Another weird exercise machine
(Credit:
Power Plate)
(Credit:
Mueller Center)
As the inevitable New Year's resolutions are almost upon us, exercise equipment makers are coming out in full force. But if there's a common thread among them--despite dubious claims of effectiveness--it's their penchant for odd designs.
The latest evidence of this trend is the "My5 Power Plate." (Is it just us, or does a weight-loss machine that includes the word "plate" in its name seem ill-advised?) But it's not just the look of this thing that bothers us; it's how it supposedly works. So far as we can tell, the basic principle behind the Power Plate is the same kind of vibrating "exercise" claimed by those jiggling belt contraptions seen on TV commercials in the '50s. "The machine produces vibrations that transmit waves of energy throughout the body activating muscle contractions at 35 times per second," Luxist says. Right.
We'd rather save the $4,500 that this thing costs. That would easily pay for a gym membership and leave plenty left over for doughnuts.
What the vibrations are actually doing is changing your body's centre of balance, causing your body to adjust itself to recentre. This is happening many time a second and really pushes your body depending on the frequency you are operating the plate at. There are certain poses which help to isolate the vibrations in certain areas.
You also have the second benefit of the vibrations causing your lymphatic nodes to expand and contract, helping the flow of fluid within the body.
I have also seen people with limited mobility finding that they are able to move a little bit easier after using the machine for a week.
BTW, the machine pictured is a business machine, there is a smaller home machine for cheaper. They have even developed a medically certified version for practicing medical professionals.