I'm afraid I don't have Sidhu's email address.

Well, I have to say that Rochelle's answers to my questions were less than satisfactory. In response to my question about what the settings 1-10 in the various (stretch, exercise, massage) programs on the Contour Plus, she directed me to a pdf file on the website that appears to deal with the Pro Elite model. Not helpful. As for the dents in the blue pad, she says they should disappear in a few days. It's been almost a week and it doesn't look to me like they're going away. Maybe I'll give it a few more days, then I'll be a bit upset with her.

I am doing the entire IVTRB program except the stretch and the cellulite poses. And today I thought I'd try to address the problem with my bad knee with it (or start to). It has become obvious to me that the bad one has a somewhat smaller VMO than the good one has. The difference is visible. Not sure how it got that way. Maybe I was born that way and it took this long to show up as a problem. Anyway, I am doing one legged squats on my bad knee on the platform, for 60 seconds. They are extremely hard to do. The last 8 or 10 seconds are hard to hold form. I do not have the same difficulty doing those superman squats for 60 seconds using both legs. I think maybe my good leg does most of the work, robbing the bad one of most of the benefit. The one legged squat prevents this.

We do not do the seated abdominal position on Vibra-Train machines. I don’t consider that a safe position on lineal machines – if you do it please make sure you have 2-3 layers of rubber mat under you. Leaning backward, makes the force hit the tail bone on an unsafe angle, in my opinion, despite it being on the program you’ve received and even given that your machines are not as high force as the ones I use.  It’s one of those “better safe than sorry” situations. 

Your abdominals are worked in just about every pose and you cannot target abdominal fat anyway, the muscles there being too small to do that. Your squats, hard work using the big muscles of the body, are the answer to fat reduction and the pelvic stability pose strengthens that area.

Mike M and Patty

You are going a process of evaluating your machines and the extras (straps, mats etc) and the programs you’ve been given, and comparing them (supposedly designed for your specific machines) with the IVTRB  Safety Program which is very exacting but simple and short duration overall.  I went through that process long ago; I went to many studios and tried machines in sales showrooms with differing programs.  I soon decided the IVTRB program gave me the best results by far. 

Now as an instructor I value the IVTRB program very much more as its effective for everyone, carded athletes through to the 80+ aged people I get in the studio.  You must be very careful to follow the step by step instructions and get someone to watch over you when possible, even get them to read the instructions to you. If you start in the perfect position and maintain that, correcting as necessary (correct down about 4x in each 60 second squat – everyone pulls away, upward) you will find the program both hard and very effective; it’s an invigorating feeling to finish it with the 2 minute super squat when you are able.

Patty

Yes I tried the Pro Elite at the chiro's office that one time. He set it to continuously vary the frequency, I think it was from 35-45, up and down and back up again, over and over. I remember thinking I wish I could just set it in the 40's and maybe adjust it up and down just a bit to see because the 30's was way too easy.

The "air mattress" is what Lloyd is calling the Wave AWT which is on all three metal models they have, mine too, but not the Chinese plastic model Contour. I think the main difference in the three models is platform size and weight and weight capacity (and it appears the Contour Plus menus are dumbed down about as much as possible) and that the Contour Plus lacks that lower level menu panel that you can use while not standing up.

I was kind of thinking the straps are pretty useless, I may just pack them up and toss in the closet with the poster. I tried the biceps pose which is standing on the platform doing a curl, but it didn't feel like it was doing too much. Thought it was me.

Lloyd,

I had tried the straps and did not feel that much vibration was coming through them…so your video really drove it home. But of course now I feel cheated since I don’t have vibrating handle bars! Hopefully the planks and push ups will tone and build the arms just as well. I did notice that you use the vibrating handle bars in your personal workout.

Regarding the mats you use, Wave doesn’t offer one with the indention that yours has…do you know if there are any available for purchase anywhere? If not, we will try to make one ourselves. I guess we will try buying two mats, offset the edge of one versus the other, then secure them together. It shouldn’t matter that the mat beyond the ledge will be double since the elbows only go on to the ledge which will be a single mat.

Do you have any other poses that you suggest for working primarily the abdominals? The Wave booklet shows sitting on the platform with legs off the side of the platform, crossing your hands over your chest, then leaning back at about a 120 degree angle. Another similar pose while seated, is extending your arms straight overhead, then leaning back at the same 120 degree angle. Any thoughts on these poses? Do you think they are safe and of any benefit. I have performed them and they do seem to work the abdominal area - my daughter especially thought they were tough to hold. But, I am wondering if they are safe for your back.

Lloyd

Are you familiar with the attachable straps for the Wave? What is your opinion of using these? The vibration is much less when using the straps since for most of the exercises, you are not standing on the machine - instead pulling on the straps. Is there any support for the usefulness of these or am I wasting my time doing these routines?

Also, is there an optimal HZ and amplitude for massage?

Now a technical question. The Wave Air supposedly adjusts to a person’s weight to insure that they everyone gets the same workout - regardless of their weight. So my question is this - If a 300 lb person gets on the Wave and it adjusts to their weight - then a 125 lb person gets on without having the machine do a re-adjustment - will the machine be operating at a higher hz and amplitude than the settings displayed for the 125 lb person? Does this question make any sense?

Also, now that I have had my machine for a bit, it seems weird to me that Rochelle would not have known that you can adjust the settings on the machine. She said she used the Wave regularly at work but that she had never tried to adjust the settings. That means that she was only working out at 30 hz and low…since that is the default when you go into the exercise setting. I was under the impression that the machine went through some sort of automatic variation of hz and amplitude while doing the exercises…but that is not the case with my machine. It is just static - at whatever I set it at. Perhaps she was using the model up from mine and it works differently?

Mike M - perhaps you know the answer to this since you tried the Wave Pro at the dr. office?

Mike M

I did the safety program plus tonight and similar to you, the leg exercises are much easier than upper body. I have a bit of trouble with my left hand on the platform because of an injury. I agree with Lloyd, the super squat is a difficult trying to do the full 2 minutes - at least for me it is.

I realized that you can get to 4mm and 50 hz by using the massage setting. You can choose either the high or low setting and it goes up to 50 hz. Now that assumes that high and low are always 2mm and 4mm - regardless as to whether you are in mobiliztion, massage, or exercise…and I don’t think we can find that in the specs anywhere. I think your machine has the same specs - Wave just calls them by different names…so you just need to figure out which option you need to be in to get the full 50 hz. However, on my machine, when I am in massage mode - the hz setting can not be set as low as 38 - so I can’t use it in that setting for exercise as I am doing my routine at 38 and high. After reading the latest of Lloyd’s articles …I will work toward moving up on the hz to get to the ideal 43hz.

After pulling the muscle in my back a couple weeks ago, I felt like I was starting over again, but tonight I seemed to be on solid ground again. I am sticking with Lloyd’s advice of 48 hour rest between working the same muscles. That is pretty much standard advise even when using free weights, machines, etc. If you decide to use the straps for arm work - you could feasibly workout every day - do the Safety Program on one…then the strap exercise work on the following day. If you tried to do it all in one session you would be spending 50 minutes or more on your machine. After a period of time, I think 30 minutes - my machine begins a deflate process, so I have to start it up again to be sure it is set for my weight.

Oh…re the posters…I got several and they are only one sided. It doesn’t make sense that you would get different posters unless yours show the settings. Mine only show poses. I use the booklet since the posters are huge and I haven’t had time to mount them on poster board yet. If you want me to send a copy of the pages in my booklet I would be happy to do that….I don’t think they are copyrighted….just send your mailing address to my e-mail: pwiggers8506@yahoo.com

Don’t be jealous…based on the specs…I think both machines are very similar except for the weight adjustment that mine does. Hopefully that is not just a lot of hype since I paid the extra $$$ for mine! You saved some bucks.

I guess that makes sense. By the way, I did the whole safety program first day. I am mostly taking the second day off (avoid overtraining you know). I notice my machine does like to slide a bit when I do the pushup pose. Guess that's my fault. I could probably wrap a brick in a towel and brace it to stop that since it's sliding toward a wall.

The whole safety program just made me a little rubbery legged, and of course it kicks my upper body pretty well since I wasn't doing much upper body on the Crazy Fit (too rough). I think my results will be very slow on legs but upper body might be very beneficial. i have also started walking around 4-5 miles per day, to see if I can drop some weight.

Is it advisable/allowable to increase the frequency of sessions, or is that something to play with to see what works best? Is it a highly individual thing?

Patty

Well I just emailed Rochelle. Trying to get a new pad and find out the (actual) settings. I'm a little jealous now, if my machine doesn't do walkabout (like yours) then it must be weaker, gotta hate that. One tip, I noticed if you hit the time down button when it's on zero it goes right to 15 minutes so that's a shortcut.

If in fact one cannot get high (4mm) except at a limited frequency range (say 35-45) then that seems to me to be a needless design "feature" that shows a tendency to over-engineer things. In other words, I don't like it. If I want to see what 50 Hz and 4mm feels like, I should be able to do that. Why not? Does someone think I would hurt myself?

I didn't get a pose booklet, instead I got a wall poster which, oddly enough, has different poses on both sides. So one can only look at one side of it at a time, they didn't send two copies. I think I'll roll it up and stuff it in a closet and just use the safety program.

Lloyd,

Thanks for the tip on reducing the walking...I do have the mat that came with the unit under the machine.  I will try placing the extra foam under each leg.

Mike M

I stand corrected, hubby said the unit with the crate it was delivered on weighed 330 lbs.  The unit itself weighs 250.  But of course I can not lift the 250 either.  It sounds like your unit display is quite different from mine.  The AirReflex has 3 categories to choose from  mobilization, exercise, and Massage.  Mobilization only goes to 30hz, exercise to 45hz and massage to 50hz.   I have only used the exercise category.  Once I choose the exercise category, I can then set up hz ...up to a max of 45...and set the amplitude at either low  2mm or high...4mm.  I can also set the time in 15 second increments....I can also set the delay from 5 seconds to 30 seconds.  I never use the low setting...much to easy.  I started at 38 hz per Lloyds recommendation...and am moving up slowing using the high setting.  It is definitely not easy to hold a 2 minute pose for me.  I can only do one minute on the superman squat...but I am determined to work up to the 2 minutes on that pose.  Seems wierd, but I can set the time up really far  over 13 minutes...I quit hitting the up button...so I assume it must go up to 15 minutes....that must be for massage or mobilization.  As I mentioned before,the Air Reflex has the lower start, stop button, which also gives you the countdown.  My unit is downstairs which has commercial grade no pile carpet over concrete floor.  I dont know if your carpet would affect the strength of the machine.  I would suggest that you place the thin black pad under the unit....we do use ours.  It is a really rigid mat, and I think that might help when you are on a thick carpet.  I used my machine tonight and now it is touching the tread mill....perhaps it will push it out of the way and I wont have to do cardio any longer.,..LOL...I would suggest you call Wave and see if they can give you the hz at each of the levels of 1 thru 10.  I would assume that your high and low hz for each of your categories would correspond to mine...so your exercise may only go to 45.  You might have to use the massage to get to 50hz..  I really am not sure why we even need all the categories....seems easier to just set your hz and then your amplitude...and go.  Perhaps the categories were designed in for chiropractor offices.

You might be in better shape than you thought from using the Crazy Fit machine.  Try putting the mat under your unit...not an easy thing to do....lifting that bugger again...but you might find it works better.  Almost forgot...our blue pad was not dented at all....I can not remember how it was packed.  If I were you and I would call Rochelle and ask her to ship you a new one with a lable to send the other one back.  Did you get the booklet with all the poses in it....if so I would like to find out if you end up doiing any of their poses...or if you stay with Lloyds safety program.

Patty

I just received my Wave, and I had a heck of a time getting it set up (I was alone at the time). It's been a long time since I deadlifted that much weight because of my knee so it was a struggle to lift in over the threshold. I cut off a piece of the cardboard to make a slide to go under it so I could slide it across my hardwood floor in my dining room to my living room where it now sits, so I can watch football while I use it. It's on carpet now.

Which leads to my first question. Using it so far just seems ridiculously easy to me so far, at least for legs. Would it be harder if it were on a hard surface instead of carpet? I know they sent a thin rubber mat to go under it, but I left that out since I am on carpet which is over concrete. But the first thing I did was set it to high, level 10, and did 2 minutes on a squat. Thought I'd have to build up to that. I hope it gets harder over time like Lloyd says. I know I have been using a Crazy Fit, but I thought that thing was kind of a joke. Maybe not...

Wave has a really simplified menu system and there's no documentation that tells what it equates to. Like there's low and high, which I ASSUME means 2mm and 4mm, and there's stretch, exercise, and massage settings, of which only exercise has the high setting available. It is supposed to be settable from 30 to 50 Hz, but I only see levels 1-10 available so I am ASSUMING that the target 43 Hz would fall somewhere around the 6-8 range. Make sense? Or am I ASSUMING too much? I thought there was a redesign done with the new displays but it looks like same old stuff to me. I wish it were better documented, it seems to be set up to deal with people who know nothing and don't want to learn.

They should have come up with a better way to do the shock absorption in shipping, because they put the blue pad that you need to use with the unit in between the base and the handle as a packing cushion. What that did is leave two dents permanently in the blue pad. It's not ruined exactly, but I don't like it in my living room as I will likely be answering question about those dents as long as I own it.

I didn't think the Air Reflex weighed 330; if so, well just wow. Good thing I didn't buy that one, I barely got this one inside. I haven't seen mine go walkabout yet, but I did just get it today. More when I know more. Since it's on carpet, I can slide it around a bit if I want, so I don't think I'll have a problem there.

Mike M

Sorry...havent been on in a few days.  You may have your machine by now.  Mine does not have wheels and it came on a large pallet that would not have fit through a regular door way.  Fortunately we have double sliding doors in the lower level where we brought it in.  The delivery man, my husband and myself all had to work together to maneuver it in over the threshold.  Pallet jack was the saving grace.

It is a bugger to  move around.  Interestingly enough....now that we have it set where we want it, it moves itself over after several uses... bit by bit , hubby moved it back once already...and now it has moved again and  is almost bumping my tread mill.  I cant lift it to move it back...and I hate to have hubby do it again ...with all his back problems.  He says no problem because he has very strong upper body strength, but it worries me.  He has to get on his knees on the floor to lift and move it back.   Once you get yours set up let me know if you have the same issue.  I think my model weighs 330 lbs.  Wheels would have been nice, but perhaps not practical.

I read a news article with a link to a another video by Dr Mercola telling how he’s rejected regular medicines in favour of healthy eating, workouts, and lots of supplements – vitamins and just about every minute trace of every mineral known to mankind. While I support doing things as naturally as possible its really “odd” how Dr Mercola discovers all these trace supplements that we absolutely MUST take and ONLY his store can supply the purest, best quality brand of them – Sounds like extreme marketing to me.  

Of course, that’s just my opinion but then this “doctor” supports (and, of course, sells) Powerplate vibration machines; makes me almost feel sorry for Powerplate (notice I said almost!) – There’s no way I’d buy any vibration machine from someone who markets his products in the way he does.

Hello, I am wondering if the Motioncraft vm2 machine is good for toning and losing bodyfat.

Thanks Patty

I got the email from Rochelle and it appears the anticipated delivery date is to be 9-7-11 which is, like you say, about 4 days, minus the (Labor Day) holiday. She warns me that if I don't have double doors or a garage it might be hard to get the box indoors. I have a garage but I think it might be easier to work with the front door as I think it is a bit wider. We will see. Are there any wheels on the base?

Glad to hear yours is working well for you. I have recently found another experimental posture to try, basically the reverse of the one I found earlier where I pressed the hamstrings into the platform and used ankle weights; this one, I press the front of the thighs into the platform and slightly flex the hamstrings making the vibration work them out (slight whipping motion). So that gives me three main methods to work on the legs round and about the knee joint. Since I started doing them (on a Crazy Fit) they have gotten lots easier, so I am looking forward to trying them out on a Wave.

Mike M

I have been off again on a short trip, had out of town guests, and had to move my daughter back to college.  Hopefully thiings will settle a bit for a while.  The Wave has been great...my daughter enjoyed using it while she was home.  I injured my back during the move back to college...so I didnt get on it for about a week, then began using it for massage of my back.  It seemed to help.  I am back on track to every other day of usage...but after the time off for back injury, I lost some of my progress.  I am trying to work back up to holding the poses for 2 minutes.  My husband finally got on it this past week..using it on low for massage...he seemed to like the feel of it.  I am hoping this weekend we can map out a program for him to follow more strictly.  I do worry a bit about him getting on it when I am not at home.   I really find the Wave to be a great machine...very sturdy...and built with good options  such as time delay and lower start..stop button.  I think you will like yours too as it has similar specs.  Re the tracking...I got a message from Rochelle that it had shipped and then it arrived in about 4 days...very quick.  It did ship to a dock here in Nashville..that company called me and we set up the delivery time.  Do not forget to figure out if you need them to bring a pallet jack...the machines are heavy.  I look forward to hearing your comments on the model you purchased.

Hey Patty,

I am wondering how your Wave has been working out for you lately (haven't seen you on here in a week or so). Rochelle at Wave told me I should be getting my tracking number soon, maybe today, so I am starting to get a little excited. How long after getting a tracking number did your Wave arrive? Any other news about it? Did your husband ever get on it yet?

NPS

Yes Lloyd is right, I ran a studio on a second floor for over 3 years and got nothing but complaints from the downstairs tenent.

I started with pivotal and it was fine until i changed to lineal then the complaints started.