How does EMS training work?

Although EMS Machine will not allow you to sit on the couch eating bonbons while you build biceps like an Avenger, it can help with recovery, relaxation and even burning some fat. This stimulation creates muscle contractions that can be quick and frequent, fast with long pauses, or contractions that are held for several (uncomfortable) seconds or minutes at a time.

Normally, it is your body that fires your muscles by sending electrical impulses from your brain through your central nervous system (CNS). But an EMS Machine allows you to engage in deep, intense, and complete muscular contractions without actually activating (or stressing) your CNS—not to mention your joints and tendons. The coolest thing is that your body doesn’t know the difference between a voluntary contraction and an electrically stimulated one. Your (silly) body only recognizes that there is a stimulus and reacts to it accordingly.

If this sounds a little wacky to you, don't worry—there is science to back this up.

A study published in the Journal of Strength and Conditioning looked into whether or not EMS could help elite athletes gain a performance edge. They concluded that “the analysis shows that trained and elite athletes, despite their already high level of fitness, are able to significantly enhance their level of strength to same extent as is possible with untrained subjects.”

At the conclusion of that study, the researchers stated that “EMS offers a promising alternative to traditional strength training for enhancing the strength parameters and motor abilities in athletes.”

Another study from 2015 titled “Effects of high-frequency current therapy on abdominal obesity in young women: a randomized controlled trial” provides a different example of the effectiveness of EMS. Instead of fitness levels, this study looked into whether EMS could help you lose body fat. In this study, a group of subjects received 30 minutes of high-frequency current therapy via a series of electrodes placed on their stomachs. The subjects did these sessions three times per week for six weeks. After those six weeks, the researchers measured the subject’s waist circumference, body mass index, subcutaneous fat mass (fat under the skin), and total body fat percentage.

Surprisingly, without modifying their exercise or diet, the EMS did indeed cause significant effects on decreasing waist circumference, abdominal obesity, subcutaneous fat mass, and body fat percentage, leading the researchers to conclude: “The use of the high-frequency current therapy may be beneficial for reducing the levels of abdominal obesity in young women.”

The Electrical Muscle Stimulation (EMS) system is a form of training designed just for you. It enhances and boosts your metabolism, producing a more intense, targeted workout in a short period of time. It helps with weight loss and enhances exercise so you can get great results fast.

It does all this in a safe and effective way by using electrical pulses to stimulate the muscles, causing them to contract. Combined with the simple bodyweight movements your trainer will guide you through and help you perform, this will give you an extremely effective targeted workout in just 20 minutes.

EMS system

When using the EMS system, you wear a jumpsuit with straps covering your arms, legs, and hips. These electrode strips deliver tiny electrical pulses to your muscles. This then creates harmless and painless stimulation that actually enhances the effectiveness of light exercise. Remember, your muscles actually rely entirely on this type of electrical stimulation to move. EMS stimulation is simply an amplification of normal electrical impulses.

Science - Deep Muscle Tissue Fibers

EMS stimulation not only amplifies your body's electrical signals for effective and safe exercise, it also recruits and activates deep muscle layers and fibers that you struggle to activate during traditional exercise.

It does this in two ways. First, the electrical stimulation itself forces your entire muscle to activate, allowing your body to recruit deeper muscles and supplementary muscles that are not typically recruited during traditional exercise. The second method is to utilize the different types of muscle fibers in each muscle. Your body has both slow-twitch and fast-twitch fibers. Slow-twitch fibers contract slowly and are used in endurance sports such as walking and cycling. During exercise, slow-twitch muscle fibers are always stimulated first. Fast-twitch muscle fibers are used for fast and powerful movements, such as jumping or sprinting, and they are more difficult to activate. The EMS system specifically targets hard-to-recruit fast-twitch muscle fibers, making exercises very effective at growing muscle and making you stronger.