TOUTEDas the "only exerciser from womb to tomb" and the "rocking chair of the '90s", the Yankee-born trampoline is now seeking an Indian home.
Brought to Mumbai by Innocare Pvt Ltd only eight months ago, made-in-America Jumpking Trampoline has already found over 600 takers, and not all are faddists.
The trampoline's woven jumping surface is made of polypropylene permatron—the same wonder material used for making calculator covers. Its iron frames come in diameters of 3, 6, 10 and 14 inches and are priced at Rs 3,200, Rs 13,500, Rs 24,000 and Rs 32,000 respectively.
Invented in 1936 for the US armed forces to help recruits achieve balance and coordination, the rebounder was fostered into a fitness art by specialist Dr Harry Sneider. Marketing spiel includes quotes from former US President Ronald Reagan, who reportedly jounced: "If you see somebody jumping up and down on the second floor of the White House, that's me rebounding."
Back home, the rebounder has inspired a glut of books such as The Olympic Trainer by Sneider who used the technique to overcome the loss of his hip joint during World War II; Michele Wilburn's Starbound, which talks of revitalising the mind through rebounding and The Miracle Rebound Exercise by Albert E. Carter, founder of the National Institute of Reboundology. Videos on the subject include one by Sylvia R. Oritiz, founder of Fit For You Rebound Aerobics and there are endorsements by the celebrated Fit For Life couple Harvey and Marilyn Diamond, who give a detailed regimen in their book Living Health.
But not all Indian health gurus are impressed. Fitness diva Ramma Bans, who pruned an overweight Rekha into her current svelte shape, is chary: "Jumping on a rebounder has the same high impact effect as jogging. It is bad for the back. I would recommend the treadmill or the cycle."
Ardent rebounders like lymphologist Kavita Mukhi, manager of 'the country's first nature store', Nature Options, and former apprentice with the famous Dr Samuel West, wave aside such scepticism. "The best way to keep the blood proteins circulating in the body via the lymphatic system is by using a lymphasiser for 15 minutes daily."
As twenty something Preeti Modi, Mukhi's shop assistant, discovered. Nancy Lulla, marketing consultant in the recently-opened water park, Club Aquaria, says the trampoline fitted with the club's "fun and fitness" image, and also helped her keep ahead of the Joneses since none of the other major gyms of the city had it. Ajay Shivlani, who along with Dhiraj Ulman runs the skating school Rollfit, picked up the rebounder to keep the adults, accompanying their wards, occupied. "Soon everyone, from five to 50, was bouncing, and we realised it helped users' coordination and balance, vital for skating," says Shivlani.
The credit for bringing the trampoline to India goes to Vasant Uchil and Sunil Saxeria of Innocare Pvt Ltd. Among their list of institutional converts to rebounding are the Goan Taj Holiday Village, Fariyas hotels, Karia builders, Mahindra Realty, Garodia School and Greenland Playschool. Innocare, Jumpking's sole marketing representative in Asia, now plans to take people jumping in Chandigarh, Pune and Goa, and even in Sri Lanka.
Saxeria sighted his first trampoline while trying to locate one for his three-year-old daughter. "A Taiwanese model is available here, but it comes with no guarantee," he says. What the trampoline does guarantee, however, is a healthy future. The bouncer has none of the joint-jarring shock of joggers. It strengthens the heart, aids metabolism, enhances digestion and elimination, builds muscles, corrects poor vision, improves overall coordination, posture, body alignment, strengthens joints and brings flexibility to the neck, hips, knees, ankle and back.
Other trampoline votaries believe that it super-manipulates the body's energy pathways, enlivens the Tao and Chi energy levels (Nam and lower Prana levels in yoga), recharges the radiation of the kirleon energy field, offers an escape route to individuals out of their stress traps through tranquility-inducing hormonal secretions.
But fitness experts like Bans will give the trampoline a wide detour. What if a spring gives way or the mat tears? Or a mistimed rebound lands you on your head or on the metal rim? What of a fall from the trampoline itself? As of now, Innocare provides buyers only the equipment and write-ups like the Wilburn book and photocopies from the Diamonds' tome. Enthusiasts shouldn't overlook basic no-nos, which are never to bounce after heavy drinking or eating, never to leap from bouncer to floor, never to jump when the body is infected, never on a frayed mat or on the rim and never to overcrowd.
Whatever the doubts, trampoline advocates are not ready to give up yet. They have only one thing to say: if you don't believe us, go take a jump.
