The Health Benefits of Rebounding

From cleansing your lymph nodes to building and maintaining muscle, detoxifying the skin, burning fat and increasing your blood circulation, rebounding is a full-body exercise that can supplement your day to day life with exactly what it needs. Here are some the benefits in more detail:

• Weight Loss
• Muscle Building
• The Lymphatic System
• Blood Circulation
• Balance
• Heart and Lungs
• Cellular Functioning
• Metabolism
• In Conclusion

Weight Loss

Burning fat should be one of our main goals when it comes to fitness – excess calories carried around as fuel put unnecessary strain on all of our organs, especially our heart. Our heart has a set number of pumps in one lifetime, like any engine, and the less fat we carry, the less we pump when we’re resting. Rebounding is here to target exactly that.

The science: the body is terrible at burning fat – it prefers glucose and muscle to fuel movement, so to target fat directly, we have to move in a “relaxing” way – that is, a non-emergency. Walking is one of the best ways to target fat, but it’s not very intense, and so, it burns fat quite slowly. Rebounding, on the other hand, is a non-urgent movement that causes the body to burn fat in a maximal way without targeting your ever important muscles. As well, rebounding activates nearly every muscle in your body by fighting gravity with every bounce, and so, not only is every muscle in your body burning localized fat stores, but the engines are burning all over, making it possibly one of the best exercises available to target weight loss directly.

Muscle Building

Rebounding tones almost every muscle in your body. The simple exercise of jumping up and down on your rebounder requires your body to use all its muscles to work as an interconnected and composite unit, all fighting gravity as you land and push back up. As you jump up and down, your body requires its muscles to contract and relax. This cycle of contracting and relaxing occurs in close succession while rebounding as your body repeatedly moves up and then down again to its landing position. This not only forces your muscles to squeeze in imperceptible ways, but it is part of the system that continuously triggers the flushing of your lymph nodes, and an increase in blood circulation.

The science: in order to stay upright and balanced and not keel over, every muscle in the body must tense when landing, and likewise, release when ascending. This causes every cell to activate, forcing your muscle to lean up and add more fibers in order to accommodate supporting this movement. By jumping on a rebounder, every muscle, from your back to your arms to your neck, must tone up in order to make more efficient the process of stabilizing you and fighting the downward force.

The Lymphatic System

Your lymphatic system is part of your immune system. Your lymphatic system contains a network very similar to veins in your body and is full of fluid used to support your immune system and to collect toxins and waste matter from cells in your body. Unlike veins that have valves to help the fluid contained in them to flow and move around your body, the lymphatic system does not have the same sort of valve mechanism for circulating its lymphatic fluid. In fact, the lymphatic system relies on body movement, specifically exercise, to help the fluid within it to circulate around the body.

The science: rebounding has a profound effect on the movement of the lymphatic system. The movement of jumping up and down on a rebounder literally works as though it were pumping your lymphatic fluids, causing your lymphatic system to experience an influx of movements in circulation and energetic flow of liquids that are critical in flushing out toxins from your body and keeping your immune system at peak levels. In fact, it is generally recommended to start very slow and drink lots of water for this very reason, as the first few times you use a rebounder, you may experience a detox of sorts.

Blood Circulation

The action of moving up against gravity and then down to a landing surface that forces you to push up again into the air and against gravity is a very stimulating set of movements for the body. As all the muscles in the body contract and relax over and over again, this contraction and relaxation creates a wavelike effect for blood in the body, making it move faster and more efficiently circulate the entire body. Areas of the body that have become used to a lack of circulation are stimulated back to a proper level. And as more fresh and newly oxygenated blood reaches all extremities and areas of the body, the entire system begins to function at a more proficient and productive level.

The science: one big issue that arises as we grow older is that certain parts of the body begin to stagnate – these stagnated “pockets” get significantly less blood, less nutrients, and therefore, cell replication becomes more and more difficult. This can lead to quicker muscle fatigue, and those common, un-treatable “pains” we so often experience, which is sometimes resolved by taking a walk, or stretching. These problem areas are almost impossible to target through normal exercises, but ironically, is exactly where rebounding shines. Through whole body stimulus, no area remains untouched, and stagnant areas of the body that normally get little to no circulation suddenly get kicked into gear, often reducing chronic joint pain, and increasing mobility all around.

Balance

The mat of a rebounder is an uneven surface – but there’s a catch. It has to be stable enough to prevent your ankles from twisting from side to side (think of loose roller-skates) but unstable enough to force your body to compensate to balance itself. So even just walking on a rebounder, you are synchronizing your eyes, brain, and body to remain postured upwards on a chaotic platform.

The science: by stepping on, off, and jumping or walking or even standing on a rebounder, your body’s center of gravity is constantly shifting. As the springs expand and contract, your muscles must compensate to re-center yourself to remain postured up. This causes your brain to work with your body, and trains your whole system to constantly ensure your center of gravity is correct. Over time, this becomes a natural, practiced thing, improving your balance whether you are on or off the rebounder.

Heart and Lungs

Rebounding is an effective way of exercising your heart at a comfortable yet invigorating level. Moderate exercise requires more oxygen and therefore places more safe effort on your heart and your lungs. Your lungs collect and supply oxygen to your blood whilst your heart sends that oxygenated blood to the muscles that require it. So the simple equation is, if your body needs more oxygen, then your heart and your lungs need to provide that to your body, improving their capacity to do so.

The science: the larger the muscle groups, the more oxygen that is required to maintain movement. By creating a medium intensity movement that puts very little strain on your joints, rebounding maximizes the amount of oxygen your body requires due to your legs being some of the largest muscle groups in the body. In doing so in repeated succession, your heart and lungs must adapt to these requirements, becoming more robust, making them operate more efficiently even when you’re not rebounding.

Cellular Functioning

Cells of the body are forced to become more active and efficient in order to sustain the needs of muscles during rebounding. As you rebound, your body requires its muscles to interact and function in a demanding manner, forcing cells to activate in order for the body to move. This stimulation forces cells to release any stagnant wastes and toxins that would have otherwise remained in them through inactivity. Cells that remained dormant or slow due to poor circulation are awakened and forced to reactivate.

The science: cells take calories and quite literally burn them in order to facilitate locomotion. When you jump up and down on a rebounder, cells that have remained inactive for years suddenly activate, forcing their engines to turn on. In doing so, stagnant cells and waste products are suddenly flushed into the blood stream, forcing a detox of sorts. Through regular rebounding, all the cells remain activated, reducing a buildup of waste in your system, reducing the chances of cancer and blood circulation issues, maximizing efficient cell replication.

Metabolism

Metabolism can be defined as the sum of all the biochemical processes within the body. There are thousands of metabolic processes that occur within the human body at any given moment. These can vary in how efficiently and effectively they work together. A body with good metabolic processes bodily functions – such as digesting food, for example – more effectively. Good metabolism will mean that your body can utilize energy better than someone with a poor metabolism. As rebounding stimulates all the processes required for more effective muscle movements, blood circulation, heart and lung activity and cellular functioning, regular rebounding can greatly improve a person’s metabolism, which in turn affects all parts of the body and how it performs.

The science: through cell activation, building muscles, and reducing fat, along with the flushing of waste and toxins from the bloodstream, rebounding speeds up the average person’s metabolism, keeping their body running in tip-top shape both during active and inactive times. This maximizes cell replication and the ability to quickly use energy when it is required for movement and brain power.

In Conclusion

As is evident, there are few systems that do not get stimulated, activated, and improved through rebounding. Rebounding will not replace strength training, as it does not force the upper body to go through intense muscle strain, but it does cause the entire system to tone, burn calories, and activate systems throughout the body. It is the perfect exercise to stay active, and effectively supplements, in a completely unique way, every individual, whether they be just starting out, or are incredibly active athletes. It is a catch-all exercise that provides medicinal benefits just as much as it is a full-body cardiovascular workout.