This is caused by signals in the brain turning on and off muscles at certain times to keep your center of gravity stable. This takes practice but can easily be applied to off trampoline situations. Many times I have felt like falling but remembered my training and either chose the best way to fall so I don;t get hurt or I can actually prevent the fall all together. Once the body is trained to send signals very quickly and in just the right amounts then balance can be achieved. Most of the population walk around with big uncontrolled movement and a acute muscle contractions are forgotten about because lets face it, when do you really need to balance in life? Not really often. walking is a fall/ break motion, not really balancing to a high degree. Sure balance is a part of every movement we do but trampoline will help increase the awareness of your balance and teach the body how to control every little movement to a higher degree.
5) Neurogenesis: MY thesis:) Neurons grow in the brain based on the stimulus from the external world. If we learn new things or at least try neurogenesis increases and causes us to learn. Trampoline is a new stimulus for the brain for those who have never tried. Some studies as discussed in my thesis show that people actually get smarter in other areas of their life when exercise is included in their daily routine. The same way muscles grow when stressed, the brain does the same thing to a certain degree.
6) Toughen up the mind: To many young children and even older adults are simply to scared to live life to the fullest extent. This is a whole philosophical debate but I wont talk about that now. However I will say that if you are scared to get hurt then their are few sports open to you. Trampoline and gymnastics are great at teaching people to fall and go again. I do not like to see a person say " its to hard, i cant do it, what if i get hurt" Trampoline is a sport where everyone lands on their head sometimes. If you can get hurt and say " I want to do this again until I get it" then you have the right state of mind for trampoline and gymnastics. Some don't believe me but this attitude will get you far out side of the gym. It is this determination that causes people to fail a task but to keep going and eventually succeed and become the best or one of the best at their goal. Cant quit in life, so if you quit in gym or trampoline I find it is a direct correlation to your personal strive for success in your career. I will make an article on this specially for the younger athletes because it is an issue.
7) Independence: When you are on a trampoline, no one else is there to help you. Yes a coach may spot or throw in a matt but ultimately if you screw up it is your fault. This idea teaches kids to take responsibility for their actions. They understand, that THEY are the ones who did not perform the skill correct and learn to not blame other influences. This as in (6) can be taken to the outside world as well.
All these benefits of trampoline sound great but of course there is the possibility of getting hurt. How ever this is only accomplished when the individual fails to do many things.
- proper set up of equipment including matts and and analysing surroundings
- being mentally ready for the skill
-being influenced to try something that they are not ready for just to look cool
- not be physically ready
- not be technically ready
- not being focused.
All these factors influence a possibility of an injury. If this check list is marked off then an injury should not occur. Sometimes coaches push to fast ad sometimes athletes push to fast. I will say that I have never seen an injury from someone who has not been doing one of the above fallacies. Keep it safe and trampoline can give you many rewards besides a gold medal.
Links:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mfgCcFXUZRk&list=PLED4A129E7F0F78D7&index=14&feature=plpp_video - Electron Transport Chain
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=juM2ROSLWfw&feature=relmfu kreb cycle
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lipolysis - how fats are broken down
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