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Brentwood Gazette, 15th February 2012
Put a spring in your step as you attempt to keep fit
Sports reporter Matt Harris tries out 'Pay N' Bounce' in Brentwood
By Matt Harris - matt.harris@gazettenews.co.uk
WITH January finished, your New Year's resolution to keep fit may also have ended with it. There just hasn't been time to go through your routine at the gym and the weather might have put you off your evening run. But there is an alternative that you might not have considered before: trampolining.
The Brentwood Trampoline Club has been running 'Pay N' Bounce' sessions for more than 15 years.
The idea is simple, you turn up and pay £6 for a 90minute session and the offer is open for people of all ages.
Sessions for over-18s are held on Tuesdays from 7.15pm and for all ages on Saturdays from 2pm. There's no pressure on how well you perform and it's 68·per cent more effective than jogging and requires less effort.
Fuss
Tests have even shown that trampolining out performs swimming as an all round exercise.
So I went down to the club's home at Courage Hall at the Brentwood School Sports Centre to see what the fuss is all about. Like most people the last time I probably got on a proper trampoline, and not those often seen in back gardens, was back at school some 15 years ago.
I met coach Dave Kingaby and under his and national trampoline gold medalists Josh Newman and Susanna Badley's tutelage I was given several moves to learn. At first I had trouble just keeping control as I bounced up and down in a straight line, but over time I began to get more confident.
There's something to be said for the free feeling you get when you reach the top of a bounce. First I tried a seat drop, landing on your bum with your hands to the side and then pushing back up in to a standing position. After getting the hang of that, Josh, 12, showed me how to do a tummy tuck pulling my legs up tight to my chest at the top of my bounce.
Then under Susanna's stewardship I attempted a straddle jump. Stretching my legs out as I reached the top of my bounce, though with my tight hamstrings prevented my from stretching as far as the others.
Pregnancy
Finally I put what I'd learnt together in my last bounce, which tested not only my body but my memory as well. "You sure you've not done this before?" asked Dave, jokingly I think.
We get all sorts of people down here, much like you. They do it at school and then when they leave they stop trampolining. Then after about 10years they remember that they used to enjoy it and come back. We've got mums who want to lose weight after pregnancy and we've got someone who's using it to improve their snowboarding. People don't realise how good a workout for the body it is.
So if you want to get fit, but fancy something different, why not give trampolining a try? And if you're aged between 14 and 25 you could get some free sessions. The club has been awarded funding from sportessex under the Sportivate scheme, which allows a limited number of people a free course of lessons. It is something the club is about to start over the coming month and anyone interested should contact Dave by email at dave@brentwoodtc. org, or, at reasonable times, on 07712877310.
© Brentwood Gazette 2012
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