Acute effect of adding whole body vibration exercise during inter-sets recovery period on muscular performance during high velocity—low resistance weightlifting exercises

Numerous studies have shown that whole-body vibration exercise can result in performance benefits. This potential effect when practicing repeated exercises nevertheless remains poorly understood. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the acute effect of adding whole-body vibration exercise during the recovery period on power, kinetic, and muscular activity during repeated weightlifting exercises at high speed and against a low resistance.

Thirteen male physical education students completed 3 training sessions in bench press and/or squat during which they had to perform 10 sets of 6 repetitions with the highest possible speed during the concentric phases (load equal to ~33 ± 6% 1 RM). Series were separated by 3 min of passive recovery. During 2 of the 3 training sessions, participants were asked to perform 30 s of push-ups or dynamic squats in the middle of the recovery time on a vibrating platform with or without vibrations (frequency: 40 Hz; amplitude: 2 mm). Power output, vertical velocity and muscular activity of the upper or lower limbs were measured during each bench press or squat movement.

Statistical analysis revealed that peak and average power and velocity as well as muscle activation levels were not significantly different between the 3 training sessions.

Several factors related to the characteristics of the vibration stimulus, the modalities of recovery and the design of the training session could explain in the present study the absence of effect on performance. The potential positive effect of a whole-body vibration exercise on performance during repeated strength training exercises therefore remains to be demonstrated.