Powerplate - comments? Anyone tried it?

[jjjay]

The gym in my town just got a couple of powerplate machines (one of them in the ladies changing rooms for "wobbling privacy"! Are these just a fad? Does anyone have any experience of them actually being beneficial? I'm not sure I quite buy this "10 mins = 1 hour of exercise" business!

At the moment, I run on the treadmill, do some core exercises, cross trainer - all of these at my gym at work and free weights and spinning bike at home.

So, when I'm running at the gym in my town at the weekend, is it worth me paying an extra £4 for 10 mins on the powerplate to help tone up?

I'm just interested in people's experience of these machines and whether they can help as part of an overall program rather than just a quick fix on their own.

 

[summer123]

I use a powerplate. They have them at my gym and its free to use them.

I don't use them for weight loss- I don't actually believe they will do anything for weight loss unless you decide to swap your dinner time/lunch time for lunges and sit ups (thus reducing your calorie intake). I do though think it can help with toning but only if you are using it as oppose to not using anything.

I think the contraction and loss of contraction of the muscles does something, I think it helps to buil muscles, perhaps not at a rate which is suggested but still better then nothing. When I use a powerplate I use my own body weight to do things like the plank, squats and leg raises. I concerntrate on holding in my core. I think that if I were not using the power plate I'd not hold for the same 60 seconds, not do as many repititions and not do the exercises every week/several times a week and there lies the reason why I think the machine works.

I also think they are great for stretching. This I think does make a difference, I find that I can stretch further and the stretches do not hurt as much. This can be dangerous though, you must know your own body, know when to stop and know what stretchs are safe, it could potentially be very easy to over stretch this way. I know I can touch the floor with both palms, feet together, legs straight. I know on the powerplate I could push this even further, perhaps het my elbows to my ankle joints, but also that by doing so I can over stretch behind my knees- very painful and not advised! Stretching is great, so long as your prepared for what to do and not to over do it.

 

[wishes]

Its really another con, it does no more for you than any other exercise without the vibrating thing. They were designed and made for astronauts to help with bone desity after being in space, but there is no proof or studies ever that back up the wild fact that they make anyone loose weight or burn lots of calories as advertised