Do You Know The History Of Trampolines As Exercise Equipment?

The manufactured trampoline, as we know it today, wascreated by two men, George Nissen and Larry Griswold.Around 1935, Griswold, then the assistant gymnastics coachat the University of Iowa, and Nissen, a tumbler on theUniversity of Iowa gymnastics team, "made regular jaunts toBloomington, Illinois where numerous circus people hadtheir winter homes.

Among them were the "Flying Wards", some of the finesttrapeze performers in the world. Griswold and Nissen workedout with them at the local YMCA, and frequently helped themmake or mend their large trapeze nets. Nissen remembers thehours they spent in the basement of the YMCA, threading thelong cords of the nets, using large javelin-head needles.This experience was one of several that led them to theidea of creating a trampoline.

One day, with the help of the wrestling coach at theUniversity of Iowa, Griswold and Nissen bolted together anangle iron frame. A piece of canvas, in which they hadinserted grommets along each side, was then attached to theframe by using springs. This was the first trampoline.

Since Nissen was still training for tumbling, they decidedto move the trampoline to a YMCA camp where he was aninstructor. There, during his free time, Nissen used it forhis tumbling training. Immediately, he found that thechildren loved it. This was the first realization that thetrampoline could be more than a piece of equipment to usewhen performing, or seriously training. It was somethingthat many others could enjoy.

In 1942, Griswold and Nissen decided to formalize theirsmall operation of making trampolines. They created theGriswold-Nissen Trampoline & Tumbling Company, and historywas made.

But where does the name "Trampoline" come from? "Eltrampolin" means diving board, in Spanish. George Nissen,the co-creator of the competitive style trampoline, heardthe word on a performance tour in Mexico in the late1930's. He liked the sound of it, and decided to Anglicizethe spelling and call his bouncing rig a Trampoline, a termhe later registered as a trademark.

Jeb Taylor is a fitness guru. He works out on all exerciseequipment he thinks will help him. Along with bikes andjogging, Jeb loves bouncing on a trampoline as a fun way tofitness.

Find out all you need to know about trampolines. How touse them for best exercise results, and which models tobuy. Daily updated blog of news & articles. Clickhttp://www.trampolines-101.com/

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