Who says breaking a sweat has to be brutal?
Researchers have developed a “new strap-on vibrating device” that can trick the brain into thinking you’re putting in less effort while exercising.
And before your mind wanders — no, it’s not that kind of strap-on.
In a small new study, scientists from Canada and France recruited 15 healthy young volunteers and had them make two trips to a lab.
At each visit, participants pedaled for two 3-minute rounds on a stationary bike: one at a pace they felt was moderately difficult and another at a pace they felt was highly intense.
This is called perceived effort — a subjective measure of how hard a workout feels, rather than how hard it actually is.
During one visit, researchers strapped a vibrating device to participants’ Achilles and knee tendons and activated it for 10 minutes before cycling.
The vibration gave participants a noticeable boost, increasing their power output and raising their heart rates.
They also pushed themselves harder — even though their perceived effort stayed the same, making the workout feel easier than it actually was.
“This study shows that tendon vibration reduces effort perception during subsequent cycling bouts,” the study authors wrote. “These findings highlight tendon vibration as a promising tool for enhancing physical activity engagement.”
That’s notable, because high perceived effort is considered one of the main reasons people quit or avoid workouts.
By tricking the brain into thinking exercise feels easier, tendon vibration might help more people get moving.
It’s especially important in the US, where only about 1 in 4 adults and 1 in 5 adolescents meet the CDC’s weekly guidelines for aerobic and muscle-strengthening activity.
The stakes are high. Americans’ sedentary lifestyle is a major public health problem, with sitting often called the “new smoking.”
Not getting enough exercise has been linked to a higher risk of developing a wide range of health problems, including obesity, heart disease, type 2 diabetes, certain cancers and even early death.
In fact, a 2022 study found that if US adults added just 10 minutes of moderate-to-vigorous activity per day, nearly 7% of annual deaths could be prevented — more than 100,000 lives each year.
The researchers aren’t exactly sure why participants didn’t feel they were working as hard while cycling after the tendon vibration, but they have a few theories.
“Depending on the amplitude and frequency of the vibration, we can either excite or inhibit neurons in the spinal cord,” Dr. Benjamin Pageaux, a professor at the University of Montreal and one of the study’s lead authors, said in a statement.
“Also, prolonged vibration changes the reactivity of the neuromuscular spindles and alters the signal sent to the brain,” he explained.
Still, it’ll likely be some time before tendon vibration hits gyms or home workouts.
“It hasn’t been tested in a marathon, only during a short, three-minute cycling exercise,” Pageaux said. “Still, this is the first time it’s been shown to work with this type of exercise.”
In the meantime, there are other tricks you can try to make workouts feel easier.
Studies show that listening to music, exercising outdoors or even using motivational self-talk can reduce perceived effort and boost endurance during strenuous physical activity.
Looking ahead, the researchers plan to study how tendon vibration affects brain activity during exercise, while also exploring how pain and fatigue increase perceived effort and make workouts feel harder.
“By gaining a better understanding of how the brain evaluates the link between effort and perceived reward during exercise, we hope to promote more regular physical activity,” Pageaux said.
“And we all know how essential staying active is for our health and well-being.”
