Of course, jogging and doing various movements on your Cellerciser is going to increase your heart rate and give you a great cardio workout. In addition you are increasing the weight of gravity, up to 5x the force of gravity, over 100 times per minute on every muscle in your body. This is providing weight resistance and strength training to your workout. You may even want to hold some light dumbbells in your hands to increase the resistance training effect even further. A good Cellerciser workout program will include some intense moments like sprints, or squat-jumps as well as less strenuous movements like an easy jog or the health bounce. Combining the intense movements with the less intense movements will provide you with great interval training and will burn up to 50% more calories. The Cellerciser will also strengthen your core muscles through twisting motions, bouncing on your bottom, and various other exercises that you will learn from the books, video, and charts you get with your Cellerciser. You will learn movements that will move all of your major muscle groups through virtually all of their range of motion. This will improve your flexibility and coordination. Cellercising will hit all 5 areas – aerobic, interval, strength, core, and flexibility – with one exercise. No other single piece of exercise equipment such as a treadmill or elliptical trainer will do that.

You Need More Than Just Cardio Exercise

Dr. Mercola, an extremely well respected osteopathic physician, talks about the importance of doing more than just cardio/aerobic exercise. Watch this video and see why you should be Cellercising rather than just running or working out on an elliptical trainer.

All you need to do is put a drop or two of oil on the spring right where the spring connects to the metal peg on the frame. You can use 3-in-1 household oil, WD-40, or if you prefer the more natural option, you can use vegetable oil. It only takes a drop or two to get the job done. There may be a little bit of black dust that gets washed out by the oil so you will want to put a paper towel or a rag under the metal peg to catch any oil that may drip through the hole in the spring. Keep in mind, you only need to oil the part of the tip of the spring where the spring connects to the metal peg on the frame. You do NOT need to oil the enter spring.  After you finish oiling the springs, bounce a few times on your Cellerciser to work the oil thoroughly around in the spring connection joint.

You may find that you need to oil the springs about twice per year or so depending on how much you use your Cellerciser. Your Cellerciser will happily bounce you for many years whether you decide to oil the springs or not. But a little oil will keep you bouncing quietly.

Cellercising is already an amazingly effective form of exercise. You can take it one step further by adding some light weight dumbbells to your workout.  Anything from 1 to 3 lbs is appropriate. We use 2 lbs dumbbells for our advanced workouts. Using dumbbells can increase the intensity of a workout by up to 25%.

First and foremost, it’s important to be safe with the dumbbells. Keep in mind that you are increasing the force of gravity by as much as 500% at the bottom of your bounce so you 2 pound dumbbells will feel like they are 10 pounds at the bottom of your bounce. Likewise, they will feel weightless at the top of the bounce.  Be very careful not to accidentally smack yourself with the dumbbells. Start out with small movements until you feel comfortable with the way the added weight effects your bounce and the movement of your arms.

As with all movements on the Cellerciser, try not to fall into the “natural” bounce rate of the springs. Focus on pushing the mat down rather than letting the mat bounce you up. Bounce faster than the springs would normally respond. When you exercise like this, your head is not bouncing up and down as much as it would if you just let the Cellerciser bounce you. Also remember to keep your abs tight. Try bouncing like this while holding onto your dumbbells.

Once you begin to feel comfortable with the dumbbells, there are quite a few movements that you can do with the dumbbells. Try jogging with your palm facing the ceiling and focus on bringing your arms all the way back so that the dumbbell is behind you a little bit on the back swing then swing your hand up so that the dumbbell is just below shoulder level. Do not bring the dumbbell any hire than shoulder level on the forward swing. Also try this same movement with your palms facing each other (with your thumbs pointing toward the ceiling). These movements are great for your biceps and the front of your shoulders.

Another good movement that is surprisingly intense is to pretend that your dumbbells are the handles of a jump rope. Make tight circles off the sides of your hips like you were jumping rope while you move your feet as if they were jumping over an imaginary rope. With this exercise try to bounce faster than the natural rhythm of the springs on your Cellerciser. Focus on pressing the mat down rather than jumping up. Try getting your pace up to 125+ bounces per minute. Of course, the faster you bounce the faster you need to “spin the rope” and you will really feel this in your arms.

Shadow boxing is another good exercise to do on the Cellerciser and the intensity is really increased with the dumbbells. If you are just getting started with shadow boxing, try this pattern. Start with a steady bounce with your feet shoulder width apart and your left foot slightly in front of your right foot. Put both hands up like you are about to fight. Throw your right hand forward with a power punch allowing your right foot to come forward and your left foot to shift back. Keep bouncing and allow the rotation to occur while you are in the air. When you land, you are now rotated with your left foot slightly behind your right foot and your right foot forward. Immediately follow with a right jab. Then repeat this movement with a left power punch. Bring your left foot forward and move your right foot back. Rotate in the air so you land back in the position you were in when you started. Follow that up with a left jab. Make sure to keep your abs tight throughout this movement and always keep your shoulders directly above your hips to maintain your balance.

There are many other exercises you can do with the dumbbells. Be creative.  As always, be careful whenever you start any new exercises.

One problem, however, with simply putting together a list of songs you like is that they don’t all have the same tempo. It is natural to want to keep your pace on the Cellerciser in sync with the tempo of the music. But if you just have a random selection of songs playing, some songs may be too fast too keep up with while others may not have a tempo fast enough. So you aren’t getting the full benefit of the music.

A new approach that is less known but becoming very popular is to use constant beat-per-minute music to maintain a steady pace throughout your workout. Instead of an assortment of songs, you can get one long medley of songs that all maintain a constant tempo throughout your workout. There are CDs available that have constant beat-per-minute (BPM) mixes, but to get started you don’t need to spend any money. If you have the ability to download and play podcasts on your iPod (or other similar device) you should take a look at PodRunner. There you can download tons of free, audio podcasts for your workouts. To get started, look for some podcasts that are in the 120 – 130 BPM range. Gauge your fitness level and work your way up to faster tempos as you improve. This is a great way to add variety, and energy to your workout. If you haven’t ever used this type of music before, you will be surprised at how effective it is. There are several other Podcasts that focus on “exercise” music as well. So browse around iTunes and see what you can find. If you find something you like, leave a comment and let us know.