# Vibrating exercise belt machines **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [February 13, 2015, 5:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vibrating-exercise-belt-machines/712543 "2015-02-13T05:30:52Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Donnerwetter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b2d939/32.png) [@Donnerwetter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Donnerwetter)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2015, 5:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vibrating-exercise-belt-machines/712543/21 "2015-02-13T17:36:48Z")
Seriously, the way vibration training works is that it enhances your movements, it makes them harder to perform. It’s not about just standing, sitting or lying there and doing nothing. You are performing push-ups, squats or crunches while your muscles have to work against the vibration. The muscles can’t relax. For instance, if you perform a set of 20 free (=bodyweight) squats on a power plate, this is going to be much harder than 20 free squats on the floor. Exactly how much more work the muscle has to perform under these conditions can be measured. People who train this way should be exhausted afterwards. It’s not a lazy man’s substitute for a real workout. The studies mentioned above certainly weren’t all commissioned by the company that sells these machines. ---
**Author:** ![DrCube](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a3d4f5/32.png) [@DrCube](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrCube)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2015, 6:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vibrating-exercise-belt-machines/712543/22 "2015-02-13T18:03:31Z")
> [@Donnerwetter](#): > > For instance, if you perform a set of 20 free (=bodyweight) squats on a power plate, this is going to be much harder than 20 free squats on the floor. You know what makes them even harder (and infinitely more effective)? More weight. It’s difficult to do anything in a vibrating environment. That doesn’t mean it is effective at accomplishing anything. ---
**Author:** ![DrCube](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a3d4f5/32.png) [@DrCube](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrCube)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2015, 6:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vibrating-exercise-belt-machines/712543/23 "2015-02-13T18:16:12Z")
> [@Donnerwetter](#): > > I’m assuming then that you are not a big fan of [Electrical muscle stimulation](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electrical_muscle_stimulation) either? For fitness?? Nope. If you have a wasting disease or your muscles are atrophying because you’re paralyzed or in a coma, that may be helpful. I don’t know, I’m not a doctor. But it is so far beneath even walking as a form of exercise, you will not improve your fitness with an electrical stimulation device. ---
**Author:** ![buddy431](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/6a8cbe/32.png) [@buddy431](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/buddy431)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2015, 6:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vibrating-exercise-belt-machines/712543/24 "2015-02-13T18:19:08Z")
> [@Sage\_Rat](#): > > [xkcd: Significant](http://xkcd.com/882/) > > A single study isn’t meaningful in science. You need to see it replicated by others, who aren’t funded by the manufacturer. The XKCD comic used a p value of 0.05, while this study shows a p-value of less than 0.001. The effects aren’t large, but they are statistically significant to a much higher degree than the comic you showed. ---
**Author:** ![Sage\_Rat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sage_rat/32/399_2.png) [@Sage\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sage_Rat)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2015, 7:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vibrating-exercise-belt-machines/712543/25 "2015-02-13T19:04:39Z")
> [@buddy431](#): > > The XKCD comic used a p value of 0.05, while this study shows a p-value of less than 0.001. The effects aren’t large, but they are statistically significant to a much higher degree than the comic you showed. With a sample size of 26, of which half are in the control? I’m not sure that that’s even mathematically possible (but I’m not a statistician, so I will leave it to someone else to prove my case). ---
**Author:** ![Sage\_Rat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sage_rat/32/399_2.png) [@Sage\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sage_Rat)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2015, 7:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vibrating-exercise-belt-machines/712543/26 "2015-02-13T19:09:25Z")
> [@Donnerwetter](#): > > Seriously, the way vibration training works is that it enhances your movements, it makes them harder to perform. It’s not about just standing, sitting or lying there and doing nothing. You are performing push-ups, squats or crunches while your muscles have to work against the vibration. The muscles can’t relax. > > For instance, if you perform a set of 20 free (=bodyweight) squats on a power plate, this is going to be much harder than 20 free squats on the floor. This thread is about vibrating belts, not power plates. Though, in retrospect, I am uncertain which the quoted study is refering to. Can anyone read the study? I’d be curious to know what the Control group was doing and what their definition of “athlete” is. ---
**Author:** ![slaphead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e9bcb4/32.png) [@slaphead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/slaphead)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2015, 1:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vibrating-exercise-belt-machines/712543/28 "2015-02-19T13:51:06Z")
> [@DrCube](#): > > No, they are bogus. They are the newest instantiation of the vibrating belt machines. Why do you think the belt machine is bogus, but not the plate machine? They do the same thing! Vibrating your body is not exercise, at best it is a massage. The only value of these things are as steps towards making [this](http://i2.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/original/000/613/960/3c5.png)a reality. ---
**Author:** ![Ethilrist](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ethilrist/32/4604_2.png) [@Ethilrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ethilrist)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2015, 2:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vibrating-exercise-belt-machines/712543/29 "2015-02-19T14:05:01Z")
[Previous thread on the subject](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=650318) that, oddly enough, didn’t go through five pages of mocking. ---
**Author:** ![I.Dunno](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/9f8e36/32.png) [@I.Dunno](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/I.Dunno)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2015, 4:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vibrating-exercise-belt-machines/712543/30 "2015-02-19T16:56:13Z")
> [@Ethilrist](#): > > [Previous thread on the subject](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=650318) that, oddly enough, didn’t go through five pages of mocking. A quick skimming of said thread shows lots of skepticism, although not five pages. It appears the thread was locked before it could attain that. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vibrating-exercise-belt-machines/712543.md?page=1)