Trampoline Cheat Sheet

The key takeaways for beginners – the stop bounce as your emergency brake, three learning stages to your first salto and timing over muscle.

Understanding the apparatus

Item	Priority	Tip
No need to buy one	High	You don't buy your own trampoline – your investment is the club membership, the apparatus with roughly 118 springs stays in the hall.
Footwear	High	Barefoot or grip socks for direct feel of the bed – regular trainers have no place on a trampoline.
Safety zone	High	Crash mats at the short ends, coaches spotting at the long ends – not optional.

Placing trampoline

Just one apparatus, but maximum air time: Unlike apparatus gymnastics or RSG, trampoline uses only a single device – but delivers the greatest flying height of any gymnastics discipline.
Olympic since Sydney 2000: Only individual trampoline is Olympic – synchro, double mini-trampoline and tumbling run at the World Games.
8 to 10 metres of flying height: Elite athletes bounce as high as a three-storey house – beginners start much lower and build up.
Difficulty scores disproportionately: A simple tuck salto scores 0.5 points, a triple with a half twist 1.7 – six judges score execution, a laser measures flying height.

The 3 golden technique rules

Factor 1: The stop bounce is your emergency brake for life

Concept: Landing under control and staying put is the first jump everyone learns – and stays your most important brake after every skill, even years later. Tip: Land with bent knees, never straight – only once the stop bounce is solid does the next jump in the fixed learning order come up.

Factor 2: Position steers speed, not strength

Concept: The tuck position rotates almost twice as fast as the straight position – same takeoff power, different moment of inertia. Tip: Pulling in tighter speeds up the rotation, extending slows it down – you can correct it in real time, not just plan it beforehand.

Factor 3: Three learning stages, none skipped

Concept: The path to your first salto runs through the rig, then the pit, then the free bed – impatience switching stages is the most common cause of sloppily learned saltos. Tip: Use a fixed gaze point on takeoff and show each stage cleanly dozens of times before the next one begins.

The 5 basic jumps in order

Jump	In short
1. Stop bounce	Bent knees, stop immediately – unspectacular, but the single most important brake.
2. Straight jump	The extended base position that every other jump starts or ends from.
3. Seat/tuck jump	Land seated, then knees to chest – the basis for the later tucked salto.
4. Straddle jump	Legs straight and apart, back straight – the last basic jump before more complex elements.

Safety: head, neck & lost move syndrome

The neck is the biggest risk: Not height but uncontrolled head and neck landings are the real risk – hyperflexion is the most serious injury of all.
Rig or pit are mandatory: For every new salto and every new twist, not optional – spotting alone isn't enough.
The club protects, home doesn't: Most severe injuries in children happen unsupervised at home, not in structured club training.
Lost move syndrome is normal: 60% of 58 surveyed trampolinists experienced at least one blackout – usually from overthinking, not fear. Talking openly with your coach helps.

Pro tip: The bed springs back at the same speed for everyone – timing beats muscle. Skip none of the three learning stages – rig, pit, free bed – and you learn saltos cleanly instead of training yourself into a blackout.