JB Berns and his Urban Rebounder
When were children, we ran around, jumped and played with abandon. As we grew older and developed responsibilities like a mortgage, eating and exercise became a chore, a thing to schedule rather than something enjoyed spontaneously. One man is out to change that. His name is JB Berns, inventor, personal trainer, writer and practicing martial artist and yoga practitioner with over 30 years experience training and helping people get into better shape through diet and exercise, people like Jackie Chan and Russell Simmons.
Berns invented the Urban Rebounder, a revolutionary exercise machine that allows users to get the benefits of exercise without stress on their joints, and The Cable Flex System for Jackie Chan.
“He and I did a show together,” Berns explained via telephone two weeks ago.
” I designed the cable flex for him because he doesn’t lift weights. He wanted a workout that was very easy on his joints.”
The Urban Rebounder is presently in use in 5000 gyms worldwide. Here’s some of what was said.
Tell us about your background and how Urban Rebounder came into being.
Back in the early-to-mid 1990’s, I had a bad martial art injury to my right knee and I needed a workout that was easy on my joints. I couldn’t find anything. One of my instructors, who is now in their 80’s or 90’s but may look like they’re in their 50’s – they had said to me, “Jeff, You need to restore your knee not by an operation but by doing a series of workouts that sensitive in nature and easier on the joints.”
There were some old, cheap Rebounders that date back to the 1940’s and 1950’s but they had small rings and were really jarring to the joints. So, I started to do a lot of balance and pro-perception, light cardio work on this so-called jumping device. I needed a unit that was a better quality so I designed my own Rebounder and I called it the Urban Rebounder.””Urban” because I lived in the city and the root word of “urban” is “urbane”, to have refinement and polish. [I] concentrated on form and technique. [Also] “urban” meant to me that anyone of all shapes and sizes can do it, [like] a community, or city-like. It wasn’t trampoline-ing that was dangerous; this was where you’re going coming off an inch off the Rebounder. It’s safer than going up and down stairs or going on a treadmill. So, I restored my knee and I started listening to the music that Russell Simmons and his brother was making, Run DMC and the pre hip hop/rap music with these little beats as I was Urban Rebounding. It was like an epiphany, doing it rhythmically to the beats, to old Kurtis Blow, Sugar Hill Gang and Run-DMC songs. It dawned upon me that people can do this together in a community or a studio-this is easier on the joints. The rest is really history.
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Bern’s on the cover of one of his books.
Can you tell us what your thoughts are on the current state of America’s health? We’ve been ranked as the most obese country in the world and not much has been said about Americans being fit. What are your thoughts and ideas about that? How can we get America fit?
One thing we need to do is be a problem solver rather than a product-pusher. So, we can’t push any strict way of exercising. So, what I have to say about an exercise regimen, it needs to have four prerequisites. Number One: Fun. If the regimen is not fun, you’re not going to to stick with the workout. Number Two: One has to get quick visible results. If [people] see that after doing it a couple times, that they’re yielding something, they feel better, they lose a little weight. Third, it has to be easy. In the beginning, if it’s not challenging, people will quit. And number Four, it’s got to be safe.
Americans like everything big. Everything is big, from the Big Gulp to the highways to the Grand Canyon. It’s consumption. Big isn’t always better. The bigger carrot is not as sweet as the smaller carrot: the smaller carrot actually tastes better. It’s a programming, neurologically. Going back to exercise, we’ve made it a chore to work out. It’s not fun. You know, young kids they don’t walk, they run. They do everything quick and it’s got to have the fun factor. The probelm with exercise is that [kids are] being told how to exercise and it’s not fun. What’s fun to them is playing kickball or dodgeball, even though it’s exercise they don’t classify it as exercise. What happens is after they’re kids in middle and high school, the kickball and the dodgeball doesn’t exist. That’s when the kids start gaining that weight going from that sixth grade and on. It’s a matter on consumption: if you’re taking in more than you’re expending then kids are going to gain weight. I feel like there’s a gap between post sixth grade and going into puberty and high school. Now it’s competition to make it into that sports teams and not everyone can make it into the team. In turn, they get too old for the kickball and dodgeball in the gym classes, so what’s left? Well l[they play] on the computer because they couldn’t make the team.So, instead of going home and playing kickball, that’s where the weight consumption goes on due to the lack of programming or inactivity. So how do you solve that and introduce creative programming that lasts the duration post sixth grade that it’s cool, hip and fun? In this case its with Urban Rebounder. The kids love to do it, and when you walk into an Equinox, a lot of adults are doing it, post fifty years old.
So, it’s something that has worked well with us for programming in the elementary schools. [At first] they were saying it was dangerous for these kids, they’re going to get hurt less working on the Urban Rebounder than playing basketball because the mat absorbs all the shock. It’s a matter of introducing creative and fun exercise that last post elementary school to our youth and the four step prerequisite, in no particular order, of what that programming should be. There’s a lack of programming after elementary school and you can’t tell them to go play football or basketball in the park because it’s not organized anymore.
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The Urban Rebounder.
How old were you when you made your own exercise product?
I started training people in martial arts and yoga disciplines in high school. Instead of babysitting them, I would teach them these disciplines. As far as my first DVD I made, it was about two years out of college around 1991. So I would say 20 years ago. It’s called the “Perfect Martial Arts Workout” and it’s still selling on Amazon.com.
What martial disciplines are you trained in?
My main focus is an art called GoJu, meaning hard and soft. “Go” meaning hard “Ju” meaning soft.
What do you incorporate into your diet?
I have a see food diet where I see whatever I eat in moderation. Remember: you have to make eating not a diet. Eating has to be a way of [life] and it has to be fun. If it’s not fun, you’re going to look for food that is fun: the cookies and ice cream. So, when I say see food diet I’m being sarcastic of course. I have a diet of moderation. I don’t eat in excess. I make sure I don’t eat more than I burn. At the same time I eat a five-element diet, meaning that there are five tastes. Only five tastes are sweet, spicy, sour, salty and bitter. You can’t get more than five tastes in your mouth. Every food is associated with some kind of taste. So, If i’m having broccoli that’s bitter, if I’m having tofu or fish, that’s salty. If I’m having an onion or garlic, that’s spicy. A tomato or a fruit, sour. If I’m having ice cream or a piece of cake, lettuce or string beans, that’s sweet. You need to have those five tastes in every meal. With those tastes your body is balanced. Those five taste relate to the organs. The heart has a very fiery, or should I say bitter, nourishment to it. The lung is very spicy or metal. The kidney is salty, water. The stomach is sweet, earth sign. And lastly, the liver is sour, it’s wood sign. The five taste correlate with your body.
It sounds like you are describing a Vedic system of eating mixed with an ancient Chinese system of balance and taste. Is that the case or is there another discipline you follow?
My approach is more Taoist, taught by world-renown medical doctor, Dr Steven Chang. My art is going through the five elements, that’s really how I eat with moderation and it’s fun to do it that way. It’s colorful. All the tastes are fulfilled. If you were to pinpoint how I eat it’s five tastes unlike the Hindus who do four elements.
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A video compilation of Urban Rebounder exercises.
How long have you been eating like this?
20 plus years. Remember: It’s a way of [life]. That’s all I know now. If I miss one of the elements at meal, it almost feels like I left my house with my door unlocked. It’s just a part of me. That’s how we relate that to fitness, you have to make exercise a part of your life, where it’s easy and still fun after middle school. I’m not saying kids need to run marathons; that’s not healthy; that’s depleting the body and energy. But you also can’t, excuse the French, sit on your ass all day. That’s got to be the moderation. The moderation is kids needs physical exertion and you need that exertion throughout your life. If I would recommend one protocol it’s Urban Rebounder. Out of the products I have designed, this is the one that is applicable for the masses. “Rehab Your Body” is not recommended for a kid. That’s not for all, but “Urban Rebounder” is for all.
Have you been approached by any school districts in the country that wanted to incoporate your approach into their school programs?
I have not been apporached by large organizations of the school district but I have been approached by individuals in New York City, by private schools, by Toledo Fitness. These are organizations or independent schools that buy the Urban Rebounders direct at a wholesale price. Our program is accredited with American College of Sports Medicine, we have a six-hour program that we teach the teachers how to instruct it. We are accredited for Continuing Education credits. We go onsite and we train instructors. We are in schools but specific schools, it’s not on the mass level. I’m not in a school program, where it’s a prerequisite but I am in individual schools that request the equipment from their private budget. I would love to do something nationally or a school district. But now you have budget cuts and it’s a difficult task.
Do you have a dream celeb, a politican or public figure who you would like to work with?
I would probably reach out to Nelson Mandela because he has global reach where he can impact people from the youth to the baby-boomers. He’s older now so he would need some of my assistance and I would enjoy free of charge service to somebody that I respect very deeply who can use some of my services to retard or slow down the aging process for him. And for him to reach out to the young, middle-aged or older, you need to listen to this. It would be two in one or as the Native Indians says a good trade. I would provide my services free of charge and by him doing it, people will just follow him almost in a blind way to the mountain.
