There is more to do on a mini-trampoline than just jump up and down or jog in place. With the right exercises, it’s a great tool for toning and strengthening the legs, developing dynamic stability in the core muscles of the low back, abs and glutes. At the same time, these exercises can be a great warm up for a longer exercise routine or serve as the routine itself. Importantly, doing these three exercises on the mini-trampoline remove the hard impact on the feet and knees ones gets doing them on the ground.
Mini-trampoline Exercise 1 – Ball catch in crunch position
You’ll need a partner for this exercise.
Sit on a rebounder (mini trampoline) on your butt in a crunch position, with feet and back off the unit. This forces you to hold a crunch position and keeps your core firing at all times.
Your partner has a ball that can be light or heavier, depending on your fitness level. He will toss to you and you will catch it and toss it back, while maintaining a balanced crunch position.
To help develop your core strength and balance while twisting and torqueing, your partner will toss the ball from different angles around you, which you will have to accommodate to catch and return to him.
As a warm up, 10 – 20 repetitions is great. For a workout, do 3 sets of 20 catch and return.
Mini-trampoline Exercise 2 – One legged hops
Next we will do one legged hops on the mini trampoline. This is done lightly and gently, not pushing hard to get yourself higher in the air. Do 20 hops on one leg and them switch to the other leg for an equal number of hops.
This is great for developing leg strength, and core strength, endurance and stability in the abs, glutes and low back. Because each side is developed individually, the load and stress placed on that side increases the fitness potential.
Aside from conditioning, this exercise is great for tennis players who have to hope to get the ball, or any athlete looking for dynamic strength in movement. Try for 3 sets of 30 seconds on each leg.
Mini-trampoline Exercise 3 – Split sprint
When you need to be fast and stable for quick and dynamic movements in different directions, this split sprint exercise is great.
Stan on the mini trampoline with knees slightly bend and one leg in front of the other. Come up on your toes, like you might for sprinting, and jump alternating lead legs.
For more great mini-trampoline exercises from Coach Kevin, click here.
