We’re not talking about the old school band you put around your waist or your thighs and it allegedly shakes the fat off your body. We are talking about vibration exercise technology. These next series of articles will look at the several of the benefits associated with using total vibration technology to achieve one’s fitness goals.

Before we discuss the benefits, I feel it is important to explain the piece of equipment we use to for total Vibration Training.

The vibration exercise machine is a vibrating platform that stimulates muscles 95-97% where the general population only stimulates 30-40% when doing conventional lifting. This occurs do to the unique displacement the machine places on the individual. It not only moves up and down 70% it also moves 10% in the frontal plane and 20% in the sagital plane.

Depending on the frequency (30, 35, 40, 50 hertz) or the amplitude (high/low), one can place any where from 2x to over 6x the force of gravity on the body. This is important because according to Newton’s Law: Force=Mass x Acceleration. For our purposes, force is the same as work, mass is equivalent to weight.

Normally when we want to work out harder we increases weight, thus increasing the amount of work we do. However, we decrease acceleration as we add weight. Try and move a 200 lbs bench press as quickly as you can a 100 lb bench press. With the plate, your mass (because it’s your weight) stays constant, while acceleration can increase (due to the hertz) thus forcing you to work harder.

An example: If we were to take a 70 kg person (about 150 lbs) and had him squat with no weight on the ground, the force he would exert is 700 Newton’s. Force=Mass (70kg) x Acceleration (9.81m/s2). The 9.81 m/s2 comes from the acceleration of gravity. If this person added 70kg on a barbell for a squat he would exert 1400 Newton. Take that same person and have him squat on the Vibration Machine with no weight and amplitude of high and 40 hertz he would exert 3500 Newton. You can see this is over twice the amount of work he was doing with a conventional squat.

PART 2

The first part of our “Shaking Things Up” series explained the basic concept of the Vibration Fitness Machine and how one can manipulate amplitude and hertz to obtain one’s fitness goals. In this section we will look into reasons why an individual would want to incorporate this training tool into one’s workouts.

Speaking from experience, my team and I have been using the plate to stimulate more muscle growth, bring out more definition, burn more calories, increase strength, burn fat, and help prevent osteoporosis for over 3 years.

Let us first look at the way in which the plate helps with strength. When one performs an exercise on the plate (whether it be squats, lunges, crunches, push ups, static rows, dips, etc.) the individual is not only working voluntary muscles, but also involuntary muscles. This will stimulate more muscle growth, and by using more muscles, will burn more calories as well. When an individual is on the plate for only 30 seconds and has the hertz set at 30 (this is the lowest setting) the individual will contract his muscles 900 times! This is awesome because it is working not only slow twitch muscles fibers, but more importantly to those of us looking build more in short durations (30 seconds to 1 minute), stimulates the fast twitch as well. This is unique because traditional weight training only uses one or the other. What this means is, we can make our sessions shorter thus decreasing the likelihood of over training and allowing us more time to do our cardio and/or pose.

In regards to getting more definition using the Vibration Machine, remember you are contracting the muscle 900 times just standing on the plate, so one will work more muscles and burn more calories, thus allowing more definition to be seen (keep in mind you you do need to eat properly as well).

A 6 week study of 2 groups in 2003 showed the group using vibration training three times a week in their routine had an 18% increase in their resting metabolism, while the group that did similar exercises without vibration had a 2% decline.

One of my specialties is training individuals for bodybuilding, figure, and fitness competitions. I am also the official trainer for the Miss Arizona USA and Miss Teen Arizona USA pageants, along with a majority of our clientele as regular fitness individuals. No mater your fitness goal, imagine getting ready for an event where you want to look as “tight” as possible. Wouldn’t you want your metabolism to be as high as possible in order to burn more calories and lean out quicker? This may enable you to decrease the amount of cardio you need to do and/or consume more calories. Either of which will allow you to maintain your muscle mass more efficiently. Incorporating the plate with conventional weight training and diet will enable you to achieve better results.

PART 3

The 3rd installation of our “Shaking Things Up” articles is going to look at the benefits of using total vibration in regards to increasing Human Growth Hormone production.

Studies have been done on the plate in regards to Human Growth Hormone production. This is critical for all individuals, especially those over 30 years of age.

After the age of 30, about every 5 years are bodies will decrease the production of HGH, so it is important we stimulate as much as we can naturally! This occurs by using larger muscle groups, rest, proper nutrition and the correct supplementation.

Since we are working larger and more muscles using the plate, we will increases the production of HGH. This is important because the more lean muscle one is able to maintain the more fat she/he will burn. Remember, one pound of muscle can burn 20-100 kcal a day while a lb of fat only burns 8 kcal a day. However, the plate should not take the place of proper nutrition and rest. It should be used in conjunction with.

I know many of you may think this article is too good to be true. Often times things that sound this good are. However, I invite you to try the Vibration Exercise Machine for yourself and feel the difference. I also encourage you to research vibration training and read the scientific research for yourself.

Vibration training has been around since the 19th century. In the 20th century, scientific research was conducted to understand the influence of vibration on bone density. Scientists found vibration therapy improved bone density enormously in astronauts that would normally lose bone density and experience muscle atrophy due to zero gravity. After the fall of the Iron Curtain, vibration research turned to performance among athletes and the Vibration Exercise Machine was invented and introduced to the U.S. in 2001. Since then, it has been featured in the media a number of times. From Muscle and Fitness, Iron Man, Sweat Magazine, to Good Morning America, Inside Edition, and local news people are talking about the value of training on the Vibration Exercise Machine. The Vibration Exercise Machine has also been used by several professional athletes and teams (Lance Armstrong, Chicago Bulls, Chicago White Sox, several World Cup teams, Olympic athletes) and celebrities (Madonna, Claudia Schiffer, and more).

Written by

Trainer Scott Keppel - Personal Trainer

http://www.scottstrainingsystems.com