Steve Haywood Health & Fitness

Power plates are the latest craze sweeping gyms and health clubs across the country. The prospect of getting a toned body just by balancing on a vibrating platform seem to be too goo to be true – so what do personal trainers think? Alison Nockles has been a personal trainer for three years. She sees clients at her home gym near the Peak District and has been trialling power plates over the last few months:

Powerplates provide an excellent workout for the client who is ‘time poor’. You can do a full cardiovascular and resistance workout in 40 minutes. Users don’t need to spend a full 30 minutes on the treadmill, cross-trainer or bike in addition to a further 45 minutes doing weights. You can combine the workout making it interesting and quick.

I am finding them very useful for older clients with arthritis. They provide a way to work the muscles, keeping the client in the right alignment but for a short period. So less stress on the joints but still making sure that the muscles are working and synovial fluid is created around the joint.

Post run they provide an excellent stretch and massage tool. Stretching takes no time at all and massage can be achieved within a few minutes for each muscle group.

Amazingly, you can buy power plates online – even though they are a major piece of gym equipment. Gym Company do a range of plates online and even offer free delivery and installation. This model is the top of the range Power Plate pro5 AIRdaptive which costs £7995, but you can other models for as little as £970.

Power Plate