Cardiometabolic responses of body-weight exercises with and without vibration

This investigation examined the interactive effect of body-weight (BW) exercises and vibration on cardiometabolic responses. Fourteen subjects performed a BW exercise protocol with (BW+V) and without (BW‒V) vibration in a randomized order. The BW exercise protocol consisted of three circuits of eight calisthenics-based exercises including prisoner squat, push-up, isometric squat, reverse dip, lunge, flutter kicks, isometric lunge, and T push-up. Vibratory frequency and amplitude were set at 40 Hz and 4 mm, respectively. Oxygen uptake (VO2), heart rate (HR), expired ventilation (VE), and blood lactate [La] were determined during the protocol and 30-minute recovery. The mean VO2 reached 48% and 50% of VO2max and the mean HR reached 80% and 83% of HRmax in BW‒V and BW+V, respectively. During the protocol, while the mean VE was greater (p=.031) in BW+V than BW‒V, no differences were seen for VO2 and HR between the two conditions. During recovery, while mean VO2 was greater (p=.002) in BW+V than BW-V, no differences were seen for VE and HR between the two conditions. [La] values were significantly elevated but remained similar between the two conditions. Exercise-specific VO2 was higher during the prisoner squat (p=.003) and isometric squat (p=.042) in BW+V than BW‒V, while no differences in VO2 were observed for all other exercises. Performing three circuits of eight BW exercises in a rapid-and-intense manner produced a sufficient increase in cardiometabolic responses. Metabolic potentiation associated with combining vibration with BW exercises seemed to be influenced by how the exercises were carried out on a vibration plate.