My friend invited me to try out a new fitness place that opened up that uses electric muscle stimulation training the other day. I’ve used electric muscle stimulation as a recovery modality before but never during training. Needless to say, I thought it’d be an experience worth trying and reviewing for anyone curious and/or less fitness experienced. The following is some of the research and my thoughts.
First of All, What is Electric Muscle Stimulation (EMS) Training?
Electric muscle stimulation is not new. My grandfather was a chiropractor and occasionally used this as a treatment modality. I’ve had this method done as a recovery treatment myself with a physical therapist before.
Electric muscle stimulation is where you attach electrodes to your body usually in the form of pads (or sometimes needles which is how I received my first experience of EMS when using this as a form of recovery) and a machine sends a “stimulating pulse to your muscles” causing your muscles to contract. This process is supposed to mimic a muscle contraction you would achieve by lifting a weight. You can increase the electrical pulse similar to how you would increase the weight.
As I mentioned above, electromyostimulation can also be used in a recovery setting in a similar way. The electrode activates the muscle to contract and spasm, this increases blood flow to the area stimulated by the electrode, as a result recovery is believed to take place faster.
Pros
The technology is marketed as a way to stimulate the muscle more and for less time than you would be able to without a machine. Aka this method is seen as more efficient. I think the draw for people is that a EMS training session should only last 15-20 minutes. That really is all you need because of the dose response of activating the muscle.
Cons
On the note of the dose response, sports scientists caution that it’s difficult to properly dose full body stimulation correctly. In fact, over stimulation could lead to muscle damage.
Additionally, the electromyostimulation is “bypassing” the brain and therefore deprives you of developing the skill of how to activate the muscle on your own. Studies about mind-muscle connection seem to yield better results, whereas studies about EMS training vs non-EMS training have shown that there is no significant/greater benefit or improved outcome from this methodology compared to training without EMS.
The recurring conclusion with electromyostimulation is that, even though most research results are saying the findings are insignificant, more research is needed.
My Experience with EMS Training
During the workout you wear a suit of pads that stimulate your muscles. A trainer is with you to acclimate the appropriate intensity of electrical impulses and guide you through a series of movements in a tabata style workout of 20-30 seconds of work followed by 10 seconds of rest. While you’re performing a certain muscle movement the suit is vibrating and you do in fact feel your muscle being activated more so during a simpler movement than you would without the suit.
Pros
If you’re inexperienced with how to activate your muscles, I think this experience could be eye opening. But after you experience muscle activation once, that’s about it. It’s important to mention that when you’re activating your muscles on your own without the assistance of any vibrating technology, you will not feel that as much activation. I could see this as discouraging to people who are expecting to “feel” more when they’re activating their muscles on their own.
I did feel sore the next day as if I had a full body workout with movements that typically wouldn’t have produced that much soreness. But sore in a way that felt more like an injury than productive muscle building.
Cons
It felt odd to activate more muscles than I normally would and the activation didn’t feel correct for most of the movements. Maybe because I’m more bought into the mind-muscle connection, but I don’t see bypassing the brain and having my muscle activated for me to be beneficial in the long term.
Additionally, this methodology requires technology that isn't cheap. I think it’s more cost effective and efficient to learn how to traditionally train with and without equipment than it is to have a machine train your body for you.
My Take
Honestly, this method of training isn’t for me and I wouldn’t recommend it more than one time. I don’t think I necessarily got injured, but the soreness I experienced the next day interfered with my normal lifting program and I think could lead to injury if I were to continue training in this way.
The Bottom Line: This Isn’t a Panacea
My final take is if you’re interested it’s worth trying out and it can be a good experience for you to experience muscle activation if you haven’t developed the skill of mind-muscle connection. However, at this time in the development of EMS training, I don’t think this should be a staple in your fitness routine.
Essentially, by bypassing the brain in activating your muscles, I believe you’re cheating yourself. I think there’s more to gain (literally and figuratively) by learning how to properly train and stimulate your own muscles using your own brain vs a machine.
The exception I see is when this equipment is used in clinical settings for recovery. For example, this article provided examples of pain management or improving the mobility of patients who have suffered from a stroke. I’ve had successful results from using electromyostimulation for pain management in this way and imagine for more serious cases this technology is even more beneficial.
Even when it comes to EMS as a recovery modality, while I’m a big proponent of it, this method still isn’t the end-all-be-all. It doesn’t take away the work you need to do. At most it’s a tool in your toolbox of many.
The principles of wellness and exercise are very simple. The science is always improving, but at this point in time there aren’t many shortcuts that work. My call is that learning proper training techniques and methods is a better and more efficient use of your time, money, and body.