How It Works
The vibrating platform moves you up and down, a few millimetres at a time with carrying speeds. As it does this there are three main effects on your body.
- 1. INCREASED GRAVITY As the platform rises, your body is accelerated upwards. You feel this as a force named G-force where ´G´ stands for ´Gravity´. In other words the machine exposes your body to increased Gravity.
One way your body responds to increased Gravity is by increasing muscle strength and tone. Researchers showed this when they had subjects do 2 minutes of vibration exercise with 23G of Gravity (23 times Earth´s Gravity) three times a week and compared that to a control group doing the same exercises without vibration. After 3 weeks the control group increased strength by 16% – the vibration exercise group increased strength by an incredible 49.8%
- 2. RHYTHMIC MOVEMENT The rapid up/down movement with a subsequent increase/decrease of G-force creates waves of movement through the soft tissues of your body. In slow motion you can actually see the skin and muscles ripple like water. This ripple spreads from the point of contact throughout the body.
This increases the flow of fluids like blood and lymph which speeds up recovery while helping to keep swelling under control. As these fluids vibrate, heat is generated which quickly warms up your joints and muscles, making movement easier and more comfortable; similar to having a massage.
- 3. MUSCLE REFLEXES The platform movement causes repetitive bending and straightening of your joints. As the muscles attached to them quickly stretch it results in strong reflex muscle contractions. You´ve seen this happen when someone taps below your knee cap causing your leg to jerk forward.
The heightened nerve and muscle activity results in a number of benefits such as:
- Increased muscle power – power is the ability to generate force quickly and is essential for sports involving sprinting, jumping or power lifting events like Strongman and Cross Fit. The rapid muscle contractions created by vibration training develop increased muscle power. Less time training means more time eating and recovering.
- Reduced warm-up time – exercising muscles burn up fats and sugars releasing heat. This increase in heat makes movement more comfortable and reduces risk of injury. A good preparation for other activities that can be done quickly.
- Increased energy – regularly making the muscles do work increases metabolism and stimulates brain activity associated with feeling good. The result is that you not only feel more energetic, you have more energy to do the things you want.
- Stronger bones – the combination of increased muscle force pulling on bones with the increase in lymph and blood flowing through them results in bones becoming stronger.
- Better agility – vibration training is well known for increasing balance which when combined with more muscle power makes you more agile.
- Improved flexibility – 18 sessions of vibration training with 17G resulted in a 58% increase in hamstring flexibility. Each session took only 3 minutes.
Contraindications
To review a list of contraindications and precautions before use of Hypervibe training, please refer to our waiver form.
Secondary Effects Explained
- Destabilization & Stimulation of Muscle Reflexes Your brain is constantly monitoring the position of your joints and will increase muscle activation in an attempt to stabilise your posture when there is a risk of you becoming unbalanced.
Further, if the stretching and vibration of tissues is sufficient, microscopic sensors inside your body detect these changes and quickly activate reflexes that cause the muscles to contract, keeping joints and soft tissues protected from excessive movement. The strength of muscle contraction depends on the strength of the energy pulse coming up from the platform and the health of your nerves and muscles. - Muscle Pumping & Fluid Movement Repetitive pulses of sufficient energy cause rhythmic muscles contractions. These muscle contractions create a strong pumping effect and result in a huge increase in peripheral blood flow as well as lymphatic drainage. This can be particularly effective for those with poor circulation or swelling in the extremities.
- Mobilisation of Joints & Muscles The upwards movement of the platform also causes movement in the joints of your body which has a mobilizing effect and causes the muscles and tissues surrounding the joints to stretch and vibrate.
- Rapid Heating of Joints & Muscles As each wave moves up through your body some of the energy is absorbed by the tissues of your body and is converted to heat. Muscles and joints feel and operate better when they are warm. Whole Body Vibration has been proven to create a warming effect in muscles and joints faster and easier than other types of exercise.
The type of machine and the settings used to determine the degree to which you experience those effects, if at all. A Hypervibe machine is one of very few machines with the right combination of power and features needed to generate these effects on your body in a significant way.
What Are Your Goals?
- HIGH FREQUENCIES Create vibration, and are best used for training.
- MID FREQUENCIES Create a shaking motion, and are best used for relaxation.
- LOW FREQUENCIES. Create a rocking motion, and are best used for balance.
