Hi Dean

Great to see you here.  Sounds like you were kept busy in Germany.  Hope you managed to get yourself some good kuchen .  Thanks for the descriptions.  Were any as good as the machines you tried in the UK, the Vibratrains, Bodyshaker or Vibrogym. 

Hello to everybody
I'm a physiotherapist from Croatia, and I'm new here. For a year now I have been collecting information, facts and "facts" on vibration training. Finally, I contacted Lloyd, who recommended me to Philippa in UK, where I received a practical course in vibration training. (many thanks to Philippa and Mark, who were great hosts, and wonderful teachers). Hopefully sometime next spring I will open a first vibration studio in my country.
Since this is my first post, and in a near future I will have a lot of questions which will hopefully be answered, I will try to give to this community something first.
Last week I visited Medica fair in Dusseldorf, Germany, which is the greatest fair in Europe regarding medicine technology. Beside other stuff that interested me (I also have private physiotherapy practice) I step on every vibration platform displayed on that fair, and following are my personal experience with them:
Fitvibe (http://www.fitvibe.com/)
They offer "variety" of types of their machines, which are practically all the same (only difference is on display). Vibration which it produce is not particularly impressive, and it can do much things in physiotherapy, but it will hardly produce any serious workout. Beside that, complete platform wobbles when you step on it, or when you move your body weight from one leg to another, especially on wide squat stand. This wobbling is small, but noticeable.
I-tonic (http://www.itonic-international.com/)
Very nice looking machine. They produce two types- smaller with handles, and bigger without them. If it was cheaper it would be great home device, since it transfers really very little vibrations to the floor and it is generally low noise. It also wobble a little. Even on highest settings, and after few other vibration plates that I tried that morning, it didn't produce that feeling of tired muscles neither on my legs, or arms. And complete machine weights only 40kg. It can be good for small physiotherapy practice, since it consumes very little space.
Vibrafit (http://www.vibrafit.de/englisch/home_english.htm)
This machine is clearly built with studio/fitness settings in mind, with metal shell, and separate control tower. It produce two types of vibration- lineal and pivotal. Lineal feels somehow like a Vibragym, but a bit less powerful.  Pivotal is small amplitude, and lowest frequency is 28Hz. Not very much use of that, I suppose.
Turbosonic (http://www.turbosonicusa.com/)
Any workout on this machine is out of the question, but in physiotherapy I think it would be a great tool for treatment of various disorders, especially in elderly people. Vibrations are very soft, and they transfer through a body in different manner comparing with mechanical types of vibration plates.

Galileo was also displayed on this fair. Since there is a lot of discussion about this topic going on on this forum, I will not go on details. They generaly point out the rehabilitation use of their machines.

I will not go in Powerplate this time, since there is a lot of information and discussion about them here already. They displayed their Pro-5 air adaptive all covered with shiny stuff (crystals, or whatever). It looks like it would fit perfectly in some disco club 80's style.

There was also some CrazyFit style machines which are not worth talking about.

Producers, and all sails people that I have been talking with ensured me two things for every described machine:
1: That it can be used for training, not only for physiotherapy (with exception of Turbosonic)
2: That it can be used in a busy studio for years without problems (but neither one of them could redirect me to such a studio owner or manager that I can contact, and see for myself).

Lack of practical, as well as theoretical knowledge of sails people is a problem of its own. Wih exeption of guy with Fivibe who wrote my questions on paper and promised to answer me by e-mail, rest of them act like knowing all, but their answers didn't really support this act.


Dean Mistura

I look forward to you replicating it in the U.S. Lloyd.

John Weatherly

Like I said, from my experiences with Reynald, and meeting with Harold and Hans in Denver a few months ago, they seem purely research driven with the Galileo in Germany and seemingly disinterested in trying to compete from the fitness angle. They dont even attempt to utilize upper body positions and showed little recognition of any other manufacturers products besides Powerplate. Perhaps that was them playing coy with me

 They tried the fitness angle here in the US and it just didnt catch on. The gym around the corner from me has the Vibraflex 600 and I never see a single person using it. The gym across the street has a powerplate and its the same story. None of these trainers have the knowledge to comprehend the physics behind it or how to anticipate the many individual client responses to vibration that they may see. I see things picking up steam here amongst the medical professionals, but people overall, just dont get it yet. I do hope to change that however and will be opening a studio in March or April..depending on construction speed. I am going to use the Vibraflex 450 in the studio and do plan on reinforcing your safety program as best as I can. The honest truth is, at least for me, that the neurological and general rehabilitative benefits of the Galileo certainly outweigh the anabolic benefits that you mention so they should coexist as a "1, 2 punch" so to speak.

As far as the current debate that you are referencing, my guess would be that other individuals affiliated with Galileo may be perpetuating this lineal vs pivotal battle in order to sell the platforms. In reference to the frequency debate, amplitude claims etc, on the lineal end, everyone still says the "shearing forces" are dangerous to deter potential buyers. I cant see any more legitimacy to this claim than the "head acceleration" claim.

Keep up the good fight Lloyd. Ill be sure to keep you posted on how things work out here in the US.

Phillipa,

Thanks for the invite. I will certainly take you up on that one of these days. Also, I like the mind.body component you have added to your studio. You are certainly on the right track. I recently attended a holistic medicine and wellness expo here in NY and you should have seen how blown away the energy healer community was by the vibraflex...definately something there.

Di,

Stay on your feet already would ya. With all that vibration, your supposed to have a superhuman  proprioceptive system.

PS I never realized how hard it is to right without emoticons.

Hi Gabriel

Hey, the shoulders injury was last December; I’ve almost lasted a year with no further “mishaps”.  And what I did; well I set a gym machine incorrectly as it was a “stupid” Aussie one (N.Z. and Australia have the same love/hate relationship as US and Canada ;-) ).  I fell, taking my whole body weight through my arms.  Then the following week, and I can’t blame the Aussies for this, I fell down a flight of stairs heavily hitting one arm on one wall and the other on the other wall at right angles.  Oops, rotator cuff injury and badly swollen bursa on both sides.  This also showed up tightness across my shoulders /back that predisposed me to the seriousness of the injury.

I have a very proficient physical therapist thankfully and also used the vibration machines for therapy and continued training during recovery.  Yes, you’re right I’ve sustained too many injuries in the last 5 years but the good news is that I have greatly improved fitness and health now, from using the Vibra-Train machines regularly.  That’s the only change I’ve made, in fact I do less cardio activity now and almost no weights.  Its no wonder that Im so passionate about this industry.

You are welcome to come try our Vibratrains in the UK Gabriel.  Although not a hop skip and a jump a darn sight closer than NZ. 

Thanks for the explanation Lloyd. I have had some real up close and personal opportunities to discuss the thoughts behind the design and uses of the Galileo with Hans Scheibel and Reynald Bonmati. They approach this industry from a completely different angle than you.  And although they, like you, very "Newtonian" minded, they seem to be content and pleased with the final design as well as the promising results they are seeing with some of their rehab protocols...especially with the pediatric population. I will say, from a rehab standpoint, the pivotal is much more applicable and certainly more easily tolerated by my patients. From our conversations, I also dont get the idea that they have much interest in the fitness end of things or in dramatically changing anything from a design standopoint as this area of application is their real intent. Sort of the "if it aint broke philosophy" it seems. I can certainly see and do believe that everything evolves through new ideas though so much like the reductionist ideas of Newton are being challenged so will the permanence of the platfrom design. At least this is what I would imagine will be the case.

Sounds as if you are working hard to continue to "evolve" the industry. Looking forward to seeing one of your platforms over here in the states one day. Athough the HG is the closest I have gotten towards the "lineal experience", I can certainly see the differences and through these differences, the real need for both units to coexist as parts of a larger puzzle.

Hope all of you are doing well. Seems Di will still cannot stop hurting herself.

Take Care   

Pivotal Designs, Inertia, and a Real Workout

Lloyd says, “I have 3 new Pivotal Designs”.  I was fortunate to trial one of these in January.  It was so different to any machine I’d used before – very low amplitude, and for me this was the amazing part as I don’t like the up/down motion of pivotal, this one was very smooth!   It had really high energy and caused a true muscle contraction in my quads in a squat position yet still felt very different to the high force lineal machines I was used to. 

 Other differences to “regular” pivotal platforms – it had a meter wide platform, could cope with a user weight up to 300kg, and had the Vibra-Train specialty, vibrating handlebars, which gives scope for upper body work. 

 The fq was variable in this test machine and I used it right up to 50hz which would be impossible in a regular pivotal machine.

 Also, as an extra, this specific test machine could be set to a cyclic mode where the vibration pulsed in a cyclic motion, leg, arm, arm, leg using both the platform and the handlebars.  This gave a smooth workout suitable for physio use and I loved this sensation as I had badly injured shoulders during the time I trialled this machine.  Note: I felt too much vibration transfer to my shoulders using the lineal machines because of my injuries But I used this pivotal platform for about a month and maintained, possibly even increased, my muscle mass, kept my strength and fitness and transitioned back to lineal with no loss of ability when the test machine was taken away.

Lloyd,

As you are aware, I have been doing quite a bit of work over the past 6 months or so with the Vibraflex. Your recent comment about this platform lacking "inertia" is interesting to me and I would appreciate further explanation. Thanks for your time.

John, you said

QUOTE : “I personally feel that when holding static positions, pivotal platforms feel much more muscularly engaging.  Obviously this is because the amplitude is much greater. “ END QUOTE

Amplitude is nothing!

I can tell you that this is very dependent on the brand and actual machine.  Come for a holiday and visit the studio I work at and I’ll put you on a high-force, lineal machine that moves less than 1mm yet the muscle contraction in your quads during a static, 60second basic squat will have you crying. 

While I respect your opinion I suggest you try a VibroGym, BodyShaker, or Vibra-Train, (or a HyperGravity although I have not tried the sports model so can’t validate it). 

The lineal platforms that are “great for fast paced active exercise” are the ones that are too low force for anything else. 

Even within the broad Pivotal and Lineal categorisation there are very differing machines.  I sometimes use a gentle, pivotal, vibration-therapy machine to relieve mild backache and I’ve used a bigger sports model pivotal exercise machine where active movement plus the see-saw vibration = a fitness session. 

“There is a machine for everyone, right?”  Well that depends on what they want to achieve and this needs to be made clear to the person providing the service or selling them the home machine.  I wouldn’t use “comfort” as the determining factor.  And head vibration – when using a high quality machine, it disappears on the second or third visit as that’s when the customer relaxes.  It can be just a tensing of the jaw or shoulders that causes the sensation.

Lloyd,

I like the Pivotal vs Lineal debate you recently republished.  You are right, it is a sales gimmick with many companies. This happened with Elliptical machines as well back in the day.   What most people sitll dont understand is that they are an apples to orange comparison.  Its like saying a treadmill and an elliptical are both cardio machines so they must be the same.  No... each has thier own unique properties....ie an elliptical is a low impact cardio device while a treadmill will most likely yeild the best performance results but with a higher risk of injury.    Instead of bashing each others machines we should be encouraging people to use both technologies to understand their differences.  There is a machine out there for everyone right.  Im finding that people either try a pivotal machine first or a lineal machine first and assume that all WBV is like that first machine that they tried.  The reality is if they were able to try both side by side, they will at least like one of them. 

For example I let the customer decide what feels comfortable for them and I encourage the purchase of both types of machines especially when its for a gym or clinic.  If you asked me what I preffer to train on, I would say pivotal becasue I dont like the way some lineal units make my head vibrate. To each their own.... It really comes down to what the user likes.  

On the flip side for transverse vibration positions, I do prefer the lineal machines when I am really sore from weight lifting.   I believe many lineal platforms are great for stretching, massage and fast paced active exercise.  I personally feel that when holding static positions, pivotal platforms feel much more muscularly engaging.  Obviously this is because the amplitude is much greater.  I also think each machine has its applications for sport specific exercise.  For instance we are testing the effect of warm up on a pivotal platform on baseball bat swing velocity.  This makes sense because pivotal platforms force hip articulation and where do you derive swinging power from. YOUR HIPS. i also know that there are some lineal platforms that have tested increases in explosive power and fatloss.  Like I seach each technology has its applications.   Ill keep ya posted on that study ..its due back in about a month. 

Thanks for the article on tucking pelvis under.  Makes perfect sense when explained.  Just another example of how conventional trainin theories are just not transferable. 

Nice short and informative article on tucking the pelvis, how uninformed some of these exercise people are.  The entire exercise industry is full of corrupt and idiotic people.  I could write a book about the NSCA and the many scams within this organization that have been covered up.  There appears to be very little logic by exercise people.  Many of these people must not be capable of using reason.  I have asked people simple questions about a variety of topics and received no answers or else the people become angry at me as if  I am doing something wrong by asking questions.  And this includes many ethical questions that have never been answered by the NSCA.  The NSCA covers up unethical behavior instead of addressing it.

John Weatherly

On the Take with Power Plate Part 2

Editor’s Note:  John T. Weatherly has helped with conditioning programs and research at the U.S. Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs. John is also a frequent commenter and contributor on the Russells’ Blog. Today’s article is the second in John’s series on vibration plates. These plates vibrate like a truck on a highway, allegedly making you fitter. Weatherly exposes the unreliable studies that the National Strength and Conditioning Association (NSCA) and others have published on vibration platforms, and the corporate relationships that helped cover up the bad science.

In Part 1 I demonstrated that NSCA and others have published many unreliable research studies on vibration platforms. For example, many studies on Power Plate models did not even test the platforms under loaded conditions to see if they performed as the manufacturers claimed. The research was so bad the International Society of Musculoskeletal and Neuronal Interactions had to publish a paper in 2010 on how to conduct and report WBV studies.

The NSCA’s website still lists Power Plate in its “Corporate Alliance” section: http://bit.ly/1DAoT8G

Power Plate is a corporate ally of the NSCA and also a partner with EXOS (formerly Athletes’ Performance).

The NSCA claims on their website,

As the worldwide authority on strength and conditioning, we support and disseminate research-based knowledge and its practical application to improve athletic performance and fitness.

Really? Why would the NSCA publish numerous unreliable and invalid vibration studies? Was it they just didn’t know any better and made honest mistakes? Or, did the NSCA cover up information on purpose and publish the studies anyway?

You are about to read a sordid account about some of my experiences with the exercise industry.

We’re not sure what’s going on here.

My Background With Vibration

From 2003-2005, I consulted with an exercise company on rotary inertia and vibration. In 2004, I actually met with an ex-Soviet scientist to discuss his work on vibration. This is how I became involved with vibration. During this same time period (2003-2005), I wrote and communicated with Mark Verstegen (President and Founder of Athletes’ Performance, which is now EXOS).

I remember one email in particular with Mark. He said he thought vibration was HUGE and that the CNS and fiber type influenced responses to different frequencies and amplitudes. I believe Mark and Athletes’ Performance (AP) were the first facility in the US to develop a corporate partner relationship with Power Plate in late 2002.

 

A few years later, after I had briefly represented another company in the vibration industry (I haven’t had a thing to do with vibration companies for at least seven years), I met an individual in New Zealand online named Lloyd Shaw that knew more about actual vibration equipment than anybody I had come in contact with. Keep in mind, I had communicated with an ex-Soviet scientist along with other scientists such as Dr. Patrick Jacobs who was with the Miami Project to Cure Paralysis at the time, and had communicated with somebody recognized as one of the top performance specialists in the world (Mark Verstegen). Lloyd knew more about the actual vibration equipment than any of these other people. Lloyd and I have corresponded ever since.

Lloyd Shaw educated me on the history of Power Plate:

1) In 1999 a group of Dutch and German engineers built a more ergonomic and nicer looking model of Dr. Bosco’s Nemes platform for the retail market.

2) Research and engineering tests were promising but work needed to be done to increase the plate size and power.

3) Power Plate split in 2003 with one partner going to China to get cheap knock-off platforms made.

4) In 2004, Lloyd Shaw, an ex New Zealand Navy Weapons Electrical Mechanic and Mortician, was hired as Power Plate’s Product Manager.

5) Lloyd Shaw failed Power Plate’s new Chinese-made model on all tests. The biggest issue with the Chinese units was they provided random (non-lineal) vibration and dropped all advertised specifications with various loads over 20 Kg on the plates.

6) Lloyd Shaw ordered a recall of the Chinese Power Plate units.

7) Power Plate’s higher ups ignored the recall and sold the machines to the public. Power Plate only advertised the unloaded specifications (not loaded) to people.

8) Power Plate tried to place an injunction on the engineering reports, which included issues with plastic replacing the older steel construction. Faulty electronics and overall design errors meant the machines could never perform to the same level as the original, well-tested, steel machine.

9) Power Plate hired a group of academics to divert attention away from these issues and use the engineering reports, awards and research from the older real machine to sell the new Chinese model.

For more information, check out these links:

http://www.vibration-training-advice.com/the-industry-the-theory-and-trainers-tips/articles-11—20-2/fake-specs-the-true-timeline-of-discovery

http://www.vibration-training-advice.com/consumer-guide-and-safety-program/articles-51—60/the-power-plate-scam-part-1

http://www.vibration-training-advice.com/consumer-guide-and-safety-program/articles-71—80/the-power-plate-scammers-part-2

http://www.vibration-training-advice.com/uploads/pdfs/Evidence-3.pdf

http://www.vibration-training-advice.com/uploads/pdfs/Evidence-2.pdf

Power Plate’s Fake Scientific & Medical Advisory Board

Former ACSM President Dr. Steven Blair: http://bit.ly/1ASk1L0

Power Plate listed individuals on their website that were on Power Plate’s Scientific & Medical Advisory Board. They listed Mark Verstegen, even though Mark’s company was a corporate partner with Power Plate. Power Plate also listed Dr. Steven Blair, a former President of the American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM). They listed Dr. David Nieman (a former VP of the ACSM) as heading the Power Plate Research Center at Appalachian State. Power Plate marketers were so dumb they listed Nieman as a PhD, even though he’s a doctor of public health (DPH). In fact, Power Plate corrected this after I mentioned it online.

Think about this. You have an individual on your board of experts and you can’t even list his doctoral degree correctly. But that’s not the worst of it. Another person Power Plate listed among these experts was Dr. Marco Cardinale.

The problem with Dr. Cardinale is he didn’t know Power Plate was listing him as one of their experts on the Power Plate Scientific & Medical Advisory Board on their website! Lloyd Shaw contacted Dr. Cardinale and Cardinale said he didn’t know about it. So, Power Plate issued an apology to Dr. Cardinale and removed his name from the list of experts on the Power Plate Scientific & Medical Advisory Board. Power Plate also dropped Dr. Steven Blair off the list of experts on the Power Plate Scientific & Medical Advisory Board, for some other reason.

However, the list still included two people that I had interacted with. One was Mark Verstegen. The other was Dr. David Nieman. It was quite interesting that Power Plate stated on its website that Dr. Nieman headed the Power Plate Research Center at Appalachian State. Years earlier, I had helped Dr. Nieman with data collection for a study or two on immune system responses to exercise.

Athletes’ Performance Launched Core Performance

Around this same time period, Athletes’ Performance (AP) was broadening its market from athletes to the general population with the Core Performance brand. They launched coreperformance.com and I went on the discussion forum. Several people started vibration and Power Plate threads that the moderators eventually shut down.

I commented but didn’t start any of the discussions. Mark Verstegen and AP decided to bring Scott Hopson on the forum to answer vibration questions. They billed Scott as Power Plate and AP’s “worldwide educator” on vibration. AP erased almost all of this but what happened is Scott was brought on to answer questions, I asked questions, Scott disappeared, and I was kicked off the forum! Here’s one exchange with Scott Hopson that AP wasn’t able to erase.

At this point any communication between Mark or AP staff and me ended. I found out just asking questions about Power Plate could get a person on Mark and AP’s banned list!

Another pleased Power Plate customer: http://bit.ly/1LSbJFV

The Fake Power Plate Research Center at Appalachian State

I thought it was a conflict of interest for Mark Verstegen to be on Power Plate’s Scientific & Medical Advisory Board when they were corporate partners. However, for a university and a research scientist to do the same thing would be even worse in my view!

A scientist friend of mine had mentioned in a phone conversation he thought Dr. Jeff McBride was really the person in charge of the Power Plate Research Center at Appalachian State. This same individual mentioned he thought what happened is Dr. Nieman agreed to let Power Plate use his name and Appalachian State’s name on their website in order to get funding from Power Plate.

I decided to play dumb and call the Power Plate Research Center at Appalachian State. I talked to a university operator and was told there wasn’t a listing for the Power Plate Research Center. This seemed odd that a research center at a university didn’t have a phone number listed in the university directory. So, I called Dr. Jeff McBride and talked with him. Dr. McBride had written a short review on Vibration Training and Athletic Performance for the NSCA.

I asked Dr. McBride why Power Plate was saying on their website there was a Power Plate Research Center at Appalachian State? Dr. McBride said:

They gave us some money!

McBride said he had been involved with a Power Plate study. Dr. Nieman had conducted a Power Plate study. I believe one other Power Plate study had been done at Appalachian State at the time for a total of three Power Plate studies at the Power Plate Research Center headed by Dr. Nieman at Appalachian State. Dr. McBride said they didn’t have any studies currently going on and none planned for the future. He also said companies like Power Plate come to researchers like him wanting to prove their equipment works. Dr. McBride told me he thought it was a fad. My immediate thought was, how can there be a Power Plate Research Center at Appalachian State if there’s nothing going on, nothing planned for the future, not any phone number, and Dr. McBride thinks it’s a fad? The date of my phone conversation with Dr. Jeff McBride was July 20, 2009.

Over the next few months, I occasionally checked Power Plate’s website. Power Plate still said Dr. David Nieman headed the Power Plate Research Center at Appalachian State on their site. Of course, Power Plate still listed Mark Verstegen and Dr. Nieman on the Power Plate Scientific & Medical Advisory Board.

The Dodgy Drs. Nieman and Gaskill

I decided to contact Dr. Nieman directly about this. Dr. Nieman is highly thought of for his work on exercise and the immune system. He’s received many research grants and awards. In 2013, the American College of Sports Medicine awarded Dr. Nieman “the prestigious Citation Award for his extensive work in health and exercise sciences.”

Dr. Nieman receives an ACSM award: http://healthsciences.appstate.edu/news-events/519

One would think it would be easy to get a simple yes or no about the existence of a Power Plate Research Center headed by Dr. David Nieman from Dr. Nieman himself. You’d also think a person of Dr. Nieman’s stature and accomplishments would freely answer other questions about Power Plate. And heck, I even helped collect data for a study or two of his a long time ago. You’d think he’d answer simple questions in a straightforward manner from a person like me.

I called Dr. Nieman’s office, left messages, called the department secretary, called an office he had in another town, sent emails. I received no answer from Dr. Nieman. On the emails I included Mark Verstegen, Lloyd Shaw, Dr. Steve Fleck (current NSCA President), and Dr. William Kraemer (Editor-in-Chief of JSCR) to name a few of the recipients. I wanted to know if Mark and Dr. Nieman, since they were both on the Power Plate Scientific & Medical Advisory Board, had ever communicated about vibration? I knew Mark wouldn’t answer but was hoping somebody like Dr. Nieman would. I did not get any response.

These are people with whom I’ve interacted. I’ve mentioned Mark and Dr. Nieman but I used to stay in Dr. Fleck’s house some when I was his intern with the USOC many years ago. I actually read Dr. Kraemer’s doctoral dissertation (it was on endogenous opioids, Peptide F which Kraemer discovered, and exercise) at Fleck’s house. I’ve met Kraemer multiple times and corresponded with him about vibration. Dr. Fleck, when I was around him, was a very blunt, upfront type. I like people like that because you know where things stand and what’s going on. And now, Dr. Fleck has become a chameleon that changes colors.

Nobody will answer my questions about vibration research.

The whole Power Plate ordeal not only smelled like a rat, but it was a rat! With no response from Dr. Nieman, I contacted Dr. Paul Gaskill, the Department Chair. I spoke with Dr. Gaskill on the phone and also sent emails again including Drs. Fleck and Kraemer along with Lloyd Shaw among the recipients. At first, Dr. Gaskill said he wasn’t sure if there was a Power Plate Research Center. Can you believe how absurd this was? The Head of the Department doesn’t know if there’s a Power Plate Research Center in existence in his department.

Dr. Gaskill said he would get to the bottom of this by meeting with Drs. Nieman and McBride and get back to me. It took continuous prodding on my part from 1/19/2010 to 2/26/2010 to finally get a response from Dr. Gaskill. Dr. Gaskill finally said there was nothing currently going on at the Power Plate Research Center at Appalachian State headed by Dr. Nieman but Dr. Nieman would be taking a Power Plate to the University of North Carolina – Chapel Hill for a study in the fall.

Now, just think about this a moment folks. These are research scientists (Drs. Nieman and McBride) and the Department Head (Dr. Gaskill) at a university and they avoided answering simple questions about their publicly asserted research.

Drs. Fleck and Kraemer

William Kraemer of the NSCA’s Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research.

I thought people like Drs. Fleck and Kraemer would do something. They knew about the fake Power Plate Scientific and Medical Advisory Board. They knew how Mark Verstegen and Athletes’ Performance had banned me for simply asking questions about Power Plate on coreperformance.com. Of course, Dr. Fleck wasn’t NSCA President at that time but Dr. Kraemer was Editor-in-Chief of the NSCA’s Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research.

Kraemer and Fleck did nothing! Dr. Kraemer even said in this 2011 New York Times article he didn’t know much about prescribing vibration exercise. The article stated:

“We don’t know a lot about prescribing it,” Dr. Kraemer said. “There’s the rub.”

And yet it is being used many times without an understanding of how to do it best or what the long-term training effects will be.

“Research,” Dr. Kraemer said, “is trying to catch up.”

Heck, the NSCA still has Power Plate as a corporate ally in spite of all of this, and even though Power Plate is being liquidated and is under administration.

Power Plate is currently a part of Performance Health Systems, LLC.

Richard Beddie and REPS in New Zealand

Even with Lloyd Shaw in NZ exposing Power Plate scams and liquidating Power Plate, Richard Beddie’s REPS lists Power Plate seminars for continuing education credits.

Beddie approves of Power Plate after all the bad research and Power Plate scams, but he wants CrossFit L1 Trainers to pay REPS to stop getting critical press? Prior articles on this blog have pointed out that Beddie’s behavior is tantamount to extortion.

Richard Beddie of REPS New Zealand has a relationship with Power Plate.

Giant Web of Deceit

I have demonstrated in these two articles that exercise scientists conducted numerous studies on Power Plate models without testing the platforms under loaded conditions. Somehow peer reviewed journals such as the NSCA’s JSCR published these unreliable and invalid studies. Both the NSCA and EXOS (formerly Athletes’ Performance) are and have been corporate partners with Power Plate. Richard Beddie’s REPS is also connected with Power Plate for continuing education credits. Furthermore, this series has revealed a fake Power Plate Scientific and Medical Advisory Board and a fake Power Plate Research Center at Appalachian State headed by ACSM fellow and former VP of the ACSM, Dr. David Nieman. The supposed authorities of exercise science could have stood up and stopped this scam. They did nothing. This includes NSCA President Dr. Steve Fleck and NSCA’s JSCR Editor-in-Chief Dr. William Kraemer.

But, what should we expect from an industry that gives presentations showing researchers how to lie and cover-up?

All decent, honest people should be repulsed by this behavior and organizations like the NSCA that tolerate it. They cannot be trusted.

Image by Dr. Lon Kilgore.

About the Author: John T. Weatherly has undergraduate and graduate degrees in exercise science. He was a research assistant to the former Head of Sports Physiology for the US Olympic Committee (USOC) and has helped with conditioning programs for athletes in Olympic sports as well as professional baseball, college football, and an NBA player. In the 90’s, John published and reviewed articles for the NSCA and was an NSCA media contact on the sport of baseball. He helped initiate the first study on a rotary inertia exercise device at the University of Southern California (USC) and has consulted with the exercise industry on various topics, including vibration.

 

3 comments

1. lloydrshaw

   Even though Vibration Training and CrossFit have nothing in common. I believe all truly passionate exercise trainers need to work together to purge / protect our industry from these parasitic fake expert academics.

   They create nothing of value for the population we are trying to help. But their lack of ethics and greed sure hurts science.

    
2. ptrokgr

   PP probably paid athletes performance to let machines sit in their gyms so Pro athletes might purchase one for their own use. On the whole, Exos’ (AP) results speak for themselves in draft picks, multi-million dollar contracts, agent’s who pays 10’s of thousands of dollars per season for training their athletes, combine records year in and year out, Germany soccer, MLS teams etc.

    
3. lloydrshaw

   ptrokgr Why would AP set athletes up like that. Unless the athlete was only about 40kg the machine was basically useless for performance ? And at 10k – 20k for a plastic machine made in China ? Sorry but being good at one thing does not give anyone license to screw people over.

    

We will be gentle

Hi - I just wanted to introduce myself on the forum.  My name's Mark Pellett, I've been working with Philippa Church for the past year in Resonance Vibration Training studio n the UK.  I'm going to be running the studio on days when Philippa is helping out a local school who is down a teacher.  Although I've  had lots of hands on experience - my theory needs some work so I will probably be on here asking some blindingly obvious questions - hope you'll be patient with me. 

From my understanding of Patent, they protect somewhat the investment in money and time that the inventor has put in and they also can be used to prevent a previous maker of similar item from adding any enhancement that the patent covers.

 But what new item has CHUK invented? They will have researched others work and their design is basically identical to others so how can they claim its difference enough to patent it?  Maybe the Patent will be local only?  Would it be enforceable in other countries Lloyd?

 And while I understand the business reasons for Patent this is a university.  How are people helped IF this “new invention” can only be made by their manufacturing dept or with their permission?

 No worries really.  I already work for a company that has better design and results for consumers.  I’ve used a machine that can be set with the specs they are quoting although that’s not the standard measures for the machines I work with.

 I am glad they have proven results and I hope we’ll soon get to read the full studies.  Did you get supplementary information?

Dear Lloyd,

Thank you very much for your email. I am Janet Chow who is the administrator of the Faculty of Medicine of The Chinese University of Hong Kong. I would like to highlight some of the findings we derived from our scientific research work as follows: 

1.         We are the first group to confirm its positive effects on fracture healing, improve muscle action and coordination, supported by publications.

2.         We confirmed the positive effects in the improvement of Bone mineral content in perimenopausal women.

3.         We are the first group proposed the use of the Interactive Weight bearing exercise (high frequency but very low magnitude vibration) with the magnetic levitation vibration platform we designed.

4.         The vibration platform designed is unique and CUHK has filed the patent. The Patent office of CUHK had searched and there is no similar design patented. 

I enclose the supplementary information for your reference. 

With regards, Janet Chow (Ms)

Assistant Secretary

Clinical Sciences Administration

Faculty of Medicine

The Chinese University of Hong Kong

Dear Lloyd,

The invention refers to the vibration platform using “low-magnitude and high-frequency whole-body vibration (LMHFV)” but we have no intention to claim this is the only invention. ( included was the specs for the machine ) 

You have the freedom to express your views. Thank you for sending me a copy of your article. However, if your article leads to defamation of our professor and university, we will consult our legal advisor and reserve our right to take legal actions if needed.

Thank you very much.

With warm regards , Janet

 To Janet,  I will research the Drs claim some more, but so far the specs of " Low Magnitude, 35Hz 1-2mm Amplitude " have been commonly used in other commercially available machines since 1999. And I would especially look at the Turbo-Sonic ( Korean unit ) as a classic example of a machine carrying those exact settings.

Great article  on history.  Thanks Lloyd.

Enjoyed the article about the history of the industry that people need to know.  Keep these types of articles coming.

John Weatherly

Thanks guys. That all makes sense and matches up to my experiences so far. I know I will be asking more questions in the future if facing any sales pitch.

Hi Ian.  I would echo this.  I had a studio with Hypergravities , the biggest retail models available, and most people did see good results, but probably started to plateau after a few months.  Once we moved to VibraTrains our regular customers saw renewed increase in muscle growth and really noticed the difference in the machines effect.

  Customers that could hold a 2 minute supersquat on a Hypergravity really struggled with even a minute on the Vibra Trains at first.  We have also not reached any sense of a plateau as yet and cant see that happening.