Wobbleyou Vibration Studio: Toned In Ten Minutes?

EXERCISE should hurt.

Or at least that’s what the protein shake guzzling gym-addicts with their rippling ten-packs and pulsating pectorals would have us believe. 

Agreeably, I’m a firm and fervent believer in the ‘no pain no gain’ ideology.

The vibrations ran through me head to toe and my bum jiggled at a speed only Beyoncé would be proud of.

It has conditioned me to enjoy the gratifying yet punishing after work-out burn - even if it makes walking up the stairs feel like conquering Everest. Working out should feel like a challenge mastered in every single session: a test of your determination, commitment and a small victory in your day.

That is, until I became ‘too busy to workout’. A common excuse. 

So, in a massive contradicting swoop, I’ve come to accept a fitness concept that consists of jiggling, wiggling and wobbling for just ten minutes into my lifestyle. 

Established on the Northern Quarter’s Dale Street in 2012, wobbleyou is Greater Manchester’s only dedicated studio to the Flabélos body vibration machine.

wobbleyou’s approach to exercise is suspiciously simple: arrive, wobble and leave.

Here's where the magic happens...

Similar to mainstream gym’s powerplate device, you simply stand with knees bent on the futuristic looking platform and allow it to shake you into the stratosphere. That’s it. 

Yet it’s a deceptively clever machine. Initially developed for Russian cosmonauts ‘to combat the effects of a gravity environment’ (do they mean gravity-free), the Flabélos’ see-saw movement  causes the muscles to involuntarily contract at a rapid intensity as the body attempts to stabilize itself. 

No, we still don't understand how it all works either.

wobbleyou Manchester

“In just ten minutes on the machine you pack in about an hour's anaerobic exercise. This isn’t a cardio workout but your body experiences something similar to resistance training,”explained wobbleyou's studio manager Rachel Leeson, sister of the studio's joint owner, Daniel Leeson. 

Instructing me to kick off my shoes, I was placed on a medium level fitness mode. The machine starts to wobble me slowly, then increases to a full thrusting, rocking, pulsating manic mode. The vibrations ran through me head to toe and my bum jiggled at a speed only Beyoncé would be proud of.

Although I felt like a blender that had grown legs and gone AWOL, I could also feel my muscles working.

"We recommend people to attend at least three to four times a week to see results. Some people use it alongside their other workouts, where for others this is all they do," said Leeson.

So what sort of results am I looking at?

She explained, “it burns fat, reduces cellulite, increases your metabolism and we've had people lose dress sizes. Also, the NHS refer patients with limited mobility to us as the machine improves circulation." 

Much like 'lose weight in 10 days' fad diets, anti-ageing potion creams, lip-plumping lipsticks and celluite shrinking panty hose, the Flabélos machine sounds too quick and easy to be true. 

But the wobbleyou studio has its regulars. 

 “We get a lot of commuters that use the studio, people that get home late and can’t make the gym. We also get people who live and work within the Northern Quarter and are curious,” said Leeson.

Wobble while you wait?

After hopping off the machine a little shaky legged and woozy, I could see why wobbleyou and its machines are enticing people whose time is merely a luxury – there's no need to lug around your gym bag as the Flabélos won’t make you break a sweat.

“We’ve had men come in full suits to use the machines before – and ladies in dresses,” laughed Leeson. "It really is a convenient workout that could easily fit into your lifestyle."

Still, the whole ten-minutes-to-fighting fit concept hasn't lured me away from the weights and cross-trainer as of yet, although I'm sure that's not the aim of wobbleyou.

Alongside the vibration machines, the studio provides fitness classes and is a good booster to your regular gym routine and I'm keen to see whether it could shake off a few extra pounds. 

So I'll keep on wibble-wobbling until my thighs stop wibble-wobbling of their own accord. 

Follow L'Oréal Blackett on Twitter