I’m such a sucker.
I bought a vibration plate last month. You know, one of those little steps that you stand on while it wobbles. Instagram told me it “melts fat”, and showed me toned women with the abs of my dreams standing on them in expensive leggings and smiling.
And you know what the algorithm is like. It serves up more and more of what you are already watching, so I scrolled and clicked until I was convinced a vibration plate would reunite me with the body I had in my twenties. This was pretty much the extent of my research.
Anyway, I’ve been standing on the bloomin’ thing every day for a month now, wearing inexpensive leggings, feeling my love handles shake like jelly, and not smiling.
It cost me a little over £100, so it was a decent one, and here is what I thought of it.
Spoiler: If you’re local you might still be able to find it on Facebook Marketplace 😂💷
Why I Wanted to Buy One: What I Expected
This was my first mistake. I wasn’t realistic about what I wanted from a vibration plate.
The appeal was minimum effort, short sessions, and the ability to use it at home. The plate ticks all of those boxes, but I also wanted some sort of result, and I did not get one.
I wasn’t expecting miracles, but I was expecting something.
Lots of the talk around vibration plates mentions ‘burning’ which heavily implies fat or calories, doesn’t it? So maybe some very gradual weight loss was expected.
Loads of the Instagram influencers talk about doing squats on the plate to tone your glutes and give you a nice bum, so I was hoping for improvements in that area too. But alas, my bum is no rounder than it was a month ago.
I guess I just thought it would be a useful addition to a few visits to the gym each week. Something I could do in the living room while The Traitors was on, without annoying my fella too much.
That didn’t work either, the buzzing noise was driving him mad 😂🤬
What A Vibration Plate Actually Does
Once I realised that I wasn’t really getting a benefit from using it, I decided to research what a vibration plate actually does.
You might think it would have been sensible to do this before going ahead and buying the thing, but Instagram happened, remember?
It turns out that the science behind them is accurate, but the intensity isn’t enough to have a meaningful impact on an average person. Because it is just a platform that vibrates at speed.
When you stand on it, your body has to react to all those tiny movements through involuntary muscle contractions in your legs and core. So the muscle activity is real, your body is working, just not very hard.
Your heart rate won’t raise much, if at all, and you would burn more calories going up and down the stairs a few times, but your muscles are responding. If you add in squats or balance exercises it will make them a little harder, but only a little. Maybe even imperceptibly so.
This is why you might see them used in a physio setting where very gentle progression is needed to help someone move forward. If you use them passively, the impact is not worth the time invested. Nor the money.
Certainly not north of £100 anyway!
Who Might Actually Benefit From Them
Now, I’m not saying vibration plates are a gimmick, but they are massively over promoted and come with unrealistic expectations.
Nevertheless, the research shows that they can be useful for the right person. But that person is not someone like me.
Anyone who struggles with traditional types of exercise would benefit. Maybe people who are slightly older, or who need to improve their balance. The vibrations do stimulate muscle contractions that help with stability, but the machine doesn’t require any complex movements or anything high impact.
So, frail people I guess. But that’s not great for mass marketing is it? Which is why you never see a granny on a vibration plate on Insta.
People who are recovering from certain injuries might benefit too, or people who have been immobile for a period of time. This is about neuromuscular activation rather than strength building (or so my research tells me).
The key thing to bear in mind, is that a vibration plate is always suggested alongside other activities. It’s never the main event. Think of it like a supplement. It can help with what you are already doing, but it will never be the replacement.
Should You Buy One?
You can buy mine if you like? 😂
Honestly, the answer is probably no. All of the research suggests they can improve weight loss/toning/insert desired impact here – but only if used alongside other forms of exercise. For me, that tells you everything you need to know.
Saying a vibration plate helps with weight loss, but only alongside diet and exercise, is like saying trainers help you lose weight, but only if you actually run.
They can help in specific circumstances for a relatively small group of people, but as a mass market fitness product I think vibration plates are being massively overhyped.
My kids enjoyed sitting on mine, but apart from that, there was no real benefit for me, sadly. And now I have to deal with all the time wasters on Facebook Marketplace. Wish me luck!