A very popular type of exercising these days, is to use a mini trampoline. It's said to be kind of like bouncing on the bed when you were young. You had great fun doing that right? And you might not have known it at the time, but it was wonderful exercise too. Maybe rebounding has gotten popular because it's such a fun mini trampoline exercise, or maybe it's gotten popular because it works so well. Either way, mini trampoline exercise is much easier on your joints, and it can be as easy or intense as you'd like it to be.

Even gently bouncing on a mini trampoline can get your heart pumping, tone your body, improve your metabolism and help you lose weight. And once you're more familiar with mini trampoline exercises, you can increase your bounce, add in running style movements, or even add small acrobatic types of moves to really increase your workout too.

When you first start with mini trampoline exercises, you'll need to get used to the trampoline itself. Balancing is a key factor to exercising safely with a mini trampoline, so if you're new to this, then simply stand on the trampoline and get used to balancing yourself.

Most experts suggest doing your mini trampoline exercise with sturdy workout shoes on, but you can do this barefoot as well. You simply need to be careful so you don't injure your feet when exercising.

It won't take you long to feel comfortably balanced on the mini trampoline, and at that point you should try small movements. A small bounce which doesn't lift your feet off the trampoline is a great starting place. You might want to do this initially next to a wall or some other type of support that you can brace yourself with if you feel you're loosing your balance.

Once you've gotten comfortable with the balancing challenges, try increasing your bounce a bit so that your feet are leaving the trampoline surface briefly.

Keep in mind that everyone adjusts their balancing at difference paces. Some of you might need several days to get used to balancing on the mini trampoline when just standing, while others will be able to move right on to larger bounces fairly quickly. The same issues might apply each time you add a new mini trampoline exercise to your routine too.

You might not realize it before you get started, but balancing on the trampoline alone can work out your muscles, so if you're seriously out of shape then even these small steps can really work you out. As you progress of course, you'll want to increase the height of your bounce. Larger bounces work you out more than small bounces do.

When you're ready to move on, you might want to try a slow jogging mini trampoline exercise. Simply run in place, allowing yourself to bounce slightly each time a foot comes down onto the trampoline. A more advanced version of this of course is to create more of a bounce with each foot contact.

Another more advanced mini trampoline exercise is the simple jumping jack. Make sure you're fully able to balance yourself well though, or you risk falling and hurting yourself. To do jumping jacks as a mini trampoline exercise, you simply do them the way you normally would, but bouncing each time you land on the trampoline. And increasing your bounce as you become more comfortable with the exercise will work you out even more, plus it'll make you feel like a little kid jumping on the bed again!