Off Topic Looking to buy Trampoline for doing Gymnastics!

[Marky]

Hey fam! I'm just a newbie and don't know much about tramps but love to buy a trampoline for myself for practicing gymnastics.
I'm looking to buy trampoline under 500 dollars and found this blogpost: Link Removed

Can anyone let me know which trampoline should I buy (I think Aotob Trampoline will do the job).

 

[Geoffrey Taucer]

I'm not generally a fan of backyard trampolines. They are a nightmare in terms of both safety and liability. In addition, practicing skills at home without a coach is always a gamble, not just because of safety, but also because of technique. Because correct technique is often counterintuitive, there is a high chance that you will end up teaching yourself -- and subsequently practicing -- incorrect technique. And it's harder to fix bad technique than it is to train good technique from scratch.

So my first trampoline recommendation is to not get one.

Having said that, I know that back yard trampoline access is cheaper than at-gym trampoline access, and that telling somebody who loves gymnastics not to do it at home is like telling college kids not to drink beer, so....

Should you decide to get a trampoline anyway (WHICH I DO NOT RECOMMEND), the ones listed in that article look decent as far as I know. Having a net is important (but not foolproof). I recommend very strictly following these rules with your trampoline:
1) Only one person on at a time. No exceptions whatsoever.
2) Don't jump on the trampoline unless there is somebody else around who can keep an eye on you. They don't necessarily need to fully coach you or anything; they can be sitting on the back porch staring at their phone or reading a book, but they should be somewhere they can see and hear you, and call emergency services if you get hurt.
3) Do everything you can to make it hard to see and/or access the trampoline while you're not home. If it's fully-visible and anybody can get to it by hopping a fence, there's a high chance of neighborhood kids sneaking in to jump on it -- and if they get hurt doing so, you can be held liable. I don't know what country you're in, but if it's the USA, anybody who gets hurt on your trampoline -- even if they're doing so without your permission -- will say "lawsuit" before they say "ouch."
4) Keep the area under the trampoline clear. Don't use the area for storage, and don't let people or pets crawl under the trampoline while somebody's jumping.

 

[JBS]

I don’t have any experience with the “under $500” market. This is a nice trampoline in the low price range though…

ACON Air 16 Sport HD Rectangular Trampoline with Net and ladder

Our rectangle 16 ft trampoline with net delivers premium quality and safe landings. The flagship ACON 16 Sport HD has the best bounce in the business. Buy now.

us.acon24.com

This one is pretty cheap compared to the normal $9,000 or so that I would spend… and it’s a quality tramp.

 

[Marky]

I'm not generally a fan of backyard trampolines. They are a nightmare in terms of both safety and liability. In addition, practicing skills at home without a coach is always a gamble, not just because of safety, but also because of technique. Because correct technique is often counterintuitive, there is a high chance that you will end up teaching yourself -- and subsequently practicing -- incorrect technique. And it's harder to fix bad technique than it is to train good technique from scratch.

So my first trampoline recommendation is to not get one.

Having said that, I know that back yard trampoline access is cheaper than at-gym trampoline access, and that telling somebody who loves gymnastics not to do it at home is like telling college kids not to drink beer, so....

Should you decide to get a trampoline anyway, the ones listed in that article look decent as far as I know. Having a net is important (but not foolproof). I recommend very strictly following these rules with your trampoline:
1) Only one person on at a time. No exceptions whatsoever.
2) Don't jump on the trampoline unless there is somebody else around who can keep an eye on you. They don't necessarily need to fully coach you or anything; they can be sitting on the back porch staring at their phone or reading a book, but they should be somewhere they can see and hear you, and call emergency services if you get hurt.
3) Do everything you can to make it hard to see and/or access the trampoline while you're not home. If it's fully-visible and anybody can get to it by hopping a fence, there's a high chance of neighborhood kids sneaking in to jump on it -- and if they get hurt doing so, you can be held liable. I don't know what country you're in, but if it's the USA, anybody who gets hurt on your trampoline -- even if they're doing so without your permission -- will say "lawsuit" before they say "ouch."
4) Keep the area under the trampoline clear. Don't use the area for storage, and don't let people or pets crawl under the trampoline while somebody's jumping.

I don’t have any experience with the “under $500” market. This is a nice trampoline in the low price range though…

ACON Air 16 Sport HD Rectangular Trampoline with Net and ladder

Our rectangle 16 ft trampoline with net delivers premium quality and safe landings. The flagship ACON 16 Sport HD has the best bounce in the business. Buy now.

us.acon24.com

This one is pretty cheap compared to the normal $9,000 or so that I would spend… and it’s a quality tramp.

Thank you so much Geofrrey for all the rules regarding Trampoline. I will surely take these into consideration. I've ordered Aotob Trampoline as it has a safety net and everything that I need and also comes under my budget, at start I will try to practice on my own and then will go for the coach as well!

And JBS, I've my eyes on that ACON tramp as it is made for gymnastic purposes so will go with that in future once I have enough to spend on it! Thank you too!

 

[Coach Em]

Make sure it comes with a net or you buy one! Falling off the trampoline will break a bone

 

[JBS]

Make sure it comes with a net or you buy one! Falling off the trampoline will break a bone

Or build a nice deck around it so it's like it's in-ground!

 

[Rookie Gym Coach]

Even inground Tramps are dangerous if you don’t have soft flooring around it. I mean you could fly off it onto hard wood. I would still put a net on it.

 

[Geoffrey Taucer]

Even inground Tramps are dangerous if you don’t have soft flooring around it. I mean you could fly off it onto hard wood. I would still put a net on it.

Just saying.

EDIT: To clarify, I truly believe that trampoline is a powerful and woefully-underutilized training tool and if every single gymnast in the world were to spend one hour more per week on trampoline than whatever they're doing now, then every single gymnast in the world would benefit from it.

BUT

They are simultaneously one of the most beneficial training tools and one of the most dangerous, and should be respected as such.

 

[JBS]

I would still put a net on it.

Nets are not real safe either as many times they just crash you down on the frame. Fun fact... most catastrophic injuries happen on the bed of the trampoline.

 

[Marky]

Nets are not real safe either as many times they just crash you down on the frame. Fun fact... most catastrophic injuries happen on the bed of the trampoline.

True, I also read that study about it, but still, I guess putting a net can minimize the risk.

 

[Aussie_coach]

I too would recommend that you avoid backyard trampolines.

I do a lot of trampoline work with my gymnasts in the gym, but it is closely supervised At all times.

There are a few major problems with working trampoline unsupervised.
1. The risk of injury. A well trained coach will be able to see when technique is sliding but at home it’s subtle and you likely won’t notice. A trampoline injury is far more likely To be catastrophic due to the height and power. Which can result in life long injury, paralysis and death.

2. Bad habits develop. Again a coach will notice the subtle technique changes, but it’s unlikely you will at home. Once you develop the bad habits and practise them over and over they become so ingrained that it’s extremely hard to undo. At best you make yiur progress slower, at worst you prevent progress entirely.

3. trampolines can promote bad habits. They extra bounce of the trampoline can mean that you, can still get the skill around with poor technique. The fact that the skill works, makes you feel like you‘re doing it correctly, but the same skill would not work on the floor.

4. Build up injuries. Doing the skills with poor technique can result in constantly putting pressure on the wrong parts of your body. Doing this over and over again can result in an injury that builds up over time. Yiu won’t feel any pain or injury build up until it’s reached a more advanced stage. These slow to develop injuries and VERY slow to heal and many of them never do.

Putting up a net will not minimise your risk. In fact it can significantly increase the risk. Once safety nets were introduced to backyard trampolines, the number of backyard trampoline injuries SIGNIFICANTLY increased. I believe this is mainly because it gives a false sense of security. But also injuries related to the net are not uncommon.

 

[Deleted member 28935]

1. The under $500 ones aren't worth buying.
2. Trampolines are dangerous, but not THAT dangerous. Yes, there is risk of life altering injury (death, paralyzing) Near as I can figure, they are comparable to BMX bicycles. While 100,000 ER visits result from trampoliens, there are only about 2 fatalities per year. For comparison 250,000 kids are injured on bicycles, and about 100 are killed. This is an apples to oranges issue though, as we can't compare how many bike hours there are to tramp hours.
3. There are about 100,000 ER visits per year in the US from tramp related accidents. About 1 third turn into admissions. About 1/7 are head injuries. 1/3 each to upper and lower extremities (breaks, sprains, soft tissue) about 1/3 are fractures. Dislocated shoulders are big too. Broken limbs when a limb goes between springs, and the body keeps going.
4. A huge number of the falls are caused by multiple people on the tramp, either deliberately bouncing a jumper, or by changing the shape of the mat, so that a jumper gets a different direction to his bounce.
5. Cheap tramps have cheap nets. Cheap nets fall apart in sunlight. Cheap pads disintigrate in sunlight. Cheap beds require serious effort to get more than 2.5 feet up, which means that lots of people are either right at the limit of their max height and control when they do a trick, or they are doing a trick at too low a height, or they are not consistently getting to the same height when starting a trick and so aren't at the right rotation when they come down.
6. I regard having *some* lessons to teach proper form, avoiding mistakes as being essential.
7. The degree of supervision needed varies from 100% full time for kids who are immature and have no sense of risk to minimal for kids who are smart, who understand the risks, and who understand the concept of making gradual changes to learn how dynamics change.
8. Some tricks, really do require having a coach to learn to do safely. I put most, maybe all flips in this category.
9. It doesn't take a lot of coaching. At my gym I get 5-10 minutes of feedback in a 1 hour time slot. I have enough different things that need practice that I can wait for my one on one time.
10. There is lots of merit in a parent taking tramp lessons too. This gives you a better understanding of what the kid is taught, and once the parent knows, a parent can often be the safety person for the student. This also forms a common interest between kid and parent.

 

[Aussie_coach]

We deal every day with the problems of people teaching themselves to do flips on their backyard trampoline at home.

The majority of the time they are done with incorrect technique. And it takes a very long time to undo.

 

[Geoffrey Taucer]

We deal every day with the problems of people teaching themselves to do flips on their backyard trampoline at home.

The majority of the time they are done with incorrect technique. And it takes a very long time to undo.

This. It's easier to teach good technique from scratch than it is to fix bad technique