Tone your upper body with vibration machine exercises

10th March 2016

Vibration machine exercises are safe for people of all ages, being suitable for a variety of health and fitness goals, from losing the baby weight faster after giving birth to speeding up recovery from injuries. This form of physical activity can be more or less demanding than conventional workouts, depending on the type of exercises you opt for and on the machine’s technical parameters.

The Hypervibe whole body vibration platforms are powerful enough to provide the needed stimulation for building stronger muscles and burning more energy per training session, but can also be used for massage, warm-up and relaxation purposes. If you want to learn more about the benefits and uses of vibration therapy and training, read our Fitness and Exercises category for more relevant materials.

In today’s article we’ll focus on the training component of whole body vibration, and more specifically on a series of vibrating machine exercises that can be done for toning and strengthening the muscles in the upper body.

Hypervibe vibration machine exercises for the upper body

1. Planks

Set the machine’s frequency to 8-10 Hz and place your forearms on the platform. Planks are perfect for toning the arms, shoulders, back and abs, and you can do regular planks or lateral ones for targeting mostly the obliques.

When doing this exercise, your head should be in neutral position, back should be flat and shoulders aligned with your elbows. Your abs should be contracted and legs perfectly extended, with your pelvis tilt toward the floor.

Don’t let your stomach drop and don’t raise your hips either, as this will lower the impact the exercise has on the abdominal muscles. Breathe normally while holding the plank and try to maintain the position for at least 1 minute.

2. Torso twists / Ab crunches

As their name suggests, these exercises target the abdominals, and should be included in your training routine if you want a flatter abdomen and a nicely shaped waist. Set the frequency at 10-12 Hz and perform torso twists slowly, for 30 seconds, then rest for 10 seconds and repeat for another 30 seconds. Once you’re done with these, take another short break and then switch to crunches, repeating the exercise for 30 seconds.

3. Mountain climbers

This exercise is similar to the plank, but besides toning your back and front abs, it also targets the obliques, so it’s perfect for getting a slimmer waist. Moreover, it burns a lot of calories, as it mixes cardio with strength movements.

Start in the plank position and bring your left knee towards the chest, then extend it back and repeat with the right knee. Set the frequency to 8-12 Hz to avoid head vibration and repeat for 1 minute, alternating sides. Try to do the movements slowly so as to feel the contraction of the obliques, then faster, to burn more calories.

4. Biceps curls

Place your feet at #2, set the machine to 10 Hz and grab the two resistance bands, curling your biceps. Repeat the exercise for 1 minute or if you feel the bands don’t exert enough resistance, replace them with lightweight dumbbells for working your muscles in a more efficient manner.

5. Low back rotations

Stand on the Hypervibe whole body vibration machine in the basic stance, with feet at #2, legs extended and back straight. Set the frequency to 12 Hz and bring your hands towards the chest. Rotate your torso to the right side, moving only from the waist. Hold for 1-2 seconds, then slowly return to the initial position and rotate to the left side. Repeat the exercise for one minute.

6. Prayer stretch

Kneel in front of the vibration platform and extend your hands overhead. Bend at your waist so as to bring the forearms on the platform, with palms facing down. Back should be straight, arms extended and head in neutral spine. Maintain the position for 1 minute, with the frequency set to 12 Hz.

7. Triceps dips

A strong core looks even better if your arms are lean and toned as well. You can use the Hypervibe machine for regular triceps dips, meaning that you can simply place your hands on the platform and raise and lower your body using your triceps, but without turning the machine on.

Still, if you want to make the routine more challenging and to see faster and more impressive results, I recommend you to take advantage of the G-force and vibrations sent by the platform and do the triceps dips while the platform tilts and does its job. 1 minute in this position, at 8-10 Hz, is more than enough for toning your triceps.

8. Push-ups

No upper body workout is complete without push-ups. When performed correctly, these exercises engage not only your arms and shoulders, but also your back and abs, and if you add some vibrations from the Hypervibe machine, your entire core area will benefit from the classical push-ups. You can do them the classical way or just hold the typical position without lowering the chest toward the platform.

9. Low back extensions

Stand on the platform with feet at #1 and set the frequency at 12 Hz. Extend the arms overhead and elongate your back to stretch the back muscles and relax the spine. Hold for 10 seconds, then return to the initial position hold for 3-4 seconds. Repeat the exercise for one minute.