Frequency, when applied to whole body vibration machines, is the number of times the platform completes a cycle of movement per second. More likely than not, this is the maximum potential frequency that the machine can move the platform, in a perfectly controlled environment with no load or friction on the machine! So in a real-world setting, with a user on the machine, the actual operating frequency will be slightly lower than the posted number, but it’s not a big deal, as the difference should only be minimal unless the motor is weak.

For Pivotal or Oscillation machines, one cycle of movement means the platform does a complete teeter-tooter motion on the platform and returns to its original starting position. For Lineal, Vertical, or Sonic machines, one cycle of movement means the platform completes one up and down movement and returns to its original starting position. For Tri-planar machines, one cycle of movement means the platform completes one multi-directional movement and returns to its original starting position.

The higher the frequency, the faster the machine vibrates per second. A 3 Hz machine only vibrates 3 times per second, whereas a 50Hz machine vibrates 50 times a second!

If frequency is how fast a machine vibrates per second, then amplitude is how strong the vibration is or how high the platform moves from its resting place. Some manufacturers boast a really wide frequency range but hide the fact that their machines have a low amplitude. In order for a machine to be effective, it must have a sufficient amplitude and wide frequency range.

All oscillation machines out there only allows you to adjust the frequency of the machine. This is because of the physical design of the hardware does not allow for any adjustments in amplitude. The only way to “adjust the amplitude” is to move your feet closer to or further away from the center (or the fulcrum) of the platform. The further away your feet are from the center of the platform, the higher the amplitude and the stronger the vibration impact. T-zone, Zaaz, Tectonic, and Vmax are representative of this category.

Some vertical, lineal, or triplanar machines allow the user to select either a high amplitude or low amplitude before setting the machine in motion. Once the machine is operating, you cannot adjust the amplitude, the only thing you can adjust is the frequency. If you want to change the amplitude from low to high or from high to low, you would need to stop the machine completely, change the amplitude setting, and restart the machine. This cumbersome setting is also due to limitation in the machine’s design. When you set the amplitude, the motor must stop completely so that the gear box that is attached to the motor axle can set to a high centrifugal spin or a low centrifugal spin for the offset metal. When set to high, the setup allows the motor to throw the offset metal further away, and the additional throw creates a stronger amplitude, and hence a stronger impact can be felt by the user. Machines from Power Plate, Vmax, Vibra Pro, 3G Cardio are representatives of this category.

Sonic machines are a different class in itself. High end sonic machines have the ability to make dynamic adjustments to the amplitude and frequency without needing to stop the machine. If you want the utmost control and precision adjustments, then a sonic machine is the way to go. TurboSonic and Sonix falls into this category.

A very important factor to an effective Whole Body Vibration machine is the G-force, or the gravitational load. This is what makes your muscles relax and contract when you stand on the vibration machine. Imagine standing in an elevator. If the elevator suddenly moves downward at a high speed, you will feel like you are floating (muscles relaxed). If the elevator suddenly stopped and moved upwards at a rapidly increasing speed, you would have to push down with your legs to keep yourself upright (muscles contracted). This force you feel is the gravity of Earth trying to pull you down, and your body is responding to this by contracting your muscles to remain standing upright. This is a perfect example of why your muscles contract and relax when you are standing on a vibration machine and why your muscles are actually subconsciously doing work.

Now imagine doing that not once in one second, but 15 or 30 times per second, and you can calculate how many times your muscle has to contract and relax when you perform a squat on the vibration platform. Not only that, because each time the machine goes up and down, it may be producing 3-17 times the force of gravity on its up cycle and your muscles have to work that much harder to stay upright. This is where the work comes in, and the machine helps you do all that without you realizing! A vibration machine with the correctly tuned amplitude and frequency setting will create a G-force that is significant enough for your body to respond and work, in terms of contracting and relaxing. If you were to use a machine with a super low 0.5 mm amplitude and 100 Hz frequency, you’re not really going to achieve much because 1. your body physically simply cannot contract / relax 100 times per second, and 2. the amplitude or vertical movement is so insufficient that it doesn’t move nearly enough to create the proper G-force for your body to respond. Hence its always important to consider a good amplitude and frequency range to ensure the G-force created is significant.