I love trampolines. Love! And since I needed something fun to do for my birthday I invited a bunch of my friends to the trampoline park Tuesday night.
It was great workout and my friends had a lot of fun. My husband might have had the most fun.
We went to the local trampoline park. It has lots of trampolines, with some tumble tracks, a foam pit, dodgeball courts, a small dunk trampoline and a ninja course with a rock climbing wall.
Flip!
I've been able to flip now for a year and a half. But I flip into the foam pit or a gymnastics mat. I have never tried flipping landing on a trampoline. I was scared of rolling my ankle. I tried flipping on the Olympic trampoline at TSNY. I was feeling brave at the end of our jump time and I tried it when no one was looking.
Jump. Wait. Flip.
And I landed on my feet. First try.
I didn't hit my head and my flip wasn't too low.
AND my husband tried a front flip for the first time. He got it on his second attempt.
To outdo him, I tried a handspring to front flip. I almost got it. Not quite, but close enough to want to go back immediately.
I didn't turn the workout app on my watch on, but I burned at least 250 active calories and had so much fun. I should really start going back every other week or every two weeks.
Trampoline classes at a trapeze school sounded like THE BEST THING EVER to me. I love trampolines. And I love flying trapeze. So when I had a work trip to an area with a TSNY, after I booked my flight the first thing I did was book a trampoline class. (And trapeze class second.)
I didn't know quite what to expect in this trampoline class, but given my history with trampolines—well I was just hoping it was fun.
The day of, I met the instructor. I told him my goal was to have fun, that I'd never even been on one of these fancy Olympic trampolines before but that I'd spent a lot of time at the trampoline park. I don't think he was expecting much from me.
My class was three people. Me. A girl who had done trampoline as her college PE (that sounds amazing) but was out of practice and a lady who was an instructor at TSNY and was working on cool flips.
Since there's only one trampoline, we all took turns.
The warm-up was to bounce up and down and stay in the middle. And the trampoline was a lot bouncier than I'm used to so this took some calibration. I also use my arms to balance me and the teacher was standing to my side, so he had to move before I could do this. Once I got the hang of that (and staying in the middle, not bouncing off to the side), we practice straddles, pikes, seat drops and back drops. I think the teacher was surprised I could fearlessly do a backdrop.
We tried cradles—back to front. And I'd never been taught the right way to do a lot of these things, so he had to show me where my hands should go etc. But I got back to front and front drops—he was pulling a mattress in front of me.
And then he decided I should work on backflips.
I have never been brave enough to do a backflip. Ever. But I was feeling brave. So we decided to go for it.
And Rich is the best spotter ever.
He would jump with me, count to three, and then I'd try to jump back so my shoulder would land on his shoulder, with my back and butt in a straight line with my shoulder.
After a few rounds of that, I'd try to get up and over. And he'd kind of push me so I'd get in the right—back and over.
And I had the same problem as with my front flips. Not waiting. And rotating too fast. My flips were all rotation. No height.
But I started getting them. And I was so SO CLOSE. I was pumped.
I went back to the hotel and sent the video to my adult gymnastics instructor. And I was high as a kite on adrenaline for a few hours.
Almost doing a backflip when you've been terrified for years is amazing. And that was some amazing spotting.
I ended up taking THREE trampoline classes in three days while I was in D.C.
I came back the next day and took a class with a gymnast. I wanted to get my back flip. Only the second teacher couldn't spot that. I was so disappointed. She had me working on front drops and cradles. And I am not good at them and don't care to do them.
My last day in DC I took another trampoline class after flying trapeze. Another class with Rich. I needed to get my backflip. This class was also three people. Another girl from the flying trapeze class—who used to live in Athens and work at UGA. And there was another lady who worked at TSNY in NY.
The instructor was working on cradles, which is a back drop, and you go up like for a front drop but rotate over so you land on your back again. I can't do the rotation. I think it's all about waiting and getting enough height in the air. I have enough power in my drop but can't.
The other girl really wanted to learn net tricks for flying trapeze. She was working on back drops. They are so scary and hard to learn.
I wanted to work on my backflip.
(Thanks Nadia for the video)
I didn't quite get it. Either it wasn't as good as a few days ago (or I was tougher on myself. The first time I was so thrilled just to be making progress, so not as tough on myself.) And then I worked on front flips. I don't know how to land them. I was trying to stick the landing. Like on a mat. But with a trampoline you just bounce. Haha. That's what I learned.
I love these classes and wish I could find one in Georgia. I found a gym that does have trampoline classes—but more for kids. I messaged them and they told me about their open gym. Not interested.
Verdict: Trampoline classes—LOVED. Need in my town.
A little over two years ago (two years and a week) I started my fitness journey with a fitness class at Aerofit. I was hooked. So today I took one of the first Rush fitness classes. (Rush is the expanded version of Aerofit.)
Picture of Rush from their FB page
There were 6 people in the class, one of which was an employee, and three teachers.
The class started with some stretching, then it was in four parts.
1. Cardio on the trampoline.
2. Intervals on the ninja course
3. Handstands on the dodgeball course/ tricep dips/ pushups on the benches
4. Abs back on the trampolines where we started.
Cardio consisted of jumping high, jumping jacks, some of Alex's favorite bring your knees up and slap your knees. Each exercise was about two minutes each.This was good cardio. I got tired fast and babied my overused knee. (I wore a brace and numbed it with voltarin gel before class.) I would have preferred more variety of exercises for 60-90 second bursts. I get bored fast.
Then it was over to the ninja wall. The circuit was 10 pushups, climb across the rope net, wall sit, swim across the foam pit, lunge back to the starting point, and repeat four or so times. This was super tiring. People were complaining. (The day after and my shoulders and killing me for doing too many pushups.)
We did some tricep dips on the benches. Well the instructor and I did. Everyone else had that glazed look in their eyes. Then it was incline pushups for 2 minutes. (More pushups!) We did some handstands against the barriers on the dodgeball course. I got a few good holds. Then some bearwalks.
Then it was back over to the trampolines for abs. We started with buttdrops, did some scissors and popcorn jumps and that was it.
I stayed around and did some bounders and played on the trampolines into the foam pit for a bit and headed out right at 10 a.m.
Verdict: A relatively new class that I'll be interested to see how it's polished up in coming months. I love trampolines and want to incorporate them into my fitness routine. We'll see if this class—or open jump makes the cut.
Pros: I was tired afterward. The variety of the trampolines, the ninja course and the dodgeball course was nice. All of the exercises were very doable. No need for super skills. The instructors were right there with the tired participants.
Cons: There was lots of down time that could have been better used. It seemed a tad unorganized with all of direction changes. Also, I would have liked to use more of the ninja course. Can we run across the spinning log? Climb across the rock wall. Will you show me how to do the spiderman climb? Also, they didn't use the vertical trampolines. A cardio warmup of just running laps might have been more interesting than 5 minutes of jumping in place. There were also too many pushups. We did a few different kinds and it was too repetitive when we could have done different exercises and worked on different areas.
I didn't love the class. It didn't have that same magic Aerofit classes had, but I'll give it time, but honestly I probably won't be back for a while for the class. I think I could do a better workout on my own.
Today I tried a Skyfitness class at skyzone. The kind you might have seen on Keeping up With the Kardashians (the episode where Khloe has some camel toe, but still wears tight pants and short tops.)
Granted, I've been taking trampoline cardio classes for a year, but I wanted to try another gym and see what their classes were like.
Atlanta traffic is unpredictable so we left very early. It took an hour to get there and we were super early. The manager signed us in and printed out our tickets (to jump afterwards). I signed up and paid online the night before.
Your first Skyfitness class is $5, and after that $10 each. Or you can buy a monthly membership for $20. Classes are offered at 9 a.m. Monday through Saturday.
There were 13 people in our class. There was a high school aged guy, 3-4 older couples, and a lot of 30-something women, maybe teachers. Most people came in pairs.
The instructor, Josh, was a beefy guy who I guessed played high school football. The class started with some light stretching, balancing on one foot, stretching shoulders, ankles, legs etc. The warm-up was 10+ minutes of running mans, jump up and touch your knees, side-to-side jumps, lunges, pulses, jumping front to back, tracing all the corners, butt drops, There were pushups, plank holds (where my feet slipped because of the socks), butt drops (but no spins), jumping jacks, donkey kicks, jumping really high for a minute—to get your heart rate up. I was definitely ready for a water break when it came.
The third part of the class was cardio. 60 seconds of laps around the trampoline, 60 seconds of curls with a band, or 30 seconds of lunges and 30 seconds of tricep dips on the floor. Then it was back on the trampoline, where we raced up and down the lanes for 30 seconds, while our partners did a sidestep with the band. We took the bands back to the trampoline and did some leg extensions, push ups, planks etc. There was also popcorn (back bounces), V-ups and butt-ups for abs. The class ended with 7 minutes of stretching.
After the class, we stayed to jump. We went to the foam pit and flipped until some 10-year-old boys showed up. Then we tried the basketball court and attempted to dunk the basketballs. We went back to the main trampoline to jump. I wanted to flip, but wasn't rotating enough and it wasn't happening. Kids also kept jumping across our pads (though the trampoline was pretty empty.) We went back to the foam pit and tried to flip some more. I kept under rotating. And Matt finally figured out how to dunk! And that was our 30 minutes.
I liked that there was a clock on the wall that counted down the seconds. We need that at my gym.
Socks: I would prefer to jump barefoot. I really hate socks. (I'm a Southern girl and would rather be barefoot or in flip-flops.) The Skyzone socks didn't bother me for the most part. The didn't bother me at all while I was jumping. They did make holding planks harder in the class (I kept slipping on the sock) and the foam pit foam tends to stick to them.
Quick Guide:
Verdict: Fun way to burn a lot of calories. You will get your heart rate up.
Thoughts: It was a good class. It got my heart rate up. There was nothing too confusing for me. Most of it was super easy. I rather thought I killed the class—jumping higher than most of the pros, etc. But there was no high-five from the instructor after class. The participants filed out and he put up the equipment. I missed the personal touch from the instructor, or maybe I just wanted to be told awesome job.
And overall, an Aerofit class is more fun. (Skyfitness also didn't use the walls at all). Alex's classes are brutal, but when he's singing Britney Spears off key it just makes the class more fun.
Atmosphere: Standard workout class. The attendees seemed very quiet. The instructor seemed to be a no-nonsense trainer.
Intensity: The first 10 minutes are the hardest. It will get your heart rate up. If you're new to working out, just take it easy. Do as much as you can and watch the others. If you're a pro, you won't have trouble with the class. It isn't too hard. And there were two water breaks built-in.
Price: $5 for a first class and $10 afterwards is pretty good.
What to wear: Workout clothes and the socks they sell there. I wouldn't wear anything too baggy. I like to wear capris and a tank.
If you go: Ladies, make sure you pee before you jump. Trampolines do weird things to bladders.
Would I do it again: Aerofit doesn't offer Friday or Saturday cardio classes anymore. (There is a noon class I can't make, but no Friday evenings or Saturday noon.) If gas wasn't $15 a trip, I'd consider it. Until then I'll wait until Aerofit expands. I've heard rumors of a basketball court, tumble track, climbing wall and foam pit.
I've wanted to go to Skyzone since I heard about it a year or so ago. A giant trampoline gym? Yes please.
The closest one, however, is more than an hour away. Friday I was in Gwinnett to have my car looked at. On a whim, I typed in Skyzone on my iPhone map to see how far away it was. Five miles. I really needed to get home to feed my cats, walk my job, and let my friend get something she'd store in my garage out. I was tempted though.
I was leaving the service center and the guy told me not to take my usual route home. He said there was a bad wreck. I took that as a sign I needed to try Skyzone. (So I called and had my neighbor take care of my pets and to tell my friend I'd be home later.)
I drive to Skyzone. It's in a giant warehouse in a business park. There was plenty of parking. You go in and fill out a waiver on their computers, then wait in line to be checked in at the front desk. I signed up for a 30 minute jump. It was $10 + $2 for some orange grippy socks. (I thought the socks would be annoying. I barely noticed them). They give you a sticker to put on and then you go jump for your allotted time. Mine was 6:30-7 p.m.
There were some quarter-opereated lockers to put your stuff in. There's also a concession stand. There were a ton of trampolines. I didn't know where to go. There were some trampolines near a foam pit. (The lines looked long.) There were two dodge-ball courts with 8-12 year-olds jumping madly over pads. And there was the giant trampoline court. It had vertical trampolines on three sides and was probably 3x the size of Aerofit. These trampolines had a lot of little kids (toddlers with their parents) and some 5-8 year-olds, but not a lot of older kids. That's where I went. An employee in an orange polo shirt gave a group in front of me directions, and I followed on the trampoline. I went to a relatively unused corner and tried to figure out what to do. There were kids just running and jumping. No one was doing tricks really.
I jumped across the trampolines. I think they were a tad bigger than the Aerofit trampolines, and there were some narrow tumble track looking trampolines. The trampolines felt different than the ones at Aerofit. They weren't sprung as tightly. I tried a butt drop and had to really concentrate to get it because the spring wasn't the same. I saw a kid flipping over the pads so I tried a cartwheel. And it's actually easier to flip here—because of the spring in the trampoline. I tried some round-offs and one-armed round-offs. I ventured over to the wall—which isn't lined up exactly. One vertical trampoline might be behind two regular trampolines. I tried some back bounces and supermans. They still felt different so they weren't as effortless and but totally doable. One other kids tried a back bounce into the wall, but I was mostly the one one doing tricks. (I couldn't do a backdrop hand stand. The trampolines weren't tight enough to get my arms under me.)
A16-year-old employee with a whistle in his mouth came over to my area. I bounced over and asked him what his best trick was.
"Probably that," he said to my butt drop. I was disappointed. The employees at Aerofit are the ones with the best tricks. They're also more enthusiastic than these kids who just give the little jumpers dirty looks. (Teach them a new trick!)
I jumped around some more and worked on some toe touches, back drops, flagpoles, whatever I could remember. I was having fun. By myself. No one ever comes to the trampoline park by themselves, but why not?
Finally a different employee (with whistle and orange polo shirt came over) and asked if I was doing a workout. I told him I was just playing. I asked him what his best trick was and he said a full. I was much more impressed with that, though he did not demonstrate. Apparently, he's a competition cheerleader. And we chatted about me not being able to flip. He suggested the foam pit. I decided to brave the lines and give it a try.
I stood in line with 4-year-olds who just dove into the foam pit. It was mostly really little kids. There was a 6-7 year-old who looked a little lost who was giving me weird looks. And there was a 12-year-old girl who seemed to be there with her toddler brother. They dove, I worked on my front tuck. I didn't have anyone to give me pointers on form, but I tried. And had a blast.
I'm just a big kid at heart. Skyzone was super fun to visit. I'm glad I went. I'd go back again (especially with a friend)—if only my car was working…..
