A look at TikTok, Instagram or any other social media app, and there’s buzz about vibration plates. Influencers swear by this new fitness equipment, claiming that it helps in losing weight and draining the lymphatic glands. But are these claims really true?
If you are into fitness, your social media feeds are bound to be clogged with the latest trend — vibration plates. Every fitness influencer is hopping on to vibration plates — many posting that it helps to ‘drain their thyroid’.
These vibrating plates, which resemble the exercise belts from the 1960s, are being pegged as the next best thing in fitness, helping one to reduce excessive amounts of fat.
And while you may roll your eyes at this fad, one can’t ignore them, as they are being used by professional athletes as well as astronauts.
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Whole-body vibration plates are exercise machines that rapidly shake while people stand on them, causing muscles to contract and relax repeatedly as part of a full-body workout. Once turned on, the plates vibrate, leaving the user with an unstable surface.
According to Leah Verebes, a physical therapist and assistant professor at Touro University’s School of Health Sciences, the purpose of vibration plates is to generate quick vibrations that cause your body’s muscles to contract and relax several times per second.
The idea is to make the body and muscles work in a way that keeps them steady while standing on the plate. By vibrating beneath you, the machine forces more muscles to switch on, resulting in greater full-body muscle engagement during workouts.
Along with challenging stabiliser muscles, the vibration may also force the muscles you normally use for the exercise to work even harder. By pushing you upward again and again in quick bursts, the plate creates a stronger gravitational effect that adds extra strain to your muscles and bones.
Are there any benefits of vibration plates?
There have been proven benefits of using these vibration plates. Firstly, these provide improved circulation and lymphatic drainage. According to Rachelle Reed, an exercise scientist based in Athens, Georgia, when muscles are activated, it leads to more natural blood flow. A vibration plate gets the blood moving in the body, which in turn leads to better blood circulation.
And since the lymphatic system goes hand-in-hand with the circulatory system, the vibration plate can aid in lymphatic drainage as well.
The plate also provides better muscle recovery. Due to the improved blood circulation, it potentially reduces muscle soreness. Improved blood circulation also leads to a better stretching routine. Since it provides better stretch, it leads to less tightness and soreness.
Using a vibration plate could also improve balance and stability.
These plates are also believed to have a modest impact on bone density. While a 2016 meta-analysis suggested that whole-body vibration may increase bone mineral density in the hip and spine of postmenopausal women by 2 to 5.5 per cent, researchers cautioned that findings varied widely and there was no consensus on the ideal treatment dose.
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These plates are mostly safe to use, but like any other type of exercise, they have their fair share of potential risks. These include temporary dizziness and aggravation of joint stress, among other effects.
According to reports, these plates should not be used by anyone with cardiac or circulatory disorders, such as deep vein thrombosis or pacemakers along with pregnant women, people who have just had surgery or people suffering from severe osteoporosis.
Who responds best to vibration-based workouts?
While the internet is all in for using vibration plates for losing weight, research has actually found that they are suited for two different sets of people.
Firstly, those who are not strong enough for a traditional workout, and secondly, serious athletes who are looking for performance enhancement. According to researcher Darryl Cochrane, those with balance or mobility issues may benefit most from vibration plates, which can help ease them into a fitness programme. For athletes, he said the plates can help break plateaus and reduce workout boredom.
What exercises to do while using a vibration plate?
While social media has implied that these plates are useful even when people simply stand on them, that is actually not the case. It is better to engage in some exercises, like squats or push-ups, while using the machine.
Push-ups strengthen the chest and shoulders, and performing them on a vibration plate boosts muscle activation beyond what you’d get on the floor. High plank holds are another exercise that you can perform while using these vibration plates. Using the plates for this exercise is good for core and upper body strength. Tricep dips on a vibrating plate help much more in muscle activation than they do normally.
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With inputs from agencies
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