Getting a Trampoline?

Trampolines can be a lot of fun, great exercise, and excellent precursors for training in gymnastics. However, trampolines can also be very dangerous and can leave you with broken bones and even paralysis if you fall off one hard enough so below I have included some helpful tips when deciding whether or not to get a trampoline.

**First off you need to figure out who the trampoline is for, if it's for adults, children, or teens. They typically come in sizes of 8, 10, 12, and 14 foot diameters. Now you need to think wisely about this investment because children do grow to be teens and teens into adults in a matter of a few short years.

**For children I recommend an 8 or 10 foot trampoline with the use of a safety enclosure, this will prevent them from falling off the trampoline in case they get too close to the edge.

**For adults and young teens I suggest getting a 12 or 14 foot trampoline, the reason for this is that the weight load capacity is higher and there is more room to move around and a greater room for error. Young adults are going to be prone to "going big" on a trampoline with risky acrobatics, so your going to want them to have ample room to jump and crash if they must. It is not a good idea for adults and young teens to use the safety enclosure as it can cause more harm than good. Most adults and young teens jump at least waist level or higher than the safety enclosure this can be very dangerous on a trampoline. If one were to fall backwards into the safety net on the trampoline it could cause the whole trampoline to go with them, so a word of caustion about the safety enclosure.

**Place the trampoline on soft grass and/ or possibly have some playground mulch brought in, it may not seem very cost effective at the time; but in the likely event you do fall off the trampoline you're going to wish that you had it.

**The recommended weight capacity for most residential trampolines is 250lbs, there is a very good reason for this. The reason isn't that the trampoline structure is going to collapse of that the trampoline springs will break, it has to do with the canvas bouncing pad.; if you way more that 250lbs and you're jumping on the trampoline very high and come down on your bottom or your back you may very likely contact the ground below.

**Weight capacity is a good reason why two people shouldn't be on a trampoline at one time. The other reason is your three times as likely to get injured by means of the other person landing on you or an inconsistent jump happening at the same time as the other person possibly causing you to fall off the trampoline.

**The ultimate way to have a safe trampoline experience in the back yard is to dig a four foot deep pit the same diameter as the trampoline (this is what I did) and put the trampoline in the ground. This way if you happen to fall of you will be falling four feet less to hit the ground. Makes sense right?

**Always use the pad for the springs, some people disregard this piece of safety equipment, but it's a must for the trampoline. You don't want your legs to go through the springs do you or perhaps one go through and the other not. This trampoline safety component is there to help prevent serious injuries to the head and extremities.

**Make sure your trampoline is a good distance away from any hard surfaces and especially the roof of the house, shed, or trees. This is like egging on a young adolescent to jump off of the structure onto the trampoline. One thing they don't realize when doing this for the first time on a trampoline is that a body in motion tends to stay in motion, if you jumped four feet to get to the trampoline then you have a lot of lateral force that is going to kick you right off the other side of the trampoline.

**Never jump on a trampoline when it's wet or it has dewed outside, the risk for slipping before or after a jump is greatly increased, I hurt my knee pretty bad one time by dislocating it on a dewy trampoline.

**Never jump on a trampoline at night for obvious reasons, but the most obvious one is why would you want to jump on something four feet off the ground that is the same color as the ground.

**Inspect the trampoline pad every three weeks or so to see how the stitching is holding up, the sun and the elements can be very hard on the pad of a trampoline, so inspect it carefully.

Lastly, buy your trampoline from a reputable trampoline dealer, the higher the weight capacity the better the quality; also pay attention to the gauge of the trampoline metal this can also be an important determining factor. If you follow these simple guidelines you will have years of happy trampoline experiences.