VIBRATION increases exercise EFFECTIVENESS?

[Lililston]

What do you guys think of this?

Shaking Things Up

The Journal of Sports Sciences reports that inducing a low frquency vibration to weightlifting exercises greatly increases their effectiveness.
Vibration was superimposed to weightlifting exercises for the study. After a three week period the vibration group tested a 50% increase in strength while the group doing identical exercises without vibration increased only 16% (a typical gain). See Study: http://www.getcited.org/pub/103366429
You may have heard about or even used one of the new WBV machines. NFL, NBA and professional baseball teams swear by them. So do Olympic trainers. It's just a floor platform that vibrates, and costs $10,000.

Short History Of Vibration
And Conditioning

Jackhammer operators carving Mt. Rushmore had to press the hammers into the rock with their stomachs; it was the only way to get the leverage they needed. One operator reported after a few weeks of this pounding that "his wife could dance on his stomach - with high heels!" Clearly, the right vibrations have a powerful conditioning effect on muscles.
Overexposure to some vibrations can cause injury. Much scientific study has been done to set limits on workplace vibrations. It was in these studies that a specific range of low frequency vibrations (20 to 60 Hertz) were found to be not harmful but greatly therapeutic. It's turned into an industry.

Go here to get the scoop on Whole Body Vibration: vibrogym.com, fitvibe.com and powerplateusa.com

 

[casualbb]

crazy! I'll guess why... vibration forces whole body muscle contraction and stabilization -- which we know increases strength by nervous system effects (similar to the irradiation principle put forth by pavel t. http://www.t-nation.com/readTopic.do;jsessionid=08E293F49DD1F670CF5165B082CBDC70.titan?id=460503)

 

[bignate73]

similar to proprioceptive movements. it encourages more CNS activity by constantly correcting throughout the movement. i can see it.

 

[blut wump]

Now why can't I expect a 16% strength gain every three weeks? Why do they always use completely untrained people for these studies?

 

[Madcow2]

Untrained, some type of arm only exercise - I'll reserve judgement as to how well this can actually be applied. I also kind of question the stress to the joints/tendons in let's say the squat, dead or bench - I guess the frequency and range of the vibration might have something bearing on that too. I definitely question the statement that Pro and Olympic Teams "swear" by them.

 

[ridethesnake]

huh. one of my, errrr female aquaintances, was mentioning that her dad, a former NHL star was using this bowflex type thing that shakes you when you work out and that it tore her up when she used it. i guess it's based on that principal. wierd.