A review of methodologically sound studies done by researchers finds that evidence in support of whole body vibration is severely lacking.
Researchers from the Institute of Sport and Recreation Research, Faculty of Health and Environmental Science and Auckland University of Technology in New Zealand conducted a review of existing research and their findings are published in the March 2009 (Volume 23, Number 2) edition of the National Strength and Conditioning Association’s Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research.…
Article comments
26 - john
i am trying so much to beleve in this wbv all this puts me off can anyone tell me the truth will wbv help me acheve a better state of welbeing and lift depresion tell me the truth.
john
27 - Anomo
Any form of exercise should help you with that. The only argument here is some say it's a form of exercise, SAL et.al says it isn't.
You do not have to BELIEVE anything, why don't you do what SAL and his friends can't be bothered doing and go try it for yourself, it should be free. Experience outweighs belief anytime.
28 - Anomo
SAL and friends, read this study carefully, have a little cry and then get back to us with your ideas on how this could happen. Maybe its magic???
Of course you will all spend considerable time trying to find holes in the study but I would say this is the beginning of the end of your ITS USELESS and WHY DON'T THEY JUST DO NORMAL EXERCISE AND DIET ramblings. It seemed to do better than ALL your suggestions put together. And it was done only a medium level product that is a few years old.
The EASO is a serious organization formed in 1986 to help fight the coming obesity crisis. They do not get behind rubbish studies. So if you want to call them hucksters be my guest [Personal attack deleted by Comments Editor].
29 - Anomo
I will add again.
It took me 3 seconds to understand this technology. 3 years later and SAL still can not figure it out.
You do the maths readers.
30 - Di Heap
Sal, the article linked in the above post includes the comment:
"People say vibration machines are fitness for lazy people. It may feel like a short cut, but if it's easy, you are not doing it properly," Vissers added. "Supervision in the beginning is imperative and the longer the better. What we see in gyms very often - people just standing on the machine holding the handles - is not going to do anything."
I'm interested in your comment on this and also, especially, on the fact that one of the control groups did a considerable amount of supervised conventional exercise yet the vibration group lost the highest percentage of weight.
31 - Mike Hair
Well Sal time to defend yourself, that study is pretty conclusive. Even on an underpowered machine like powerplate, imagine the results if they tested a real machine.....Like Lloyd Shaws!! [Personal attack deleted by Comments Editor] Please inlighten us with your veiws on the study above.
[Edited]
32 - Anomo
Good point Mike.
I would say it is a FACT that Sal and friends can not understand how vibration training works. They have been very vocal on the subject to the extent of calling other people names, swearing and outright abuse if anyone's else claims they can.
But they block anyone's else's attempt to consider the obvious consequences to their own intellectual reputation if they are proven wrong?
Don't worry "It will all come out in the wash" as my mother used to say.
33 - Wayne Campbell
Sal, the above study shows that despite your opinions, WBV can benefit peoples health by shedding body fat. In this study the participents that used WBV shed more body fat than those doing convetional excercise including aerobic and weights. What was even more telling was that the WBV group lost more weight even without doing any aerobic excercise.
Why will you not give a balanced view instead of the misleading and biased "opinions" that you offer? You are very selctive in the information you share. What is your agenda?
34 - Wayne Campbell
Brian, you sounded very excited in your last post, perhaps you should get your blood pressure checked, or better still try a WBV session on a quality machine. It can be calming and stimutlating at the same time.
35 - Anomo
I LOVE being able to think for myself.
36 - Di Heap
I'm wondering how Sal will explain away the latest study; done over a whole year, with the vibratiion training group showing the best results in weightloss and more, very much ahead of even the Personal Trainer led group. Can't say it's anecdotal but I guess there'll be some way to say it's flawed. How can Sal back down now from saying "It can never work" to even acknowledging huge weightloss and visceral fat reduction as shown in the latest controlled study.Time to try real machine, guys.
37 - Dr Dreadful
Anomo,
The comment you refer to was deleted because it was a personal attack.
For the 20 billionth time, Sal is a writer for Blogcritics, not an editor, and has no say in what comments are edited or deleted. The comments editors themselves (of whom I am one) do not give a flying fuck about whether vibration training works or not, and are not inclined to put up with any more of your paranoid whining.
38 - Anomo
Dr Dreadful.
For your information, PARANOID would suggest these deletions are not taking place. They are and because you can not explain them you back up my agrument, not yours.
39 - Di Heap
Having been a Moderator for another site I understand both sides of comments control versus freedom of speech.
Reading comments and then seeing them deleted I've noticed that comments seriously opposing the article content get removed. Fair enough if the comments are abusive but comments that simply challenge or quote previous statements by the article writer have been deleted (unfairly in my opinion). Some of my comments have been deleted when they agree with a previous comment, which leaves a continuity but removes the whole dissension. Please allow commenters to disagree with points in the articles and please encourage blogcritics writers to read comments and reply. Thanks
40 - Anomo
Dr Dreadful.
These are past comments from the editors.
"However, that is your right: we respect freedom of speech on this site."
"Furthermore, any reader can easily see dissenting views in the comments space."
"all ideological debate is welcomed and, indeed, encouraged."
"It seems to me that a healthy debate is nothing to fear or worry about."
So it would seem someone who DOES NOT subscribe to your views is deleting the comments. Because how can readers possibly read dissenting views if someone deletes them first???
That is not paranoia, that is the opposite, its called logic.
41 - Anomo
Dr Dreadful.
These are past comments from the editors.
"However, that is your right: we respect freedom of speech on this site."
"Furthermore, any reader can easily see dissenting views in the comments space."
"all ideological debate is welcomed and, indeed, encouraged."
"It seems to me that a healthy debate is nothing to fear or worry about."
So it would seem someone who DOES NOT subscribe to your views is deleting the comments. Because how can readers possibly read dissenting views if someone deletes them first???
That is not paranoia, that is the opposite, its called logic.
42 - Di Heap
European Assn for the study of Obesity has released a press report about a new study showing amazing results in weightloss for obese people who vibration-train.
Article linked here
43 - BobO
An age old problem isn't it? Some won't believe without proof, acceptable proof isn't forthcoming due to factors x y and z, and some believe due to personal (yet anecdotal) experience.
I chuckled to myself at those who insisted that low carb diets didn't work...while I easily lost 75 pounds doing so. There is no proof they claimed, and none was forthcoming, while I had all the proof I required.
And it was funny to watch in the years following, how low carb dieting went from a crazy fad diet that couldn't possibly work, to a mainstream, well accepted way of eating. Admittedly, much of what was originally pushed was revised and tuned into something very different. But much of the essence of what Dr. Atkins taught years ago remains the foundation of a number of successful and well regarded diets today.
While it is impossible to say for sure, I believe that WBV will undergo (and already is, I suspect) a subtle transformation that is not unlike low carb dieting and other similar out-of-the-mainstream items. The good and true will be sorted from the over-hyped and false, and in the end the essence of the truth as known by those with personal experience will live on and be integrated into the body of knowledge that is fitness as we know it.
While I confess to a certain bias for the new and untested, I am after all the president of a technology company that exists by creating and selling the impossible and implausible, I really don't have a dog in this fight. But because I have such a bias, and because I am blessed to have the financial resources, I recently purchased a training grade lineal machine.
My experiences do not constitute proof to anyone, and certainly not to those who carry a doubtful predisposition. They do however, provide me all of the proof that I require to offer an educated opinion.
Educated? How? Well, I have never been a personal trainer, nor have I ever been a researcher, but I did stay at a Holiday Inn Express recently. I was in the US Army, played sports throughout high school, and remain active today...meaning...I am well familiar with a good workout and know when I am getting one.
From what I have observed about my WBV machine, in the 2 weeks I have worked with it, is that low frequency or low intensity does not activate the stretch reflex, nor does it produce anything that seems remotely stressful to your muscles. On the other hand, at frequencies above 33-35hz with sufficient amplitude, the stretch reflex can be felt distinctly, and holding the workout poses for 1 minute will kick your tail. The last 20 seconds of a pose offers as fine a burn as I have ever experienced.
At the end of a workout of 8 or 9 poses at high amplitude and 43hz, I am completely spent, sweating profusely, and my pulse at 130-140bpm. For several hours following, I am as worn out as I ever was lifting weights. In fact, it feels exactly as it does when I lift weights. Curious.
So is it a workout? You bet. After the first workout I didn't recover my strength for 2 days. As with weightlifting, subsequent workouts have been just as intense, but the recovery period is much quicker.
Those who require proof will not be satisfied by my, or anyone's, experiences. Meanwhile I will continue to use my machine every other day and enjoy the changes in my body...which are already apparent in just two weeks. But while a certain skepticism is healthy and beneficial to the system, be careful that you don't cling to your lack of belief too long, while the more open-minded advance the science.
The absence of documented proof doesn't necessarily mean the absence of evidence, nor does it constitute proof to the contrary. As proof oriented as we are in the west, the vast majority of western medicine was arrived at empirically...it was not proven in studies, or was proven after it was known to be effective. And increasingly, studies pro and con, tend to be driven by a predetermined bias.
Sadly, it seems that these days empirical evidence is the only useful measurement. So I think I'll go spend some time on my unproven, yet empirically effective, WBV machine.
Cheers!
44 - jacqueline
Wow, as a trainer who has worked in rehab and sports performance programmes for many years It is quite concerning when so called professionals such as yourself put down proven fitness modems which have and are being used in Olympic and professional sports for several years now. I was first introduced to the machine by a PGA sports trainer who also worked in the UK with Man United and at the National Academy of Sports Medicine. I guess you know more these people?? why would world renowned athletes’ and sports performance trainers use such a device if it was not effective, and put their name and reputation to a devise that they do not have any financial gain, get your facts straight before you send the wrong message a deny others the opportunity too improve their health
45 - XRCZLVR
Dear Author,
Believe nothing just because a so-called wise person said it. Believe nothing just because a belief is generally held. Believe nothing just because it is said in ancient books. Believe nothing just because it is said to be of divine origin. Believe nothing just because someone else believes it. Believe only what you yourself test and judge to be true." --- Buddha