Have you ever wondered what those whole-body vibration systems at the gym actually do, beyond making everyone stare?

Researchers in Zurich added those vibrations in to a weight training program, and compared it to the same weigh training without the vibrations. In addition to vibration, they also added occlusion, which is basically just a way of restricting blood flow.

Here is what they found:

vibroX increased CP (P = 0.001), overall capillary-to-fiber ratio (P = 0.001) and thigh lean mass (P < 0.001), while these parameters were unaffected by resistance training. The gain in CP by vibroX was positively correlated with the gain in capillarization (R(2) = 0.605, P = 0.008)

Plain Language Interpretation: Critical Power (CP) and density of blood vessels increased by adding vibrations and occlusion compared to weight lifting alone.

Tid-Byte hint: If you aren’t familiar with p values, they are statistician-speak to validate an effect.  Anything under 0.05 is considered significant.

Here is the link to the abstract in PubMed , the study name is High-load resistance exercise with superimposed vibration and vascular occlusion increases critical power, capillaries and lean mass in endurance-trained men. and comes to us from ETH, the University of Zurich and collaborators.