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How To Use A Vibration Plate To Lose Weight

How To Use A Vibration Plate To Lose Weight

In the never-ending quest to lose excess weight, manufacturers are constantly inventing new ways to burn fat. One of them, vibration training, has been around for decades.

Back in the 70s, the vibrating belt machine was quite popular for weight loss. However, it fell out of favor as the aerobics boom took hold in the 80s. In recent years, though, a revamped version of the vibration concept has gained a foothold: the vibration plate.

In this article, we explore how to use a vibration plate to lose weight. We’ll also reveal the health benefits of vibration therapy.

A vibration machine is a device that you stand on similar to an old-fashioned pair of scales. Unlike a vibration belt, it does not have a strap that goes around the midsection.

What Is A Vibration Machine

When you turn the machine on, it will pulse up to 50 times per second to cause the entire body to vibrate. When they are sedentary, your muscles only pulse a few times per minute, so they get a huge amount of stimulation when you are on a vibration machine.

Some whole body vibration machines offer enhanced stability with handles and a frame while others have nothing but a base to stand on. Some vibration machines come with a remote control unit allowing you to easily adjust the speed and intensity of vibration. They are available in commercial and home gym models.

How To Use A Vibration Machine

Contrary to what many people think, you will gain very little benefit from simply standing on a vibration plate machine to lose weight. While you will burn a few calories, it will not be enough to make inroads into your stored body fat reserves.

To increase the weight loss effects of a whole body vibration machine, you should perform bodyweight exercises while you are on the machine. In addition, vibration plates work well with resistance bands. The combination of constant vibration and the muscular contraction and extension of the exercise will combine to produce a significantly higher calorie burn than by doing each action separately.

The use of a whole body vibration machine to lose weight should be accompanied by a reduced calorie diet.

Exercises To Do On A Vibration Plate

The following five exercises for vibration training will work every major muscle group in your body to provide maximum calorie burn and help you speed up weight loss.

Exercises To Do On A Vibration Plate

Doing these exercises on vibration machines will feel quite different because you are having to deal with the balance and coordination issues arising from the constant pulsing. This adds to the muscular challenge and provides an increased calorie burn for weight loss that will achieve a reduced body fat percentage.

Body Weight Squats

Focus: Lower body

  1. Stand on the vibration machine with feet shoulder width apart and slightly pointed out.
  2. Maintaining a neutral spine, and with your hands clasped in front of your chest, hinge at the hips to descend into a parallel squat position.
  3. Push through the heels to return to the start position.
  4. Perform 3 x 15 repetitions.

Push-Ups

Focus: Upper body

  1. Get down in the top push-up position, with your hands on the vibration machine then lower your head and body down to the plate. Your feet should be straight out behind you with your feet together.
  2. From the starting position, lower down until your nose is about two inches away from the plate.
  3. Push back to the start position.
  4. Perform 3 x 10 – 15 repetitions.

Isometric Body Weight Squats

Focus: Lower body

  1. Stand on the vibration machine with feet as wide as possible and slightly pointed out.
  2. Maintaining a neutral spine, and with your hands clasped in front of your chest, hinge at the hips to descend into a parallel squat position.
  3. Hold this position for 30 seconds. That is one rep.
  4. Perform 5 repetitions.

Plank

Focus: Core

  1. Get down in the plank position with your elbows resting on the vibration machine and your legs out straight behind you and together. Keep your body in a straight line, preventing your butt from rising into the air.
  2. Raise up on your elbows and tense your core.
  3. Hold for 30 seconds.
  4. Perform 3 sets for 30 seconds duration.

Diamond Push-Ups

Focus: Upper body

  1. Get down in the top push-up position, with your hands on the vibration machine, your fingers touching and hands spread out. Your feet should be straight out behind you with your feet together.
  2. From the starting position, lower down until your nose is about two inches away from the plate.
  3. Push back to the start position.
  4. Perform 3 x 10 – 15 repetitions.

The Benefits Of Using A Vibration Plate

When you use body vibration machines, your muscles have to pulse thousands of times per minute. This makes them work significantly harder on any exercise that is done on the machine. As a result, the vibration training exercise becomes more stress-inducing for the working muscle, causing a greater adaptive response.

The Benefits Of Using A Vibration Plate

The increased exercise intensity that training on vibration machines introduces will increase your metabolism both during and after your workout for losing weight. This will lead to a greater calorie burn for weight loss than traditional exercise.

Exercising on a vibration plate is a very low impact form of exercise, especially compared to traditional aerobic exercises. Even though your body is constantly pulsing, your feet never actually leave the platform. That makes it a closed chain exercise. Closed chain exercises are ideal for people with joint problems and the elderly.

The intense repeated contractions that the muscles receive when you are on a vibration plate can lead to an increase in muscle strength. Vibration pulses will especially work your slow-twitch muscle fibers. These are the same fibers that are mainly worked when you do very high rep training with weights.

Vibration plate exercises may also help to gain muscle mass, improve blood circulation and blood flow, reduce arterial stiffness and increase bone mineral density.

Frequently Asked Questions

Yes, vibration plates do help lose belly fat. However, they will not do so in isolation. You cannot spot reduce belly fat, so weight loss will come from all over your body, not just your belly. You should do calisthenics exercises on vibration plates to see any significant weight loss.

Yes, you can lose weight with a vibration plate. To experience weight loss, though, you need to do more than just stand on the machine. You should perform bodyweight exercises to increase the calorie burn. To lose weight faster, you should also reduce your daily caloric intake by around 500 calories per day.

You should begin by using a vibration plate once per day for 10 – 20 minutes if your goal is to lose weight.  As your body gets used to the unique challenge of vibration plate training, you can increase your frequency to 2 – 3 times per day for weight loss. Space your sessions out by several hours to allow your muscles to recover between workouts.

It is impossible to say how many calories you will burn in 10 minutes on a vibration plate. There are many variables including your weight, age and what activity you are doing on the vibration plates. If you are standing stationary, you will only burn a few extra calories in 10 minutes which is not ideal for losing weight. However, 10 minutes of squats and push-ups will burn between 100 – 150 calories for weight loss.

It can take different amounts of time to see results using a vibration plate. In terms of weight loss, exercising on vibration machines in the manner described in this article, when combined with a reduction in calories, should see you losing 1 – 2 pounds (0.45 – 0.90 kg) of body fat each week. The key to weight loss success is to achieve small, consistent drops in fat weight. Use vibration machines every day for 10 minutes to achieve these results.

Conclusion

Vibration machines are not an effortless means to excess weight loss. In order to use this machine to lose weight and get results, you need to use the plate as a platform for calisthenics exercise. Now you know just how to use a vibration plate to lose weight: the combination of multiple pulsing on the muscle and the regular stress of the exercise will make your workout more challenging. Combine this vibration training with a calorie-reduced diet and you will consistently lose weight.