Mr Bounce Says – Trampolines and Trampolining Specialist

Season of mists and mellow fruitfulness. Not to mention bonfires and fireworks inevitably followed by the first Winter gales. So do you take down the trampoline and pack it away until Spring? Do you leave it out in the garden but make sure the weather cover is always fitted after use? Do you leave it as it is and encourage the family to use it through the winter?

What ever you plan, now is the time to give it a thorough inspection. It’s probably had a load of use through the summer. Check the bed stitching and spring anchors. Are the springs all 100%? Do the frame pads still give adequate protection? How is the enclosure holding up? Netting, bungees and pole foams can all take a bit of a beating. Autumn is a quiet time in the trampoline trade so parts may well cost less now than in the spring when everyone is chasing them. I know that www.supertrampdirect.co.uk have a voucher based offer for October only offering 10% off the cost of replacement parts. Just enter the code STD0909 at the on line check out and 10% will be automatically deducted from the cost of any trampoline parts you are buying.

If you are leaving your trampoline up all winter you should be prepared for two things. Firstly, Bonfire night and it’s attendant fireworks. Hot sparks from bonfires and rockets will burn small holes in your trampoline bed, so ensure that it is well covered. Secondly, a trampoline fitted with a netting enclosure really catches the wind. Every winter hundreds of garden trampoline s are blown away and damaged. Or worse still cause damage to property and possibly people. Make sure it doesn’t happen to yours by installing a trampoline tie down kit. £20.00 is not much to pay for peace of mind.

‘Two goes please’ said the old man proffering a handful of coins which I took to be the hard won savings of his grandson who was already removing his shoes. Then as Grandad started to take off his shoes it dawned on me. I apologised for assuming that the boy was going to stay on for another turn and and enquired as to Grandad’s age. 72 he replied. ‘This keeps me fit and supple’. I then watched in amazement as Grandad completed simple routines that included neat somersaults and baranis. OK that is a little exceptional but the point here is that bouncing on a trampoline is fun and surprisingly easy to do at a simple level. It also just happens to be one of the most complete forms of exercise that you can do. It’s right up there with swimming, running and walking, but for older bones it’s low impact aerobic exercise that is kind to your skeletal frame. So to those who think they are too old I say: Don’t walk past that empty trampoline. Provided that you are sober, have a go. But keep it simple. However much fun you think it is do not bounce for more than 5 minutes initially. Trampolining is a whole body exercise that uses muscles that you never knew you had.

At a simpler level try rebounding. That is bouncing on a small exercise trampoline. These are relatively cheap to buy, take up little space and are the next best thing to a proper trampoline. Again: Short sessions to start with until you can build up to a 20 to 30 minute daily session. It need take up none of your precious time. Want to watch TV? Bounce while you watch with the added benefit of extra exercise for your eyes too.

‘Two goes please’ said the old man proffering a handful of coins which I took to be the hard won savings of his grandson who was already removing his shoes. Then as Grandad started to take off his shoes it dawned on me. I apologised for assuming that the boy was going to stay on for another turn and and enquired as to Grandad’s age. 72 he replied. ‘This keeps me fit and supple’. I then watched in amazement as Grandad completed simple routines that included neat somersaults and baranis. OK that is a little exceptional but the point here is that bouncing on a trampoline is fun and surprisingly easy to do at a simple level. It also just happens to be one of the most complete forms of exercise that you can do. It’s right up there with swimming, running and walking, but for older bones it’s low impact aerobic exercise that is kind to your skeletal frame. So to those who think they are too old I say: Don’t walk past that empty trampoline. Provided that you are sober, have a go. But keep it simple. However much fun you think it is do not bounce for more than 5 minutes initially. Trampolining is a whole body exercise that uses muscles that you never knew you had.

At a simpler level try rebounding. That is bouncing on a small exercise trampoline. These are relatively cheap to buy, take up little space and are the next best thing to a proper trampoline. Again: Short sessions to start with until you can build up to a 20 to 30 minute daily session. It need take up none of your precious time. Want to watch TV? Bounce while you watch with the added benefit of extra exercise for your eyes too.

Where will it be sited?

”We’d love to get a trampoline but we haven’t got the space for one”. We humans tend to use whatever space we have and fill it up with whatever is useful, beautiful or fashionable at the time. So firstly take stock of your whole garden. You may need to change the lay out or find a new home for that old swing set. Flower beds, shrubs and small trees can be re-sited. Sloping ground can be terraced. What about the look of the garden? Do you really need a very visible netting enclosure on your trampoline? Perhaps it would be better to plan on setting the trampoline into the ground. A word of caution here. Do please stop and consider the effect that your new trampoline may have on relations with your neighbours. They will probably be happiest if does not change and/or spoil their view. Yes: Your garden but their view! Of course if after considering all the above you simply cannot create enough ‘extra’ space then you may have to compromise with a smaller trampoline.

Please don’t give in without a fight! But.. and here is the most important bit so please pay attention: What ever space you choose for siting your trampoline you must measure it accurately. No short cuts or rule of thumb. No near enough is good enough. Two of you and a tape measure. You will be amazed at how many folk buy a trampoline and then find that it won’t fit into the space they have allocated for it.

The 2 main factors to consider are quite simply:

1. Who is going to be using it

2. Where will it be sited. See Part 2

Whilst we all know that it is important to keep within budget. if you make this your over riding consideration there is a good chance that you will end up buying the wrong trampoline. You may understandably feel that it is not worth spending too much on a piece of ‘play’ equipment that may not get much use. That the children may lose interest after a few weeks. Talk to friends and neighbours who already own a garden trampoline. They will tell you how popular they are and how their children and friends never seem to tire of bouncing on the trampoline. Your trampoline is going to get a lot of use. You’ll find yourself telling people that it was the best thing you ever bought for your kids. So back to the beginning: Who will use it and what will they use it for? Just your children and their friends for bouncy play? Then choose a round trampoline. But what size? Your children may only be pre schoolers right now but they will still want to bounce on the trampoline in 7 or 8 years time. Are Mum and Dad and their friends going to have a go? You are about to invest in 10 years of family fun and exercise. If you have the space for it you will regret buying anything smaller than a 12 footer. Trust me. I have had hundreds of customers come back and say. ”If I had known how popular it was going to be I would have bought a bigger one”.

It may be that your children are keen gymnasts, trampolinists, high divers, free style boarders, skiers or have aerial aspirations. If this is the case then consider a proper rectangular trampoline.

All performance trampolines are rectangular. Don’t be taken in by claims that oval or octagonal trampolines are performance trampolines. You will be very disappointed. Again: Go as big as you can. Bear in mind that a standard size trampoline has a 12 x 6 foot (366 x 183cm) bed and 100 springs.

Have you noticed how very visible garden trampolines have become in the last 3 years? The public perception is that a huge growth in trampoline sales must have taken place quite recently. Actually, this is not the case. Prior to 2006 there were hundreds of thousands of garden trampolines in use. But generally you couldn’t see them because most of them were not fitted with netting enclosures. Now these very visible and rather ugly structures have popped up everywhere. Attractive they are not. So please think about the impact you are making on your neighbours’ view and general neighbourhood when siting your trampoline. In the process of minimising risk of injury will you be jeopardising relations with your neighbours? Maybe you feel it’s worth it for all the healthy fun and exercise your family will enjoy. But please also consider a further local environmental impact: Noise. It could be the regular squeak and flap that so many trampolines make when in use, but what is far more likely to disturb the peace are the ‘look at me’ shouts, whoops of joy and shrieks of surprise. Maybe that won’t bother your neighbours but remember that a little bit of consideration and timely communication can go a long way towards creating harmonious relations with them.