Training Effects of NEMES BOSCO

The benefits of using NEMES BOSCO-SYSTEM in sports training is unique. Athletes and coaches of different sports such as soccer, volleyball, basketball, track and field, boxing, tennis, skiing, baseball and more will find new ways to improve skills such as speed, power, strength, flexibility etc.

Vibration training can be applied simultaneously with other training methods in every stage of the preparation. Vibration training can be used in addition to the regular power training, or as a safe alternative to power training. It can also be used as a warming-up, to prepare for power training or in combination with technique training and/or speed-training.

A problem area in top-sport is training the explosive power, such as jumping power or throwing-power. Use is often made of 'brutal' training intensities and high 'peak' loads. This could be with heavy power loads of hundreds of kilos of weights, plyometric loads or drop-jumps. These unfortunately often result in injuries. Some examples are foot injuries, "Achilles" tendon injuries, knee injuries (jumpers knee) or back complaints. Vibration training is the key solution in these conditions.

Another issue is that the muscles become stronger after many years of training, but not the passive movement apparatus, like tendons, ligaments, joints and bones. Certainly for athletes who have reached the limits of their physical limits, it is extremely difficult to find effective and safe training methods. Vibration training allows the muscles to work very hard without overloading on the ligaments, tendons, joints and vertebra. This is not only to the benefit of top athletes, but also for young athletes, who are not able to take on strength training because of growing problems e.g. Osgood-Schlatter or M. Scheuermann, both disorders in bone growth that often appear in the teen years.

Vibration training using the NEMES BOSCO can be applied in a number of ways:

- Supplementary to the normal power training

- An alternative for power training, when there is injury or rehabilitation (for example: instead of power training, replace with vibration training)

- In preparation for power training (for example: first vibration training, and afterwards power training)

- In preparation for other types of training, such as technique training or speed training

- In preparation for competitions, as a warming-up; during track and field events, we often see the sprinters jumping or hopping up and down before they take up their positions in the starting blocks

- Cooling-down after training and contests, because of the positive effect on the blood circulation and the hormones, which helps the athlete to recover faster

NEMES has an impressive training effect on speed. Bosco et al (1990) showed improvements of 5.7% in power and 6.4% in speed after only one vibration training session. Conventional training did not show any performance improvement after one session. This improvement is typically only evident after at least 4 weeks of training!

Power increases are also noticeable after a minimum of three sessions using the NEMES. Jump power and height achieved improved by 12% after a 10 day training programme using vibration training while no change was observed in the control group (Bosco et al 1998). In another study Bosco and colleagues (1999) found a 25% increase in arm power in international boxers following one vibration training session. Again the control group did not show any improvement and this type of gain is only evident from conventional training after several weeks. It is estimated that 100min vibration training is equal to 200 drop jumps from 60cm height, twice a week for 12 months !

Vibration Training and Human Performance

The improvement of the muscle performance after a short period of vibration training has been quoted (Bosco et al. 1998) to be similar to what occurs after several weeks of heavy resistance training (e.g. Coyle et al. 1981, Hakkinen and Komi 1985). In fact the improvement of the muscle functions after resistance training has been attributed to the enhancement of the neuromuscular behaviour caused by the increasing activity of the higher motor centre (Milner-Brownet al., 1975). The improvement of muscle performances induced by vibration training (VT) suggests that a neural adaptation has occurred in response to the vibration treatments. In this context, the duration of the stimulus seems to be both relevant and important. The adaptive response of human skeletal muscle to simulated hyper gravity conditions (1.1g) applied for only three weeks, caused a considerable improvement in the leg extensor muscle behaviour (Bosco 1985).

Thus it is likely that both neural adaptation and the length of the stimulus seem to play an important role in the improvement of muscle performances (e.g. Bosco, 1985). During the VT utilised for the research conducted on the boxers, the elbow flexors were stimulated for a total length of time of 300 seconds. The duration of the treatment was similar to that required to perform an elbow flexion for 600 repetitions with a load similar to 50/0 of the subject's body mass. Such an amount of repetitions would generally otherwise be distributed over 3 sessions a week with 50 repetitions per time, taking one month to complete. The large initial increases noted in muscle strength observed during the earlier weeks of intense strength training can be explained through increases in maximal neural activation (e.g. Moritani and De Vries, 1979). To explain how the increased neural output may occur is not as simple as how to explain the intrinsic mechanism of neural adaptation. Furthermore, a net excitation of the prime mover motoneurons could result from increased excitatory input, reduced inhibitory input or both (e.g. Sale, 1988).

After the VT period the EMG activity was found to be rather lower or to be the same as compared to the pre-treatment conditions even if, during the vibration, period an increment of neural input to the muscle occurred. In this respect the decrease in the ratio between EMG and mechanical power (EMG/P) demonstrated that VT induced an improvement of the neuromuscular efficiency of the muscles involved in the vibration treatment. Vertical jumping ability has been shown to increase following vibration treatment (Bosco et al. 1998; Bosco et al 1999). These improvements have been attributed to an enhancement of neural activity in the leg extensor muscles, together with an enhancement of the proprioceptors' feedback. During vibrations, the length of skeletal muscles changes slightly.

The facilitation of the excitability of spinal reflexes has been shown to be elicited by vibrations applied to the quadriceps muscle (Burke et al. 1996). Once again, the influence of vibrations on the neural drive of the la loop can play a crucial part in enhancing jumping performance following vibration treatments. Even if the adaptive responses of neuromuscular performance as measured by vertical jump tests cannot be fully explained, it is important to consider that the effectiveness of the stimulus can have both relevance and importance. The adaptive response of human skeletal muscle to simulated hyper gravity conditions (1.1 g), applied for only three weeks, caused a drastic enhancement of the neuromuscular functions of the leg extensor muscles (Bosco 1985). The regular use of centrifugal force (2 g) for 3 months has initiated conversion of muscle fibre type (Martin and Romond, 1975). In the experiments conducted, the total length of the WBV application period was not very long (from 7 minutes to 100 minutes), but the disturbance to the gravitational field was quite consistent (5.4 g).

An equivalent length and intensity of training stimulus (100 minutes) can only be reached by performing 200 drop jumps from 60 cm, twice a week for 12 months. In fact, the time spent for each drop jump is less than 200 ms, and the acceleration developed can barely reach 3.0 g (Bosco 1992). This means stimulating the muscles for 2 min per week for a total amount in one year of 108 minutes.
In a few words, vibrations can stimulate the biological system of athletes in the same way as strength training or explosive training and this stimulation can be applied in a much shorter period of time as compared to the time needed to perform traditional training sessions.

NEMES BOSCO optimal vibration training

NEMES is the acronym of NEuro-muscular MEchanical Stimulation, a training method invented by the Italian Prof. Carmelo Bosco, who was a leading scientist in sports physiology. The method focuses on the maximization of stimuli to the neuromuscular system and bones, carefully dosed for each individual.

Prof. Bosco was the first scientist to prove to expose that every person has his own muscle frequency. NEMES-BOSCO is the most advanced and revolutionary training system for sports and health to-date, because it is designed to vibrate at the individually measured frequencies (Hz) of its users. This is accomplished through the internationally patented built-in electromyograph (EMG) measuring system.

NEMES is produced in different versions studied and designed specifically for different users. Since every human responds differently to the vibration stimuli, the use of our patented frequency detection system, based on electromyography (EMG), will allow each user to execute safe, effective and personalized training sessions.