Trampoline Training Workouts: The Series, Part I

The key to success in Trampoline Training is simplicity. “You have to honor the piece of equipment,” says Michelle Hanlon-Mascari, a Master Instructor for JumpSport Fitness Trampoline™, “It’s a trampoline - you have to keep the moves basic to ensure your participant’s success. When people feel successful, they are able to release endorphins and trampoline training is a great way for people to get that endorphin rush. The key is to keep the moves basic. You wouldn’t be dancing on a spin bike right?”

Warm Up: Instructor Hanlon-Mascari warms her classes up and prepares them for “bouncing down” or “pushing down” by having them practice the move on the floor before bringing them to the trampoline.  Since most people associate trampolines with the big backyard kinds where one jumps up high in the air, it is necessary to prepare both the body and the mind to create a new muscle memory pathway that associates trampoline fitness trainingwith pushing down.

Essentially, the movement is a bouncy squat: the heels push into the floor, the quadriceps fire and the glutes engage. The bouncy squat can move into a low step touch and progress into a traveling, bouncy squat around the trampoline.

The Basic Bounce: The Basic Bounce is the hallmark of Trampoline Training. It is a wide-footed stance on the mat where one pushes the feet and the legs down into the mat. Imagine that there is a ceiling just above your head and keep the bounce low enough to avoid hitting your head.

Side-to-Side: Just as the name implies, the movement is jumping side-to-side. The stance can be wide or narrow; the more narrow the stance, the more difficult the move.

Forward and Back: Take the bounce from the back of the mat to the front of the mat.

Wide-Wide-Narrow-Narrow: Take a wide stance in a basic bounce for two counts, followed by bringing the feet in narrow for two counts.

Center-Left-Center-Right: Put your feet together at the back of the mat and in the center. Bounce with both feet to the left, then center, then right, and back to the center.

Jog, Run, and Jack: You can easily conjure up joyful images of aerobic yesteryear by incorporating these simple moves into your workout.  They are easy to incorporate into songs, easy to follow and modify.

Jump and Turn: This is a Basic Bounce and a rotation to the right (or left).  For example: three basic bounces followed by a turn to the right, then repeat.

Heel Lifts and Jump: Take a wide stance, mat width apart, then lift heels two to three times and jump to land in a squat; hold.

8 Count Squat: Take a wide stance squat and rotate around the mat of trampoline in an 8-count squat.

Trampoline Training Add-Ons:

Arms. Some ideas for arm movements include:

• Punches
• Skipping rope
• Engine arms
• Wide/wide/narrow/narrow
• Ski poles
• Lateral arms
• Goal post arms
• Front/back

I hope you can incorporate these moves into your JumpSport Fitness Trampoline™ workout ASAP! I’ll be updating workouts that include equipment, music, and anything else that I think might be fun and enhance your workout.  In turn, please send links to your photos or your videos to on our JumpSport Fitness Trampoline Facebook Fan page. We love to see what you have going on at your gym, your house, or wherever you choose to bounce!  Let’s show the fitness world there are more than just treadmills and ellipticals to get our pulmonary systems fired up!  Take care, enjoy the summer and check in next week for ideas, musings, news, and more.

In health and happiness for JumpSport Fitness Trampolines™,

Heidi Lauckhardt-Rhoades Dance and Group Fitness Teacher Recreational Adult Dance Workshops and Productions Writer and Social Media Correspondent thewritefit.us FB: The Write Fit & Open Barre Happy Hour Twitter: @ATweetLife