I also enjoy travel – usually this is just a quick weekend away; an “escape” from home and work and all the stresses of daily life.  A two or three day weekend out of town is excellent for relaxation, for trying new activities, going to a show, or sightseeing.

Last weekend I was in Sydney where I went to a show, “West Side Story”, and did some shopping.  It wasn’t really a rest travelling from Auckland early Saturday and back Sunday night but it was a very much needed break.

So where do Vibration Machines feature in my short weekends away?

There’s the increased fitness and strength to power me through up to 24 hours from when I get up at 3am until I get to bed in Sydney the following night.  With a two hour time difference and lots to do and see I can be active for a very long time with my only rests being the waiting time at Auckland International Airport and onboard the aircraft for three hours.  Once I arrive it’s all go!

The Vibration Training benefit I appreciate the most when I travel is that of increased circulation. I try to train immediately before I travel, at least the afternoon before.  Then I can sit for long periods of time without discomfort in my legs and my risk of d.v.t. is decreased.  I try to stand up at least once during a 3 1/2 hour flight but having a window seat can prevent this; it’s easier to stay put than clamber over two other people to stand.

If I have travelled over three hours by car or aircraft my first stop apon arrival is the local Vibra-Train or VibroGym Vibration Training Studio.  There I work through the Safety Program which again gets my blood circulation stimulated and my mind alert and ready to go (Shopping !)

Unfortunately The Vibra-Train studio in Sydney is too far out of town to visit on a weekend trip and there’s no alternative.  I hope that one day we’ll see High-Force, Lineal Vibration Machines available for use at Airports with Instructors to guide travellers through the session.  Premium Speed Pivotal machines would also be useful as they can be used to mimic the natural walking gait and relieve the backache that comes with long periods of immobility.

So here’s a business idea that someone might want to run with – a Vibration Training Studio within an airport complex – There’s certainly enough people about to make it commercially viable if the owners do the setup right and provide suitably experienced Instructors to work with customers.

It’s been around two years since I’ve taken a weekday, morning trip to the local shopping mall, St Lukes, very close to Auckland City.  My mall visits are usually done late afternoon, evening or weekends but as I am off work for a few weeks I took the opportunity to visit the mall earlier in the day.

St Lukes was one of New Zealand’s first “all in one-place”  shopping centers and is alike to all the others, offering an overwhelming number of fashion clothing shops, cosmetic and personal needs stores, a few appliance and specialty stores and a food supermarket. And, of course, an abundance of cafe’s, small restaurants, and fast food outlets.  There’s plenty of choice with foods ranging from fries, cream buns, and iced cupcakes to sushi or healthy kebabs, egg based dishes or steak and salad on flat bread. There’s whipped cream topped hot chocolate (a very yummy occaisional treat) through to trim lates and freshly made fruit juices.

There’s a buzz at the mall and a pervasive sense of wanting to buy “stuff”. I’m reminded of a childrens Veggie Tales movie about the “Stuff Mart” and how we are entreated to buy “stuff” no matter if we need it or not.  In fact, even my home is filled with a lot of unecessary “stuff” and I’m not easily swayed by advertising.

But back to the reason for this post: There are so may FAT people at the mall.

Don’t take offense; it’s a statement of fact, not judgement BUT I wanted to grab a lot of them and shake some sense into them, not that it would have helped; there’s plenty of education and help available.

What I noticed was families; gran, mother and children; and friends together eating huge iced, creamed buns, sweet cakes and slices, the worst brands of burgers and fries, along with fizzy drinks. The people sitting at these cafes were noticeable by their size, they were obese!

I know I’ll get told I am being unfair on those who chose to have a treat that day but walking past those fast-food outlets and cafe’s I had lunch at Coffee Club where healthier, yummy choices are available. I ordered freshly made  pizza and drank my previously bought miso soup. Pizza is high in calories but it’s toppings were chicken, feta, tomato, olives, a little bacon and minimal pizza cheese; healthy foods with excellent nutrient value, unlike the carbs and sugar laden, nutrient deficient foods I saw so many people eating.

I’m left wondering how we can educate and help people when they choose against all recommendations.

I find it easy to overeat and that’s mostly on “good” foods and so, for me, diet (what I eat, not what I don’t) and exercise is very important.

Walking, swimming, playing ball with children or the dog are all excellent, fun choices for cardiac health and general fitness.  Using hand weights (or assisted weight machines) or  Vibration Training on high quality machines, in a vibration studio, fitness or beauty centre, or at home, is the other part of the fitness equation helping to build muscle and strength which then uses up more calories to maintain.

Healthy eating doesn’t have to be expensive.  Simple exercise isn’t expensive.

Choosing to eat right and exercise – too hard for some.

This identification with other brands has come to an end.

I’ve had to rethink my hopes for a vibration training industry of various brands involving like minded people whose first aim is to benefit the consumer and secondly, to make a reasonable return on their investment of money and their time. I’m an employee of Vibra-Train and as much as I love my present job I’ve dreamed of owning my own studio or managing one if I couldn’t finance my own. It was always unlikely that I would move away from the Vibra-Train brand but I’d remained open-minded to that possibility as long as the studio had good quality machines and followed the Vibra-Train Safety Program.   My boss, Lloyd Shaw had encouraged me at times to look at other businesses and assured me of help in being sucessful. This was before I began full employment with Vibra-Train but even since he’s talked of sending me to other branded studios to help them and teach them the Vibra-Train Safety Program so that consumers would get good results.

I’d believed that competition of brands within the industry was healthy and in some cases, for example, High Energy Lineal and Premium Speed Pivotal, that the way the machines work is completely different and so draws a different set of users. Now I’m feeling so disappointed at the other brands within the Vibration Training Industry that I’m forced to change my mind about supporting others.

This industry has been let down by almost all brand owners, by their unscrupulous behaviour; their greed and self-serving attitudes; the lack of support of the studios with their brand of machines, such as constant breakdowns of machines that should never have been supplied with inherent faults in design; same with home machines, so many break down or don’t perform as they should and this alone gives the industry a bad name.  Brand Loyalty (and snobbery)  has been such that people wont even admit when they have a problem and ask others for help.

Over the past two years I’ve seen a decline in the “as-seen-on-tv ” cheap and basically useless machines and was encouraged to see the owners of some of  the “better” brands and studio owners start to engage more in social media and in education of the consumer via internet websites and forums.  Those within the industry know that our previous consumer website and forum system had serious problems from within the industry and a new one www-vibration-training-advice was set up.  I hoped for lots of different brands involvement but there’s been very little.

The decisive factor in my pulling away from other brands is a feeling of such disappointment.  The ” final straw”, to use a local idiom, was discovering that the HyperVibe brand was engaging the services of Internet Search Engine Optimization developers, working out of India, writing articles in poor English, some almost unintelligable, for one reason alone – to push that company, HyperVibe’s, Google ranking up to Page 1.  I know a lot about SEO as I have my own website and I do all I can to ethically increase the ranking of others that I am involved with.  I’ve also worked for a large U.S. online directory and still maintain some pages for them.  At times I’ve “cleaned up” articles that were ambiguous due to poor language skills.

The problem with engaging SEO developers that have poor English language skills and zero interest in your industry is that the resulting articles that pop up all over the internet can have very poor quality content.  In this case they have been written by one person using three (at least) different names on the same articles.  It’s clever and it does work to push the linked company, in this case, HyperVibe, up the Search Engine rankings but at what cost?  When I emailed Murray Seaton, the Australian owner/director of HyperVibe, his reply was, “Many of our distributors (ourselves included) use the services of Indian SEO developers”. He said that he was doing all he could to ensure his company ranked highly on the internet so people could read “decent” information rather than that put out by the cheap, low quality home vibration machine suppliers.  With that I agree but he also added, “It’s also my opinion the articles are both harmless and useless to anyone who reads them, its unlikely anyone would be influenced by them (if somehow they manage to find them). They serve no purpose but to help our rankings”.

I have a high personal integrity that, if I had a brand, would not let me promote articles that are “harmless and useless”.  Actually I consider them quite harmful!  It really doesn’t take much more than a simple search using the words “Vibration Training” to find them and they present Vibration Training in a confusing, garbled manner. The articles do not differentiate machine types and present snippets of “facts and figures” taken from other places around the internet that don’t necessarily relate to the actual article or brand of machine they link to.  HyperVibe was a vibration system that I saw as valid, just very different to the Vibra-Train machines I work with.  It’s an excersise system using pivotal vibration, or vibration therapy.  I may have even suggested it to some people but no more.

The future of this industry is Vibra-Train.  Vibration Training is Vibra-Train and Vibra-Train is Vibration Training.

Once again I’m happy to say that I am privileged to work for this company, Vibra-Train -  The Vibration Training Specialists.

“we are Power Plate trainers, PRs, marketers, directors, customer service, sales assistants, educators and are here to answer questions and help people understand more about the Power Plate machine…. Our Power Plate trainers are busy instructing clients and advising programmes for them, however any specific training related questions are forwarded over to them.”

While this gives a little credibility to the twitter posts it’s a cop-out.  They are paid marketers using social media to promote a product.  Their posts are mostly statements about which model or movie star is using a PowerPlate and there’s a lot of “retweeting” of others posts, saying they’re planning or have done their workout.  There’s also some links to exercises videos.

I’ve yet to see any real questions asked and answered!  They are P.R. marketing people above all else. It was easy for me to find the P.R company they work for.  P.R. people are not “on the floor” trainers even if they’ve done a basic instructor course; what’s more the level 1 course is all about marketing.  Questions can be forwarded to trainers I don’t doubt that but then to have to wait for a reply, all via the marketing company; seems to me to be a very inefficient way to deal with queries.  I can answer your queries immediately in the studio or by phone or email.

I’m not against advertising or promotion; heck, I’m promoting Vibration Training every day with this website and in many conversations both in person and online but I’ll never be seen pushing the gossip that “..insert movie star or model name here..” uses the brand of machines that I work with.  They do!  I could list a “who’s who” of celebrities, models, media people and more but who cares? Vibration Training (on real, medium- high force machines) is for everyone; the stay at home mom, the elderly priest, the airline staff (we get a lot of these), the obese for whom it’s a lifesaver, the top personal trainers and sales staff from local gyms, athletes, students, those with disabilities and just about everyone else.

I can’t promise you’ll end up looking like a model or movie star if you train with me but I can promise that I’ll push you hard and encourage you (there’s nothing politically correct about our way of encouraging though – you may get a smile and kind words but you just might get told how much you “suck” and get shocked and shamed into doing better).

You, the reader, really can do the Safety Program, no excuses accepted.  If the 84 year old priest and the 200kg mom can do full 60 second positions on a high force machine then you can!   You’ll have a fully supervised session in a fun environment and get great results.

Call into any Vibra-Train Studio in New Zealand, Australia, and Ampthill, Bedfordshire, U.K. or read more of my blogs for more information.  There’s a contact link in the Welcome tab at the top of the page.

Recommended Vibration Training Information Websites:

www.vibra-train.com

www.vibration-training-advice.com

There’s a passion that some people have for the product they sell or work with and this comes through in what they write, especially on Twitter.  It’s so easy to see who really believes in what they are selling compared with those being paid to promote a product or service.

Even so, I missed seeing that the @powerplate girls were, in fact, P.R. people, simply doing a job, paid to promote a product, in this case the PowerPlate machine.

I really should have realised it earlier, watching their tweets about Cindy Crawford and other celebrities using the machines yet when I click over to the the various celebrities mentioned I find they have just trialed a machine or just mention it in passing.  Why it matters which celebrity uses your product I can’t understand but then many females and a smattering of males will follow blindly if they know an “important person” does something. The @powerplate girls also link to other social media sites with blogs and “exercise of then week” pictures and instructions.  I’ve got no problem with this, it just seemed that something was missing from their posts, some enthusiasm maybe, especially when posts were re-tweeted over and over by the other PowerPlate people.  Sometimes they post about their own experiences and they get excited; these tweets are more real.

The owners and instructors who work day by day with vibration machines and see their clients results are the ones whose posts I like to watch.  They show enthusiasm and that they enjoy what they are doing.

P.R people posting about a health and fitness product – well it says a lot doesn’t it!

I couldn’t say it better so click through if you are serious about losing some fat.

A tip for any Dumbass (and all you sensible types too): Vibration Training on high quality machines can be the easiest, fastest way to kick-start an exercise habit.  Of course I say “easy” in a rather “tongue in cheek” way as we all know that no real exercise is easy and the studio group that I recommend is Vibra-Train.

Note the name Vibra-Train, not Vibra-Massage.  It’s all good, really, anyone can do it, larger size is what this brand was originally designed for so you’ve got nothing to lose; well nothing except some fat (and you get strong, small, well formed muscles that support your bones and help you burn even more fat).

The interesting thing is what happened to my body during the three weeks I stopped vibration training.

Yesterday I was using the B.C.A. (Body Composition Analyser) machine to get current body measurements for a customer and I decided to use the machine myself.  I saw right away that I’d lost just over 1kg in weight which in most people is not worth noting but as my weight had remained stable from early December through Christmas and to my previous B.C.A. test three weeks ago I was pleased.

Looking over the full printed results of my test I lost my joy completely.  Sure, I had lost over 1kg in weight but I had lost a full 2kg in muscle.  And I had gained 1kg in fat.

Without the B.C.A. machine my change in weight, even as little as 1kg when I struggle with weightloss, would seem to be a victory BUT knowing that three weeks of almost no vibration training had caused 2kg of muscle loss is upsetting.  The corresponding fat gain during a time I wasn’t eating much due to sickness even more upsetting.

The value of the B.C.A. machine showed more when looking at other results: My B.M.I had dropped slightly (looks good but is it?) It’s an outdated measurement that also didn’t show the correct picture as my Resting Metabolic Rate (B.M.R.) had dropped also.  That means that although I am now slightly less overweight I am not burning as many calories each day.

It’s not a good result at all!  A small Weight Loss that is actually a Time Bomb for Weight Gain of the worst sort – FAT.

Worse still, as I am mid-aged female, I would continue to lose muscle mass and bone density if I don’t go back to a resistance exercise program, be that Vibration Training or a weights program soon.  Today I am back into the Vibra-Train Safety Program and I’ll increase my protein intake so that I’ll soon gain back what I’ve lost.

I encourage all women to work-out using a high quality lineal (upright) Vibration Machine if available or at least buy some free-weights and a book similar to this “Strong Women Stay Young”.  Next time I am unable to use a vibration machine I’ll be looking in the back of the cupboard for my box of free-weights.

There’s a wide variation in those figures and at first glance it looks reasonable.  Many women would simply accept the goal, go hard-out in diet and exercise toward the lowest figure and then cry when they fail to reach the target.  Continued food deprivation and yo-yo diets can lead to morbid obesity and so worsen the situation the hapless person finds himself in.

So what’s wrong with that goal?

Simply, it fails to take into account ethnicity and muscle mass amongst other factors.  For me an eventual goal weight of 68-72 is attainable and healthy (and that’s the upper limit of the plan I am following).  The lower limit of 52kg is just too low and could deplete my muscle mass to a point where my bone density would lower putting me at risk of osteoporosis or easily breaking bones.  My metabolic rate would fall and with that my energy level and mental acuity.

My Personalised Eating Plan

The diet and exercise plan I’m using as a guide to plan my eating this year was written specifically for me by a highly respected nutritionist whose advice and articles I value.  It was based on my age, sex, height, weight, waist measurement, and my opinion of my body type which I entered as “muscular”.   The results that came back were fairy accurate compared with the results I get from the Body Composition Analyser machine at Vibra-Train where I work.  The estimated metabolic rate was lower than my actual rate but the BMI measurement was correct. (Note: BMI is another outdated measurement that fails in usefulness because off ethnicity and muscle mass differences).  The report said I am Obese based on my BMI (Body Mass Index).  It then gave dire warnings of health problems that accompany obesity.  These would be enough to scare anyone into eating better and exercising regularly and so are good for people to read although in my case, again they are overstated as my BMI does not reflect my real state.  I know my actual muscle mass percentage from the Body Composition Analyser machine and as it’s high it skews my BMI.

In a personalised diet plan where does the goal weight come from?

Many websites give “Ideal Body Weight” using arithmetic formula that was designed for medicine dosing, (NOT for weight control).  One such formula is that of Dr BJ Devine who in 1974 converted a formula already in use based on inches of height and pounds of bodyweight into metric figures.  It gives ideal (or expected) bodyweight as

Men: Ideal Body Weight (in kilograms) = 50 + 2.3 kg per inch over 5 feet.
Women: Ideal Body Weight (in kilograms) = 45.5 + 2.3 kg per inch over 5 feet.

These figures suggest a Body Mass Index of about 23 for adult men (this is rather high) and for adult women of 20.8 which for many women is too low and suggest an ideal body weight for most women seriously close to lean body weight (organs, bone, muscle, with no fat).

Although Devine’s formula was updated in 1983 by Dr JD Robinson and DR DM Miller, their formulas still have serious faults.  And even before the Devine IBW formula the insurance company, Metropolitan Life was, in 1943, using medical dosing weight formula to set height/weight tables.

The flaws in these formulas when used for Ideal or Best Body Weight are just too high to be used today.  Years ago on a battlefield or in a hospital when a person’s weight had to be calculated immediately to give dosage of life-saving medications (like theophylline, digoxin, gentomyin) these estimations or expected weight were invaluable but not so today.

What is your Real Ideal Weight?

My advice to women (and men) wanting to know their true ideal body weight is to be very wary of online formula and even ranges on a diet plan made for you.  Your ideal weight is the one at which you are feel well and are active. It’s the weight at which you feel at your best! You know what this is and a quick glance in the mirror shows if you are carrying muscle or fat.  A test using a Body Composition Analyser (a machine that uses a light electric current to take measurements) can be helpful as it gives a printout of your measurements including Body Fat Percentage and Muscle Mass Percentage and an overall fitness score, a starting point to work from and then a repeat test three – five months later to show your progress.  In Auckland Central there is a BCA machine at Vibra-Train, in Victoria St West.

As I look back, my personal joys of 2009 were many; working for Vibra-Train gave wings to my dreams and then brought me down to earth with a thud, the responsibility of being an effective Vibration Training Instructor is both exciting and seriously demanding.  It’s my job to ensure that customers get the benefits they are paying for.  I also had several articles published online on magazine websites.

My son and daughter both graduated from their respective universities;  my son completing a post-graduate year with high distinction in Computer Science and my daughter graduating with a Bachelor of Communication Studies degree.   My son will soon be moving to Sydney, Australia to begin his PhD research and other studies  involving robots and artificial intelligence.

2010 will be, I believe,  a year of consolidation for the Vibration Training, Vibration Therapy, and Vibration Machine companies.  Those who are solid and ethical will join forces to present a united group.  This will allow for better use of resources (informational, people, and maybe even machines) and even better than before, articles online and in print to inform and teach the public as well as keeping the current and new training instructors and proprietors well taught in safety program use and methodology.

Many new people will get to benefit from Vibration Training.

This is an amazing product, so versatile for making a smoothie after your vibration training or other exercise session.  Fast and easy to use by simply mixing 3/4 cup or Eggcel with 1/4 cup of chocolate milk or mixing a cupful of Eggcel^TM with just one scoop of your regular after exercise protein powder and a tablespoon of milk (gives it that smooth milkshake texture we all enjoy), shake it up and enjoy!

Eggcel can also be mixed with juice or fruit (banana and pineapple or berries are my favorites) and milk.  Add it to your pancake mix or omelette/scrambled egg recipe to increase the bio-available protein for muscle growth and repair.

I’m proud to be stocking this Eggcel-ent, New Zealand made product and invite everyone; Vibra-Train customers, Club Physical and Les Mills customers and well, just everyone to come in to try and buy.  Product available in 1 litre bottles or as 1kg powder.  Powder Acai Blast (500g Powder) is also available on request.

-  No Artificial Additives or Preservatives

-  High in Protein – a Complete Essential Amino Acid

-  Extremely Low in Carbohydrates, Low Calories, No Fat!

- Heat Pasteurized – “Liquid” Not Raw

- Tasteless – Quick – Convenient – Simple to Use

Websites to visit for more information: Vibra-Train ;  Eggcel