The Merach Vibration Plate Is the Funniest Workout I’ve Ever Done

New Orleans: Many years ago, my brother-in-law renovated an old house. I searched through piles of moldy Peanuts comics and found a 1950s fat-jiggler machine. Many funny fitness devices have tried to help us tone up and lose weight over the years.

Most people don’t like to move, even though moving is how you stay strong and healthy. A vibrating machine promises that you can exercise while staying still. You can do this by standing on or holding something that’s vibrating!

For a few weeks now, I’ve been using the Merach vibration plate while watching zombie movies like Train to Busan. While I believe the claims about weight loss from vibration are mostly false, I did notice some good benefits.

Jiggle Jiggle

If you’ve never seen a vibration plate, you will soon! Many people interested in fitness have seen ads for these machines. I’m currently using the Merach vibration plate, which is easy to set up. Just plug it in and put AAA batteries in the remote.

The slim manual shows five settings. You can choose manual or auto mode, which increases the intensity over time. The plate feels heavy and sturdy, especially for its price. It has silicone grips on top, but my family cheats and stands on it without shoes. It can hold up to 330 pounds, making it strong enough for several people to use at once. This version is compact, only 20.3 inches wide and 5 inches tall, so I can tuck it under the couch when I’m done.

I’ve seen many TikTok videos that say you can see changes in your body after just 20 minutes of using the vibration plate each day. I didn’t wait that long. After using it for two or three minutes, the skin on my thighs turned red and itched a lot! This is a known reaction from whole-body vibration. It probably happens because blood vessels suddenly widen. I didn’t feel this anywhere else when I used a regular massager.

I run several times a week and stay active, but I’ve never felt anything like this before! After two weeks, I worked up to 10 minutes on the plate at a time, but I can’t say I enjoyed it.

There are many vibration plate workouts online for weight loss, building strength, or even reducing falls. I stuck to my usual strength training—like dumbbell lunges, squats, and push-ups—while using the plate. My fitness tracker didn’t show any extra heart rate increase on the plate as compared to off the plate, so I don’t think I burned more calories using it.

Wiggle Wiggle

I was ready to tell everyone how this popular TikTok machine didn’t do more than a walk outside would, and how it just gave me a strange rash.