Rebounding With A Weighted Vest: Risk vs Reward

Trampoline rebounding is an incredibly versatile exercise! There are countless workout formats and ways to both reduce or increase the intensity depending on your goals. While rebounding is considered a joint friendly and low impact exercise, it is still important to learn proper form and start with the basics, even for experienced exercisers. 

Lately, I've been seeing recommendations for adding weights of varying styles including hand, ankle, and wrist weights and more recently, weighted vests. While adding light hand weights may be appropriate for experienced rebounders, I would not recommend it for beginners. Adding weights increases the load to your core and many beginners are already lacking in core strength. My main concern is that adding weights before a person is ready could result in low back pain or injury. Let's also remember that a rebounder is an unstable surface. Weighted vests shift our center of gravity, further challenging our balance and stability. This could result in increased risks for those with pre-existing conditions or those who are not accustomed to using them.

Rebounding is a full body exercise and there are lots of ways to up the intensity without risking injury. If you love rebounding with weights and find that you're not experiencing any issues, that is awesome for you! Like I always say, you do you! For those who may feel pressured or like they are not doing enough if they don't include all the extras, your rebounder alone is enough! Here is a wonderful beginner rebounding arm workout that can be performed without or with some light hand weights.

If you are over 40, incorporating weights into your exercise routine is definitely advised, but in my classes, we weight train off the rebounder. This allows for more control and the ability to focus on form. Check out my Tuesday and Thursday live classes which start with rebounding to get us good and warmed up and then transition to weight training.

On a personal note, as someone who has experienced both a knee and back injury, it is unlikely I'll be offering rebounding classes using a weighted vest. Unless there is definitive research showing positive outcomes, which so far there is not, I'm not sure the risk is worth the reward.