Urban Rebounding (the Original)

This is the original UR from 1999. It clocks in at about 50 minutes total. I think that this is the best of all the UR workouts that I have tried. The set is attractive, the exercisers in nice-looking black and white track pants with crop tops. JB is in red. The music is club style. One of the male exercisers looks like “Spike” from “Buffy,The Vampire Slayer”!

UR is intermediate level. There is a lot of “TIFTing” (taking the routine from the top). He’ll intro a move and then do the whole routine agin. This could be tedious if you don’t like that sort of thing.

Here is a breakdown:

WARM-UP (8:00 minutes)

Floor moves and stretch (3:30)

Rebounder warm-up (4:30)

WORKOUT (30:00)

basic bounce

straddle

lateral knee raise

jumping jacks

twists/double twists

180 degree turns (not me!)

military press

forward jump

upright row

forward knee ab crunch

SPORT SPECIFIC MOVES (5:00)

four jog/sprints

vertical jumps

180 degree spins (not me, no way!)

power jump/knee tucks

COOL-DOWN (7:00)

rebounder, then floor

ABS (5:00)

bounces seated on rebounder (I can’t figure out how to do these!)

assorted crunches

I'm still scratching my head over this one.

I read some promising articles about Urban Rebounding in national magazines over a year ago. Then I read raves about this video on Cathe Friedrich's forum. Someone on Collage's forum excitedly asked when the NEXT Urban Rebounding video was coming out. So, of course! I just had to buy this video! I'm always on a quest for intense, low-impact workouts, and I hoped this would be the Holy Grail.

Well. So much for all that. This is the first workout video I could not even complete. I stopped the VCR after 15 minutes or so. I couldn't warm up to JB Berns, either, though I can't put my finger on why. I did enjoy the cast members -- there is one dark-haired blonde exerciser to JB Berns' left (near the front) who has a radiant, natural smile and looks like she's having fun. She really sold this workout to me.

Unfortunately, I did not have nearly as much fun as she appeared to be having. There did not seem to be enough room for me to FULLY execute the moves without giving anxious looks to see if I was going to bounce off the mini-trampoline onto the floor. This compromised my ability to have fun and to really get into the moves. And because I compromised my moves to accomodate my anxiety, I couldn't get much of a fun workout.

Keep in mind that I've used my mini-trampoline on very high impact videos (e.g., Charlene Prickett's Rev It Up: Sequel) and still have managed to have fun. Not so, here.

In all fairness, I might not have the right rebounder for this workout. Mine is the sort you find in rummage sales or K-mart blue-light specials for $45. The springs squeaked loudly as I jumped and jumped and jumped. (My husband later told me that my Urban Rebounding experience sounded like a lovemaking session gone awry on a bad mattress.) The Urban Rebounding video used a $200 - $300 rebounder that was larger and of much better quality. So it's possible that the type of rebounder used may make a difference for you during this workout.

The music is okay. Nothing stands out about it. The production quality is CIA'ish/ Body Bar'ish. Not the best ......... A mini-trampoline doesn't lend itself to much creativity, but JB Berns does a good job exploring every avenue, here. He also gives good instruction and does some interesting ab work at the end, bouncing off the rebounder in a sitting position.

I just couldn't get that far.

This video is fun! OK, why did I get a rebounding video? Well, I've had this mini-tramp-er-"rebounder" behind my headboard for about 4 years now (I bought it after seeing "The Nutty Professor". They just looked like they were having so much fun!)and wanted to start using it, but I'm not the type of person who can just make up routines on her own. I chose this one because it sounded the most interesting or the rebounding videos in Collage video's catalog, although I was a bit leery because all of the covers of the rebounding tapes looked cheesy. Well, this video isn't cheesy-looking. It's produced by Greg Twombly, so that gives you CIA and Cathe fans a feel of what the set looks like. Anyway, he starts marching on the floor, does a few stretches (I thought we could've warmed up a little longer before he started the stretching, but oh, well). He does a set of pushups with your hands on the rebounder. Then he continues the warmup on the rebounder with a series of jumps, and toe taps. If you were one of those kids who loved to jump on your matress but were always told to get off by your mother (like me), you can indulge to your heart's content. Then he does about 30 minutes of a combination which he progressively adds moves to, including straddle hops, knee-ups, jumping jacks. I felt this part was a little boring just because I'm the type who likes to move from one combo to the next, not keep adding onto a combo, but your heart rate will definitely be up there. I consider myself intermediate/advanced and I was above my target heart rate quite a bit. By the end of this segment, your heart rate will definitely be up there, when he puts all of the moves together and does the full combo. Then, it's onto the toughest part of the workout which includes interval training where you do a series of jogs followed by sprints, picking your knees up as fast as you can for 16 seconds. This was TOUGH!!!! Then, he moves onto "strength" training, although I don't think any of these moves will increase your strength unless you've been lying in a bed for about a year. He tells you to jump up as high as you can, then jump doing a 180 degree turn, then jump and bring your knees as high as you can. You do a series of each of these moves. Then he does abwork. He claims that he's gonna help you get that "six pack". Now, I did feel the abwork the next day, but I doubt I'll get a six pack from it. You first do a series of seated bounces on the rebounder. I didn't find these very effective because I have a cheapo rebounder and it doesn't give as much spring as their's, but perhaps I would've had better results with the rebounders, but they are pretty expensive. Then, he does crunches and crunches with the legs in a "V" position. Before the strength session, you get the good (bad?) news, that this is actually the "beginner" tape, and there will be more tapes coming out in the future. I just say this is potentially "bad" news, because I though JB was trying to kill me with those sprints in the 2nd section, and now I find out that this is a beginner tape--yikes! Next, you do a cool down which is similar to the warmup. I really liked this workout. It was fun and different and challenging, and for those of you who are worried about your joints, this is the perfect workout. It was less stressful than even low-impact aerobics. I just wish he would've done the cooldown after the sprint section because I feel like I'm stopping to suddenly to go from that section to the strength portion, and when he does cool down after the strength part, I feel it's not needed, because the bouncing gets my heartrate back up. All in all a good video. If you're interested in rebounding, this is the tape to get. I can't wait for the intermediate and advanced tapes. I give this one an "A"