Trampoline Aerobics Is Bouncing Back

One hour and 20 minutes. Eighty minutes a week. That is all it takes to trim down and shape up, according to Dana Finnegan and Debbie Smith, producers and stars of the sizzling hot video, “Jump to It.” Unlike jogging or jumping rope, you will have a blast the whole 80 minutes doing rebound aerobics (aerobic dance on a mini-trampoline), promise the dancing sisters who dropped 80 pounds between them “jumping to it.”

“It takes you back to the days when you’d get in trouble for jumping on your bed,” Smith said. “It’s like getting away with something you couldn’t do as a kid.”

The mini-trampoline is far from new. Veteran fitness enthusiasts might remember its unspectacular debut in the late ‘70s; many fitness experts wrote off the bouncing exercise because it failed to offer a vigorous-enough aerobic workout.

But Finnegan, 29, and Smith, 32, are living proof that rebound aerobics offer the same health benefits as jogging and jumping rope, without the injuries.

Before discovering rebounding, both sisters fought separate and desperate battles of the bulge. As a manager of a national Mexican restaurant chain, Finnegan’s figure ballooned on a diet of chimichangas and enchiladas. What was worse, her hectic work schedule (16 hours a day) and a knee injury from cheerleading days kept her from exercising. At age 25, the 5-foot, 5-inch Finnegan weighed in at a hefty 165. “I couldn’t zip my size 16 pants. . . . I was suicidal,” she said.

Despite her devotion to aerobic dance, Smith, 5 feet, 8 inches tall, worked her way up to 155 pounds cooking lavish, fat-laden meals for her new husband. “It was the most miserable time in my whole life. As a size 14 going on 15, I had no self-image,” she recalled. Aerobic dance only seemed to aggravate things; to keep up with the instructor’s no-pain, no-gain attitude, she would pop seven aspirins a day to cope with the lower back pain.

Finnegan and Smith talk about discovering the mini-trampoline with evangelical zeal. Not only did the bouncing workout help them get down to size--Finnegan dropped from size 16 to 6, 120 pounds; Smith from 14 to 8, 124 pounds--it helped them to view life in a brighter light.

“Rebounding taught me to be happy with myself. It took me from the lowest low to feeling like I’m somebody,” Smith said. Finnegan added: “It makes me feel fantastic!”

The sisters’ enthusiasm is well-founded--rebound aerobics equals swimming as a safe, all-around exercise. It works the muscles and the heart without stressing the joints, which makes it a good fitness choice for injured, novice and overweight exercisers. (Smith’s back pain and Finnegan’s knee pain have since completely disappeared.)

Twenty minutes of vigorous rebounding four to five times a week speeds up the calorie-and-fat-burning process (both during and after workouts), though you can get away with thrice weekly workouts. Even a two-minute workout offers some benefit: improved circulation and reduced stress. Finnegan and Smith know several executives who keep a mini-trampoline at the office to relieve the daily stress and strain of deadlines and decisions.

You can rebound in the privacy of your own home, night or day, no matter what the weather. And mini-trampolines can be inexpensive; standard models cost as little as $15 and deluxe models can cost $200.

The 60-minute “Jump to It” video, which Shape magazine called “one of the best tapes of the year,” opens with detailed instructions on reaping the benefits, including tips on heart monitoring. The choreographed, low-impact dance sessions, the bulk of the video, are sandwiched between brief warm-up and cool-down segments.

The video was filmed at the Jump to It aerobics studio that Finnegan and Smith owned and managed in their hometown of Bellflower, Calif., between 1983 and 1985. The idea for the video evolved from the many requests they got on where to learn the rebounding technique.

“We’d give performances at shopping malls to promote the studio and blow audiences away with the trampoline workout. We thought about writing a book but couldn’t imagine people trying to read while jumping. Then we thought video,” Debbie said. They completed the video in 1985, the same year that insurance problems forced them to close the studio doors.

The sisters no longer teach one-on-one but still find their work gratifying. A discouraged Minneapolis woman with 100 pounds to lose called after buying the video. The exercises were too difficult, she said. Finnegan offered her diet and workout tips (hold on to a chair for balance; jump at your own speed). Four months later, the woman phoned back, thrilled and 25 pounds lighter.