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It's the latest fitness craze in the UK and it's already a hit with body-beautiful celebs such as Sting, Madonna and Kylie Minogue. We're talking about the Power Plate ® a vibrating exercise machine that promises to increase muscle strength and flexibility, combat cellulite and promote weight loss in only three 15-minute sessions a week.

Sounds too good to be true? Backed by scientific research into the effects of the Power Plate ® on everyone from nursing home residents to super-fit athletes (the Manchester United team are reputed to use it too), these new machines have been hailed as a breakthrough in physical training and conditioning.

According to the manufacturers, exercise on a Power Plate ® machine can enhance strength, fitness, flexibility, balance and co-ordination, while minimising high impact, high load and high stress factors. What more could you want?

Here's how it works: the vibrations cause a natural reflexive action in your muscles, making them contract. By assuming different positions when you're on the vibrating platform and holding these for up to 60 seconds at a time, the machine allows you to pinpoint the specific areas of your body that you want to work on. The rest is left to gravity.

Power Plate ® explains it like this:

Gravity is the force that adds load to the human body every second of every day for every movement we perform. Through Acceleration Training exercise, Power Plate ® machines make the body feel as though it 'weighs' more every time acceleration forces increase.

The result is that you work against a far greater influence or load of gravity in every movement you perform. This is the essence of all strength and conditioning programmes and Power Plate ® machines simply use a different part of the same equation to achieve this! In fact, the amazing outcomes seen with Acceleration Training exercises respect the same biological and physiological laws of the body as witnessed in other forms of training. The difference is merely the nature of the stimulus applied (i.e. acceleration), and not the human response.'

It certainly seems to make sense and if one can get the same results from a 15-minute workout as a 60-minute sweaty session in the gym or aerobics class, then why not? With winter looming and the days getting shorter, this is an attractive alternative to fighting over treadmills and wasting precious time.

There are several Power Plate ® gyms in Wiltshire, including the JJB Health Club and David Lloyd's in Swindon, Fit 2 Perform in Warminster and Whatley Manor Hotel in Malmesbury.

Go shake it!

Source: http://uk.powerplate.com/en