Vibration Training, the new fitness frontier?

by Ryan Hogan | Sunday, May 31, 2009

The following post was written by international presenter and educator, Steve Schiemer.

Having lived in Europe for the last 12 years, I have watched this type of training explode onto the fitness and rehab scene. It first hit the fitness market about 6 or 7 years ago. Vibration training is the act of passing a vibration through the body to elicit a series of responses, in particular to activate the deep core muscles of the body, to stimulate the nervous system, increase strength and power, reduce pain perception, increase bone density, improve circulation and lymphatic drainage and improve proprioception. The two most popular ways to do this are to either stand on a vibrating plate, such the Power Plate, and allow the vibrations to enter the body via the legs, or to use a handheld oscillating device such as a FLEXI-BAR, which is a long flexible fibreglass bar with weights on the end and a handle in the middle that you push/pull to get the bar to swing back and forth, allowing the vibrations to pass into the body via the arms.  ...read more