Vibration Training

VIBRATION TRAINING : EARLY 2000S FAD OR VALUABLE TRAINING TOOL?

Whole body vibration training received considerable attention in the 2000s as a potential tool for increasing performance gains for competitive athletes. Even today, a Google search for suggested sprint training techniques will bring up opinion articles advocating for its use in performance athletes, making claims such as “the leaders in athletic development, as well as many elite, professional and recreational athletes, are using vibration training with tremendous success.” This article will examine what the peer-reviewed literature says about the effectiveness of whole body vibration training as a method to increase sprinting and jumping ability for performance athletes?

The Rationale

Vibration exposure is believed to elicit rapid changes in muscle length, resulting in a muscle activation in an attempt to dampen the vibratory waves (Cardinale & Wakeling, 2005). It has been claimed that this results in the recruitment of almost 100% of a muscle’s fibres, whereas traditional resistance training results in considerably less, however it is not apparent where the evidence to support this claim is derived. Of particular interest to athletics coaches, it is also claimed that vibration between 30 and 50Hz is beneficial for the development of fasttwitch muscle fibres, resulting in improved maximal power and speed (Luo, McNamara & Moran; Giorgos & Elias, 2007).

“There does seem to be some evidence to suggest that vibration may provide a small benefit to maximal strength and power of trained athletes”

Evidence Supporting its Use

There have been a number of studies that support the use of vibration training to some degree for both untrained, trained and elite athletes.

Wilcock, Whatman, Harris & Justin (2009) conducted a meta-analysis and found that the use of vibration training in trained athletes was beneifical to develop maximal strength and power, but not sprinting speed.

Dolny, Reyes & Cisco (2008) found that there was some improvement in jumping distance and sprinting speed in populations of untrained individuals.

Jordan, Norris, Smith & Herzog (2005) stated that vibration training resulted in significant improvement in power output and induce signifcant changes in the resting hormonal profile of men.

Despina et al. (2014) demonstrated that in elite gymnasts, whole-body vibration resistance training was more effective than traditional resistance training in improving flexibility, strength and balance.

Cochrane (2010) concluded that vibration exercise was a safe method to improve muscle function in untrained and trained athletes of all ages.

Wyon, Guinan & Hawkey (2010) found that vertical jumping height was improved after 6-weeks of whole-body vibration training in moderately trained dancers.

Evidence Against its Use

Despite the positive results of some studies, the current weight of research advocates for caution in the use of whole-body vibration due to weak or absent effect sizes.

Hortobagyi, Granacher & Fernandez-del-Olmo (2014) conducted a meta-analysis weighing the effectiveness of whole-body vibration training for competitive and elite athletes and found that there was little and inconsistent evidence that it improved performance.

de Ruiter et al. (2003) found no signficant improvement in leg strength in healthy young participants.

Coachrane, Legg & Hooker (2004) found that there was no signficant difference between a control group and a whole-body vibration training group in sprinting, jumping or agility tests after 9 days of training.

Crow, Buttifant, Kearny & Hrysomallis (2012) found that whole-body vibration was significantly less effective than low load exercises targeting the gluteal muscle group at enhancing peak power output for professional athletes.

Colson et al. (2010) concluded that vibration training had no effect on moderately trained basketball players jumping and sprinting performance (although it did improve knee extensor strength)

Nordlund & Thorstensson (2006) conducted a systematic review of the effects of vibration training on well-trained sprinters and found no significant effect.

“The present scoping review found little and inconsistent evidence that acute and chronic WBV would improve athletic performance in competitive and/or elite athletes.”

Conclusion

The weight of peer-reviewed studies support the conclusion that whole-body vibration training is not significantly more effective than traditional training methods for improving sprinting speed or jumping ability. Generally when coaching well-trained athletes, there is little evidence to support the use of whole-body vibration training over other training methods.

However, vibration training may have some value to coaches as a source of variety and to achieve specific objectives. There is some evidence to support the use of vibration machines to build flexibility and certain strength parameters may be equally well achieved using vibration as it would with traditional resistance programs. Vibration machines can therefore be an interesting way to add variety to a program and may be an appropriate and safe option when coaching untrained athletes or recreational runners. Coaches should consider how closely their athletes match the circumstances of the participants in the successful studies to ensure the study findings are relevant to their practise.

For those coaches who do choose to include wholebody vibration training - the following program was found by Giorgas & Elias (2007) to significantly improve running kinematics and explosive strength.

***VIEW FULL EDITION FOR EXAMPLE VIBRATION TRAINING SESSION***