...I've been on a trampoline loads with about 2 or 3 of my mates and none of us have ever got hurt as a result.

That is what makes it so dangerous. The little insidents that happen bopping around are not ones large enough to warn you of potential danger.  Then when it does sneak up on you... its a biggie that includes a hospital trip. 

Course us tramp coaches here about ALL the local hospital trips from tramp injuires where the average bloke might only hear about the one in their school last year kinda thing. 

Hmmm. guess I shouldnt complain LOL.  Injuries on home tramps occasionaly brings me one or two new students who were the injured kid's neighbors.  These mom's decided no backyard tramp bouncing at neighbors house anymore so they sign them up here for classes instead

Its half the fun having more people on it

Yep its a blast (and dumb) just like:

. jumping off the roof into blanket held up by midgets
. *Using a truck and a rope to spin people sitting on a playground merry go round.


*dont let this one spark any crazy ideas. This one killed a person

Round ones.... for sure keep it to one person at a time. The geometry of round tramps PING PONGS the bouncer from landing spot toward middle then off in the same direction to the other side before trying to send you back in opposit direction (hence the ping pong effect)  It's that middle spot where people collide, land on other peoples limbs, backs etc. when the fall ..... I think you see the picture.

rectangular tramp geometry  sends the bouncer to the middle and the forces try to keep them there.

can you say ROAD RASHHH

or is it

BOCK RASHHH

Took a spill myself other day while Bocking to breakfast. Luckly I had elbow and wrist gaurds on cause they took all the force as I prone falled it.  Elbow is sore but would have been rashed like your w/out them.  My chest protector may have helped.... not sure, not sore there but then maybe it's why. 

Yeah I know Im a wimp.  When not on mats I wear helmet,  under garmet vest- chest and spine protector, undergarment shorts- butt and hip protector, and knee, elbow and wrist protectors.  Makes you feel like Inspector Gadget on roids

velcrow or zippered insulated spring sock.   Inside is toasty warm where jumpers are stored.  Before going outside put their insulated sock on to KEEP them as close to inside temps as you can. 

Might need to put a coating on the metal parts like Truck Bedliner so the metal does not easily absorb and transmit cool outdoor ambient temps to the springs where they attach to each other.

I dont know about that :s they dont generate any heat so how would they keep warm?

-Carma (The Bocking Rocker)

correct.... basically no heat generated. The insulation only helps to maintain the heat they absorbed "while inside".   Which is why I said put the insulated pads on AFTER they heat up to ambient INDOOR TEMP and before you go outside.

Now.. odds are there is a tiny fraction of heat generated by the stretch and relaxation by the threads of molecules in the springs but overall Im sure its so minimal its basically insignificant uncer these conditions.

velcrow or zippered insulated spring sock.   Inside is toasty warm where jumpers are stored.  Before going outside put their insulated sock on to KEEP them as close to inside temps as you can. 

Might need to put a coating on the metal parts like Truck Bedliner so the metal does not easily absorb and transmit cool outdoor ambient temps to the springs where they attach to each other.

Welcome to the board from one of the few Americans Bocking around in here.

Love to see those mods.  Might spark some fresh new ideas.

What weight range ones did you get and how close to the  max end of that is your weight?

Much credit to coachgeo! ...(On a side note geo, the amount you're putting into the forum in phenomenal)!

Credit goes not to me but to all the great coaches I've gotten to work alongside of.

Forums like this one are my commercial breaks in life.  while I do office work, (tax stuff lately) payroll, search the realestate ads for property, researching new ways to make my bottom line improve enough to where I might actually MAKE A LIVING   etc etc.  I usually have 7 up all the time till I start teaching around 3:00.  Several of those I moderate too.

Well guess I gotta do it

Left is     ANTI-
Right is GRAVITY

cheers jono, would really like a video walk though.

but after reading coachgeo post i kinda walked myself though it step by step and by the end of the day landed 2 or 3 of them on the trampoline.

dont know how the look or if im doing it right but it works. (its just very sketchy, need some work on the landing)

how i think im doing it is i jump up and round like a forward flip and when im just about to turn i throw my right arm across my chest, then try to face the right way as i land.

but it still need alot of work.

sounds about right. congratulations.  You will use the arms less and less as you get the rest of your body to aid in the twist (hips twisting same time the shoulders do etc.  )

[Use eye spots to look at.]

The other method (late twist) you learn by doing bounce arounds.  This method works both forward and backward. 

You flip to a landing then jump 1/2 twist what ever way feels natural.  do the same thing foward. TWIST EACH ONE the same way as in both clockwise or counterclock wise. 

Doing this many many times and then by sheer acident you will do one where you foget to  bounce first and just twist to a landing.  Trust me on this one. This twist will be pretty much AT THE END of the FLIP. Twisting earlier than this gets you totally lost in the air. 

.  You can toy with it occasionaly by say flippling and just a monkey's hair from the feet landing on the tramp bed turn a 1/4 twist (or 1/2) AND LOOK toward what ever is over there.  Use eye spots to look at. 

Just build on it the same way. 
Flip to land on your feet, bounce turn 1/2. 
Flip twist 1/4 in air AT END OF FLIP, land, bounce another 1/4
Flip 1/2 twist in air, bounce 1/2
flip 3/4 twist in air, bounce 1/4
flip 1/1 twist in air, bounce half etc etc.

You just keep at this adding another 1/4 turn in the air as the bounce around before it, gets automatic and easy.

. Each added 1/4 you LOOK for new visual spot.
. DON"T GET IN A HURRY.  Be disciplined and let it build. 
. Get good consistency before adding a 1/4 more in the air. 
. Mix up the order of ones you can do on purpose to ensure your building good air awairness. (Kinesthetic Sence, Cat Scence)
. you will eventually begin to see the ground while inverted. ON half and quater twist backward you will break your vision off the ground to look out toward your eye spot. 
. on front flipping you will break your head out to see your eye spot when landing full and quaters. Except on the first half twist you learn (the barani). When not breaking your head out to land on this skill your basically looking at your body.  There you will use a break out eye spot that will be down at the ground but a good double body length out in front of you. 
. Eventually as your flip you will see durring your first quater FLIP  your abs thru to toes. You will be turning the eyes to the ground beside you AFTER you pass that point.
. Again though eventually you'll begin to peer at the ground BECAUSE OF the first quater twist; only breaking your head away to look at your spot if needed as described above.  Some spots are already there the whole time (like back full see's the ground the whole time after the first 1/4 of rotation and first 1/4 of twist and a front Rudi [1 1/2 twist] sees the ground the whole time after the first 1/4 of rotation and twist. So on these that is your eye spot for landing too.

for a ruff barani one of the easiest ways to learn it is to do a knee drop round off on trampoline. Your drops to your knees and then bounce your legs and butt upward allowing you to reach down to the tramp bed and put your hands down as if you had done a roundoff from your feet.   A drill for this would be to just do Donkeys.  As in Knee drop donkey kick to handstand then fall on your back. When this is easy then add the round off action described in the beginning.  Do it often trying to get your lower body rotating over yourself fast enough that your hand touch on the tramp bed is very light.  Continue this rotating it higher and higher above the tramp bed.  Eventually you just do not touch your hands any more.  Once you have that... do it off your feet.  Remember a circle rotates at its center sooooo that means you have to be working just as hard to rotate the LOWER part of your body on take off BACKWARD; circling it toward the top as you trying to rotate the upper part of your body FORWARD.

Some things to look for to learn it good .  In the roundoff on the tramp (or anywhere else) work to keep your arms in line with your whole body. Should be a straight line from wrist to hips.  Head should be in line with that; with arms and ears by each other.  Work hard to not let the head stick out like a bump on a plank. Your body being the plank.  Head out like a bump will cause you to probably have a tilt and not pass thru verticle.  Later in a barani this will make your landings not square and much harder to work out of them such as adding a back flip.   As your flipping thru the roundoff (and barani) you will see the ground thru out the whole skill BUT you should see it by peering or peaking down with your eye balls rotated to look toward the ground and NOT by lifing your head up high (sticking it out).  This is the same concept for handstands, cartwheels, roundoffs front flips back flips, flips with twist  etc etc etc.  you peer where your going you do not throw the head in all kinda crazy ways to look where your going.

now couple of things.  I do not teach my athletes this way  anymore because they eventually will be learning multiple twisting.  For them we teach a flip with a late half twist. The Barani method I described above is for learning an early twist method and looks very much like a roundoff in the air.  

In the world of trampoline and power tumbling the late twist is still called a barani... it is executed different to give a better progression to higher level skills both forward AND backward.  Not really expecting that you will be doing back flip with full twist or Rudi or Randi fronts on stilts. (1.5 twisting and 2.5 twisting front flips)  

 If you truely intend to continue to progress into things like back flips with full twist etc.... well I need to suggest another method (late 1/2 twist type)

Just let me know.

Speaking of flips, is it considerably harder to get enough rotation on bocks compared to on foot?  It seems the extra weight and the extra length would slow you down quite a bit.

Perhaps I'm thinking of those flips where you stay extended, rather than tucking (whatever those are called).

Extended flip is called a "Lay Out"  Front or back "Lay out" flip  or

 While yes it would be a longer object to rotate with the stilts on your also generating more rotation and height by the fact of your punching with springs built into the stilts. Sounds to me it would balance out in difficulty of generating rotation when compared to punching off feet or punching off Bocks. 

Not true though compared to  feet punching off of a diving board or trampoline where spring results in forces applied to a shorter body.

Would it make business sense to set aside one or two crash mats just for bockers and charge extra because they would wear it out so fast?  Or is the wear so great that you'd still have a hard time making money off it?  Having them set aside just for bocking would mean you could do any necessary modifications without having to make them removable.  Carpet sounds really good to me...

Yes and no. Yes in a large populated area where you can maybe build enough clientel Bockers to pay the mats, insurance, etc.  You also have to cover the area bouncing on while boining down to the skill cushion.   Otherwise "No" if your not in a large population.  I'm not in a large town. Infact a very Tiny Town which is why to me..... these are fun and as business sense.... mostly only a PR gimick value. 

Older mats with a concave spot in them concerns me for bockers safety too. Lots of force on the inside of the knee when you land with the hoof on the rising edge of the valley.  That forces the knee to want to bend inward sideways.