February 6, 2011

Bouncing

The problem with not being able to post immediately when I experience something is that my mood can change so quickly. One change of plans, one phone call, one email, etc, and I can go from feeling like I can conquer the world to ruining my night. And the problem with New Year’s Resolution #9, put myself out there at least once a week, is that when you put yourself out there, you can get hurt. I try to keep my dating life mostly out of this blog, but I would just like to note for all you twentysomething guys out there: a text is never the right way to share your deepest darkest feelings. Just call her and talk to her and we’ll all be happy, mkay?

Moving right along, I’ll try to get back to the wonderful mood I was in yesterday afternoon by talking about a new fitness trend I tried: Kangoo Jumps. SO. MUCH. FUN. Seriously, if you live in either New York or Chicago (which are apparently the only two cities where this has really caught on so far), get yourself to a class. It’s amazing.

Basically, you buckle up these ski boot-like contraptions that have springs on the bottom, and then you spend an hour jumping around to organized choreography. You feel like a little kid on a trampoline, trying to see how high you can go, and you totally forget how much of a workout you’re getting in. Meanwhile, for the dance lovers like me, you get to do all kind of fun choreography and rock out to club music. For the non-dancers, this is all while being told that it doesn’t matter if you can’t do the choreography; just keep jumping and you’re torching calories. Also for the non-dancers: my studio had no mirrors in it, and was in a back room where no one can see you. Bad for the narcissists like me who want to admire their moves in the mirror, but great for letting loose and not worrying about how silly you may or may not look.

As far as the benefits, the first is just that all that jumping around burns a lot of calories – I was mad at myself for not bringing a water bottle, because I had to duck out to the main gym every 5-10 minutes to suck down some water. Meanwhile, my gym clothes were absolutely soaked through by the end. Hardcore! Furthermore, the bottom of the springs are rounded in an arc (like those silly MBTs and all their clones), which supposedly works your core like crazy as you try to balance… but I didn’t really notice that. Maybe my core is just already strong enough from all the planking? (Side note: major thanks to Jenny for some great ideas on how to shake up my core routine beyond infinite planks!)

While the class I took was focused on dance, there are two other forms of the classas well. One is a bootcamp, where you do all kinds of intervals and stuff designed specifically to work certain muscles; the other is a run. That’s right, these crazy Kangoo Jumps can actually be used for outdoor runs, and supposedly they save your knees and hips because of the cushioning. Of course, when I heard this, the rest of my questions were all about how much they cost (around $200-$250, depending where you get them), how many miles you can get out of them (depends on how hard you run and how often you replace the stretcher band things, which are cheap, but probably about 2-3 years of “normal use”), what kind of surfaces you can run on without damaging them (roads are fine), and finally, whether you could do a marathon in them (sure, why not). SOLD.

Okay, so not totally sold just yet – probably a good idea for me to go to a few more classes and even try a run before I commit that kind of money to what might be a passing fad for me. But I just couldn’t get over how fun they were! When the instructor would stop us for a break, I would keep bouncing around like a 6 year old before remembering to go chug my water. They’re addictive! For any beginners out there, my top tip would just be to have a really, really, really good sports bra. And then once you’ve got that, “double bag” by also wearing a tank top with a built-in bra. Necessary, trust me!

So – who’s in for some Kangoo?

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5 thoughts on “Bouncing”

  1. That looks SO FUN!!! It also looks like I’d break my ankle in 2 seconds flat, but that’s besides the point. Never seen this before — thanks for sharing!!

    xoxo,
    A

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