The trampolines in your gym is by far the most popular equipment in the gym. Not to mention the most dangerous piece of equipment than any other equipment in your gym. Kids get on the trampoline and the first thing they attempt to do is to try to bounce really high. Not to mention that they don't realize how much core strength and balance it takes to bounce high. Without proper training and instruction serious injury can occur. It is more important to bounce with control rather than how high they jump. Today I will be sharing my workout that I do with my class and team kids to learn body control on the trampoline.
Drill #1: Knee bounces:
The knee bounces are great to work on proper body alignment when bouncing on the trampoline. It really target the core muscles, lower back muscles, and the glutes muscles. This drill also serve another purpose on working the quads muscles for kicking the feet through when doing front drop to seat drop, back drop, or doing a cody.
I have my kids set up a throw mat on the trampoline and they get on their knees with arms up by their ears (hiding their ears) and glutes tuck under. They attempt to start bouncing by pushing down with their legs by slightly extending the legs (kicking). Bounce 10-20 times.
Drill #2: Bounce with arms down:
Bouncing with arms down focus on good body position and alignment. Most important body control. The kids will attempt to bounce with good control while maintaining a strong body while their arms are pressed against their sides (hand in pockets). The goal is to keep their core area strong and not allowing the shoulders to move forward or backwards. Everything should be in a straight line in which they stack the bones. Again bounce with control. If they start to bobble and wobble then they need to lower their bounces. 10 bounces
Drill #3: Bounce with arms up:
Bouncing with arms up is very challenging due to changing their level of center of gravity. Therefore making it more challenging to balance themselves when they bounce. The kids will attempt to bounce with the arms up, hiding their ears while maintaining good stability and control. 10 bounces.
Drill #4: 4 count arm swings
This drill allows the kids to learn the proper arm swing when bouncing n the trampoline. It has been common for kids to do full arms circles creating unnecessary shoulder movement that causes imbalance while bouncing. I have created the 4 count arm swing to help solve this issue. The goal is to be able to swing the arms while maintaining good body alignment and control.
The kids will start off by bouncing with control starting with the arms down to the sides. When you the coach will start the four count arm swing. ONE- arms extended in the front. TWO- arms extended up above the head with arms hiding the ears. THREE- arms out to the side creating a letter "T". FOUR- arms press down to the side (back to the starting position). One and two should be moving on the way up and three and four is on the way down. You can count on every three jumps, every other, jump, or every jump. I would recommend to count on every three jumps so they can learn the arm count and body control. Once they can do it will with body control then they can bounce with the arm swing on consecutive bounces.
Again nothing is more important to bounce with control and quality body movement then how high you bounce. At a developmental stand point it is not how high you go its how well you can control your body. Once they get to the higher developmental level then height start to become important as well because you need more air time to complete the skills. To develop good height is good body control. Having good body control is having good focus.
"I figure in practice you put your brains in your muscles" - Sam Snead
Best of luck with the new TnT routines in the upcoming season.
