Effects of Combining Whole-Body Vibration With Exercise on the Consequences of Detraining on Muscle Performance in Untrained Adults

Abstract

This study investigated whether whole-body vibration (WBV) coupled with low-velocity exercise (EX) for 13 weeks retains muscle performance gains after 5 weeks of subsequent detraining compared with the results of an identical EX program without WBV. Thirty-two untrained healthy adults (22-49 years of age) were randomly assigned to groups that performed EX with or without WBV (EX-WBV and EX, respectively; n = 16 per group). The following outcome variables were evaluated: countermovement jump height; maximal isometric, concentric, and eccentric knee extension strengths; local muscular endurance; and lumbar extension torque before, during, and after the 13-week training period, and after 5 weeks of detraining. Compared with the EX group, significantly higher increases in countermovement jump height and isometric and concentric knee extension strengths were detected in the EX-WBV group after the 13-week training period. However, detraining caused significant declines in these 3 muscle performance tests only in the EX-WBV group (-4.8, -10.2, and -17.2%, respectively), resulting in no significant differences between the test and control groups after the detraining period. After detraining, all examined variables showed significantly better performance compared with pretraining (p < 0.05) and did not significantly differ from midtraining (7 weeks) in both groups (p > 0.05). These results suggest that muscle strength in the lower extremities, particularly isometric and concentric contractions, and muscle power might be more susceptible to short-term detraining effects when exercise is combined with WBV. Thus, it is necessary to perform regular exercise to maximize the benefits of WBV on muscle strength and power during the early stages of training in previously untrained individuals.