Have you ever heard of Smovey? It sounds like the name of a delicious post-workout drink, but it’s actually something quite different. If you’re interested in trying a fun, new way to stay fit, then Smovey should become part of your vocabulary.

The owner of Adventure Fitness Athletic Club, Susan Schaffner, is a certified SmoveyVIBROSWING® System Coach and is here to help all members of her gym in Thornton learn how to benefit from Smovey’s innovative workouts and therapeutic vibration.

What is Smovey?

Smovey looks like a child’s toy but is actually a health and fitness product that’s widely used throughout the world. A Smovey consists of a spiral ribbed hose, four steel balls inside the hose, and a handle that holds the two ends of the hose together. The user grasps the handle of a Smovey ring in each hand and swings the rings in various ways.

The 4 free-running steel balls inside each hose move as the Smovey moves. They roll against the spiral ridges and grooves inside the tube and generate a noticeable vibration in the user’s palm. The foam rubber grips are designed to transfer the vibrations into the palms.

Smovey workouts help users in two main ways — through vibration and weight training.

Vibration

The movement of the balls inside the tubes creates a vibration of 60Hz. The vibration acts on the meridians of the user’s palms which harmonizes the flow of Qi (energy) throughout the body. “Qi” is an integral component of Traditional Chinese Medicine and its treatments like acupuncture and acupressure. By harmonizing Qi, Smovey workouts leave users feeling revitalized and relaxed, producing a noticeable healing effect.

As the user swings the Smovey rings, the vibrations produce a reaction of the small skeletal muscles of the body that helps stabilize the spine and joints. The vibrations even have an effect on the motion center of the brain.

Using the vibration for massage

In addition to the therapeutic effect of vibration during a Smovey workout, Smoveys are also used as a massage tool. By rolling the round end of a Smovey back-and-forth over muscles, tendons, and ligaments, the vibration relaxes the body and increases blood flow. No pressure is needed during a Smovey massage so it’s safe to use on any part of the body, including the spine. Just rock the Smovey slowly back-and-forth over each area and its vibration will do the work for you! For a gentle, relaxing massage, roll the Smovey over the following areas for a couple minutes each (recruit a workout partner to help you):

• Shoulders
• Upper, middle, and lower back
• Glutes
• Hamstrings
• Ankles
• Bottom of the feet
• Thighs
• Arms

Weight training

At rest, the weight of one Smovey ring is about one pound, but the centrifugal force created by the swinging motion equals about 12 pounds. This weight resistance can be used to train the thighs, glutes, shoulders, back, chest, and more.

Who invented Smovey?

Smovey was invented by an Austrian tennis player and skier named Johann “Salzhans” Salzwimmer. Known throughout the Steyr/Ennstal region as an outstanding athlete, Salzhans was tragically diagnosed with terminal Parkinsons in 1996. By 2004, Salzhans was unable to eat with a knife and fork, shower, use the bathroom on his own, or dress himself.

While he accepted his diagnosis, Salzhans got to work developing a treatment to stabilize his condition. The SmoveyVIBROSWING System is the result of his research and work. Thanks to Smovey, Salzhans was able to maximize his quality of life and minimize his dependence on medication.

Salzhans began his healing journey by trying to play tennis again. During and after his tennis games, he noticed that his symptoms were less noticeable than before he played. With this in mind, Salzhans watched the swinging motions of his favorite tennis player Boris Becker during his serves. By copying those motions, Salzhans realized that he experienced physical improvement after performing the motions of tennis serves, backhand swings, and forehand swings.

This inspired Salzhans to experiment with holding his tennis racquets in his hands constantly, and later, he attached pieces of garden hose to the ends of his racquets and filled the hoses with balls. After many trials and experiments, Salzhans (with the help of a friend) created the first closed-loop swinging system by using a special hose filled with steel balls. The vibrations created were an unexpected side effect of the invention, but they ended up playing a significant role in its success.

Examples of Smovey workouts

Now that we understand what a Smovey is, how do you use it? Smovey rings can be incorporated into many different workouts, but a few examples of how to use SmoveyVIBROSWING are listed below.

• Stand in place and swing the Smovey rings front to back, alternating the direction of each hand, similar to how you would normally swing your arms when you walk.
• Step side-to-side while swinging the Smovey rings out to the sides of your body and back to the center, moving your arms like a bird’s wings.
• Perform squats while swinging the Smovey rings in a full range of motion from over your head, to in front of your body, to down to below your knees and behind your back, and then swing your arms back over your head again.
• Jog in place and use short front-to-back swings to shake the Smovey rings.
• Stand in a lunge position and swing the Smovey rings along the sides of your body, similar to your natural arm swing when you walk, except with a greater range of motion.

As you can see, there’s almost no end to the ways you can move your body, challenge your muscles, and increase your range of motion with the SmoveyVIBROSWING System.

What are the benefits of the SmoveyVIBROSWING System?

The SmoveyVIBROSWING System has been credited with a host of benefits on mental and physical health, as well as treating certain chronic medical conditions and even athletic injuries.

Benefits of the workout

The various swinging motions of the SmoveyVIBROSWING System provide a dynamic upper body workout that strengthens the muscles of the shoulders, back, and arms while helping you burn calories and stabilize your spine.

In addition, through targeted balance exercises, you can use the Smovey to refine the connection throughout your muscles and joints to help you navigate sudden movements in your daily life. This helps prevent falls and injury.

Other physical benefits of Smovey include:

• Providing a cardiovascular workout that supports the heart, lungs, and circulatory system
• Activating 97% of the body’s muscles
• Firming the arms, stomach, legs, and bottom
• Loosening tension in the neck, back, and shoulders

Benefits of the vibration

According to Traditional Chinese Medicine, the palms of the hands contain specific pressure points that correlate to the body’s inner organs. The Smovey vibration in the palms regulates the flow of Qi (energy) and harmonizes all the organs in the body.

Smovey rings produce a frequency of 60Hz, which is the same frequency that is found naturally in humans. This vibration penetrates the 3 Yin meridians and 3 Yang meridians through the palms of the hands, harmonizing the flow of Qi (energy) and providing a healing effect.

The vibration can also help relax muscles, tendons, and ligaments when using a Smovey ring as a massage tool. Simply rock the round end of the Smovey back-and-forth over various parts of the body like the shoulders, neck, back, legs, and feet. The vibration will take care of the rest!

Mental benefits

Smovey stimulates the mind in a fun and enjoyable way without the use of impact training or heavy lifting. Smovey workouts are said to increase the user’s level of happiness, relaxation, rejuvenation, and relief.

In addition, through repeated bilateral movement, Smovey activates and coordinates both halves of the brain—the right half that controls emotions and fantasies, and the left half that controls critical and analytical thinking and communication.

Medical benefits

Since Smovey was invented by a man who was looking for ways to treat his Parkinson’s disease, it comes as no surprise that Smovey provides relief to people with this condition and others.

Diseases that Smovey can help

Twitching is a main symptom of Parkinson’s, and people suffering from this condition report that the 60 Hz vibrational frequency of Smovey leads to a noticeable decrease in twitching.

It’s also said that Smovey reduces the symptoms of Alzheimer’s, arthritis, and multiple sclerosis (MS).

Sports injury recovery time

Smovey has also greatly helped triathletes, rowers, boxers, and others who rely on upper body strength to participate in their sport. These athletes have found that Smovey therapy speeds up their recovery time after an injury.

Who can use the SmoveyVIBROSWING System?

One quality that makes Smovey so appealing is that it can be used inside or outside and benefit anyone, no matter their age or activity level. People who benefit from Smovey include:

• Fitness enthusiasts — by enhancing their exercise program
• Walkers — by engaging the arms while they work their lower body and enjoy nature
• Dieters — by burning calories, Smovey helps those trying to lose weight
• Elderly — by increasing mobility, balance, and coordination
• Golfers — by increasing flexibility and range of motion in the shoulders
• Differently abled — by giving those with limited mobility a way to improve fitness
• Children and students — by improving concentration and focus

Are you ready to Smovey?

Adventure Fitness Athletic Club has Smovey equipment on site and instructors who can help you learn how to use these unique and proven fitness tools. To try out Smovey for yourself, stop by AFAC and speak to a member of our team. You can also call Susan, a certified SmoveyVIBROSWING® System Coach, at 720-849-0245 or email her at susan@adventurefitness.club. We hope you will contact us to find out for yourself why AFAC is the best gym in the Thornton area.

To read more articles from Adventure Fitness Athletic Club, check out our Adventure Corner blogs by clicking here.