Trampoline Exercises
Great For Fun And Fitness

Learn good technique and stay safe, tone your body and have fun with these trampoline exercises.

If you've just bought or are looking to buy a trampoline, I'm sure you'll want to get jumping straight away.

But before you start, take a few moments to look through the most efficient and safest ways to exercise on trampolines.

Firstly, a quick reminder of the main benefits of trampoline exercises:

Basic Trampoline Exercises

You might think learning the correct technique is boring, but actually it's the best bit.

Yes, it's vital for safety. Most trampoline related accidents are caused by improper technique and "messing around" (i.e. stupidity).

But the best part is, good technique from the start, will help you get the most out of your trampoline.

You'll enjoy using it regularly, and quickly start to feel (and see) the results in your body. Staying injury free will also mean your trampoline is used for years to come.

Here are the basic trampoline exercises to get you started:

Remember your warm up and cool down (you can adapt the pulse raising and lowering exercises on your trampoline, but do the stretches on solid ground).

Always aim to stay in the centre of the trampoline. Use your arms for momentum.

Keep your feet together and start to bounce in the middle of the trampoline.

Slightly bend your knees on contact with the trampoline, and jump. Whilst jumping, drive both arms straight up above your head.

At the top of the jump, bring your arms down to your side. Continue this cycle with each bounce.

Don't bend your knees during the bounce. That will make you lose balance and push you off centre (towards the edges). So keep your legs straight down, whilst in the air.

Look straight ahead throughout bouncing. Work your deep core muscles to keep control of the bounce.

Build height slowly. Gain confidence with each bounce. Learn to master staying in the middle of the trampoline. It'll be important for every other trampoline exercise you do.

At some point you'll want to stop bouncing, in a safe and quick way.

After your last bounce, bend your knees on contact with the trampoline and push your bottom back to absorb the bounce (i.e. kill it). Bring your arms straight in front of you to keep balanced.

That will stop your bounce straight away.

Get momentum going with some bouncing.

Jump and lift your hips up (rather than pushing your bottom back). Your legs, which remain straight and together, will come forward. You'll land your bottom in the middle of the trampoline, with your hands flat by your sides.

Then use your hips to drive your legs back down, and bring your arms up above your head. Continue bouncing.

Work your bottom when driving your hips up and down. But don't push it back, otherwise you'll end up falling backwards.

Get momentum going with some bouncing.

This time keep your arms up above your head, on contact with the trampoline, and jump. At the top of the jump, twist to face the opposite direction on landing.

Aim to land in the middle of the trampoline (i.e. the same spot you started the jump). Continue bouncing.

Use your core muscles to twist your body, not your arms or shoulders. Keep your arms straight above your head and your body tense, throughout the twist.

Get some momentum going with bouncing, build a little height.

Keep your arms up above your head, on contact with the trampoline, and jump. Bring your knees up to your chest, and your arms down to touch your shins, at the top of the jump.

Straighten your legs down, and arms up above your head on landing. Keep the momentum going with a few more bounces, then try another tuck jump.

Work your bottom and core muscles during the tuck jump, for best control.

Get some momentum going with bouncing, build more height.

Keep your arms up above your head, on contact with the trampoline, and jump. Kick your legs up to the sides (in a scissor movement), lean your chest slightly forward and reach your arms down towards (no need to touch) your toes.

Bring your legs back down and together, and arms back above your head on landing. Keep momentum with more bounces after your straddle jump.

Be cautious the first few times you do this jump, as it will knock your balance. Make sure you've got good core strength before trying this.

Your First Trampoline Exercise Routines

Once you're comfortable doing the above trampoline exercises, you can move on to combining them into routines.

I have to stress, you should be able to do each exercise with ease, on it's own first. If you don't have full control of each exercise, you'll lose balance when you combine them.

A good progressive step is to practice each exercise with lots of bouncing in-between. For example, you could:

Bounce x 3, seated drop, bounce x 3, half twist, bounce x 3, tuck jump, bounce x 3, straddle jump, bounce x 3.

That would be a good workout. Only 5-10 minutes on a trampoline is hard work. Even with just these basic exercises, you have so many options to create imaginative routines.

It's an idea to write down each routine, before practising it. Know the order of your exercises.

As you progress, you'll get stronger and more skilled. You'll find the confidence to create harder routines (harder workouts). Remember to stay safe, within your skill level.