Good Vibrations

Latest Aerosure TV Commercial

2014-11-05T08:07:00.003-08:00

Latest Aerosure TV commercial for the UK. Nice job.

Aerosure Television Commercial September 2014 from Kieran Gavin on Vimeo.

Aerosure Launches in Australia

2014-11-04T07:30:00.000-08:00

Great news, Aerosure has launched in Australia. See the TV advert below:

This is really great news because 1 in 10 Australians has some form of lung disease, and associated breathlessness and dyspnoea is a significant component of reduced quality of life in most lung diseases.

See the full statistics here: Lung Disease Australia

Aerosure can be purchaed in Australia at the outlets or pharmacies below:

Actegy

ChemMart

Amcal

Aerosure Product Development for Breathlessness and Sputum Clearance

2014-11-04T07:19:00.000-08:00

Nice job by Kieran Adams, the Product Development Manager at Actegy Ltd describing Aerosure and how it can help with breathlessness (dyspnoea) and respiratory health including sputum and mucus clearance.

Aerosure - How it works.

2014-11-03T05:21:00.000-08:00

A nice graphic of how Aerosure works:

Aerosure has launched in the UK!

2014-11-03T05:14:00.000-08:00

The new and redesigned Aerosure has launched in the UK!

Watch the TV advert below.

You can buy at any of the retailers below:

UK

Actegy Ltd

Boots

Lloyds Pharmacy

Amazon

Cosyfeet

Active Mobility Centre

Simple Life Mobility

Ireland

McCabes Pharmacy

Norway

http://www.enklereliv.no/aerosure-pustetrener.html

2013-03-21T04:15:00.001-07:00

Sir Steve Redgrave endorses Revitive: Circulation Booster.

The UK's most famous and inspirational athlete who is also a diabetic is getting behind Revitive.

Please click here to see Sir Steve Redgraves advert and endorsement for Revitive.

Revitive: Circulation Booster

2013-03-21T04:15:00.000-07:00

This post I would like to talk more about the work we have been doing with electrical foot stimulation (Revitive: Circulation Booster)initially in healthy populations, but the work will continue in diseased groups such as those suffering from diabetes. Diabetes is an awful condition in which the sufferer loses control of blood sugar regulation. The disease basically comes in 2 forms, Type I and II.

Type I diabetes is a genetic condition where insulin is not produced so patients experience rises in blood glucose and need to take regular insulin shots to keep things under control. In type II diabetes it is kind of the opposite problem that patients become insulin resistant so they over produce insulin and can experience hyper (high) as well as hypo (low) glycaemia (blood glucose).

Well high or low blood glucose doesn't sound so bad until you realize that high levels of blood glucose combined with poor circulation (low oxygen levels) can damage tissue in the body and low blood glucose can cause dizziness and fainting.

The majority of diabetics are inactive and therefore a common disease progression is tissue damage. Nerve damage (diabetic neuropathy) is all too common and combined with immobility can lead to blood stasis and swelling of the limbs. This blood pooling eventually leads to microvascular injury (damage to the small blood vessels) which doesn't heal and can eventually lead to amputation.

So what can be done to prevent this terrible disease progression? The most important factor in slowing or preventing this spiral is to create increased flow out of the swollen limb, normally a job done by the muscle foot pump during movement, but if movement is compromised then this creates an issue. Compression stockings have been used with limited success, pneumatic compression devices which rhythmically squeeze the tissues and force the blood back toward the heart have also been effective. Both forms of compression have issues though, the stockings can restrict blood flow when not moving, and the pneumatic pump is large and technical and not easily used.

Our preferred idea was to use electrical stimulation to cause muscular contraction, similar to when you point your toes and foot the floor. This involves placing electrodes over the muscle and stimulating with safe amounts of electrical current, causing the muscles to contract. The elicited contractions are not quite the same as voluntary contractions but they are good enough to squeeze the blood out of the lower legs and back to the heart, mimicking the muscle pump. When the muscle relaxes new fresh blood and nutrients flow into the lower legs keeping the environment healthy and helping to prevent swelling.

So electrical stimulation seems to tick all of the boxes for creating the muscle pump and maintaining a healthy flow of blood through the legs. But most forms of electrical stimulation are also difficult to use. Generally stimulation pads are stuck onto the skin over the muscle but getting the right position of the electrodes can be difficult. This is why we were so excited when we discovered Revitive: Circulation Booster as all that was required was the user popped their bare feet on to the device footpads and switched it on. It is really impossible to get this wrong.

If you have diabetes and are concerned about foot health issues (even if their are no physical symptoms yet) then speak to your consultant and try Revitive: Circulation Booster. This sort of thing is always worth doing in advance of problems, especially if you are not leading an active lifestyle. Over the next few post I will cover how we helped to develop Revitive even further, making it the most efficient and powerful circulation booster on the market.

Microfracture Surgery cont.

2012-09-17T08:49:00.002-07:00

Nutritionally I also had a strong programme and left no stone unturned. My first thought was calcium and making sure I had the right "stuff" to make new tissue. So my wife cooked beef bone broth for me every day for lunch, it was great for the waistline too.

My primary concern was to reduce the inflammation. I want to talk in later posts about chronic whole body inflammation, but this acute inflammation was my primary concern. So I started taking Arnica and Symphytum as homeopathic rememdies and symphytum cream topically. Now I know this will make many jump up and down, such as Prof. Brian Cox who describes homeopaths as distillation wizards. Well rather than just shout people down I looked to the literature and found some papers that suggest it might not be such a bizarre thing to be doing:

Symphytum Cream

Symphtum Cream 2

Arnica vs Voltarol for wound healing

Arnica gel in osteoarthritis

Arnica and symphytum treatments are not expensive and there appear to be no side effects so my professional opinion as a scientist is to give it a go!

I had also been taking glucosamine and hyaluronic acid chronically since well before my surgery and I would do the same again as there is enough positive evidence to suggest that for some people with certain conditions it could be helpful. Science could really be helpful here by increasing the amount of funding for these treatments and ensuring there is no observer bias such as funding from the biotech industry. This needs careful scrutiny.

More recently I have been focussing my efforts on getting rid of whole body inflammation. I have been reading a lot and a good text that I would recommend is the Gene Smart Diet. I will review this book in the future but I would definitely put it on your reading list. Basically I have been taking long chain omega-3's from fish oils, and omega-6's from borage seed oil. The potential benefits of this are long and varied so I won't include references. Secondly I have been increasing the polyphenol content of my diet including more veggies with the skin on, berries and other high polyphenol intake such as dark chocolate (control intake as high in calories), red wine (control intake because of alcohol) and supplements such as cherryactive. We have done work in our lab on cherryactive and I will cover this in a later post. Again these things are not expensive and will add to your health.

I can't be sure what had an effect and what didn't but I am sure that my refusal to fail helped me find the best possible strategy for recovery from microfracture surgery. An update on my progress, I am now double arm swinging 40Kg and double snatching 32Kg comfortably. This was more than I was doing before the surgery. I won't be jogging till at least January and I intend to investigate barefoot style running when I do. I am in a better place now than before my surgery.

Microfracture Surgery

2012-07-17T07:08:00.000-07:00

So I had some long standing cartilage damage to my left knee. I went to the surgeon at the BMI Runneymede and had Xrays and MRI's taken which showed that I had medial cartilage damage from poor liftng technique, a small cyst and a lateral femoral tear that seemed to go down to the bone. The surgeon informed me that he could tidy up the torn cartilage and remove the cyst without any problems, but if the lateral tear did indeed go to the bone that he would like to do some microfracture surgery to repair.

I hadn't heard of microfracture before so I started reading around and although it has been around since the late 80's it is still a work in progress. It was actually developed by Richard Steadman, founder of the Steadman Clinic. The basic idea is that if you can make bone bleed the blood is rich in mesenchymal stem cells that can become a number of tissues. So special tools are inserted into the bone to create a rough, broken surface, deep enough to cause bone bleeding. A super clot or blastema then forms over the damaged bone, the bone heals and also new cartilage grows to cover the operated area.

Although new tissue will be formed in 6 weeks there is a long process of tissue remodelling that is required to cause the tissue to become what is required. Articular cartilage that covers the ends of bone is strong and elastic so it can last and absorb the impact forces it is subjected to. Unfortunately the new cartilage that formed during the early years of this technique was fibrocartilage, a much stiffer and less robust cartilage. It seems the great progress in the last 20 years has not been in surgical technique but in rehabilitation. Actually doing the right things to tell the tissue what it needs to become is the main focus of rehabilitation. Unfortunately the physio dept. at the Nuffield Woking seemed only to want me to be walking again and that was the limit of their care.

So post surgery I was non-weight bearing on the left leg for 6 weeks. Not a pleasant experience but it certainly grew my respect for those who use crutches on a daily basis. I was told by my consultant only to do mobilisation exercises for the 6 weeks. This didn't seem consistent with what I was reading so I decided to take control of my own rehab. For 2 weeks I only did mobilisation to get the full range of motion. After that I bought a cycle exerciser from ebay (an exercise bike is fine but place no resistance through the wheel) and started doing 5 mins of cycling twice per day as well as my mobilisation exercises. I very slowly and carefully and watched how my body responded to gauge what was too much. Any swelling or discomfort I took as my limit, when I could complete that without any symptoms I increased the duration. Eventually I built up to 40 mins of unloaded cycling per day.

Another technique I used was Revitive: Circulation Booster. This is a device I have worked on and I had one so I thought I know it improves circulation so it should speed my recovery. I used this 2x per day for 20 mins each time. Again building up the intensity as I got used to it. I would perform my mobilisation exercises after using Revitive: Circulation Booster as I found that I could get much larger ranges of motion after my leg was warmed up. Within a month I had full range of motion back in my leg. I did suffer from swelling in the leg and Revitive: Circulation Booster quickly removed this.

I also kept using my aerosure: youbreathe training device to keep my lung performance up to speed and this helped a lot especially whilst on crutches.

So 6 weeks came and went and when I went back to the surgeon he was very happy with the condition of my knee, full ROM and no pain or swelling. So he took my crutches away and sent me back to physio. I decided to move physio to a team I had used before, Balance Physiotherapy in Clapham North. I saw a knee specialist Paula Coates and she started me on a programme of knee strengthening and flexibility. I cannot jog till next year but I am back swinging my kettlebells which was the main aim for me. I am getting stronger and fitter by the day and knee feels great, very smooth and little discomfort. One important thing Paula added to my rehab is stretching as the quad had shortened from lack of use, getting the muscle back to normal length has been hugely helpful.

The links to some interesting research are here:

Pulsed ultrasound

Pulsed ultrasound observational study

LIPUS in rats

Microfracture rehab 1

Microfracture rehab 2

In my next entry I will describe my nutritional and supplement strategy.

Tune in!

2012-07-13T07:25:00.000-07:00

Hi, I have been very busy for the last 2 years and have been doing many exciting things. Now again I have created the time and space for myself to start blogging about what I have been up to. I have being doing a lot of work in altitude simulation with the England Football Team, London Broncos academy team and we have more work coming up with Wasps academy. I have also been working at King's College Hospital with COPD patients and that has gone very well. I will be updating about all of these projects over the next few weeks. I am glad to be back, thanks for reading.

Marathon man benefits from aerosure!

2009-02-10T13:42:00.000-08:00

Olympian Dan Robinson has been using his aerosure vibrated breathing training device and this is what he has found:

Since using aerosure, the improvements in my lung function have been significant and I have found it a really useful and important training aid. As an endurance athlete, I am continually looking for ways to improve my racing and training performance and the aerosure has enabled me to get the maximum benefit from my training sessions. Regular use of aerosure has meant that when I get to the start line I am confident that I have covered all bases in training and will race well. I thoroughly recommend aerosure. All the best, Dan.

We have no doubt that Dan is the first of many elite performers who will benefit from regular aerosure training.

90 degree press-up

2009-02-03T11:28:00.000-08:00

I would like to recommend a website of Dr Barry Drust, a senior Sports Scientist at Liverpool John Moores University who is preparing and training to do a 90-degree push-up. As well as giving great training information he is keeping a personal diary of his training:

http://90degreepressup.wordpress.com/

I think this website is very interesting for those interested in devising their own training programmes.

Thanks

Low-cost Portable Altitude Simulator Nearly Here!

2009-01-31T00:50:00.000-08:00

Coming soon, from London South Bank University, a low cost portable altitude simulator called Hybreathe. A small device that can be used at rest or during exercise, Hybreathe will bring al the benefits of altitude training to anyone who wants it, and not only the elite and wealthy.

Currently a market research survey is under way and prizes can be won by lucky respondents. Please visit www.hybreathe.com for a chance to win one of several youbreathes (a vibration respiratory training device), one of several Flexi-bar vibration training devices or Code13 t-shirts and hoodies.

To participate click here:

www.hybreathe.com

youbreathe/aerosure for colds and flu

2008-08-08T11:50:00.001-07:00

This is a short post to continue my discussion from last time. I was talking about trials getting underway to test the efficacy of youbreathe/aerosure in clearing mucus in clinical patient populations. Well various feedback from users has indicated that once the initial fever during a cold or flu is over, that youbreathe/aerosure can be very helpful in clearing chest congestion.

Try to get a little olbas inhaler or some eucalyptus oil and hold it in front of youbreathe/aerosure as you inhale and you will feel the effects of youbreathe/aerosure pulsing the vapor right down through your full respiratory system. This has the effect of moistening the mucus membranes and reducing respiratory tract inflammation.

I hope youbreathe/aerosure can be useful in so many conditions as breathing is so fundamental to everything we do.

This is a link to the BBC website for cold and flu:

BBC colds and flu

Here is a link to the BUPA cold and flu website:

http://hcd2.bupa.co.uk/fact_sheets/html/colds.html

The following are a couple of links for relief from colds and flu:

http://www.webmd.com/cold-and-flu/9-tips-to-treat-colds-and-flu-the-natural-way

http://www.vpul.upenn.edu/ohe/library/cold/relief.htm

Please keep an eye on the download page of the youbreathe website for new user manuals : http://www.youbreathe.com/products.php

Stay healthy

improve respiratory health with youbreathe

2008-08-03T12:44:00.001-07:00

In our lab at London South Bank University we are progressing the youbreathe research and the results are getting more and more interesting and exciting. We are currently costing up a study in cystic fibrosis patients. Cystic fibrosis and other respiratory diseases such as COPD, neurological diseases such as motor neuron disease and multiple sclerosis and some forms of cancer can lead to increased mucus production which patients often have trouble clearing. If not cleared this mucus can move into the smaller airways of the respiratory tree and even to the alveoli where it can impair the functional units of respiration, block the airways and lead to secondary problems.

Because of the oscillatory nature of youbreathe and the frequency range it operates we believe it can be of enormous benefit in promoting the clearance of mucus through altering the viscosity of the mucus, breaking the bond between the mucus and the airways and promoting the cilia to do their job and move the mucus up and out of the respiratory system.

There are other devices out there which can perform this function such as Flutter, Acapella and other laboratory equipment. The advantage of Flutter over some of the other devices is that it can be used in the home which allows greater freedom to the patient and reduced cost to the primary care trust. The feedback we have received about the Flutter is that it works but the user adherence is low.

The following is a link to a chest respiratory physiotherapy site which describes all the basic forms of sputum clearance :

Chest Physio

This is where we believe youbreathe has a significant advantage. youbreathe can not only promote mucociliary clearance but can improve respiratory system performance, which can assist those with respiratory problems get active and live as normal a life as possible. This should increase patient adherence lading to long term benefit.

The trials will hopefully be underway soon and I will report on the findings as soon as possible.

Best wishes, stay healthy.

Which Vibration Platform To Choose?

2008-01-17T01:32:00.000-08:00

The fitness regime from outer space has landed! Over the last few years the popularity of vibration-training has increasingly grown with the development of machines such as PowerPlate ™ and Vibrogym ™, and with the recent introduction of personal or ’domestic user’ models, the potential for greater training benefits such as strength and power is now being welcomed into our own homes.

From the current commercially available machines a basic vibration platform can cost as little as £100 while the so-called professional editions will set you back as much as £9000. Generally, much of the differences in cost are accountable to the brand name and design. The type of material used and the quality of construction are undoubtedly important factors for machine performance and durability, however aspects such as choice of colour and sleek design are factors that are unlikely to benefit neither your training results nor your bank balance.

When it comes to choosing a vibration platform it is useful to consider the following factors:

 The operational parameters -
Apart from the type and duration of exercise performed, the intensity of vibration-training depends on the frequency of vibration (the number of oscillations per second, measured in Hertz, Hz) and the amplitude of the oscillatory wave (mm, cm). The higher these characteristics are the greater the mechanical vibration stimulus.

The frequency range of vibration platforms differ with each model. Collectively, the operating range of commercially available machines is around 15Hz to 60Hz. It is typical however, that machines only operate within a limited frequency range; some between 15-30Hz, others between 30-50Hz, and the majority at and around 35Hz ±10Hz, and at specific step increments. Commonly, the amplitude of vibration is a factor that can also be user-determined. Platform vibration amplitude ranges from around 0.5mm to 12mm (peak to peak displacement) depending on the specific machine. When buying a machine it is important to ensure it is capable of operating at the desired vibration intensities.

Most research has centred on 25- 40Hz, but the optimal frequencies for specific training are yet to be determined. While positive effects of WBV have been found at and around 30Hz, there has been little investigation into lower frequency vibration and whether these provide any benefit. Research activity from our department (Mileva et al., 2006) showed that a frequency as low at 10Hz for segmental vibration aided performance during resistance exercise. For whole-body vibration training however, to prevent hitting the resonant frequencies of internal body organs it is advisable that frequencies lower than 20Hz are avoided (Mester et al., 1999)

 The platform dimensions -
Vibration platforms come in a range of sizes. Although machine dimensions are important from a convenience perspective, when choosing a machine it is important to check that the platform area is large enough for performing the type of exercise you require. Performing a deep two-leg squat on a 16 by 12inch platform (as for some low-cost machines) is an exercise feat in itself!

 The type of vibration -
Most commercially available machines such as the PowerPlate ™ and Vibrogym ™ deliver vertical vibrations and as such the platform moves up and down. However, machines are available that deliver rotational vibration based on a pivot-system platform. As would be expected, there is some evidence to suggest that muscular responses to rotational vibration and vertical vibration differ (Abercromby et al., 2007) although both types of vibration have been shown to have beneficial effects for training (see for example Cochrane and Stannard, 2005 and Delecluse et al., 2003).

 User operation -
Some machines come with pre-programmed training regimes with limited flexibility for the user to set their own training programme. If personalisation is required then a machine that allows the user to select parameters such as exercise and rest duration, and number of exercise sets (in addition to the intensity of vibration) should be chosen. Some machines have a limited duration of vibration exposure, so if longer bouts of continuous vibration training are required then the machine capabilities again need to be checked. The majority of vibration-training studies to date have involved less then 10-minutes of continuous vibration training, with many using protocols consisting of approximately 5 sets of 60secs with ~1min rest intervals.

 Medical Device Directive certification -
There are a couple of vibration machines on the current market that have Medical CE Approval. To obtain such certification for a device a company needs to provide proof relating to:
-Safety and electrical compliance
-Risk Management and analysis
-Clear clinical Indications and claims
-Clinical proof of these indications
Although this certificate is not direct evidence for validating a machine, it is worth considering in order to know it is of sound operational function.

 The Extras -
There are many extras that come along with the more costly platforms such as virtual trainer software, connections for peripheral equipment, and even platforms with inbuilt games consoles. If features such as these are not a necessity then there is very little sense in paying extra for machines that offer them.

Hopefully this short-guide to vibration platform basics has provided enough information for you to choose your machine. Whatever your needs, there is likely to be a machine out on the market that suits you. Good luck!

Lisa Zaidell is a scientist at London South Bank University (LSBU) studying the effects of vibration on the human body.

We have many scientists at LSBU researching the various effects of vibration-training. Be sure to check back for our latest research and insights! For the unofficial blog of the LSBU staff please visit www.sportssciencelondon.blogspot.com for information on all aspects of Sports Science and nutrition.

Targeted Vibration Training

2007-12-17T15:01:00.000-08:00

Introduction

Vibration stimulation is gaining popularity as a neuromuscular training method with the potential to elicit muscular performance adaptations similar to those produced by explosive strength training. Studies on vibration have shown transient increases in muscle power output and chronic strength enhancement and significantly improved gait and body balance in elderly people. In addition, whole body vibration induced positive adaptations in peripheral blood circulation (increased blood volume and speed of blood flow), probably due to decreased blood viscosity and peripheral resistance and arterial vasodilatation. Additionally, vibration has the potential to activate large amounts of musculature during a movement, and appears to inhibit activation of antagonist muscles which would decrease the braking force during a movement. Other studies have shown that vibration may be able to
influence the excitatory state of the peripheral and central structures of the brain, which could facilitate subsequent voluntary movements.

Targeted Vibration Training

Due to the conflicting results and potential side-effects of whole-body vibration, applying the vibration directly to the exercising muscle only has demonstrated performance gains more than 300% greater than conventional training. Therefore, researchers Dr Mileva and Dr Bowtell hypothesised that vibration applied during a single resistance-training session would promote larger acute increases in strength than those induced by an identical session performed in the absence of vibration. It was further hypothesized that vibration stimulus would provoke a greater response when training at lower contraction intensity, where a smaller percentage of muscle fibers would be voluntarily activated. To accomplish this, researchers compared the acute effects of vibration stimulus during and after high- (70% of one-repetition maximum (1RM) and low intensity (35% 1RM) knee extension exercise.

Methods

Nine healthy male adults completed four trials on a knee extension machine (Technogym UK Ltd) either with (Vibrex, Exoscience Ltd) or without superimposed vibration at low (35% 1RM) and high (70% 1RM) contraction intensities.

Results

The main finding of the study was that vibration applied during knee extension exercise improved the mechanical performance of the quadriceps muscles, as manifested by increased dynamic muscle strength and power. Additionally, peak torque was significantly higher during the vibrated than the nonvibrated trials.

The improvement in strength and power after vibration training could be explained by the finding that the median frequency of the quadriceps muscle electrical activity was significantly higher in the vibrated than nonvibrated trials. This suggests that vibration increases muscle fiber conduction velocity and/or increased recruitment of muscle fibers with faster conduction velocities such as fast powerful muscle fibres.

A very novel finding from this study is that superimposing the vibration-like stimulus during low-intensity exercise simulates the response induced by higher-intensity exercise, evidenced by increased electrical activity in the quadriceps muscle.

The increase in contraction force implies that reflex feedback from the muscle receptors in contracting muscle is increased. One might expect such increases in exercising muscle activation level to elevate the oxygen requirement, and vibration tended to increase the rate of muscle deoxygenation during exercise, which is indicative of increased oxygen utilization.

Conclusions

Neural adaptations are the earliest changes that occur in the exercised muscle (first 3–5 wk of a training
program), permitting gains in strength and power without significant increase in muscle cross-sectional area. The acute enhancement of neuromuscular performance following vibration is probably related to an increase in the sensitivity of the stretch reflex. This would result in more rapid activation and training of a larger number of high-threshold motor units. Vibration-induced discharge of the muscle receptors also recruits previously inactive motor units into the contraction, as well as re-recruiting motor units that are already fatigued, and even increasing their firing patterns.

It is also an intriguing possibility that a chronic vibration training program may potentially increase the neuromuscular adaptations arising from light/moderate training. This would be of importance for individuals, such as the elderly, osteoporosis and rehabilitation where people are unable to complete more intense exercise programs.

Breathing vibration - can it make us stronger?

2007-12-04T15:04:00.000-08:00

Introduction
Acute vibration stimulation enhances skeletal muscle activity and strength performance (Issurin & Tenenbaum, 1989; Bosco et al., 1999; Mileva et al., 2006). Vibration stimulation has also been applied to the respiratory musculature with demonstrable increases in respiratory activity in rabbits (Jammes et al., 2000), reduced breathlessness at rest in healthy humans (Edo et al., 1998), and reduced breathlessness during exercise in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease patients (Fujie et al., 2002).
We therefore investigated whether a vibration stimulus applied through air as it passes into the airways elicits increments of maximal breathing performance.

Methods
We recruited 12 healthy subjects (8 female, 4 male; 22-50 years old) from the University and they completed 3 maximal inspirations followed by 10 inspirations against a vibration stimulus (VIB; youbreathe, Exoscience Ltd., London, UK), an inspiratory resistive-load training device (RES) or resting breathing (CON; no load). 3 forced inspirations were repeated and compared to pre-training for maximal breathing power.

Results
Maximal breathing power was significantly greater (15%) after 10 breaths of vibrated resistance (VIB) when compared to PRE (VIB) and POST control (CON) and POST resistive-loading training device (RES). There was no effect of either resistance or control breathing on maximal breathing power.

Discussion
10 breaths of vibration lead to increased maximal breathing power suggesting that applying a vibration stimulus increases the voluntary force generating capacity of the inspiratory muscles, in a similar manner observed when vibration is applied to other skeletal muscles (Mileva et al., 2006).
The mechanisms underlying the changes in maximal breathing power require further study, however mechanisms such as shifts in neuromuscular recruitment via increases in stretch reflex sensitivity may have a role (Cardinale, 2003). This would enhance recruitment of higher-threshold motor units and the activation of previously inactive motor units. Confirmation of the mechanisms involved will require the acquisition of respiratory muscle EMG, transcranial magnetic stimulation and testing of peripheral reflexes.
Thus, vibration leads to an increased maximal breathing power suggesting there is an increase in neural inspiratory drive possibly via upregulation of the respiratory motoneurones.

Fitness for Skiing

2007-11-24T06:45:00.000-08:00

It is ski season again and lots of people are doing their best to lose weight and build their fitness ready for the slopes and the après ski. I like everyone else wanted to get in shape for my annual ski trip so this sparked my interest about training for skiing and the resources available on the internet. Actually good resources about fitness for skiing was sparse and terms of quantity and quality. Clearly their are many components to a fitness programme so I will go through what is required including cardiovascular fitness, muscular strength and endurance, power and balance. I will also discuss the relative merits of vibration training, and whether there is any point in adding vibration to your programme. The advice I am going to give today is based on the idea of a 8 week programme (this is way too short but I am a realist).

Cardio fitness

Any activity that involved activity for a long duration, say 6 ours per day for 6 days, is going to require cardiovascular fitness. Add to that the fact that most skiing is done at high altitude, meaning that oxygen will be more scarce, which means that having good cardio health and fitness is an absolute necessity for skiing fitness.

Also having high cardio fitness also means that your powers of recovery will be better from each bout of skiing that you do. This means that you will be more ready to ski again after lunch or as you progress through your holiday.

I would suggest a minimum of 3 cardio sessions per week, probably 1 long slow session for up to 1 hour, 1 short fast session of around 20 mins and even 1 interval session lasting about 30-40 mins. Many of the equipment at gyms these days have interval programmes built in. The interval programmes are also good because they relieve the boredom of training indoors.

Other gadgets you can try are altitude simulation equipment, such as hybreathe (a portable altitude simulator) or one of the many altitude tents available.

Muscular Strength

Strength is an absolute must for skiers, especially novices. Most of your time will be spent climbing off your bottom and it takes a hell of a lot of strength to perform basic turns if technique is not yet perfected. Quad strength is absolutely paramount but also core strength and some upper body strength for using your poles.

Strength is the muscles ability to develop force, which in terms of skiing means lifting more than your normal body weight, often on just 1 leg. You will often be travelling at speed meaning that when you perform turns you will be lifting multiples of your body weight, and before you can actually turn you have to work eccentrically to stop your body from collapsing (I will talk a little bit more about this in the section on vibration training).

To develop strength there is no alternative than to lift heavy weights, close to your maximum with low repetitions – 2 sets of 5 reps is probably ideal. You need to train for strength minimum 2 times per week. The exercises I would include squat or dead lift, bench press, bicep curls and some core exercises front and back. You can supplement with other exercises to keep your training interesting. You can also find machines that incorporate vibration training into your strength by using machines with Vibrex, this technology is very new so might not be available to everyone yet.

Muscular Endurance

Once you have increased your strength it is then time to develop your muscular endurance as when you are skiing it will be for maybe 6 hours per day so being fatigue resistant is important. Muscular endurance is the ability to lift a submaximal force many times. You will be performing turns and stopping repeatedly so this could be the most important part of your programme, we have all felt our legs start to burn when we are only half way down a slope!

To develop muscular endurance ideally you need to lift around 50% of you maximum about 15 times, and I personally would do 3 sets of this per session. Keep the exercises the same as your strength training. As a shortcut you can even put the exercises in a circuit and include this as one of your cardio sessions.

Power

To develop power there seems to be good evidence that this is where vibration platforms can be very useful. Please click here for a PDF document showing different power exercises that can be performed on a platform. I would stick to dynamic squats, dynamic wide stance squats, dynamic one leg squats (this will also help with your balance) and jumping on the platform. As mentioned earlier the vibration platform will also help with eccentric strength, which is the strength you need to stop your body from collapsing especially when performing turns at speed.

When training for power you need to reduce the quantity of sessions you do as it is important your muscles are fresh each time you train. I would train 2 times per week on power.

If you don’t have access to vibration training, then you can use conventional exercises, lifting around 30% of your maximum but the key is to explode through the lift, and try to throw the bar away (obviously it would be good to have some help with this as safety is the most important thing. Lift about 7 reps per set and perform 2 sets of each exercise.

Balance

Everybody forgets about balance but this is one of the most important elements of a skiing programme. The key to good balance is having a strong internal focus. If you keep focussing on things outside your body then you will fall easily. Keep your attention inside your body and you will find your balance improving very quickly. A good place to focus is on your breathing, just behind your tummy. This is a good thing to remember when you are skiing also.

Again the vibration platforms are very good for developing balance for example doing one-leg squats and jumps. Also another vibration related product I cam across is called flexi-bar. This is very good for developing balance and it will help your core also.

Flexibility

Another frequently forgotten element of the ski training programme is flexibility. Good flexibility is important for proper efficient muscle action, and also to enable you to fall with less risk of injury.

After every training session stretch each muscle of your body (especially the ones you have been working) and hold each stretch for at least 20 seconds to develop good flexibility. If you are creative this is a good chance to develop your balance and a strong internal focus.

Breathing Muscle Training

One of the more recent innovations is in breathing muscle training. There are now several devices such as powerlung and powerbreathe. For extra benefit I would recommend a vibration breathing device such as powerbreathe as this can increase growth hormone which can enhance strength and recovery, cardio health as well as training the respiratory system.

Programme Plan

If you have lots of time you can phase your training to make sure you develop each component fully, but if you only have 6-8 weeks left I would recommend 2 cardio sessions per week (1 interval) and 2 circuit sessions per week. In the circuit sessions you can increase muscular strength and endurance whilst also training your cardio fitness.

Enjoy your skiing, see you on the slopes!

Respiratory muscle training

2007-10-09T12:24:00.000-07:00

Respiratory Vibration Training

We have just had a research paper accepted this week, so everyone is on a bit of a high. The paper basically shows how youbreathe can increase respiratory muscle performance by 15% after just 10 breaths.

Here I have also included another article I have written about respiratory muscle training. Enjoy.

Respiratory Muscle Training

Research into respiratory muscle training has been ongoing since the 1970’s. However, results are conflicting most likely due to the different forms of training such as pressure-threshold training, voluntary hyperventilation and hypercapnic (increased CO2) hyperventilation; and the variety of outcome measures used……. These conflicting results have led to confusion as to whether there is any benefit to exercise performance from respiratory muscle training. There are now many devices on the market all promising to reduce your marathon time or increase your feelings of comfort during exercise such as Powerlung, Powerbreathe and Expand-a-lung. However, with technological advances and our increased scientific understanding, the current consensus of opinion is that respiratory muscle training does indeed help with exercise performance in healthy and clinical populations.

The mechanism of this effect seems to be two-fold :

1. An altered perception of breathing effort and exercise load, meaning that the exercise feels easier, this psychological effect shouldn’t be underestimated in fatiguing exercise!
2. A delayed metaboreflex, meaning that blood is not diverted from the skeletal to the respiratory muscles until higher exercise intesnities, allowing exercise at higher intensities to be maintained for longer (Romer & Dempsey, 2006).

Taken together these effects can be as large as a 4% increase in a 40Km cycling time-trial performance, which is substantial.

It has been demonstrated that acute (within 1 training session) vibration stimulation of exercising skeletal muscle enhances skeletal muscle activity and strength performance after 1 session (Mileva et al., 2006) and chronic training with superimposed vibration has been shown to increase strength up to 300% more than conventional strength training (Issurin et al., 1994). Vibration has also been applied to the respiratory musculature with demonstrable increases in respiratory nerve activity, reduced breathlessness in healthy humans and reduced breathlessness during exercise in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease patients (COPD; Fujie et al., 2002).

Until recently vibration had never been applied to a training device for the respiratory system, so we developed youbreathe, a hand-held device that applies rapid airway occlusions simulating vibration effects on the respiratory system. Preliminary results show that 10 breaths through youbreathe acutely augment breathing power by around 15%, compared to no augmentation after 10 breaths of breathing against matched resistance. These studies are under peer review currently and further work examining the long term training affect of continued use is under way.

Collaborations are also under way with clinical partners to assess the efficacy of youbreathe in complementing respiratory physiotherapy with youbreathe in cystic fibrosis and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease patients. We are testing the hypothesis that the percussive effects of youbreathe may facilitate the removal of mucus leading to improved respiratory function in these patients.

In summary, research into respiratory muscle training is now gaining real credibility, but we are still at the dawn of our understanding of vibration training. Many issue remain to be resolved such as the mechanism of action and appropriate vibration prescription for desired effects. The potential benefits of respiratory vibration have not yet been fully explored, however this new intervention offers exciting potential to scientists, athletes and patients alike. For more information on youbreathe please visit http://www.youbreathe.com/.

Click here for a deeper discussion of inspiratory and expiratory muscle training for coaches and athletes.

Click here for a discussion of breathing training in the tour de france.

Also click here for an excellent review of respiratory muscle training in COPD patients.

Stress and cortisol - can youbreathe help?

2007-09-30T03:24:00.000-07:00

Stress and Cortisol

We have some very exciting news to report this week. We have some pilot study results showing the youbreathe use can reduce cortisol (see graph below). Several subjects used youbreathe in a similar manner to the strength training protocol we devised (about 75% of maximum breathing power for 3 sets of 5 reps) and we tested cortisol before, 5 minutes and 30 minutes after youbreathe use. As you can see cortisol dropped off dramatically.

For those who don't know cortisol is called the stress hormone, as it is produced as part of the stress or "fight or flight" response, and in short bursts it can increase energy supply, heighten the senses and increase memory. Cortisol is secreted by the adrenal glands and involved in the following functions and more:

Glucose metabolism
Regulation of blood pressure
Insulin release for blood sugar maintanence
Immune function
Inflammatory response

But because of the stressful way we live our lives now we live with chronic stress symptoms and high cortisol such as muscle tension, chronic fatigue, depression and reduced cognitive abilities.

The key to improving this situation is through stress management programmes such as meditation, breathing, exercise and less work. Well now we know that we can apply youbreathe as a stress reliever, and only 5 minutes youbreathe use can reduce cortisol and reduce stress.

We know that people are not going to give up their busy lives so by using youbreathe for short periods throughout the day can reduce the stress response and keep your mind even. youbreathe can be central to any stress management programme and take away many of the negative symptoms of stress. Actually we think that youbreathe used in this way will increase relaxation, increase cognitive functions such as memory, increase energy levels and increase fat metabolism.

From my personal point of view I never really focus on stress until I get ill or can feel the tension so clearly. But as I use youbreathe anyway it is not difficult to combine my training with a stress management programme. I do the stress relieving training before I go for lunch and before I go for dinner, then over the course of the lunch hour and when I am at home for the evening I feel the tension drain out of my head and soon feel stress free, and I am sleeping better. I guess we live in a culture that we put things off until they become unavoidable. Sress is the biggest problem that I can perceive in the world today, you only have to do a google search for stress and the number of diseases that come up are amazing.

It is important to remember though that stress is our response to a given situation, it is not something that happens too us. It is therefore very important to change our reactions to situations as well as removing the symptoms of stress when they are there. I find that changing my reactions is easier when the symptoms are very small. Using youbreathe regularly I find that with lower cortisol levels I can often clear my mind very quickly and get my brain relaxed and positive. It is about being able to choose your reactions and enjoy your life as a positive experience, and not responding in a stressful way, and youbreathe can really help with this.

Cortisol and Slimming

Cortisol has been described as the slimmers enemy as it promotes carbohydrate metabolism as part of the fight or flight response. Carbohydrate can provide energy more quickly than fat so when you need to run to get out of the way of an approaching car, carbohydrate is the fuel of source for replenishing our energy supplies. But if we are trying to lose fat, having high levels of cortisol promoting carbohydrate metabolism is not a good thing.

Youbreathe as a slimming tool

This means that youbreathe use could help as a slimming aid by reducing the levels of cortisol helping the body use fat instead of carbohydrate. This of course doesn't mean that you can eat whatever you like and just use youbreathe, but that a healthy diet, regular exercie and youbreathe use could lead to easier weight and fat loss than just diet and exercise alone. Additionaly when we get the growth hormone results through, which promotes fat loss we will have even more reason to believe that youbreathe can help weight loss and slimming (I will devote a new post to this subject when we have more results).

For us a scientists, every time we test something with vibration it seems to pay off, it is such an exciting time to be involved in this. Hopefully we can help people to keep going with their busy lives, but increase the quality of lif through short simple youbreathe training.

Below is the info provided by http://www.holisticmed.com/stressfree.html Please visit their site for more info, I think it is an excellent resource.

Discussion

Millions of people are looking for a magic supplement and herb combination that will increase their health and vitality. People are ingesting Coenzyme Q, pycnogenol, magnesium, Vitamin C, Gingko, Echinacea and thousands of other products and combinations. In many cases, these supplements give a slight energy and health boost. In some cases, the body needs both healthy foods and supplements to help recover from an illness. However, for most people, much of the increased need for nutrients is due in a significant part to a high level of daily physical and/or psychological stress.

Taking steps to relax and body and mind (in addition to getting adequate sleep) can be enormously healing and is highly recommended for those interested in healing acute or serious chronic illnesses or preventing future illnesses. Relaxation techniques can add enormous power to other holistic healing techniques. I hope that you take the time to make gradual changes which will allow deep relaxation and the healing and vitality that comes with it to become an increasing part of your life.

Some Common Signs and Symptoms of Excess Stress

Regularly walking, eating or working in a rushed way.
Regularly thinking and worrying about the past or future.
Frequent tension in the body (esp. neck, face, shoulders, back and chest, and stomach) which often goes unnoticed until one slows down, breaths deep and carefully surveys the body.
Feeling of the "weight of the world" on your shoulders.
Emotionally "on edge."
Regular tiredness during the day.
Significant need for outside stimulation to feel good (coffee, sweeteners, food, sex, TV, alcohol, money, accomplishments, etc.)

The Goal

Occasional challenges, both physical and psychological, are not unhealthy for most people. Occasional challenging projects, arguments, difficulties with children, difficulties at work/school, etc. are a normal part of life. These types of stresses are normal and can actually be strengthening. The goal is not necessarily to avoid all stressful events, but to develop the ability to relax during day-to-day activities and during challenging occurences (such as those mentioned above). Persons who are recovering from an illness should attempt to keep challenging situations to a minimum but not necessarily avoid them totally unless they are extremely weak.

Strategies For Stress Relief

As part of the process of curing an illness, promoting health & vitality and preventing illness and premature aging, it is important to gradually move towards a daily life that less stressful.

Some Strategies to Avoid

Attempting to make everything in life stress-free.
Focusing on every event and constantly reminding yourself to relax.
Regularly avoiding the feeling of emotions (e.g., sadness, anger, joy, fear, etc.).
There are a number of other things which will not work in the long run when used by themselves only -- long vacations, execise, etc.
The type of strategy which tends to work is the combination of gradually and gently trying to change one's habits plus regular practices or situations which help put the body in a relaxed state. Both types of strategies are important in promoting stress reduction.

Regular Practices and Situations to Promote Stress Relief

Note: The positive effects of these techniques vary from person to person.

Examples of Powerful and Healing Regular Practices

Taking a class and going to regular group practices can be crucial in promoting a regular practice. Some people have moved into teaching centers in order to be certain they will have a regular practice and promote healing and transformation.

Yoga -- This is a wonderful practice for stress reduction and profound healing. I highly recommend printing out the Yoga Chapter, reading it and then taking regular classes.

Meditation

Tai Chi

Conscious Breathing Routine (Conscious Breathing, by Gay Hendricks, Ph.D., (Please see the Stress Reduction page of the Holistic Healing Web Page / Amazon.Com Bookstore for a listing).

Dancing

Bioenergetics Classes

Examples of Powerful and Healing Occasional Practices

Holistic Healing Retreat

Vacation

Massage (Some people practice regularly by exchanging with a partner.)

Daily Stress Reduction Tips

Note: As mentioned earlier, there will naturally be times when these tips are not used, but try to gradually incorporate them into your life where possible.

Add something beautiful to your life on a daily basis (e.g., flowers).

Do some enjoyable activities whenever possible.

Walk, work, and eat at a relaxed pace.

Take a short break after meals to relax.

If possible, go outside at least once per day and notice the simple things such as the weather, scenery, etc.

During the day, whenever you remember, notice and tension in your body (jaw, neck, diaphram, shoulders, etc.). Breath deeply and gently stretch and relax any tense areas.

If you notice your mind racing or worrying about the past or future, take a minute to breath deeply and gently focus on something in the moment such as your breath, scenery, birds.

Take breaks during the workday to relax.

Wear comfortable and loose clothing when possible. Take off your shoes when you can.

Avoid holding in feelings day after day, but instead, find a safe place to feel, express and embrace them.
Please be gentle with yourself. Some people find themselves falling back into excessively stressful habits from time to time. That is perfectly normal. Simply notice that change in a non-judgemental way and move back to the stress reduction practices and tips that promote a healthy way of life.

Stress Relief Ideas in Specific Situations

On many ocassions there are situations that come up which can cause significant amounts of stress. Listed below are a few such situations along with some ideas that I have found useful in addressing the situation. As in all of the idea listings on the Holistic Healing Web Page, please do not try to do everything at once.

Financial Difficulties

Financial difficulties can be enormously stressful for some people because our goals and our security is wrapped up in the need to have sufficient finances. Such difficulties often don't magically disappear, but there are some steps that can be taken to reduce or eliminate the stress and worry while working one's way through these difficulties. A few suggestions include:

Steps -- Carefully follow the plan outlined in the book, "Your Money or Your Life." (Please see the Stress Reduction page of the Holistic Healing Web Page / Amazon.Com Bookstore for a listing) This book will take you step by step towards financial independence. Following the program in the book can also be useful in helping to find your goals and make career decisions.

Share -- Tell at least one close friend, family member or religious leader (e.g., minister, rabbi) about your difficulties. Keeping the difficulties secret will often add stress and eventually cause inner turmoil. Some people find support groups such as those formed to work with the above-mentioned book or those seen with Debtors Anonymous (see below) to be very helpful.

Faith -- Persons who have a regular Meditation Practice or Spiritual Practice often develop enormous faith that difficulties can be worked through successfully. The potential stress can be reduced many-fold through these types of practices. While it doesn't directly effect the financial situation, these practices can improve health, reduce stress, make it easier to see worthwhile opportunities and make it easier to change habits that may, in some cases, contribute to financial difficulties.

Acceptance -- While it may seem strange, having a loving acceptance of oneself in the current situation is often an important key to making a permanent change in the situation. This goes hand-in-hand with having a strong faith. If you look at people who successfully turn their lives around, you will usually notice both a loving acceptance of who they are as well as a strong faith. The opposite end of the sprectrum are the unfortunate souls who have lost their faith and their self-esteem (or never had it).

Persons who have low self-esteem, having difficulty making simple changes or who have lost their faith may want to temporarily set aside working the steps in "Your Money or Your Life" and focus on choosing one inner transformational tool that addresses the situation. Some such tools are:

Meditation Practice
Spiritual Practice or Practical Spiritual Program such as Debtors Anonymous discussed below.
Affirmation Program such as found in the excellent book, "I Deserve Love." (Please see the Stress Reduction page of the Holistic Healing Web Page / Amazon.Com Bookstore for a listing)

Special -- Persons who have significant debt and/or habits of overspending may want to consider working the program detailed by Debtors Anonymous. Internet resources for the excellent program can be found on the Debtors Anonymous Information page.

Persons suffering from psychological illnesses which are contributing in some way to the financial difficulties can, if possible, have these health problems treated by a Holistic Healthcare Professional such as an Oriental Medical Doctor, Naturopath, Homeopath, Holistic MD or an experienced Medical Herbalist. Psychological therapy may be warrented as well. See the Directory of Practitioners Web Page to find a practitioner in your area.

Tasks and Time Constraints

There are situations where there is constant time and work pressure and which adds significant stress to one's life. Sometimes these situations are not easily avoidable. In order to start a medical training program with friends (who had planned to start at a specific date), I chose to continue to work full-time, take prerequisite classes nearly full-time and to continue to serve as the webmaster for the Holistic Healing Web Page. In order to come out of situations like these with one's health, it is helpful to consider a few ideas which I have related below.

Small Tasks -- Spliting projects and assignments into small pieces and doing a small amount of work on a regular basis on these projects is perhaps one of the very best ways to prevent becoming overwhelmed with work.

Priorities -- Choosing appropriate priorities for tasks is an important way to avoid stress. Is it better to performs A+ (4.0 grade) in school and study all of the time or to get a B average and spend the extra time having fun, exercising, etc.? Is it better to work overtime completing projects to earn extra money or job prestige and not see your family much or to somehow avoid overtime work and spend alot of time with your family? These are the types of decisions which are important and can have a significant effect on stress levels. The decisions should be made while keeping in mind what it important in life. In my case mentioned above, I chose to work extra hard for a year in order to start a medical program with my friends. But if such a decision would cause extreme stress that would lead to health problems, I would not have decided to work so hard.

Stress Reduction Practices -- Continuing a regular practice of stress reduction techniques such as yoga, bioenergetics or meditation can help one get through busy times with one's sanity. It can be many times easier to develop a regular practice by going to a class. Most people can spare at least 15-30 minutes per day to perform a short routine.

"I Hate My Job" Syndrome

Job stress can be one of the biggest sources of stress for many people. In many cases, people feel hopeless when thinking about solving serious problems on the job, dissatisfaction with the job, or making career choices. In fact, a large percentage of the people I have met have had this situation at one time in their life. It can be difficult to heal a chronic illness if you are experiencing a large amount of stress on the job. In addition, chronic illnesses may become more likely if the excessive on-the-job stress is not addressed. Below are a few ideas which may prove helpful.

Program -- The first four ideas suggested for Financial Difficulties above are highly recommended in this situation.

Improving the Job -- A couple of excellent resources for making the very best of a difficult situation are 1) the book, "The Corporate Mystic: A Guidebook for Visionaries With Their Feet on the Ground" by Gay Hendricks & Kate Ludeman (Please see the Stress Reduction page of the Holistic Healing Web Page / Amazon.Com Bookstore for ordering information), and 2) the article entitled, "The Spirit of 9 to 5" in the December 1997 issue (#137) of Yoga Journal. It only takes a minor effort to obtain these excellent resources and I highly recommend them.

Personnel Office -- The Personnel Office in most companies is responsible for helping resolve conflicts with other employees and for resolving and problems you are having with job responsibilities. If discussing the situation with your boss does not resolve the situation or if you do not feel comfortable discussing the situation with your boss, please consider whether the Personnel Office in your company can help find solutions for the problem.

Exploration -- Pursuing creative expression in various ways can be helpful in finding goals that may one day become a career. While it may not seem possible upon initial evaluation, many exciting hobbies can eventually become careers. Therefore, it can be helpful to take classes and explore various endeavors while paying attention to what excites you as a possible hobby or career.

Bioenergetics -- One of the goals with Bioenergetic Analysis is to help the student "find their own movement." By learning to find my own movement physically and expressing myself vocally using Bioenergetic techniques, I gained confidence and skills in both identifying and pursuing my own career goals. Others have seen similar effects. The classes can be helpful in this regard, but one-on-one work can be even more effective.

Questions & Answers

Difficulty Making Changes

I am having difficulty keeping a regular practice of yoga/meditation as well as eliminating habits that cause stress. I keep falling back into the same old patterns of stressful living and not taking care of myself. Do you have any ideas?

Having difficulty making changes can have a number of possible causes. Below are a few suggestions to consider:

Class -- Taking a class can make an enormous difference in one's ability to keep a yoga or meditation practice going. I know some practitioners who give classes because it is easier for them to keep up a practice by doing so. Try to find a class near your home if possible.

Friends & Family -- It can be much easier to make changes and sustain those changes you get regular support and love from close friends and family.

Positive Influences -- Spend time around positive, cheerful people whenever possible. There's little that can drag a person down more easily than a lack of positive attitudes in one's life or excessive exposure to negative attitudes. Some people move to yoga or meditation centers or take retreats regularly at such centers in order to learn and to be around people who are positive and taking care of themselves.

Programs -- Two different and very simple programs that people have found helpful are described in the following books. I would suggest only doing one program at a time.
I Deserve Love" by Sondra Ray
Primary Domino Thinking: Creating the Life You Want by Anthony S. Dallmann-Jones

Please see the Transformation Books section in the Stress Reduction page of the Holistic Healing Web Page / Amazon.Com Bookstore.

Meditation -- Inner Transformation techniques such as meditation has proven extremely helpful for many people in making changes.

Vibration training slimming and weight loss

2007-09-16T08:55:00.000-07:00

Hi,

This week I have done google searches for the effect of vibration training on slimming and weight (fat) loss and found hundreds of responses from all sorts of different companies promising slimming miracles if you go to their gym and stand on this platform for 10 minutes. Claims such as these are some of the promises made:

Helps Reduce Cellulite
Clears Lymph glands
Exercises & Oxygenates the entire body
Slims, Tones, and increases flexibility
Stimulates Human Growth Hormones
Reverse Osteoporosis
Feels Wonderful, Like a Deep Massage
Stimulates Serotonin (Happy Hormone)
Gently re-aligns organs
Clears Lymph glands
Reduces cortisol
Increases circulation

But no-one ever backs up their claims with results.  Lets look at the evidence for vibration and slimming. Well as far as I can see there are only two studies that have examined the effects of whole body vibration training and fat loss, and the results are contradictory. The first study was conducted in non-active females. This study compared whole body vibration with conventional training and found vibration to be slightly superior in terms of strength. There was also a slight increase lean mass (fat-free mass) with the vibration training. But there was no effects of any of the training on fat loss (which is a little strange and needs repeating I think). The other study was conducted in physically active men and compared squatting with and without vibration. The results from this suggest that adding vibration did increase the energy demand of the exercise, which seems reasonable to me as recruitment muscle patterns would change and efficiency would be reduced with vibration.

Vibrex from Exoscience

So far we have discussed the potential benefits of whole body vibration on slimming, but vibration has been applied to the respiratory system also, and preliminary results suggest that youbreathe reduces cortisol and increases growth hormone. Further studies are underway to examine these effects as they could promote fat loss.

So, vibration does look to have potential for slimming, but the studies have not been done properly or in enough volume to draw conclusions. I hope we can change this at London South Bank where we are now investigating the physics, biomechanics, physiology and neuroscience of whole body and targeted vibration training. Of course the key to slimming and fat loss is increasing metabolic rate and controlling diet. Now if vibration training helps users to keep going to the gym then that can only be a good thing.

One more thing we need to add to this discussion is the effects of growth hormone release on fat loss, but I can save that for next time.

Vibration training support

2007-09-02T13:34:00.000-07:00

Hi,

This week I have been continuing my work into the effects of youbreathe on respiratory strength and power, the results are looking ever more exciting with gains of about 15% after just 10 breaths of youbreathe use vs no increase with 10 breaths of resistance. We will be continuing these studies and I will update you when they are finished.

Also we are continuing our research into how youbreathe can be applied to respiratory therapy in conditions such as cystic fibrosis or any condition where excess mucus is a problem. Because youbreathe provides pulses to the respiratory system we believe that it can be used to release excess mucus that would normally require chest physiotherapy. When we start getting the full results through I will keep you updated.

Another thing more generally I would like to talk about is to talk about personal trainers. Lots of personal trainers are now jumping on the vibration training bandwagon before we have a full understanding of the effects of vibration training on performance. But I recommend if you want to include vibration training in your training programme, you sould find someone who knows their stuff. There are still no independent qualifications for personal trainers to take, so I would advise contacting a University who research vibration training such as the Human Performance Centre at London South Bank University or a personal training company like Home Health Fitness (http://www.homehealthfitness.com) who are all University graduates and are applying vibration training in a controlled manner supported by University Research.

Strength Training

2007-08-26T08:37:00.000-07:00

Hi,

This week I want to get back on to my common thread about vibration training and strength. I want to talk a little about strength training from a nerve and brain perspective.

There is a lot of debate about what the best strength training programmes are such as high weight/low rep vs lower weight/high rep. It really depends upon what you are training for. To develop strength heavy weights have to be lifted at least some of the time. Your muscles now are capable of developing a lot more force than your brain and nerves will allow you to use. To increase your strength first you have to retrain the nerves, which you can only do by lifting almost all you can a small number of times.

If you lift lower weights more times then your nerves will adapt to do that very well, but it won't necessarily lead to large increases in strength. The key is training the nervous system the way you want it to work. But if you want to increase muscle mass then higher reps are advisable.

Some people may start worrying about injuries, but most injuries happen when the body is fatigued, high weight/low rep doesn't fatigue the body and concentration should be better. I think the risk of inury is less with higher weight training. The key to strength, like with vibration training is increasing the quality of the stimulus, and reduce the quantity.

This could be why vibration is so effective, the neural stimulus is much higher so the nervous system adapts giving you access to your unused strength.

Now combne this with youbreathe use to increase growth hormone and you should be on to a winner. Your training should also leave you energised, not exhausted, and should be done more often.

OK, I have been promising you a strength training manual for your youbreathe device, please click on the link below to download it. It is important that if you have high blood pressure or any cardio-respiratory disease to check with your doctor to make sure this is a safe form of training for you.

Strength Manual

See you next time.

Fit-flop

2007-08-05T13:45:00.000-07:00

Hi,

Thought I would write about something different this week. Something called Fit-flop is gaining massive media attention and has even been shown on the Oprah Winfrey show. This is quite a good idea. It is the brainchild of Dr Dave Cook and Darren James both of London South Bank University.

Their idea was to take a flip-flop and make it ever so slightly unstable during the mid-phase of walking i.e. after the foot has made contact with the floor and before the foot pushes off floor for the next step.

The results are great, it really does make the legs work harder during walking and will also increase resistance to injury, similar to walking and running barefoot (actually wearing sports shoes is not very good for our health!).

I have spoken to Dave and Darren about these things and they are a really inspirational pair with lots more fantastic ideas for footwear and training devices.

I hope you enjoyed the variety to this weeks blog.

See you next time.