By standing on a vibrating plate roughly the size of a bathroom scale, you could shed pounds and build muscle. At least, that’s the claim you’ll find all over TikTok.
“All you have to do is just hop on this vibration plate, and it does all the work for you,” one user said.
Adding vibration to a workout isn’t new. But research on how vibration may (or may not) benefit your health is inconsistent, experts say. And vibration plates aren’t cheap: Many cost hundreds or even thousands of dollars.
Here’s what to know.
What does vibration do to the body?
Vibrating the body stimulates muscle spindles, the receptors that help control when muscles contract and relax, said Brad Schoenfeld, a professor of exercise science at Lehman College in the Bronx.
Your muscles also contract during exercise, so it’s reasonable to think that using a vibration plate would tire them out and change your physique — especially if you perform exercises while on top of the plate. But data suggesting that vibration will help you gain muscle or lose fat is sparse, Dr. Schoenfeld said.
Vibration alone isn’t enough for most people to significantly challenge their muscles or heart, or to burn calories or fat, said Dr. Amy West, a sports medicine physician at Northwell Health in New York. To do that, you’d need to do resistance training and aerobic exercise.