Oxygen uptake response to whole body vibration during static and dynamic squats

The impact of whole body vibrations (vibration stimulus mechanically transferred to the body) on muscular activity and neuromuscular response has been widely studied but without standard protocol and using different kinds of exercises. In this study, we investigated how whole body vibration treatments affect oxygen uptake and heart rate during static and dynamic squat exercises. The aim was the identification of squat exercise characteristics useful to maximize cardiorespiratory system activation. Fourteen healthy volunteers performed both static and dynamic squat exercises without and with vibration treatments. Oxygen uptake and heart rate was continuously recorded during the whole exercise and processed. Results of paired t-test demonstrated a significant increase in oxygen uptake (p<0.05), that grew of 44.0% for static squat and 29.4% for dynamic one. Heart rate in case of vibrations rose up to 11.1 ± 9.1 beats per minute for static squat and 7.9 ± 8.3 beats per minute for dynamic squat. Finally, results identified the static squat with whole body treatment as the exercise with higher cardiorespiratory system activation for exercise duration lower than 60 seconds. Otherwise, if the single bout duration was higher than 60 seconds, dynamic squat with vibrations caused greater cardiorespiratory system response and metabolic activity.