Power Plate Pro 5 Air

...gym. I first heard about power plates long before I used one because I'd read that all the celebrities were crazy about them and had lost loads of weight by using them, so when two arrived in my gym I was a little excited.


WHAT IT IS

Basically, the machine plate vibrates and aims to tone your muscles by giving them a high speed workout by causing them to contract and relax. You stand in different positions (like a ...
...works the muscles more than you could on your own without spending hours on squats or lunges.

HOW IT WORKS

There are different settings for the machine ranging from low vibration frequency to high and a range of times so that you can pick what suits you and the exercise that you're doing - for exampe I find it relatively easy to hold a squat for a length of time at a high frequency but much harder when doing a stomach crunch ... more

The first thing to mention is that I don't actually own this piece of equipment, however I do use it in my gym. I first heard about power plates long before I used one because I'd read that all the celebrities were crazy about them and had lost loads of weight by using them, so when two arrived in my gym I was a little excited.

Basically, the machine plate vibrates and aims to tone your muscles by giving them a high speed workout by causing them to contract and relax. You stand in different positions (like a lunge or squat) and hold the position while the vibration works the muscles more than you could on your own without spending hours on squats or lunges.

There are different settings for the machine ranging from low vibration frequency to high and a range of times so that you can pick what suits you and the exercise that you're doing - for exampe I find it relatively easy to hold a squat for a length of time at a high frequency but much harder when doing a stomach crunch so I tend to do that for less time or at a lower frequency. You can operate the machine using both the top control panel and one close to the plate itself, which is unbelievably helpful when not standing on the plate, if you're doing crunches or working other areas which require you to be more on the plate.

Personally I like the PowerPlate but that's possibly because I'm a rather lazy gym-goer, it feels like a cheat because supposedly 10 minutes is the equivalent to 60 minutes of the equivalent manual exercise. The only problem with determining the effectiveness of the PowerPlate is that it's hard for me to attribute any change in my shape or size to the PowerPlate alone because I can only use it in the gym and I don't go just for the PowerPlate, I also tend to do cardio and other exercise when I'm there, but it makes me feel better to feel my muscles so I hope it does tone me up. The only thing I would add is that it won't make you fit, it aims to tone your muscles but will not increase your overall fitness level or stamina at all.

I would always use it in the gym because it's there and easy and quick but unless you're very wealthy I'm not sure that this is one to buy because it is so expensive - approximately £7,000. If I was going to buy gym equipment, I would personally rather spend my money on other equipment but while it's in my gym I'm definitely going to keep using it. A lot of London gyms run proper PowerPlate classes so it might be worth trying one of these if you're curious! 

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