When our kids were little and we lived in a small house, I purchased a $10 used mini trampoline (rebounder) for them to jump on during our loooong Canadian prairie winters. It was a good investment. As they got older they spent more time playing outside in winter and the rebounder was mostly forgotten.
If only I had known then how good rebounding was for me, I would have started 12+ years ago!
Out of all the exercises I’ve done, rebounding has had the highest return on investment.
Almost two years ago I watched a video of Barbara O’Neill in which she described the history and health benefits of rebounding. (The rebounding info starts at timestamp 18:25.) She said that 10 minutes of gentle bouncing on a rebounder was the same as a 30-minute walk in terms of the benefit to the body.
Exercise has been a tough thing for me to do regularly because of chronic fatigue. Even a short walk can sometimes use up my energy for the day.
Because of this, I decided I’d start rebounding for 3-5 minutes per day total. That was in the fall of 2024.
I noticed within a few weeks that rebounding seemed to increase my energy. So I gradually increased to 10 minutes total per day, 5-7 days per week.
Over the course of a few months, I noticed that I no longer needed a pillow behind my back when sitting. My recliner was becoming less comfortable and sitting on the floor was getting easier!
I realized that my body alignment was significantly improving. Not only that, my energy was gradually increasing. The ups and downs of my energy were less extreme, too.
Knowing that rebounding helped to get the lymph flowing and release toxins in the body, I tried hard to take 1-2 detox baths per week as a support.
These things were all working very well for me and I didn’t know it could get even better…
To encourage me in my new fitness routine, my husband bought me two kettlebells – a 10-lb. and a 15-lb. I wasn’t yet up for adding another thing to my fitness routine, so the kettlebells sat on the shelf for a few weeks.
One day it dawned on me that I could just hold my 10-lb. kettlebell while gently rebounding. If rebounding multiplied the benefits of my movement, then perhaps increasing my weight would gently increase my overall strength!
My hunch about increasing my weight by holding the kettlebell while rebounding was right on. I use the kettlebell while rebounding 3-5 days per week.
Last month I switched to the 15-lb kettlebell, so we’ll see how my strength and energy do in the next few months.
This is my current rebounding routine:
– Rebound at least 12-20 minutes per day, 5-7 days per week
– Hold a kettlebell while rebounding at least 3 days per week (usually Monday/Wednesday/Friday)
– Vary my movement while rebounding
I find that varying my movements while rebounding has been very important because it strengthens different muscle groups and joints in a variety of positions. If any position starts to cause pain, I immediately reposition to something comfortable, but still challenging. I try hard to keep my rebounding routine all very gentle so as not to overdo my capacity.
Here are ways that I vary my movement while rebounding:
VARY MOVEMENT WITHOUT KETTLEBELLS:
– slowly wave my outstretched arms in every direction possible (I got this idea from Katy Bowman and she calls it “painting the inside of your globe”)
– hold my arms straight up in the air
– put my feet in as many different positions as I can think of
– twist gently in both directions (upper body and lower body)
– stand on one foot (This one is hard! I usually do this without bouncing.)
– jumping jacks (if I have enough energy)
VARY MOVEMENT WITH KETTLEBELLS
– slowly lift kettlebell up and down with both hands
– hold kettlebell behind my back with both hands
– gently swing kettlebell back and forth with one hand (do both right and left sides)
– hold kettlebell straight up with both hands as long as I can (not directly over my head!
– hold two kettlebells, one in each hand; swing arms as far as is comfortable
This is a form of exercise I highly recommend for everyone who is able to, even if you can only do a little at a time.
If you aren’t able to do more than a minute, try to do a minute every hour or two during the day. If you have trouble balancing, put your rebounder by a counter or door frame that you can hold onto or buy one that has a safety handrail.
Have fun!
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