As Madonna performs in London, the word is the aging pop star has kept her fabulous figure fabulous by using a faddish gadget known as the Power Plate. The Power Plate is a vibrating platform you stand on while assuming various positions, which – according to testimonials and marketing materials – can strengthen and tone and all that good stuff in just ten minutes a day, three days per week.
By the way, Madonna is in phenomenal shape because she's spent the past 20+ years working at it, not because she uses the Power Plate.
According to the Power Plate website, this piece of equipment is backed by 40 years of research that shows “vibration training enables users to achieve a higher level of fitness.” We’re also told, “Far better results are achieved than with conventional training methods in just 10 minutes, 3 times a week.”
Plain and simple, don’t buy the hype. Don’t buy the celebrity endorsements or the testimonials that come from the people who stood on this vibrating platform once for ten minutes and said they felt sore or felt better.
Have you ever felt sore after sleeping on an uncomfortable bed? Well, this kind of soreness isn’t indicative of any muscle building properties offered by uncomfortable cots, and is the same kind of soreness you’d feel after standing on a vibrating platform for ten or fifteen minutes.
If standing on a vibrating platform offered real health benefits, subway riders would be the healthiest lot on the planet. If vibrations were the key to being fit, you’d never see a fat jackhammer operator.
I could waste hours discussing this fallacious nonsense. But I’ll keep it as short as possible.
If you visit the Power Plate website, you can read about all the research that is supposed to provide the scientific proof the Power Plate is an effective method of exercise. If you actually read the research, you will see the claims made in support of vibration training are not supported by the research, and/or that the research is flawed/incomplete to the point it is meaningless.
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Article comments
— go to most recent comments1 - duane
If vibrations were the key to being fit ....
I was going to make a crude joke, but my natural sense of good taste has overwhelmed me. Believe me, it was funny, too. No ... really.
2 - Jewels
duane, be brave - let the woosie side go, speak your mind, you are among friends.
3 - Franklin Chase
What ever happened to a
1. Good pair of workout shoes
2. Some light weights
3. A good DVD workout
4. A pinch of dedication
5. I sound diet plan
6. Another pinch of dedication
7. A visit to the American Heart Association website.
8. A rededicated appreciation to dedication...
9. A 30 minute walk every day...
10. Abstinance from tobacco products
11. Abstinance from sugar and salt...
Get my drift?
4 - sal m
franklin:
too many people in the fitness profession decided that there was no money to be made by professing adherence to the first 9 points - give or take a point or two - of your post, so they decided to lie to the gullible public.
5 - jenn
I have a power plate at home and my body is in great shape since I use it 10 min a day!!! but its not easy, it's a real workout!!! after 10 min I'am totally exhausted!
Jenna, Belgium
6 - sal m
jenn:
no offense...but that's nonsense.
7 - Dave
Sal - I'm currently researching this and have not formed an opinion on it yet. What's interesting to me is that you seem to have formed an opinion without trying the machine or first hand knowledge of it.
8 - sal m
dave:
incorrect...i've formed my opinion based on reading the research provided by the power plate people themselves, research that i've read independent of the research provided by power plate and on my almost 20 years of experience as a professional strength coach.
did you even read the entire post?
this is nothing more than a bigger version of the electronic stim pads that were advertised as being able to develop muscles depending on where you connected the pads, especially in the abdominal region.
these devices were discredited years ago, and this device is just a bigger version.
what little supporting data that there is that has come out of the research of WBV has been misused/misinterpreted in marketing materials.
9 - Victor Plenty
But... Bruce Lee! Nikola Tesla! Lasers and magnets and vibrators, oh my!
10 - OldGirl 518
I have a chronic pain syndrome which I was told made me ideal to use this type of machine. I used the Vibrogym it is the same thing just different branding. I was given a very high dose of vibration due to an error on the part of the supervisor, after my first few sessions. After this particular session, I could not walk in a straight line and suffered from vertigo and dizzyness. I was checked out by a medic who confirmed that it was probably the machine as I had no other issues. He did say I was susceptible because of my condition, but they are marketing it at people like me. Several months on I still have problems, it has been horrible and scary and I would advise people to keep off these machines.
11 - sal m
the bottom line with this gadget is that if people actually read the studies that are provided on the website for this product, they will see that there really isn't any proof for any of the claims that have been made.
12 - Dawn
Interesting that it's nonsense and yet the top 10 NFL draft picks were trained using the PowerPlate!!! You might want to actually get on one, and take a closer look. It's the real thing...I've used it and can verify it. The research is accurate, though it may sound "too good to be true", and it's definitely not hype.
13 - sal m
interesting...too bad the research doesn't back up the claims. rather than just provide us with more nonsense to snicker at, why don't you address this issue? the research is accurate? what does that mean? it certainly doesn't apply to the marketing hype attached to this gimmick.
the top ten nfl draft picks were trained with the power plate? where? did they all workout at the same place? did they stand on if for 10 minutes, one time? did they "workout" using this piece of "equipment" exclusively during their college careers or did they lift weights too?
14 - Victor Plenty
Maybe the Power Plate box needs pictures of people jogging, lifting weights, doing calisthenics, swimming, etc., and at the bottom of the box, in tiny print, it would say "Part of this complete training program."
Nah.
15 - sal m
victor:
do you work for a marketing firm?
16 - Victor Plenty
No, but I've seen a heck of a lot of TV adverts for breakfast cereals.
17 - artur
.....but why did Madonna bought a powerplate....?
18 - Orchid
This concept seriously reminds me of those devices in the 50's that stretched a band around a woman and shook her. If vibrating worked, those things probably never would have gone out of style.
I don't have too much of a problem with people attempting to market their devices to the gullible. I do have a problem that people view bodies like those of Madonna and Demi Moore as attainable and the gold standard for physiques. The problem is that you have women whose job it is to work their bodies into shape for their careers and never have to do things like cook, clean, shop, etc. and have a great deal more time to sculpt every muscle.
While I have no problem with them doing this, I do think that society as a whole needs to stop raising the bar on what is considered an attractive physique (for both men and women) and concentrate on health and fitness over the development of a specific look. This plate device is all about having Madonna's ass, not about being fit or healthy.
The increasingly tough standards for being seen as having a good body only serve to demoralize those who try to meet them and fail . Ultimately, it leads to a mentality that can lead to eating disorders of all stripes and lower self-esteem all around. Of course, this is precisely what marketers want because you can't sell your schlock to people who are content with themselves or their lives.
19 - sal m
orchid:
great sentiments and you do a nice job of suming up the problem that exists with how fitness and heath is portrayed and sold.
we also aren't being told - when these "beautiful people types" try to sell us their diets or exercise programs - if these people have had any cosmetic surgery that could be responsible for the way that they look. cosmetic surgery is a huge factor that is responsible for how many of these types look.
in the mid to late 80s i worked at a manhattan facility that served high-profile types, many of whom had help from surgeons and accomplished more in the operating room than they could have on the gym floor.
20 - Jacki
I have worked out on a Power Plate. I have terrible knee problems which limit what I can do. My quad was 25% when I started. It has given me my quad back. My hamstring was extremely tight and was also affecting my knee. It works out the tightness and seems to have accellerated the healing. It has toned my body more than anything else I've been physically able to do. My arms, my abs, legs... sorry. You can "dis" the power plate but it works for me. Proof is in the actual using of it! I am guessing you are one of those guys who doesn't think anything is a good idea unless it is your idea. For us folks that can't do a lot of the other stuff out there, it's awesome.
21 - sal m
the power plate people have a great viral marketing plan to try and negate the negative reviews with regards to this gimmick.
actually, i'm the kind of guy who reads research, talks to experts in the field and calls on my 20 years of experience when i form my opinions and make judgements.
i've worked with people of all ages who have had less than 25% quad strength due to severe injuries and have been able to have the "get their quad back." and i've worked with physical therapists who have done the same.
again, try and read the research and then defend the use of this gadget...anecdotal evidence is worthless.
22 - D Leigha
Occupational vibrations do not compare with whole body vibration therapy. When you tone up using a weight here is what is really going on... From a physics point of view, you are adding load to something that is being forgotton about...gravity. We pull away from gravity everyday, this is.. among other things.. what ages us..(astronauts in space-muscle loss..because of zero gravity). Adding load on top of gravity makes your muscles respond more aptly. Whole body vibration therapy uses gravity in a different way. It uses vertical acceleration of gravity, which creates a faster compensation response. Gravity and how gravity is really at the essence of all exercise.Also, this is vertical acceleration, which is stimulus absorbed by your muscles (hence the reflexive training)not horizontal jarring vibrations that are only absorbed by your joints such as when using a jack-hammer. One doesn't use wbv platform for more than 6 hours a day. There needs to be differentiation between the opinions and scientific facts. There are over 50 -100 clinical studies done on wbv therapy that are in the medical journals..not so easily accessible to the general public and you really need to know how to read medical studies and abstracts otherwise you can misinterpret the information quite easily. Read about the Hypergravity and why it is the best.I hope trainers who are out there try this stuff before they even post something and I hope they can understand how important physics and science is in relation to understanding the body.
23 - sal m
in addition to medical studies, there have been many performance based studies that have been published in the journals of the national strength and conditioning association and the american college of sports medicine. and these are not abstracts, but studies.
these studies have not yielded results that support the calims made by the marketers/manufacturers of the power plate.
additionally, this was written:
"From a physics point of view, you are adding load to something that is being forgotton about...gravity. We pull away from gravity everyday, this is.. among other things.. what ages us..(astronauts in space-muscle loss..because of zero gravity). Adding load on top of gravity makes your muscles respond more aptly. Whole body vibration therapy uses gravity in a different way. It uses vertical acceleration of gravity, which creates a faster compensation response. Gravity and how gravity is really at the essence of all exercise."
What???
24 - D Leigha
Because of the way you are controlling the blog- I had to delete half of my information on my post. It is ridiculous that the posts are being restricted at all. Anyway- what I was talking about is physics. With weight training you are manipulating gravity by Load. Whole Body Vibration platforms such as the Hypergravity or Power Plate manipulates gravity by Acceleration. Acceleration is independent of Load. Yes, once again- it's all about physics
Conventional training= Fz = m x g
WBV training= Fz = m x a
(g = acceleration of gravity standard 10m/s2)
If anyone had the slightest knowledge of science-they would have grasped what I was previously saying. Good luck with that.
25 - D Leigha
Also- what studies are you actually reading? My father in law has his Ph.D. and has collected several recent studies from the last two years about metabolic increase, Parkinsons, Multiple Sclerosis, the elderly and how true whole body vibration therapy is providing all kinds of wonderful benefits. Those are some of the more recent ones. I guess I find it baffling when people are chosing ignorance over science. I guess people see what they what to see. Every major scientific paradigm shift has always been met with disdain and violent opposition. Something to think about.