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Jordan
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So awesome! I so want one, let alone, need one badly. But I seem to be having trouble building the funds up to its price so that I can get one… ahh so frustrating.. Eventually I’ll get one and I hope it’s very soon =)
Thanks for your comment, Eric.
A good (non-toy) spring-based rebounder can get you going in the meantime while you save funds for a bungy-based one. The best deal on a good unit that isn't a toy is the Urban Rebounder, although the mat is not the Permatron mat found on the best units. But still, it could get you going in the meantime…
Yayuh! I'll be participating in two days :) And I totally understand Eric up there. I've been saving for months for this. I'm excited!
LOVE it!!! :)
I just bought a Needak soft-bounce around two months ago, and I rebound every day. After reading about the Bellicon, I am experiencing a level of desire not becoming a mature adult seeking higher spirituality :-))) Does anyone know if there is a Bellicon anywhere in the Washington DC area so I can go try one before I start the long arduous task of convincing my wife that I really really need it. For me, rebounding is especially exhillarating because as a totally blind person, I have that freedom of movement albeit vertical, so lacking up to now. It's just so darned fun I have to do it for 20 minutes a day. The thing about the Needak is that it is a good soft bounce, but I suspect the Bellicon gives a deeper and thus higher bounce which sounds perfect. I would be curious if anyone can compare the Needak soft bounce with the Bellicon; is the difference that noticeable? Also, Jordan, for me, being a blind guy is no big deal, but one of the issues I have is that there is nothing available in Braille or audio form on rebounding, so I have been lacking good stuff to read on the subject; that is, until I found your e-book. I hope you don't mind that I had to convert it to text from pdf so my screen reader would read it; man, it's just awesome. Now I don't care if the print books which came with the Needak ever get read to me or not; your book is chock full of everything one could want to know. Thanks very very much for putting it together; it was obviously a true labor of love.
Well, enough for now.
As I said, any Bellicon's in the DC area to try would be cool to know about.
Peace to all,
Don
Hi Don,
I'm very happy to receive an emaikl from you.
First, I don't know of anyone in the Washington, D.C. area, but I will keep an ear out for that and let you know. Truly, you can't tell how much better these units are until you get on one. There is nothing wrong with a Needak – well, they didn't stand up to my 45 minutes a day going really hard on them – but at some point I do indeed hope you get a Bellicon. You are exaactly right that you go deeper and therefore do more work on each bounce.
Second, I'm happy that, as a blind person, you have found that this works well for you. I have long thought that the visually impaired would be attracted to rebounding, whether or not using a holding bar, because you can really get a great workout that is safe. (Do you, actually, use a holding bar? How bad is your visual impairment? I have tried bouncing with eyes closed for up to a few minutes, but it is a bit nerve-wracking.)
Third, I love the fact that you converted my e-book to Braille for your personal use. That's awesome. I feel as if something good has come of my effort, which, you correctly assumed, was a labor of love.
Don, I've written to my colleague Sylvia asking if she knows of anyone with a Bellicon unit in the Washington, D.C. area. I'll let you know if we find someone who'd be willing to let you try it.
best,
Jordan
okay jordan, that looks like a lot of fun. Can you explain to me what you doing exactly? what are you doing with that ring. The ring looks familiar. What the idea behind it? thanks. jen
The ring is a “Magic Circle” used in (developed by?) Pilates classes. See http://pilates.about.com/od/pilatesterms/g/MagicCircleTerm.htm/
And what I'm doing is a simple motion that brings a lot of upper body work into play, incluyding arms, shoulders, chests, and abs. By placing one of the padded handles of the Magic Circle between my pubic bone and belly butotn, and holding the other side, and by pressing in somewhere between very lightly and very firmly, I compress the ring on each bounce and activate the various parts of my body mentioned above.
It's kind of an “automatic” extra addition to ordinary bouncing because it doesn't take a lot of thought or skill or anything to hold the ring there, yet by doing so, and putting some effort into it, I get a much more intense upper-body workout.
oh i see. it is a work out. I got the impression it had something to do with harnessing energy. Well I like it. looks like fun. I have used those rings in class before. I like them. jen
Jordan, thanks for the kind reply. First, because sites like this really confuse me :-)))) so I don't know if I am doing a public comment or writing you personally; no matter, but please forgive if my response is in the wrong place. “Anyway, I am totally blind and so use a stabilizer bar. However, I don't think that a lack of vision means that one must use a bar. I can bounce for half a minute without holding on, but I find it harder because I think I am afraid at a subliminal level and so I tense up. One of my eventual goals is to rebound with no bar, using my sense of the center of the mat to keep me in the right place. I think it's like walking down a hallway and not thinking about it, but suspend that hallway a thousand feet up in the air and take away the sides, and see how easy it feels; it's all in the mind, eh? But for now, I use the bar. One of the things I love is to find songs that let me bounce to the beat of the music; it makes the music and the bouncing better and for the first time, I think I really understand why people like to dance. Again, thanks for the thoughtful response. What we need is a kit to turn a Needak into a Bellicon LOL; take care.
Don
Don,
You have been writing me in a public comments space, but that's fine. I think what you're doing is inspirational, so I appreciate you being out there with it.
OK, let me say, first, that the Bellicon Ultimate bungy-based rebounders (and, for that matter, if I'm correct, their spring-based rebounders) use a different holding bar system. They typically use two holding bars (although I suppose you could just use one), one going between the legs at 1 and 3 o'clock, and one between the legs at 9 and 11 oclock.
So, instead of cutting off the front 1/4 or so of the mat, like Needaks and others do, by going across the mat, these Bellicon holding bars are placed on the outside of the structure, and thus don't cut across the mat at all. That is, instead of holding on in front of you with two hands on one bar, you have a bar on either side of you, almost like you were riding up an escalator and holding onto either moving rail. Hope that makes sense!
And yes, music is absolutely wonderful for bouncing. It motivates and coordinates you in many ways. I love David Bowie's Heathen alblum, his Reality alblum, and most recently Paul Simon's Graceland. Of course, everybody likes different stuff, and depending on the kind of rebounder you're using, you'll want to adjust your music (Bellicon bungy-based rebounders give you fewer bounces per minute because you tend to go deepr with each bounce).
Finally, I'm not sure you could safely go “all out” (whategver “all out” means for you) without a holding bar, and I wouldn't want you to not get a full-on workout on the physical plane, so giving up the holding bar entirely might not be the best idea.
In any case, keep on dialoging! Loving it!
best,
Jordan
Thanks Jordan; your explanation of the two side bars was perfect, although at first I assumed that the phrase “between the legs” meant the user's not the rebounder's. I kept thinking, “man, that's got to hurt.” LOL Finally, I figured it out and it made perfect sense. I love the idea of the bars not taking up any mat space; sounds very cool. Thanks much.
Don
LOL! That's very funny, Don. Hey, just so you know, your initial letter saying you got value from my book is something I showed to a few of my close friends, and more than one said, “Wow, Don sounds like a great guy.” And I want to thank you, again, for letting me know I've been of some service to you.
And give us a picture of you, Don, so we can see what you look like!
A picture? :-)) I'll have to see if any are digitized; never thought much about that but we'll see. About the book, it's just super, and I shared the text with another blind rebounder in my area, so it's getting some really good play.
A quick question: in your book, you talk about certain rebounders bottoming out with heavy rebounding especially on the heels for example. If the Bellicon provides a deeper bounce, what keeps it from bottoming out as well. Thanks much as always.
Don
Nothing. I can bottom out on my Bellicon whenever I want: all I have to do is bring my heels close together in the center and it happens.
So, what do I do? I just don't do that. It's off limits.
Part of the skill of rebounding is making it so that you don't bottom out, just like you don't allow yourself to wander off the mat and into the springs or strings. It just doesn't work.
Do I miss that option? Not really. The only machine that I couldn't, literally couldn't, bottom out on was the 48 spring Bellicon heavy-duty units. Bellicon also produces the best spring-based units I've ever seen – I've never ever popped one of their springs, and the mat didn't fray – and their heavy-duty model wouldn't bottom out. But still, I am on the bungy-based model every day because it is far superior in almost every way.
Do I miss that one set of movements? No. I can always just go on one leg and use that heel if I want to get that particular experience “all the way,” and generally speaking, I can almost get the same experience by spreading my legs a little and knowing how far out from the center I have to be so that I don't bottom out.
Note: I can also bottom out with my whole flat foot, since that includes the heels, that is, if I go super-high and bounce in the middle, and push down with all four propulsion functions in the body, I can also bottom out. But the easiest way, by far, is going heels down into the middle…
Hope that answers the question.
best,
Jordan
P.S. Forget the picture. Could you please get some video of you bouncing and put it up on Google or just send it to me? I can help you make that happen if it's not otherwise convenient.
That answers my question perfectly. Thank you. Hope you don't mind all these questions, but one that really is important to me is that after around 20 minutes, my feet start to hurt a bit. I was always flat footed and had special shoes growing up as a result (Thomas heels, cookies). Anyway, when I started rebounding, they hurt bad after just a few minutes, and now I can go for around 20 minutes before they get tired; do you think this will increase over time so I can rebound for longer periods?
Again thanks.
Regarding a video of me rebounding, if you can kindly give me some ideas as to how to bring that about, I would be happy to do so. As you can imagine, I am pretty uninformed on video-making hardware/software :-)))
Thanks again for taking the time to respond to my questions.
Don
PS. Looking forward to hearing the full Byron Katie interview; Sylvia told me about her on the phone, and then wrote to say you had interviewed her; very cool. Her methodology sounds both brilliant and simple, a truly captivating duo.
Hi DOn,
So sorry I didn't see this and respnd to it earlier!
OK, I'm not sure about the feet, but if they are hurting less and less over time, that's a good sign.
I know that when my feet used to hurt a bit, I would switch what I was doing – like switch to running in place – or change the amount of pressure on the inside or outside, olr front or back, of my feet, or the angle I was holding my feet at.
As for Byron Katie: yes, I need to get that whole interview up, you are right. In the new year!
best,
Jordan