Q: Do you have a stance on rebounder trampolines? Are they as good as or even better than walking? Do you recommend them?
A: It depends on what is meant by “as good or even better.” If we’re talking calories burned, lymphatic circulation or practicality the answer walking wins. Especially walking in a vest. If we’re talking about “which one is higher impact?” it’s about a tie. Rebounders might be more helpful for vestibular tolerance (being less prone to getting dizzy or nauseous from sudden movements). With all of that said, you can obviously do both walking and rebounding. Here’s a quick breakdown.
- Calories:
- If you walk at an intensity similar to rebounding the calories burned will be pretty similar – 8 or 9 per minute depending on how much you weigh, gender, etc.
- People can do far more minutes of walking then rebounding, so the total calories will be higher with walking – especially picking up the pace and/or wearing a vest.
- Safety: walking has an injury rate of 0.19 per 1,000 hours, and trampolines have a rate of 1.14. That’s a lot more risk for minimal reward.
- Lymphatic circulation:
- your lower leg muscles (calfs, etc) are sometimes called your “peripheral heart” because they are crucial for getting the blood to go up those long tubes (veins) against gravity.
- Our lymphatic system is almost completely dependent on the contraction of your muscles – especially the lymph of your lower body.
- The rhythmic contraction of your lower body’s muscles moves your blood and your lymph. All rhythmic lower body activities will have the same benefit – walking, jogging, dancing, rebounding, etc. So the movement of lymph is a benefit of rebounding, but it is not unique.
- Impact:
- On a rebounder you strike the “ground” with 2-3x your body weight spread over 2 feet, and when walking your strike the ground with 1.25-1.5x your bodyweight on a mix of 1 and 2 feet… so, the impact it pretty similar.
- By the way, our bodies – especially our bones – need impact. (short video HERE.)
- Motion sickness:
- above I used the technical term “vestibular tolerance” because it’s the shortest way to say “how well does the parts of your brain tolerate sudden changes of motion, jarring, changes of level, etc?”
- Avoidance magnifies problems: when we avoid moving quickly or anything “bouncy” our vestibular system grows intolerant – it takes less and less to make use dizzy and nauseous. Bouncing in general (including on rebounder trampolines) will help improve your tolerance.
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The author, Josef Brandenburg is the co-owner and a coach at True 180 Personal Training, Charlotte’s most effective personal training studio for women. We are changing the way fitness is done to get you the results you deserve!