Hi everyone. Long time lurker, first time poster...
I am thinking of joining a fitness club again (in the Zürich area) after a long period of laziness. I've noticed that several are touting the Power Plate, and some (all?) even charge extra for it. I didn't even know what it was actually until I saw it on the gym sites. Googling around, I see there's quite a lot of controversy about these things.
So..has anyone actually tried them on a regular basis? Do they really do what the marketing hype says they do? Are they worth paying extra for?
The Power Plate, huh? I just looked it up to check it out, as I had never heard of it and worked for 15 years in sports rehab and athlete training. It looks like an interesting piece of technology designed to make the stabalizing muscles of your body work harder while the prime movers are doing the work. The idea is to give your body a more functional, and by definition more complete workout as it goes through motion. This idea is not new. Swiss balls (even outside of Switzerland), sissel pads, wobble boards...all of these things do a similar thing. They don't vibrate you like a Harley Davidson, so may not be able to give you as much instability...but they seem to be cheaper.
Like all new things though, it probably has merit, is marketed out the wazzoo with pictures of people who look how you want to look, testimonials (sometimes paid for by companies in the fitness industry...sometimes not), and the spectre of 'trademark technology'. My best advice, if you have the $$$, is to give it a shot a couple times and decide for yourself. Make sure someone at the gym shows you how to use it properly and explains the contraindications for use, and as always, consult your doctor before starting any fitness regimen.
Hope this helps...but I hear that Madonna and the Police are using them...so they must be stellar!
I used one in my local gym back in the UK. I used it alongside free weight and CV equipment. Pretty cool bit of kit especially for warming up and down before and after workouts. Also seems very versatile as it can be used for a full toning, strange to use at first, kind of like the low effort workout as most of the exercises don't actually involve you moving to much!
It does sound interesting. I have a chronically bad back so I have some trouble with weight training sometimes, so any alternative is interesting. I'll see if any one of these gyms will give a free trial...or maybe just pay for one session or something. I'll try to hold in my kind of wobbly bits with a good sports bra... Thanks for the advice!
Swiss TV health program "Puls" tested the Power Plate in 2007. Tests were done at the Swiss sports medical center move>med in Zurich (Hirslanden Hospital Group).
Hi,
I am looking for Power Plate instructors who would like to work their own Power Plate business inside a gym on a 60%-40% basis.
Interested??? Email me!
I've tried something similar - it was called vibe something but it utilizes the same principle. I liked it since you can do a lot for less time. I used it in a gym where they had also ROM machine... I loved it all because in 20-30min I was done with the daily workout. I was quite sceptical at the begining myself but it worked for me. I am not crazy about gyms (go jogging and to gym yes but ..) so this packaged was of a great value. have to mention also that this system is used to the space and training astronaults and is helpful for bone/muscle strength.
I tried it once in Virgin Active this year with personal trainer who was holding a hand on the button. After 2min it felt great but add another 5min and you will be walking like a Robocop. I heard the reviews were good but idea of vibrations felt again makes my muscles shiver
You need to have an experience coach to guide you but it is the best thing to get your legs ready for the ski season ! A course of 10 séance and you will feel hugely fitter and able to tackle any slope - I know as I have used at this time of year for the past two years and it is great preparation. Master coaches available here - http://www.le-weekend.ch/
After trying it once, I wondered it myself. If you check here, it seems like you could already get something starting from GBP200 up, but I wouldn't trust the quality of cheap products and it looks like better models cost a fortune. In this case, gym membership seems to be the most viable solution.
This user would like to thank jacek for this useful post:
You really don't want to go for the copy-cats. There is a big difference between the original and copies, even expensive copies.
I wouldn't buy one for home anyway. It is much more efficient if you do it in a gym together with a personal trainer and still comes cheaper than buying one for home.
After trying it once, I wondered it myself. If you check here, it seems like you could already get something starting from GBP110, but I wouldn't trust the quality of cheap products and it looks like better models cost a fortune. In this case, gym membership seems to be the most viable solution.
This user would like to thank Tilia for this useful post:
I've been doing it now for almost two years and I am very happy with Power Plate. What I noticed though is that it is important you go to a center that can adjust the intensity of the training to your increasing fitness level. After a while it is necessary to introduce weights and dynamics to your exercises on the platform and many centers don't know how to do that.
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Thanks for the advice!
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