Should you buy a trampoline or an Airtrack?

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All parents know what it's like. Your child spends way to much time in front of the computer or ipad, and you wish they were a bit more active and not just sitting indoor all the time. But people with active children also have problems, and on a whole different kind, so instead of looking at how you can get your child to be more active, we will in this article be focusing on those who already havde children that doesn't spend all day at their room or on the sofa.

Many parents with active children often have to make a choice between buying an Airtrack or a trampoline for their children to use in the garden. Both are semi-expensive pieces of gymnastic equipment, so it's important to choose the option that your child will get the most out of and won't get tired of using after a few weeks. We see this happend all the time if you buy the wrong stuff.

Both Airtracks and trampolines can be excellent tools for those who want their children to get a bit more exercise, or for those who go to gymnastics and would like to practice their sport a bit more at home too. So lets look a little at the pros and cons of these 2 types of awesome gym equipment. Maybe this will make it a bit easier for you to choose the right one for your children.

What are the advantages of an Airtrack?

Airtracks have become incredibly popular over the past few years, and a large number of gymnastic people already have one in their garden. The advantage of the Airtrack is that you can get more speed when practicing jumps, and can more easily combine jumps in series in a way that is not possible on the trampoline. Jumping on the Airtrack also feels more like exercising on the gym floor, as it doesn't provide nearly the same support for the jumps as a trampoline. Therefore, for most people, exercising on the Airtrack will feel more natural. Most people I know does prefer the Air track over the trampolin.

On many of the larger brands of Airtracks, you also have the option to upgrade your Airtrack with various types of extra equipment that can be used to help train specific exercises (such as an Air barrel) or things that can extend your training path (landing mats, incline mats, springboards for example). This in turn provides some options that you don't have on a trampoline.

The thicker an Airtrack you choose, the more help you get for your jumps, and therefore the extra height on the jumps.

Even people with no gymnastics experience will get plenty of fun out of an Airtrack, but they're unlikely to be able to use it to its full potential to begin with. Still it's way better than a normal gym mat.

If you are interested in buying an Airtrack you should consider buying it from a webshop. Webshops are often a lot cheaper than local physical stores and got a lot more variation. Which webshop to buy from depends on your budget, and what brands you are interested in.

What are the advantages of a trampoline?

Nowadays here in 2022, we see a lot of trampolines in the gardens, and with good reason. The trampoline can be a great way to get your kids moving a bit more in their daily lives and make sure they get enough exercise. Not only is trampoline exercise really healthy for the body, but it's also a form of exercise that's gentle on your joints.

Unlike an Airtrack, a trampoline is really easy to get started using. You don't need any sort of gymnastics knowledge to use it, and even just bouncing can be fun on a trampoline. But only for so long. If you don't try new things it will get boring pretty fast.

The problem with trampolines is that too many people buy a model that is too cheap, and therefore don't get the optimum enjoyment out of it, and so for many people it gets a bit boring to use after a while, so it just ends up sitting unused in the garden.

So if you want to get the most out of a sea trampoline, buy a proper model from the start, such as a Berg trampoline. A good thing is also to learn a few gymnastics jumps once you have the trampoline. This will help make using it extra fun and keep it intersting for a longer time. My own children are still loving the Berg trampolin I bought 4 years ago.

What to choose?

But what to choose then? The Airtrack or the trampoline? That's a bit of an individual thing. Some children find the Airtrack much more fun to use, while others find the trampoline the best choice. An Airtrack might be a little harder to get started with if you don't have any gymnastics experience, but you'll also find that kids often use the Airtrack for longer than the trampoline. If you can afford it, you can buy both, then there is a bit of switching between, as you exercise in 2 different ways, depending on whether you use an Air track or a sea trampoline. A bit like those who have both a mountain bike and a racing bike. You can easily use both. I would actually recommend you get one of each if you got the budget and room for it. I often see kids combine them for even more fun.