Professional athletes don’t trust equipment because of marketing. They trust it because it works.

Why do the best professional athletes in any sport only work with the best brands? The answer is quite simple: trust.

They trust it because they use it every single day. They know how it feels when something works, and they notice immediately when it doesn’t. At the highest level of sports, there is no room for failure. A bad landing, a surface that reacts differently, or equipment that doesn’t perform the same way every session can completely change how an athlete trains.

That’s why the best athletes in the world are extremely selective about the equipment and the brands they use.

When it comes to sports where a soft landing surface is necessary, we have been the first call for many athletes. Today, many professionals train only with Bagjump, and in this article, we want to break down why.

Progression Starts with Trust

There’s one thing almost every professional athlete says when talking about airbags: progression only happens when you trust the landing.

That sounds obvious, but it changes everything.

If an athlete hesitates before takeoff because they’re unsure about the landing, they stop committing fully to the movement. They start holding back and not pushing the limits of the areas where they feel comfortable. And at the elite level, hesitation is usually the difference between the best athletes and the rest.

One of the best snowboarders of our generation, Scotty James, understands the dilemma: “I’ve been training with various Bagjump airbags for years, and it has helped me so much to learn new tricks.”

But he is not the only one training at that level with Bagjump airbags. Trennon Paynter is the coach for the Canadian national team in halfpipe, and he told us: “Almost every athlete at the top level trains with a Bagjump.”

From legends like Shaun White to Travis Pastrana, Bagjump has been in their training sessions regularly, and they all agree: the airbag helps push new limits.

Why Elite Athletes Need Repetition

One thing people outside action sports or gymnastics often underestimate is how much repetition elite athletes need.

A trick is not learned once.

It’s repeated over and over until the body stops thinking about it. Muscle memory takes over, timing improves, and movements become automatic. When you see Scotty James doing perfect rotations in the air, he has trained for months on a Bagjump.

This is something we talked about a lot with halfpipe builder Charles Beckinsale.

According to him, airbags completely changed the speed at which athletes can progress because they allow “endless tries and endless landings.” Instead of risking everything the first time they attempt a new trick on snow, athletes can now repeat it safely until it becomes natural.

The Sports Are Evolving Faster Than Ever

Every Olympics competition feels more extreme than the last one.

In sports like halfpipe, we see more rotations, more flips, and more technical combinations.

And many people ask the same question every time:

“How are athletes pushing the limits this far?”

The answer is not that athletes suddenly became fearless. It’s that training evolved.

Trennon was very clear about the role airbags play in modern sports. He called them “a necessity these days in the sport.”

That says everything.

At the highest level of halfpipe and freestyle skiing, airbags are no longer optional tools. They are part of the progression system itself. Athletes move from trampolines to airbags and finally to snow. Without that middle step, progression becomes significantly slower and much more dangerous.

Why Bagjump Feels Different to Athletes

While Bagjump plays a significant role in snow and extreme sports, let’s not forget about our role in gymnastics. Here, consistency and progression go hand in hand. Athletes train with foam pits or different types of airbags. However, once they land on a Bagjump, they notice the difference right away.

Professional gymnast Ruben Padilla immediately noticed it the first time he used Bagjump:

“From the first moment I landed on the Bagjump, I noticed the difference in quality. I’m not sure what it was, but the material felt just better.”

That reaction is something we hear constantly. Professional athletes are extremely sensitive to how surfaces behave. They notice rebound. They notice stability. They notice how the airbag absorbs force and how consistent it feels after repeated landings.

Ruben is one of our Bagjump ambassadors, and now that he is training every day with a Bagjump, we are quite confident he will never go back to other training surfaces.

Quality Changes How Athletes Train

Professional athletes don’t just care about safety. They care about consistency.

A landing that feels different every session creates doubt immediately. Travis Pastrana or Ryan Williams wouldn’t push their limits with every jump if they knew that each time they land on the Bagjump, the landing would be different.

In gymnastics—a sport where repetition and consistency are the keys to success—Bagjump also comes out as the product with the best quality.

“I’ve been on other airbags at other gyms for training camps, and I definitely noticed a big difference from Bagjump. It all just felt like better material, for sure,” said Ruben Padilla.

The Best Athletes Don’t Compromise

At some point, professional athletes stop looking for the cheapest option.

They start looking for the option they trust most.

That’s why Olympic medalists train with Bagjump, national teams rely on Bagjump, world champions use Bagjump, and elite gyms continue installing Bagjump systems.

Because at the highest level, consistency matters more than anything else.

Why Coaches Trust It Too

It’s not only athletes. Coaches trust and love Bagjump because they see how it changes progression. JJ Thomas explained this perfectly:

“The Bagjump landing airbags are great for all kinds of skill levels. An old coach like me can hit it, and then I can also get my son on it—and the development team and the pros. It really works for people who want to progress on an amateur level all the way up to the best in the world.”

That’s one of the most important things about airbags: they scale with progression.

The same system works for beginners building confidence and for elite athletes training Olympic-level tricks.

In the end, the answer is more than clear: professional athletes don’t choose their most essential equipment because of logos or money.

They choose what helps them progress faster, train longer, and push limits safely. This is where Bagjump stands, and once they use one of our airbags, they stay with it.

That’s why so many of the world’s best athletes continue landing on Bagjump every single day.