Lose Weight With a Trampoline Workout

Bounce, jump, have fun, and lose weight at the same time - owning a trampoline is great fun for the whole family.

Trampolines have been around for a long time and when you think trampoline you think circus, right? Not anymore, trampolines have gone mainstream.

You can purchase a backyard trampoline with a safety enclosure for the kids, or for indoors. There's also mini trampolines you can workout on while watching your favorite television program.

Basic Cardio Exercises to Lose Weight

Losing weight is a combination of diet and exercise. The exercise part is all about burning calories by increasing your metabolism. You can summarize the entire process with one word "cardio."

How do you increase your cardio? cardio is really short for "cardiovascular." The Disease Control Center recommends doing at least 20 minutes of some sort of cardio exercise daily. Any exercise that increases your heart rate and breathing is considered a cardio workout. You can get a great cardio workout using a trampoline, and it isn't stressful on your joints or bones.

Here are some beginner exercises people do using a trampoline:

Running in Place - the most basic of the basic cardio exercises, but yet very effective. For some people it's difficult to run because of age or injuries. Running on cement or even grass can still be painful and due more harm than good, but using a trampoline solves those problems. The reason is - a trampoline is considered a "low-impact" form of running. The bounce in a trampoline is like having 12 inches of cushion buffering your steps. But guess what? You still get a great cardio workout, you burn calories, and lose weight but without the pain of "pounding the cement."

Jumping Jacks - if you want to step up the pace a bit, then you can move up to the next level which are "jumping jacks." This exercise requires a little coordination using your arms and legs. You can practice variations of this exercise until you feel comfortable doing the full blown version of it. For example: you can start by just jumping up and down while raising your hands above your head - this gets your arms and shoulders use to the jumping motion. After a while you can slowly start to spread your feet apart, in unison, with your arm motion. You're not only going to lose weight with this workout, but you'll be toning and shaping your body at the same time.

Twist and Jump - another popular exercise trampoline users include in their workout is the "twist and jump" technique. If your trampoline comes equipped with a handle/stabilizer bar then you'll want to use it. To do this exercise properly you'll want to twist your body from the waist down, side-to-side, while keeping your upper body in place. You will do little jumps as you twist your lower body from side-to-side.

If you don't have a stabilizer bar then holding your arms out away from your body helps stabilize your upper body. This exercise is great for burning calories and it also trims down some of that excess we accumulate in the midsection.

Trampolines are great for all ages. For workouts and losing weight you'll find you can do a variety of exercises (many which we have not covered) indoors or out. And you can enjoy a great workout without the pain of having to life weights or put undue stress on joints and ligaments.

Affordable and safe - there's a trampoline waiting for you!

Author : John Dyer is a fitness and health writer. He is from Irvine, CA. He loves helping other people to get fit and healthy. He is currently working for TrampolinePartsCenter.com.