Kangoo Jumps® Rebound Boot Maintenance and My Aching Muscles

Ow! My aching legs! And it's my own fault, so I had better learn from this and not do it again.

All right, I'm done whining for now. Here's the scoop. I bought a pair of Kangoo Jumps® rebound boots in October 2011, and have worn them for well over 300 classes and quite a few out-of-class adventures. I figured it was probably past time for me to change the t-springs (the part that looks like triple rubber bands inside the two curved shells), so I ordered a pair and replaced them.

Walking around my house in them to make sure they were seated properly after reassembling the boots, they seemed fine. A little stiffer but that was the whole point of replacing them. Then I took a class wearing them. OMG! I wore myself out during the warm-up song! First, they were noticeably harder to compress (to squish the curved parts together and make them more flat, for those who are visual readers), which I sort of expected. But the bounce back up...so much higher! I was not prepared for this. Instant euphoria and adrenaline and a grin so big I thought my face would split. Clearly I should have traded out these t-bands sooner! By the end of class, I was more tired than usual, partly from peaking so early and partly because it requires more effort to compress the boots now. This seemed reasonable.

I have continued to find new sore muscles along my legs for a couple weeks now. To me, this is an indication that I should have changed the t-bands sooner, before my legs got used to the over-squish of the original ones invisibly wearing out. Plus, I should have treated myself more like a beginner or at least someone who had been away from rebounding for a few weeks, because breaking in the new t-bands did not need to feel like breaking me in instead. I have heard similar stories from friends who have replaced either their shells (curved pieces) or t-bands over the last few months.

Here's the take-away for you, reading this in search of avoiding similar aches.

• Maintain your boots before they need it, not after they break. Wipe them off after use, spray inside with disinfectant, let the liners dry between uses, and if you wear them outdoors (especially in grass, dirt, or sand), take them apart and clean where the parts meet.
• There are recommended intervals for changing different parts of the boots, so check the instructions that came with them. If you don't use yours very hard (more aerobics than power jumping, more dancing than distance running), you can probably go longer than suggested on the original parts. If you use the living daylights out of them (run on sand, fully flatten the shells when you jump, etc.), you probably want to order the spare parts and have them ready, even if you can't bring yourself to replace things that are not yet broken. Carrying a broken boot home from a rebounding run will convince most people that preventive maintenance is worth it.
• Now that I am teaching, I make sure I have spare boots with me, because stopping class to repair my own boots would not be very professional.
• When you do replace any part on your boots, even the liner, give yourself time to adjust. Just as a new car should be driven more gently for the first couple hundred miles, so should your new shells or t-springs. Expect things to feel different than they did before the switch, and be aware of your body so that the boots are getting broken in, and not you.

Now it's time to go "maintain my brain" by rehearsing the playlist for my Monday rebounding class. Until next time, take your of yourself...and your boots!