On The Rebound: - Enlightenment.Com

the feedback you receive from your feet, including the substantial changes that you may
experience while rebounding from just slightly adjusting your feet. (See Chapter 17 for
an in-depth discussion of foot factors and variables in rebounding.) My belief and
experience is that most people who bounce barefoot find Permatron® mats preferable.
However, if you plan on rebounding in a gym with shoes on, or otherwise need to or
prefer to bounce in shoes, or if you don’t care about the difference in mats, then the
Urban Rebounding units, which appear to be quite durable, provide a truly excellent
value.
There are a number of non-U.S. rebounders also available, some of which are up to
several hundred dollars in price. My advice is to stick with the half-fold from
ReboundAir or Needak, or one of the Dave Hall rebounders, or if you don’t care about
the mat difference, one of JB Berns’s units. Anything less and you are probably wasting
your money and time, and anything more – such as rebounders which are supposedly
“electrically tuned,” or contain springs of “hand-made Irish Steel” – may be overkill. On
the other hand, if you happen to have one of these units, and have had great success with
it, please let me know. Maybe there are springs that never break and mats that never wear
out, and I’ll just have to upgrade!
Are quality modern rebounders perfect? Well, no. Several of the rebounders I have
bounced on have had problems with mats that have severely frayed and come apart where
they are sewed on. (JB Berns and now ReboundAir have been experimenting with
increasing the amount of stitching on their units.) Other rebounders that I have used have
experienced spring breakage. (There’s nothing quite as disconcerting as having a spring
break while you are in mid-session! You can still bounce with one spring down, but it
changes the bounce, and is not particularly good for the other springs or the rebounder
itself. You are better off dismounting and replacing the spring as soon as possible.)
In my experience, both Needak and ReboundAir have been very good in honoring their
warranties for springs and mats – they will usually send you a package of springs if one
breaks, and it is not that hard to replace a spring once you get the knack of it. (If,
however, you are not handy or don’t have good hand strength, you might want to invite
over a mechanically oriented friend.) Keep in mind, though, that if you buy a high quality
rebounder you may never experience a spring breaking or a mat needing replacement. (I
weigh close to 200 pounds, and tend to bounce long, hard, and forcefully, and think of
myself as a kind of back-roads-of-Morocco road-testing device for rebounders.)
A high quality rebounder – generally costing between $170 and $400 – may be more
expensive than you prefer, but it is very much worth making this investment, even if you
have to save for it. Compare rebounding to the price of joining a good gym, which will
cost you $40 to $100 a month or more. Is a device that you can use at home, in good or
bad weather, that will enable you to have fun while you boost your immune system, lose
weight, increase your aerobic capacity, become more flexible, and even obtain
psychological and spiritual benefits, worth a couple of hundred dollars? I certainly think
it is, and encourage you to make the investment, because I have found and earnestly
On the Rebound, draft 1.0, © 2004 Jordan Gruber, All Rights Reserved; Confidential, Please do not Reproduce - 50 -