On The Rebound: - Enlightenment.Com

springs are created equal, and sometimes manufacturers, in order to save money, will buy
cheaper heavy-duty springs or get a bad batch. In some ways this is a repeat of the
dynamic that first drove down the qualities of rebounders in the 1980s, as described in
Chapter 8.
Fig. __. The left unit is a ReboundAir half-fold, while the right is
a no-name sports store brand. Note four things. First, the heavyduty
springs on the left simply dwarf the springs on the right,
and represent the wide-bellied shape that has become standard.
Second, you can see the pin that attaches the spring on the
bottom of the ReboundAir unit, while the spring on the
inexpensive unit is attached directly to the frame. Third, the leg
on the ReboundAir model is folded down (attached by piano
wire that you can not see here), while the leg on the inexpensive
unit merely screws off. Fourth and finally, the spring cover on
the ReboundAir is much higher quality and more durable than
the inexpensive unit’s cheap plastic cover.
In addition to the mat, a high quality rebounder will simply be made better throughout,
with heavy-duty hinges (on rebounders that fold), and better metal and plastic. Keep in
mind that on average, you will bounce up and down about 100 times a minute when you
are on a rebounder. If your Daily Bounce is just 15 minutes a day, and you weigh 150
pounds, then that’s some 225,000 pounds of force (at the bottom of the bounce) that the
rebounder and all of its components has to deal with each day you bounce. If you weigh
175 pounds, and you bounce every day for a month for twenty minutes a day, then that’s
over ten million pounds of force that the rebounder must accommodate that month. (This
same sort of calculation shows why even using light hand weights can give you a terrific
upper body workout.) The point here is that a quality rebounder is built to last, and for the
most part will do so, with the exception of the occasional spring or mat that needs
replacement if you are a hefty and vigorous bouncer. An inferior rebounder, in addition to
giving you a far less satisfactory bouncing experience, will eventually just fall apart.
On the Rebound, draft 1.0, © 2004 Jordan Gruber, All Rights Reserved; Confidential, Please do not Reproduce - 48 -