Rebounding has been around for over fifty years. What's new is our understanding of rebound exercise as a process of gravitational force overloading."

Professor Pat Mueller is the one who brought my attention to the NASA Report published in the Journal of Applied Physiology 49(5): 881-887, 1980, which confirms many of the statements previously made in the first printing of "The Miracles of Rebound Exercise". The research was performed by the Bio mechanical Research Division, NASA-Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, California, in cooperation with the Wenner-Gren Research Laboratory, University of Kentucky,Lexington.

The four scientists, A. Bhattacherya, E. P. McCutcheon, E. Shavartz, and J. E. Greenleaf, secured the assistance of eight young men between the ages of 19 and 26, requiring each to walk, jog and run on a treadmill operated at four different speeds, and then jump on a standard-sized trampoline at four different heights in order to compare the difference between the two modes of exercise. Although treadmill running had been studied many times before, the scientists found that

". . . measurements of the necessary variables have not been reported previously for trampoline exercise." A Summary of that study is found in the back of this book, but there are a few quotes that seem to fit here.

". . . for similar levels of heart rate and oxygen consumption,the magnitude of the bio mechanical stimuli is greater with jumping on a trampoline than with running, a finding that might help identify acceleration parameters needed for the design of remedial procedures to avert deconditioning in persons exposed to weightlessness."

"The external work output at equivalent levels of oxygen uptake were significantly greater while trampolining than running. The greatest difference was about 68%. Now, if you had access to a gasoline that was 68% more efficient than the gasoline you are using in your automobile right now at the same price, wouldn't you take advantage of it? Well, we don't have the gasoline, but it does appear that we do have the exercise.

It is fitting that NASA should explore trampolining, or, as we know it now, rebound exercise, because they had a real need for an exercise breakthrough. They found that when the astronauts were sent into space, in as little as fourteen days they lost as much as 15% of their bone and muscle mass. The space rats didn't do as well. In seven days, their loss was as much as 40%.

It appears that the cells of the body have a greater ability to adjust to their environment than we give them credit for. Without gravity, the cells of the bones and muscles took it upon themselves to adjust. Strong bones are not necessary in a zero gravity environment, so the osteocytes (bone cells) become osteoclasts and began to dissolve bone mineral from the bones.(Medical doctors know that when bones are stressed, the bone cells perform osteoblastic activity by absorbing bone mineral and depositing it in the bones where they are being stressed.)

Did NASA find their space age exercise? It appears so, Rebounding appears to be a way of ". . .averting the deconditioning that occurs during the immobilization of bed rest of space flight, due to a lack of gravireceptor stimulation(in addition to other factors). " [Recovering from space flight]". . .requires an acceleration profile that can be delivered at a relatively low metabolic cost." Their studies pointed out that"While trampolining, as long as the G-force remained below4-G's, the ratio of oxygen consumption compared to biomechanical conditioning was sometimes more than twice as efficient as treadmill running."

It is important to note that although this experiment was performed on a trampoline where the participants were able to develop a G-force as high as 8-G's, the efficient use of energy was below 4-G's.That brings up two immediate questions. 1) What is the maximum G-force that can be developed on a rebounder? and2) How much G-force can an average person handle? In other words, is rebounding really safe for the normal person? We need to call in the United States Air Force to answer that question. USAF pilots have been pulling multi-G's ever since it's existence.

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