However, the amount of mechanical vibrations we are exposed to has increased enormously over the last few centuries. Truck drivers, forklift drivers, construction workers and helicopter pilots absorb a lot of vibration on a daily basis. The complaints they suffer, mainly in joints and spine, cause tremendous problems. 

There are some fundamental differences between vibration exposures in the work place compared to vibration from the Whole Body Vibration (WBV) platform. While training on the platform you are actively using the vibrations, which are being absorbed in the muscles instead of the joints. The duration is also much less. The total amount of time of a training session is not even close to the time that people are exposed to vibrations in a working environment.

 A WBV platform complies with the I.S.O. standards for industrial use, provided that training does not exceed 2 hours a day. For that matter, it is useless to train longer than 20 minutes or more often than 3 or 4 times a week. If you use the WBV machine according to the instructions and under certified supervision, vibration training is many times safer than any other sports or training activity.

With age, or when muscles aren’t used enough, they lose their size and strength. Regular exercise and weight-training require discipline, considerable time, and many repetitions.  Also, there’s a growing concern about the effect of lifting heavy weights on the joints, ligaments, and tendons of the body as we could be doing damage to them in the process.  Whole body vibration training is an effective, proven method of strength training that addresses these concerns.  Whole body Vibration exercise has been found to boost muscle strength by 50% in just a few weeks!  You can focus on your core, lower body, or upper body and build a toned, strong body. 

Whole Body Vibration can improve your speed, agility, grace and flexibility by strengthening joints, tendons, and ligaments.  It also increases your ability to stretch the muscles.  Whole Body Vibration can help you raise your athletic ability and fitness to the next level in weeks, not months.  And if you’re involved in sports such as swimming, gymnastics, football, track, martial arts, and golf, you’ll soon experience increased speed, flexibility, and muscle control.

All of the movements basic to the human body can be performed on the whole body vibration platform.  By performing some of the exercises in a dynamic manner the effect will increase greatly.  All of these effects can be integrated in daily life.  If vibration training is part of a sport specific training schedule you will obviously have to make certain adaptations to the movements inherent to that particular sport in order to counter a loss of coordination.  You will improve your ability to cycle by riding a bike, not just by standing on the WBV platform.

To calculate aerobic calorie burn you need to consider the following information…age, weight, height, max/min heart rate, rate of oxygen intake, CO2 emissions, fitness level etc.  There is no way to really test anaerobic calorie loss…only aerobic.

So what burns more calories, a vibration workout or cardio workout?  Studies have shown calorie for calorie, cardio has a slight advantage. You can burn about 8 to 10 calories a minute hoisting weights, compared with 10 to 12 calories a minute running or cycling.

Vibration exercise is generally referred to as anaerobic exercise.  Anaerobic exercise gives you a metabolic spike for an hour after a workout because your body is trying hard to help your muscles recover. That means you’ll burn an additional 25 percent of the calories you just scorched during your vibration session.  For every 3 pounds of muscle you build, you can potentially burn an extra 120 calories a day.  Vibration can be regarded as resistance training…resistance training burns fat…and calories

It has been calculated that a 10 min vibration session could yield an approximate 200-500 calorie burn. This could increase with intensifying the activity while on the machine.  It has been calculated that 10 minutes on a vibration machine would be similar to approx a 3.5-6 mile walk.  Keep in mind this depends on many variables.

Since muscles are working at almost 100% when using whole body vibration, they are burning more glucose and oxygen, therefore pushing the heart to pump harder and get more oxygen to the muscles.  Since more fuel is being burnt it can help accelerate weight loss and increase muscle strength

There are four main types of exercise that are recommended for seniors:

Endurance activities – Activities like walking, swimming, or riding a bike build stamina and improve the health of the heart and circulatory system.  Studies have prompted the American Heart Association to also recommend resistance training as a way to reduce risk of heart disease and as therapy for patients in cardiac rehabilitation programs.

Strengthening exercises –Activities to build muscle tissue and reduce age-related muscle loss.  Strengthening exercises increase the strength of your muscles, maintain and build bones, improves your balance, coordination and mobility. The health benefits far outweigh the risk of injury, a concern that prevents many elderly people from adding more physical activity to their lives.  Strength training can also have a great effect on reducing falls, the number one cause of death in the elderly.

Stretching exercises - Activities to keep the body flexible.   Muscles trained through vibration exercise not only get stronger but also improve flexibility and mobility. When you stretch, the muscle tissues warm up and increase blood circulation and flexibility. When your muscles receive highly oxygenated blood, the time required to obtain a certain level of flexibility is dramatically decreased.

Balance exercises- Activities to reduce the chances of a fall.  As people age, poor balance and flexibility contribute to falls and broken bones. Resistance exercises increase flexibility and balance, which decrease the likelihood and severity of falls.

Performing these exercises on a Whole Body Vibration platform can increase these results and help you achieve them in less time.  Any exercise that can be done on the floor can be done on a vibration platform.  Whole Body Vibration aids in faster muscle growth, better flexibility, better blood circulation, reduction of sore muscles, improved balance, even healing injuries.

 Exercise is a tested and proven remedy that keeps the body young and vigorous.

Whole body vibration exercise improves circulation and oxygen delivery to feet, hands, skin and hair, as well as organs, glands, muscle and bone.  This increase in oxygen and blood circulation improves our cells ability to eliminate waste, respond to hormonal and enzyme cues and to absorb nutrients. Improving these cellular functions is a necessary part of any plan to slow or repair the aging process.

Whole Body Vibration exercise also stimulates our hormone secreting glands to release many positive chemicals.  It has been said that whole body vibration increases Human Growth Hormone (HGH) levels by up to 361%.  This is a lot more than you can receive from regular exercise.  HGH has been called the anti-aging hormone.   Imagine the difference an increase in HGH can make in your life.  Your mood and energy levels affect everything you do.

Vibration exercise and therapy is a safe, easy and effective addition to your personal longevity and wellness plan.  All of these benefits can be obtained in a 10 minute session, 3-5 times per week!

Vibration training yields an increase in key hormones like serotonin that counter mental lethargy and enhance overall mood while sharpening the ability to focus and concentrate.   Research has shown an increase in serotonin levels after vibration. Serotonin is the neurotransmitter that makes you calm, happy and feel good.  Serotonin happens to be the most widely studied neurotransmitter since it helps regulate a vast range of psychological and biological functions.

 Some people have reported an increase in a feeling of optimism, which has lead to the conclusion that the stimulating effects of the vibration machine can help counteract certain types of depression and loss of motivation.

This alone really makes a difference in the majority of people.  When you feel good you do more!

The two biggest barriers to a successful fitness regimen are often the initial commitment and the subsequent stick-to-itiveness. So, that begs the question: How can I start a fitness program and stick to it to get the results I want?

A few things to keep in mind are:
• Pick an exercise you like. For example, if you hate jogging and dread doing it, don’t try to talk yourself into it every day, simply do something else.

• Figure out what time of day suits you. If you’re not a morning person it’s not realistic to think you’ll stick to an AM workout program. The snooze button is just too tempting. Take this from someone who knows!
• Set an appointment with yourself. Write it on your calendar like any other appointment and commit that time to yourself and good health. I suggest looking at your schedule for the week and then slotting in times when you know you can reasonably fit in exercise.
• Begin with realistic expectations. If you’re not in the habit of working out don’t expect to start off exercising 5 days/week. Start with a couple of days and work up to a more frequent, regular regimen. Ultimately aim to be physically active most or all days.
• Keep it convenient. If you can exercise in your home that is the ultimate in convenience. Consider joining a gym that is near your home or office. Or, walk out your front door and get moving.

Coming up:  How whole body vibration fits into your fitness regimen.

How does whole body vibration help with this?  Whole body vibration can help with limbering and loosening tight tissues. 

The vibration impulses stimulate the Golgi tendon apparatus in muscles that have become tight and constricted.  This activates a high measure of muscular relaxation.  WBV also helps to strengthen tissues.  Vibration stimulates muscle spindle activation by increasing the load on the tissue.  This activation is very similar to the “knee jerk reflex”.  This is an extra advantage as muscles are lengthened in a functional and active position, while not decreasing explosive muscle strength. 

The body responds to WBV by activating involuntary postural muscles and increasing proprioceptive input to the brain.  Your balance is stimulated and challenged.  Blood flow to the ligaments and tendons are increased along with the stretch reflex.

By performing Range of Movement and spinal neuromuscular reeducation exercises while on a vibration platform it serves the function of increasing spinal stabilization by improving postural and spatial awareness.

Vibration training is becoming more and more popular.  When you incorporate the use of a whole body vibration machine into your regular health and fitness regimen, you can lose weight. Not only will you experience weight loss, but you will have a faster metabolism, tighter muscles, and a more attractive body. Whole body vibration machines also improve your flexibility, range of motion, and circulation.  

When using a whole body vibration machine, your muscles can contract 20-50 times per second based on the Hertz setting of the machine. This contraction causes your body to work harder and burn more calories with basic exercises than you would normally doing floor exercises.

 Whole Body vibration will help you build lean mass by performing exercises and various moves to target different regions throughout your body.

See the information below from a study funded by the Artesis University College of Antwerp, Belgium.

“In this study we demonstrated that adding aerobic exercise or whole body vibration (WBV) to a hypocaloric diet can help to maintain weight loss. Moreover, the addition of WBV seems to initiate an even larger loss of visceral adipose tissue (VAT). “

This study shows that combining whole body vibration training with caloric restriction can help to achieve a sustained long-term weight loss of 5–10%. This data shows that WBV training may have the potential to reduce VAT more than aerobic exercise in obese adults, possibly making it a meaningful addition to future weight loss programs.

• Improving employee health
• Reducing preventable health care utilization and lowering health care costs
• Enhancing work performance/ productivity
• Decreased absenteeism
• Improving employee satisfaction and retention
• Reduce Injury and Workman’s compensation claims

The White House’s proposed 2011 budget was released, which includes plans to reduce childhood obesity rates by budgeting $1 billion to improve children’s access to healthy meals, and include $10 million in a federal employee workplace initiative to implement prototype wellness programs.

The plan includes increased federal funding for workplace wellness programs, programs for schools that address childhood obesity, education for healthcare employees, and “individual and community initiatives to help Americans make healthful choices.”

Employee wellness programs are an excellent way to help defray the rising cost of health care. In addition to cost-savings, employers who provide wellness programs report improvements to worker productivity and retention, as well as improving the working environment.

Whole Body Vibration (WBV) allows the equivalent of 60 minutes of conventional exercise to be achieved in just 10 minutes.  It is so effective; three 10‐minute sessions a week are enough to make a considerable difference.  Whole Body Vibration is perfect for loosening up your entire body and relieving stress. Standing on a WBV platform even for just a few minutes will supercharge all the cells in your body and give you energy to continue working. 

This is why many corporations are including WBV equipment in corporate fitness centers.  Because WBV is safe, fast and highly effective, it’s become a great solution for boosting employee health.