Revolutionizing Fitness and Recovery with Power Plate: Insights from Laura Wilson

Foreign.

Welcome synergy listeners. Lori and I always get so excited when we're back in studio recording. We just get a little giddy. But we're extra giddy today because we get to have Laura Wilson with us. Lori and I met her in Dallas a few months ago at a conference and we knew right away that we wanted to have her on as a guest. So Laura, we are so excited you're here.

Well, thanks so much. I'm really excited too. And I was like, was that June? Is that I couldn't believe how, you know, time this flies. Because I feel like we were just chatting yesterday.

I know, right?

We absolutely were. I think we talked your ear off.

We would not leave your space.

We had so much to say. We had so many like minded ideas so.

Absolutely. Well we were, you know today we wanted to kind of dig into, just get gain an understanding about who Laura is number one and a little bit more about power play. You know we are so excited about and love power play but I feel like not enough people really understand it and understand the capacities, the broad capacities that things that it does. So that's what we'd like to talk about today.

Yeah. Oh my gosh. Well, this is going to be really easy for me because I can talk forever about power plate. I've been an avid user myself for over 15 years and you know, not just on my own body but with my, my clients, my athletes. So I, I always tell people this is going to sound like an overstatement, this might be a bit egregious but it's going to change your life. And they always like, they scoff a little bit and then inevitably, you know, a month later they come back and they're like this has changed my life every time. Love it.

So how do you even get started? Like what's your story?

Oh my goodness. So I grew up a farm girl in Indiana and you know, you, you start moving and working and doing early and I'm definitely an active person by, and started gymnastics when I was like three. I think my, my parents like she needs to be busy so you know, fast forward years of, of athletics and stuff like that and I'm just, I'm talking about how, how I found power plate, you know, graduated into teaching what at that time we called aerobics fitness and studio classes. And I've done a lot of high impact, I've competed in the bodybuilding world. Some of my body has sustained a lot of impact over the years and just load and in my 20s, late 20s, I could feel That I was starting to hurt. And Certainly in my 30s, I was like, I guess this is called aging. And I was like, I stayed so young. That's sad. But then it was right around that time, right around 30, when I was, I came across the power plate when I was traveling and it happened to be in a hotel gym in Europe. And I was like, oh, what is this? This feels amazing. Like, I, I didn't know what it was doing exactly because I wasn't familiar with the product. I just knew I felt really good afterwards. That was, that was the intuitive feeling. And so I, you know, started to look into it, found out what exactly it does, the idea of, you know, promoting circulation. I was like, this is the key to, you know, diminishing or maybe even eliminating pain for my life. And from then on, I've been addicted to power play and how it makes me feel and what it's done for my body. So it really was initially about joint pain, the achiness, the chronic pain that I thought meant I was going to have to stop doing things that I love doing, like movement wise. And power plate changed all that for me. So that's how I first discovered it.

So, Laura, your story is very similar to mine because I found power plate because I had a hamstring injury and I was a runner, a long distance runner, and I just couldn't run because every time I would, I would flare it back up. And so I was miserable not being able to run. I was at a conference, saw the power plate, it changed. I mean, in three days I could tell a huge difference. I was able to run again. And I bought one for my clinic at the time, that was 12 years ago. And we used it in clinic for many, many years. And when I, when I changed my clinic, we no longer have it in the office. It's actually at my house. And I still use it, but I used it as a pain medic for a long time. I didn't use it as an exercise modality. And so it's just been recently that I've kind of changed my idea. I use it for stretching and massage and it was amazing. And it let me do all the things. But it's just been recent that I've realized really the power of exercising, doing dynamic exercise on the plate. And now I splurged and got a bike and it has changed my life already. And so I want to dig into that a little bit more. The difference between, like, the modality of using the power plate and as a stretch and massage tool, pain Tool and using it as an exercise tool.

Yeah, absolutely. It's, you know, it's. Sometimes it's hard to talk about what the plate does because it does such a broad range of things. And so, you know, it's, it's when you think like the, what is the message? What is Power Plate going to do? Well, it's just, it's going to make your life better, it's going to make you feel better, it's going to make you play better, it's going to make you move better, it's going to make you look better. Like it really is going to upgrade your life in every category because it truly does address those things that you talked about, the idea of pain management, but it can also address and we talk about the, you know, the exercise portion. The elite athletes of the world are all using Power Plate because they know that it gives them that edge. They're already at this extremely high performance level looking to make that 0.001% difference. And the power play can still do that. Like it's the tool that can do that. It can elevate even the elite of the elite using it in an exercise capacity. So when we talk about the ability to upgrade our lives when we are using it in an exercise portion, I hate using this. But the average people, you know, it can make some serious improvements and in whatever it is the goal that you're looking for. So it's, it's not about should I use it or if I'm going to use it, it's simply how, how are you going to use it? How is it going to be the most impactful for the goals that you have, whether it is look better, feel better, play better, move better, because it's going to make a difference in, in all of those categories. So how can I cater it to fit what I need? So, yes, using it as massage, stretch, you know, for pain management. Those same things that we're doing for pain management, though, are also great for just. They warm up and a recovery process. When we talk about whether you're a gym goer, a weekend warrior, an elite athlete, an active aging. Because it's going to move that process and compress that process that we can get more, we can get better results by putting less volume of work on our body, that's crazy because when we start to look at longevity and we're finally realizing the Trends of the 90s where it was like no pain, no gain is exactly. We've got to get rid of that. The idea is we can use power Play to get all the gains without any of the pain, because we can be much kinder to our body but still get the results we're looking for without, you know, that that whole mantra of it's got to feel really terrible or hurt. We need to be so sore, you know, because we can use it in every one of these capacities. We can use it for pain management, we can use it in exercise. And I think when you start thinking about that broad spectrum, then it's sometimes also why the power plate becomes intimidating to a lot of people. Because they're like, well, what do I do? I do.

Yeah.

Yes. So how, how is that, like, how does it work in that capacity, what it's doing?

We'll talk just a brief minute. I'm going to dive into some science and if I'm getting too sciency and too nerdy, just tell me, like to dial it back. Laura. But it's basically, it's moving. Okay. If people don't know what it is. Whole body vibration training means that this platform is moving. And specifically when we talk about power plate, that's the one that all the science is based on. When you go start looking at the white papers and you dive into the fine print, it's always a power plate, not another vibration platform. There are a lot of other vibration platforms that claim their whole body vibration training. Make sure you're checking out which one it is. It needs to be a power plate, but it's moving in three directions, creating vibration. And it means that we're going to have moments of instability. We're also having moments because it's moving in three directions. So if I'm standing on it, moving forward and back, side to side and up and down. That up and down means there are moments. We have nothing underneath us. So it's ground reaction force. We're jumping. We have micro hits as well. So ground reaction force and, and instability. Your brain thinks you're falling down. There are moments when there's nothing underneath you. So what happens when we start to slip and fall? Well, the people who live maybe down south and never get ice, they make. I live in the north. I think maybe you guys, one of you is in Texas or something, but I know you have ice there too. But if you start to slip and fall, your whole body says great for impact. It tries to protect you and literally contract everything because it doesn't know if you're going to land on your elbow or your butt cheek. So it just says protect everything. That is the subconscious response that's being triggered Every time the plate moves. So as that plate moves 30 times a second, 30 times a second, your brain says, I'm falling down and falling down. So it's activating those muscles 30 times a second. On the floor, we can only do like a conscious, maybe one to two per second. One to two versus 30 or sometimes even some, some human bodies can do 35 a second. So the volume of work we're getting in the amount of time, that's that idea of compression. What's happening though, when you think all my muscle fibers are contracting? Your heart has to pump blood because when you squeeze your, and contract your muscle and then it releases, that requires blood force and your central nervous system to work. Your brain is working harder because it's doing more. Your muscles are working harder because they're doing more and less time. As a result, you're going to have massive amounts of blood circulation pumping through the body and getting all of these contractions, which is what working out is. We're doing muscle activation in far less time. So we can do all the things we would do on the floor. We can just do them way better, make it really simple so you can do more muscles more often. So it's about that compression of time. So it's, it's massive tissue hydration. So we get mobility, flexibility because we need to be warm and fluid and flexible and we need our tissues to go like this. You know, that's happening. We're getting so much more muscle. So if you're looking for gains, exercise wise, you know you're going to get that. If you're looking to go for anything like pain management, getting that deep tissue hydration is how we manage pain. It's how we decrease delayed onset muscle soreness. You know, when you start thinking about the geeky science, you're like, oh wait, look, it applies to all these things, even down to the fact that it starts with our central nervous system, which traditional exercise does not. You go, you pick up a heavy thing, your body holds it and says to your brain, hey, we gotta, we gotta work on this. I'm holding this. So it's, it's backwards, you know, we're able to trigger that central nervous system because it is a subconscious activation. That idea of falling down again, you're gonna have more muscle fibers working and your brain is working. We're actually creating a cognitive, you know, tool. Basically when, when you're on the plate, your brain has to work. So we're seeing, that's why you see it used for so many neurological, you know, Applications as well. We haven't even gone down. I, we have. None of us have even mentioned that. But the idea of, of using it with multiple sclerosis, Parkinson's, you know, neuropathy, people who have any kind of paralysis in any parts of their body because it can stimulate the brain again, which is so essentially.

Yeah, essentially, you're saying for, even for rehab for brain injuries, I would imagine that it would have a lot of benefit as well. And what I also heard you say, and I have to go back to it, is it's more for less because everyone's in this rush, rush, rush, where do I fit exercise in? You know, how do I do something that I hear you say maybe 10 or 15 minutes, which we'll get into that later, like, how much time do we need to spend for each condition? But for 10 to 15 minutes you get all of these benefits. And I think sometimes people say to us, like, I don't have an hour to exercise. You know, I only have 10, 15 minutes. Well, 10 or 15 minutes to get what you're saying is a lot more out of that time.

Oh, absolutely. Again, the body can only do so much consciously, and we're really unfortunately disconnected from our bodies now in this world that we live in. And we're not able to recruit much of the muscle fiber because we're just, we don't move, we sit a lot. So it's not only that idea of we are doing physically just more, but you're getting more of every single, you know, your software doing more, your brain, your actual muscle bodies are doing more. Because it's going to not discriminate and say, I'm only going to flex this one part. No, it's flexing every muscle fiber because it thinks you're falling down. And then as a result, then that just triggers the whole, your highways, your circulatory system, your lymphatic system to be working really hard. So, yeah, that. More, more and less time. Absolutely. And it's, again, it goes back to that idea of longevity too, because we need to be kinder and we can't be putting tons and tons of volume of work on our body because long term that's going to cause more harm than good.

Right. More wear and tear. So, Laura, you said this whole subconscious idea has kind of got my attention, but the idea of falling, it doesn't literally feel like you're falling. Your brain just thinks you're falling. Right. So I wanted our listeners to be aware it feels very pleasant. The plate is moving, but it's A very relaxing movement. And so it's enjoy. You feel really like you enjoy the sensation. I love the sensation. And tell me what it is, Laura. When the plate goes off and that tingling sensation that you get in your muscles, has anybody defined what that is? Is that just circulation? Like, what is that? I look forward to that. I'm like, this is gonna be so much fun.

You know that feeling when you go. I'm thinking, and I don't wanna date any of us here. But we. And roller skating is back. But we used to go to the roller skating.

Of course, right?

You still feel like you were skating. The mind does interesting things, but. But yeah, when the plate shuts off. Because we have immense circulatory capacities using the plate. So much so that we are able to push blood all the way into your capillaries. So if you're a very pale skinned person, you're going to see, you may even look blotchy. That's because we can get into the tiniest little blood flow parts of our body, which is really hard to do. We're talking, you got to go zone five, which I like to tell my clients that should be threshold. No one really wants to go there, but it's good for us because of what it does circulatory wise, you know, through the whole, you know, cardiorespiratory system. But the plate can do that by simply standing, stretching, moving, doing, without taking your heart rate there. Having you feel like you're at that state of heart rate, so you get that tingly, like ant. It's almost like ants are crawling on your skin kind of feeling that I think you're describing. Again, that's down to circulation pushing all the way into to capillaries. And what we know that also is it's part of that lymphatic flush that we're all looking to get. Because we're now finding out what amazing things that does if we can stimulate the lymph system. So it's that feeling plus your serotonin, your dopamine, all of your happy hormones are like on 10, 10 when you're on a power plate, because it's stimulating so much more of that than even just traditional exercise. So you feel like you're floating, you're on a cloud. I've had a lot of clients describe it that way. In addition to this kind of tingly, warm feeling, to go back to the idea of shaking, I definitely. Or, you know, is it this, this falling down? You will notice that it's stimulating the body and the Sensory system of balance. Because if you try to stand on one leg, it's difficult. It's difficult when you do that on the floor. But it's moving almost imperceptibly. When you look at a power plate and it's on, you cannot tell it's moving. That also is indicative of a whole body vibration, power plate versus a lot of these other whole body vibration plates, because you will see them. That's not good. That means it's not probably a power plate, but it's imperceptive and it's harmonic. It feels amazing. Like you said, we have to remember, people think, oh, shaking. How do you put a baby to sleep?

Vibration, vibration.

We have vibrating chairs out there that are probably not harmonic vibration. You put a baby in it, boom, it goes right to sleep. You put a baby in a car, people are like, I had to drive my baby around, put them in the car seat, because it was the vibration of the car. We love vibration. That's why grounding, electromagnetic fields, getting back in the grass, feeling those things, it is a wonderful sensation to the human body. It helped to reset us at our core. That's what power plate does. So it's a very soothing feeling. And you see that in the research too, because it lowers cortisol levels, right?

Yeah, we want to talk about that a little bit. But I do want to ask the question is, what's the learning curve? Because I think, you know, one of the things that I hear people say all the time is, you know, number one, getting started with exercise is just getting started is hard. But number two, there is that, that fear factor, that intimidation with any new tool, any new device. So what's the learning curve?

So I would say zero. Because the great thing about power play is you can get benefits from simply standing on a power plate. I mean, I've worked in the industry for 25 plus years. I never want to say, like, there's no magic pill. The power plate comes real close because standing on it, the original application was back in the 1960s with the Russian cosmonaut program. Bolt it into the rocket, send them up. Because if you're in zero gravity, you're not maintaining bone density and muscle mass. You come back to earth, you're going to be crushed. The power plate is how they maintained it. They stood on power plates in zero gravity, strapped themselves onto it, simply stood it maintained bone density and muscle mass enough so that they could stay in space longer than 120 days, come back, and still not collapse under gravity. So you can stand on a here with gravity, and think about the ramifications that you're getting, because we're getting a little bit of gravity plus the action of the power plate. So the learning curve comes down to, you know, as long as you're willing to try it, get on it for a couple of minutes, and simply stand in an athletic position, you've already done amazing things for your body. You've stimulated your lymphatic system. You maybe worked on some ground reaction force to the equivalent of doing box jumps, which we know are good for us, but most of us are intimidated and. Or maybe it's unsafe for most of us to do. You're also getting all those muscle activations. So it's like you had a mini session of lifting weights. Even as little as five minutes of simply standing. So it's great. To give an anecdotal example, my mom, I got them a power play, and she was like, what? What do I do with this? She was not ever part of any exercise program, you know, ever. And I said, stand on it and fold the laundry, Mom. She started doing that to be folding the laundry while she stood on her power plate. And lo and behold, fast forward, you know, three months later, she had lost, like, 22 pounds just because she started making it part of her daily routine and then started doing exercise and other things. But it was like three months of folding laundry on the back plate.

I love it. I love it.

Yeah.

So one of the. Lori was asking about learning curve, and then, you know, I'm going back to my story, how I was just using it for massage and stretching. I love when I found out that you guys had an app, because the app has all kind of classes, and Laura teaches some of those classes. That's how I actually got to. Got familiar with Laura classes. That's why I geeked out when I met her for the first time. But the classes are really well done. They've got classes anywhere from 10 minutes to 20 minutes. I don't know if there are any ones that are longer than 20 minutes.

There are some that are like 28. They're close to 30. That's if you're wanting to get a really intense. Because that's almost like 90 minutes in a gym of a gym session. When you think about the number of muscle activations, neurological activations, like, physiologically, what's going on in the body. So, you know, that's. That's kind of a threshold. Most people are like, yeah, that's. I'm done. I'm done now. But, yeah, no, I'M glad you mentioned that.

And the app is free, correct? I mean, I think that that's pretty amazing too. Like a lot of times you have to buy the piece of equipment and then you pay every month for a subscription. And so I think that's a pretty fantastic business model that you guys have.

Yeah, yeah. And, and I do want to, you know, I'm, I'm so glad that you mentioned it because what's also on there is there are little blurbs where I talk about the science, power plate, and, and simple terms so that you can go back, you can review that. We have a whole 21 day getting started, like 21 day habit type guide. So when you open the app, that's what, right at the top. So for those that are looking like, I have no idea, it's going to give you, you know, two or three videos of here's what it is, here's what you're going to do in like a two minute clip. Then it gives them. All right, try this short little workout. Try this short beginner workout. Try this and, and repeat these. So it's walking you through kind of 21 days of getting started. And as you mentioned, the app is free. So yeah, I, it's, it's an invaluable tool. And there, there's everything from yoga, not just 10, 20 and 30 minutes, but we're talking about everything from like, oh, I just want to stretch and massage today. I, maybe I want to do yoga. Maybe I want to do kickboxing. Maybe I want to do strength. Maybe I want to do cardio. In fact, I even have, you know, series workout series. So eight weeks of periodized strength training. Eight weeks of periodized cardio training. And if you're like, what the heck is periodized? It just means like progressive overload. So like what a trainer would write you. So those are in there too. And it tells you how many times a week to do it and what, you know, if you need any additional tools, like use the static straps that come with the plate or things like that. So it is a great way to get started if you're really like, I have no idea. Even if you are just using a power plate at a gym. So pull up your app, put your headphones in.

Right.

You can work out there at the gym with your power plate if you don't have one at home or at your clinic.

Yeah. So in the past, powerplate was kind of cost prohibitive for home use. You know, you were lucky if you had one at the gym or at a Fitness studio. And now they've come out with all different models that do make it cost effective for home use. So I was super excited to see that transition because this is the way we can get people to have one in their home and to use it regularly for day to day activity or use it in their workplace. So I love that.

Yeah, yeah, too. Just to interject, because that's so true. You know, we all, I think so many of the people that we talk to have so many tools and so many devices and one of the things that I think just has to be reiterated is there are so many ways to use this. Like if you, you are. Hate to say the word broken, but you've got something going on with your body. Right. That's just a mess. It's a great recovery tool. Right. If you, if you really, your fitness level is not great and you've got to start somewhere to get somewhere, it's. You can use it for that. So I think sometimes people spent so many money, so much money on so many devices that they're like, oh, one more. And I say, you know what, this one kind of does it.

All right. Yeah, you have captured it right there. Because I say that to people all the time. I say, you know, there's a couple of things our bodies need. It needs like rest, recovery, it needs stretching of some sort, mobility, it needs to do cardio and it needs to do strength. Really, it's those four categories.

Yes.

Power play is, I can wholeheartedly say one of the only pieces of equipment that I am aware of in the world that can do all four of those excellently. It can address all four of those things that our bodies need to work really well. One piece of equipment instead of filling your gym with 15 things.

Yes. And now like you said, and Kelly hit the nail on the head is they used to be cost prohibitive. And I mean the devices we had were just, they were huge. So from a even space perspective, like they were big and now was standing on one, doing her laundry.

So just the base, right?

Yeah, that.

Yep. So they have, there's, there's two home units. They, I got them the smallest one and It's I think 35, 37 pounds, something like that. So you can move it quite easily. And, and they do like, even they're in their, you know, 70s. So that was another thing I wanted to consider is that they can actually move it quite easily. The one up from that that I actually have in my home is called the move. And it also has, it does not have the column, it's a slightly larger platform, so like more space to kind of do things on top of it because I'm, I'm doing a lot more than they are. Plus I'm using it to film things and film videos and create workout videos. So definitely one of the slightly larger one, more robust in what it offers. And it's still only like £87. So I can, the move can still be moved around in my house because I also take it sometimes outside and like use it on my patio and to work out in the sun. And like I've done yoga on my power play in the sun in the morning, like ridiculously wonderful things.

So making me a little jealous.

Right, Me too. So, Laura, time wise, like, what do we have any studies that tell us that nine minutes on the plate is equivalent to X minutes off the plate? Can we say that? Like, is there any.

It's obviously every human biologically is a little different. So we're very careful at power play about making those claims.

Sure.

Because you know, of the world we live in. But when you look at the science itself and just the volume of work and what we know the human body can do on the ground with any modality, science shows us somewhere between 1, 2 neurological activations per second, 1 to 2 muscle activations per second on the power plate. Again, because each of us is a little different. Lori might be doing something. My body might be capable of doing something else. You could be doing 30 activations with your mind and body per second. You might be capable of doing 35. Someone else might be capable of actually going all the way up to like 40. So it's hard to make an exact claim.

Sure.

But just extrapolating that math, we know that we're doing a lot, a lot more in a lot less time. And is there a threshold? Well, have there been studies on how long you should jump rope thing? Is there a threshold for how long you should run while people are out there doing ultras?

Right.

And then other people are like one mile. So you know, we have to be very careful about. Because this is. Seems so techie that we want to like get into the minutia of trying to make these claims. It doesn't matter. You're doing way more.

Right. So we just think about when we're talking to patients, you know, we often say 150 minutes a week of exercise is really what we should be shooting for. Right. At a minimum. Right. And so just kind of just putting some. I was just thinking in those terms, like how to structure their activity if they're truly trying to do more with less time. Is that possible? Yeah.

I mean, yes. And again, I just tell people you should use your power play every day. If they get on it, even for five minutes every day doing something right, that's probably more than what they might be getting in the gym because of what all it's doing and stimulating. So you know, it, it making that hard and fast rule, you know, say hey, do, do a 15 minute workout every day on your power plate. Great. That's, you know, probably that, that 15 minutes is probably similar to an hour in the gym.

Right?

You know, daily. Again, those are broad terms when we like to think about. And when we looked at, you know, creating when I was sitting down on the app and we were, I was overseeing like program development and trying to decide what was our threshold. Obviously the short workouts make the most sense because that's what the power plate is for. Can you use it for an hour? Yes. Why would you? You don't need to. You're getting all this, you know, it's not like you're getting exponentially more in those last 20 minutes. What you got in the first 20 were probably all you needed, but it, it's not going to hurt. So that's how we like to think about things at power plate. That 30 minute threshold. What, what we found in programming over the last 16 years, working with so many athletes, working globally with a lot of companies, working with the master trainers globally, is that that's when people start to see fatigue. So that's why that is kind of a threshold. You know, we, we, you never want to crush that threshold where now technique or injury is coming into play. So that fatigue is kind of that 30 minute. If you are spending 30 minutes of work on the power plate where it's like most of it is happening on the power plate, that's, that's a lot of work for the body. You're going to feel good and you're not going to realize how tired you are because it's recovering you at the same time.

Right?

So that's, you kind of have to be like, okay, I need to stop because you are potentially going to have bad technique or you know, you're probably getting dehydrated because you're working so much harder than you realize because your body is doing so much more. So again, there's, there's, it's so hard to quantify that. So I apologize. I'm not giving you.

Yeah, no, that's good, that's good. It's a good discussion.

Definitely. Yeah, there are definitely studies when we talk about very specific conditions. You know, for example, osteoporosis, osteopenia, go look at the Journal of Bone and Mineral Density when, when they did studies and said, okay, where do we start to see those improvements? Where do we see people starting to come out of osteopenia, out of, you know, from osteoporosis into osteopenia. And it was three times a week, 15 minutes, you know, so there are some definitive studies that give us some times for those types of things. So I can definitely point you to studies that's very helpful.

So is that 15 minutes on a certain hertz or vibrational level? Is that, I mean, that might be.

A little technical, but it's, it's 30 to 35 low. But again, that's because that's what's most comfortable for most humans. That feels really good to do things when you get into those higher vibration is your intensity dial. So think about the vibration and how, how many times per second it's moving in the same way. You think about how fast is your treadmill going, how much is the incline, how heavy is the dumbbell, what selectorized plate am I using? That is your intensity dial. So when we're talking about someone who has, you know, a bone condition, you're not setting them on a high intensity because you need them to be, you need them to become acclimated. You need someone who's a beginner at the beginning of the workout, you know, all of those things. When we think about what is our intensity, that when we're going to do activity, you don't run before you warm up or you shouldn't. Yes, people, people do, but they shouldn't. They shouldn't. So your vibration is your intensity now. And quite frankly, when you think about that, it starts to simplify things because there are clients that I'm working with that never need to go 14 miles per hour, that never needs pick up a, you know, 60 pound dumbbell because of what they're looking to achieve. Just like they never need to work out on a plate at level four versus level one because it doesn't serve what they're trying to achieve.

Sure. So I think it is important to go back to what are we trying to accomplish. And we all know that muscle is our biggest commodity. You know, as far as money in the bank, metabolically speaking, if we've got good muscle mass, we have a little bit of reserves on hand and of course that helps bone mass too. But I think the question everyone should be asking themselves sitting right here is, what am I trying to work on? For me this year, it was muscle. I was like, I need more muscle and what can I do to make that happen? And so power plate's been a really good tool for me to have that come to life and measure that.

Yeah.

You said you started doing exercise on it, right?

Yeah, yeah. I went from doing just massage and stretching, which I loved, to actually doing the workouts on the app and being like, okay, I can do my weights on here, I can do some yoga on here, I can do my powerball on here. And so I've really, really enjoyed those classes. And I've seen the gains on my inbodies. Like, I'm watching my muscle mass go up, which is so exciting for me because I can work really hard. I can work really hard and gain and then lose so quickly. Like, it doesn't take much for me to lose that muscle mass. And so for something to be, you know, building over time and I can see that go up over time. I just get really excited to see that.

I also think that the older we get, you know, kind of my goal has been muscle too, but we deal with a lot of. Of individuals, patients, clients, family. Right. That have metabolic disorders and hypertension, high cholesterol, diabetes, and they all are very hard on the vascular system. And that's just kind of what, you know, hits home to me is you're getting the ability to put on muscle or maintain at the same time as you're increasing blood flow. What doesn't need blood flow.

Right.

At the same time that you're getting a reset, which I heard you say earlier, and I want to go back to is adrenals. Right. I mean, who doesn't have an adrenal issue right now? I mean, I think most people stressed out.

Yeah, right.

Like all in one. And, you know, timing wise, in a 30 minute period of time, perhaps you do spend 30 minutes in that exercise of sorts. But you're warming up for a little bit, then you're doing something related to muscle, then you're stretching at the end, and in 30 minutes you've basically covered it all.

Yes, yes. You know, there. And there were a couple of things that you had just said that like, triggered a little moment. But the other thing about the power plate is that has no contraindication. Yeah. I was reading no absolute of equipment. Yeah. People have contraindications, but not the power plate. So if someone comes in and they cannot, they're not cleared to Exercise, they can't use power plant. That's it. It's that simple. Again, you walk into a gym and you think about using a lot of other pieces of equipment. There are a lot of contraindications. And the power play has none. You know, it's. It's something because again, it's so techie. And people look at it and they think, this machine that must have all these contra. No, it has none. And anything you do on the floor, simple or complex, you can do on the plate. You're just going to do it better. Yep. So, craziest way to think about it.

Pregnancy, it's not contraindicated. Or is it?

So what. What. What do we know is a steadfast rule about pregnancy? You don't start something new. So if you haven't done vibration training before, it's not something you start, you know, in the middle of pregnancy. That's what your doctor's going to tell you. So, yes, if you were doing vibration before, go right ahead. If you're still clear to exercise, use it. Guess what? That baby's gonna sleep. Because what do they do when they're in there? When the mom is moving around, they're sleeping. The moment the mom tries to sleep, the baby's like. So it's just more vibration. Like, it's vibration. People just get weirded out by vibration. And we're experiencing vibration every second of every day. Lightly sound waves. You're walking, you're going up and down stairs, you're riding in your car. The worst kind of vibration you could possibly imagine, you know, going over potholes and dips in the road. You're, you know, that is all vibration. Our bodies just need to find the one that's consistent and harmonic. That's the one that gives us that idea of a reset. And it's because we can. Our brain can anticipate. I know exactly what this wave is going to look like and thus react and adapt. That's the crucial piece of what power play. Yeah.

So for the adrenals, is there a specific. Like how. What's the science behind that? Because, I mean, yeah, we're all looking to improve our. Or we should be looking to buffer, if you will, all of the stressors. So what is the science behind the adrenal side of things with the power plate?

So a couple of things. First, we are starting with a subconscious reaction. So you're stimulating your central nervous system, your parasympathetic system. You know, you're doing things that you can't tap into because it's subconscious. When we're working out on the floor, we can stimulate those responses in a much more active way and again, doing much more in less time because of, of that subconscious activation of the plate moving. What happens though is we start to think about what does the science show us of what's happening with the body when we can tap into getting the lymphatic system moving. You know, hormonal resets, you know, that's part of what lymphatic brain, age, lymphatic flush can do. And again, because of our body still kind of thinking that a saber tooth tiger is chasing us, when in fact it's your boss telling you you have a deadline and something we should be able to control, like we're not actually in a death situation, but our bodies still perceive it that way. Evolutionarily, it has. That stress response has not changed, you know, shame. When you look at some of these studies, the idea of feeling shame is the same stimulation as a gunshot in the body. Like, wow. Our cortisol reactions and thus our hormonal reactions are just, are extreme because we're under, you know, a lot of environmental. We have both chronic and, you know, acute stressors. Every day you go into, you know, where a lot of us are working, we're working, you know, speaking to women, maybe you're working moms, you're trying to balance their schedule, you're balancing your schedule. You're also thinking, I need to, you know, work out. So now that's another stressor. And then as a result, you didn't sleep well. Another stress. Or maybe it's just the list goes on and on. And so what the plate is going to do is in a very short period of time, which without adding additional time that your body is stressed, it can stimulate that again, that zone five heart rate, without putting the tax on the body of that lymphatic system. So now you're, you're going to help to reset your adrenals. You're going to help reset all of what are considered like our sex hormones too. Hello, menopause over here. You know, that was. And the idea of losing muscle mass because of our hormones not being right as women, especially in bone density and blah, blah, goes on, you start slipping into that avenue of things, but then coming into the adrenals, what we're doing now is that deregulation of the parasympathetic system so that our cortisol, like, let's get real nitty gritty. There are studies that are directly showing cortisol is lowered. And we can help get the proper balance of a peak in the morning, a dip in the evening by using power plate. You know, you start coupling that with all the other things it's doing for the other hormones, and then they all work in synchronicity. It's an amazing thing we can achieve. And you know, as short as stand on there for nine minutes, which is when it will have an automatic shut off. You've done amazing things for your hormonal system. You know, it's that. That flush, depending on how effective or efficient your body is, is happening somewhere between, you know, five and nine minutes. Again, it's hard to pinpoint and say, oh, five minutes. Because five minutes may not work for every single human. So stand on there for nine. And I usually, you know, that's what I. I felt. I trained a lot of women over the age of, you know, 40, and so I'm like, all right, we're just gonna go have coffee time now on the power plate, because I work at a gym, and we have four of the really big ones, and so they'll even share it. We'll have sometimes three women standing on a plate and just chit chatting away for like 10 minutes after class, like, doing some gentle stretching, sharing power plates. And there's like 12 people, you know, all using the power plate together because they're working on bone density, muscle mass, they need to reset, you know, the adrenals. They need to all of these things. So. And it can come down to just simply standing there.

Yeah, well, you bring up a really good point. And I was that exercise crazy person that thought that I had to run, do ultramarathons, do triathlons, because that's exercise, right? And I do think there is a shift mentally that has to happen when implementing something like this, because it seems maybe too good to be true, or how could I be getting all of these benefits? And, you know, I just. I remember, you know, a client that I talked to yesterday and, you know, insanity in the morning and doing these high intensities at night, and she's already, you know, adrenally exhausted. I mean, just her cortisol is a mess. And I'm like, wrong exercise. Like, I get that that's a release for you mentally, but at the end of the day, you're actually doing more harm than good. Why not consider this? And, you know, I could sense, because I remember this was me, like, really, like, you know, so how do you get the person to shift? Like, if there's one thing you can say to them is how, like, how can you get them to shift that mindset that you don't have to be killing yourself to get benefit.

So I always, I, I love to give them a couple of things. I love to give examples. You know, the greatest athletes in the world, the people that we look at and we're like, man, they're just, are using the power plate. Their actual bodies, their physical bodies are worth millions of dollars and they're trusting it to a power plate. Why wouldn't you use it? Why do you think they're using it? Because that is their whole career. And their bodies have to live forever, perform or as long as they can, so they can do what they love and what makes them money. So give it a try. The, the second thing is Powerplay is experiential. Typically if you can get someone on it to do something, you know, and you, you show them how good they feel, they're going to at least dip their toe in, in some aspects, whether it is just simply to start by doing their warmup or doing recovery like massage. And then inevitably a month in, they're like, wow, doing my whole workout. I did, you know, I did all the classes with you last month and blah, blah, blah. And they've suddenly made that shift because they do feel the difference.

Right.

And it is experiential. So, you know, it's, it's hard to say that I've, you know, had success with anyone like line. It's usually, come here, let me, let me show you what I can do for you in one minute. Let's stretch each hamstring for 30 seconds in their life. Just imagine if you gave me 10. Yep.

For sure.

So, so you're right that that idea of killing ourselves is something we've got to shift away from.

Yeah. We have to get into the mindset of stress resilience. Like what are we doing to create stress resilience? Because as you mentioned earlier, Laura, we're under a lot of immense stress on a day to day basis. Everything from over scheduled, under sleeping, poor quality food, you name it. It's just part of the American lifestyle. And having a tool that we can lean on to help develop some stress resilience, you know, is amazing. I think.

Yeah, I didn't even, I'm glad you brought that up. I didn't even mention the whole idea of the food that we put in our body and what we can flush out of it because of the crazy toxins that we're consum and, and not just in our body, but on Our skin. You know, it's. It's. I'm. That I've been that kind of crazy granola mom for a long time because my kids, when they were born, had some weird reactions to a very, very popular name brand detergent. And I was like, what is happening? And then I was like, I went full the other can I find things that don't have chemicals in them? And it was just because it was my babies now. Now they're in their 20s and they're like, mom, can you get that specific laundry detergent that I need? But they've also grown up with power play. Like my daughter who plays at Central Michigan, she plays soccer. They have power play there. Or both in their general population, like the regular student body, they have them in the regular workout center, but then they have obviously ones for the athletes. And let me tell you, that child is spoiled because she was like, well, when I went in there the other day, all five power plates are being used and I had to wait. But she knows what it does. Like, she felt it from the time she was very little. And I see my niece and nephew now, like, they're tiny tots and they want to get on the power plate. They're like, it feels so good. And they're babies. It's intuitive. They know.

They know.

They know I love it.

And you have all those toys behind you. Like, I can see. I do got the rev, right?

Oh, she's got the bike.

So this is the power plate revolution. And then we have the, the. This is a Pro5 plate over here. So I'm lucky. I have a little bit of, of everything when it comes to the toys in the gym. Yeah.

And then the handheld devices. Right. That you can take with you for recovery. And that was one of the things we kind of talked to you a little bit about on the floor.

So I'm. Look at this. This is how. This is how. Because I keep them all right here. Because if I'm sitting at my desk and working, you know, it's. I'm like, well, maybe I just need to do a little bit of massage with my gun. Let's sit here at my desk. Yeah, this is my iPhone and I have the little iPhone, not the big giant one. Yeah. So I have. Yeah, we have a minigun, we have a. A large massage gun. I have the roller, the dual sphere. It's all on here. Because sometimes I'm like rolling my feet with, you know, vibration therapy while I want to call.

And yes, you guys have so many things to offer. So what is the best way for a person to dig in and kind of find that device that's right for them.

So you've got a couple of options. One of the best ones is you can go to the app because there are descriptions and we talk about all of the targeted vibration products. So the roller, the dual sphere, the, you know, the massage guns, the things that. I think more people are probably familiar with those. There are videos that talk about what they do and how you can use them. That's a good introduction. They're very short. And then you can also look at the different, you know, the little mini videos of the science behind the power plate. When it comes to the plate itself, every plate does what every plate does. It just comes down to, like, how. How big or small do you need it to be for your specific purpose in your home? That kind of thing? And then the rev is also featured on the app. You can look at the science behind the rev as well. If you go to the app, I talk about it in there, and there are workouts with me for the rev, too. Nice. Yeah, it's. It's. Get rid of, you know, 75 minutes of peloton. You don't need that. You can do eight, eight minutes and get more out of it.

Absolutely. Well, Kelly will tell you she's got both.

Right.

I said, yeah, I said that my peloton is my sports car. I can get on there and go with my friends and ride and have some good community time. And my power plate is like my sports utility vehicle. My rev is like my sports utility vehicle. So, yeah, I think I'm going to keep them both, But I'm loving what I'm seeing with the rev. And I've only had it a couple of weeks, but I'm really seeing some changes in my heart rate variability that I was not anticipating. I mean, so I'm super excited about that. More to come on that we'll do a whole episode on heart rate variability once the jury is out on that, but tremendous tools. We're so excited that you came to be with us today, Laura. Great information, great energy as always, and I'm sure we'll have you on again in the future.

Absolutely. I'd love to. I'd love to. I thank you guys, too. We vibe so well at Dallas Biohacking, so I was really excited and looking forward to linking back up with the two of you.

We do. So more to come, right? More to come.

Yes. Yeah.

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