A question I get asked often is how exactly does Vibration Training help with fat loss, and what kind of results should people expect. It is important to understand the process of using your muscles to burn fat, and why it happens in a particular order. You can not just jump to the end of the process, your body has some work to do first, and this is how it goes.....
Please Note: I could write a book about how muscles work and how important it is to have some, but I am going to keep this article simple and just explain the "concept" . I promise it will be very short and informative.
Quality VS Size...
One of the biggest misconceptions is that to build new muscle you have to get bigger. But the fact is its all about how many cells are packed into a given area. Very similar to high quality anything really.
Eg.. High quality bone also weighs more than bone suffering from osteoporosis, for exactly the same reason.
There are 3 main categories for muscle quality...
(1) Sarcopenic = Loose fitting muscle cells
(2) Proportionate = Medium quality
(3) Muscular = Tightly packed cells / High quality
Very, very important: It depends where on the scale of muscle quality you are already, on how fast you may respond to Vibration Training. Most people will not burn much fat trying to exercise Sarcopenic muscle tissue, it really needs to get into the Proportionate range before things get moving. So be aware that if this is the first time you have put your muscles under pressure for a while, you may need to build up some muscle first before results become visible.
How would I know what my muscle quality is ......?
There are a couple of ways to measure muscle quality and at the head Vibra-Train studio in Auckland N.Z. we use a Body Composition Analyzer ( BCA ) machine. This is how we first recorded true muscle growth when designing the original prototype machines. And those tests also failed the much lighter units. But not many people have access to these medical quality devices, so the best way for most people to measure muscle quality is by simply squeezing it and looking at yourself in the mirror. If the muscle feels spongy then there are not many cells in there; and if it is saggy then muscle quality is poor.
Note: Good quality muscle not only feels firm all the time, but holds itself up nicely. ( aka breasts and bottom, girls, it keeps them perky ) This is usually the first stage in weight loss, your muscles noticeably getting firmer ( usually takes about 3 weeks ) . Usually your legs notice the first changes, and that is because the program really pushes your legs first, and you build up to more upper body workouts the more sessions you do.
But this is not the only reason you want that muscle nice and firm. Because its the process of creating good quality muscle and then the ongoing effects that are really important.
How do you create good quality muscle.....?
Quite simple really, put the muscle under significant pressure and let it respond the next day by putting new cells in the same place that had to take that pressure ( it is called Myo-Genesis the holy grail of increasing muscle quality ) . You see its your bodies job to find a way to make things easier on itself. By putting more cells into your muscles you gain strength, hence making the lifting part of the task easier the next time around.
Vibration Training has an advantage over other forms of exercise as you recruit 100% of your muscle cells during the involuntary reflex poses.( At about 2500 movements a minute) Unlike 30 odd % if you try to run or push weights at maybe 1 rep per second. And on most Vibration Training machines you are pushing around 3 times what you weigh minimum. You couldn't push that kind of weight at the gym no matter how hard you try. So your muscle has no choice but to respond to this incredible workload..
The biggest mistake I see is people going to the gym or doing traditional forms of exercise and think they have done all they can. But the fact is you have only fatigued 30% of what you have, what about the other 70% ?
Why do I want to create high quality muscle ? Well this new higher quality muscle has a few trickle down effects on body fat % ....
(1) Building new cells is an energy consuming process. It starts once you finish the exercise and keeps going for days.
(2) High quality muscle takes a lot of energy just to keep alive. So you end up chewing through the calories, even when you are just sitting around.
(3) If you do any other form of exercise, no matter what it is, you use up a lot more energy than someone doing the exact same exercise with low quality muscle. Even a walk will give better results. That also goes for Vibration Training. The longer you do it, the more energy you use per session. It has an accumulating effect which snowballs into ongoing and even better results.
So this is what your body has to do " in this order" to see results"
(a) Firm that muscle up, even if it is under a layer of fat, you will still feel the difference in a few weeks, so you know you must be growing new cells and are on the right path.. You will also feel stronger.
(b) When the muscle gets to a certain critical mass ( proportionate range ) it will start chewing through the fat like its very hungry. It is at that point you will notice real changes in the mirror.
(c) Once the balance has beep tipped, that muscle will strip the rest of the fat off , and you should end up with a classically toned body. The kind you see on someone who plays Tennis. So you are not going to become super skinny with Vibration Training ( sorry it just doesn't do that ) but it will give you the figure of a Tennis Pro
NOTE; The bathroom scales are useless to you during this journey. Good quality bone and muscle are very heavy. And your actual weight will go on a roller-coast ride. So please don't panic and let your body do what it has too. I promise you it is well worth it and life changing. You will learn how to look toned and keep it that way without having to kill yourself at the gym.
