Could a 20-minute workout have the same effect as a long gym session? Mitchell Powell tests the quick buzz of EMS training.
The promise:
Want a body that looks like you spend hours at the gym, all for the sweet price of a 20-minute workout? It sounds like a daytime
TV commercial, but this is the promise of EMS - Electro Muscle Stimulation.
If you're too busy to exercise, EMS promises to cut your weekly workout regime down to one or two 20-minute sessions and give you the physique of a gym addict.
Being allergic to the gym, I was intrigued, to say the least. But as I discovered, I was still definitely going to have to work for it.
The history
The earliest known use of electric charges on the body involved "electric" fish. Ancient Greeks, Egyptians and Romans used electric currents from torpedo fish to alleviate headaches and gout pain.
Eventually these electric currents were replaced by man-made devices and in the 19th century electrotherapy became a popular treatment for dental, neurological, psychiatric and gynaecological issues. It was eventually dismissed as having no scientific evidence for its effectiveness. However, in the latter half of the 20th century, experiments were conducted to understand how electricity can work to reduce pain, treat ailments and be effective in helping people exercise more efficiently.
The science
EMS works by contracting your muscles with low-frequency electric impulses. It mimics the way your brain activates your muscles, but at a higher rate, said to make it more efficient.
A study published this year by the US National Centre for Biotechnology Information aimed to determine whether EMS could be more effective than conventional workouts.
The results showed combining EMS with voluntary exercise does enhance metabolic responses in the same way a high intensity workout would.
And in a study published in the Journal of Applied Physiology, a group of "healthy adults living sedentary lifestyles" followed a six-week programme where they completed 29 one hour EMS sessions. When assessed at the end of the programme they showed "significant" improvements in strength and fitness. However BMI results showed little change. The researchers also deduced EMS could be helpful for people facing barriers to physical exercise, such as obesity or spinal cord injuries.
The reality:
Far from the aforementioned daytime TV ad, an EMS workout was certainly a sensation I'd never experienced before.
First, we set the "buzz" level. The equivalent of choosing your weight at the gym, this is essentially how you decide how much your muscles are going to push back at you. And as just lifting my arms above my head was a struggle, when I wasn't holding a physical weight, I'm sure I looked ridiculous.
I stood, trainer at my side, in a wet bodysuit (sprayed for conduction between electro-pads and skin) with an electro-vest and strapping over the top.
Cinched from my waist to shoulders, I was told this was what wearing a corset feels like. There were wires everywhere and extra straps around my biceps and quads, as well as another belt around my butt for good measure.
My trainer coached me through an incredibly intense 20-minute session of exercises closer to stretching and jazzercise than a traditional gym workout.
A battle began raging between my muscles and my mind. Electric pulses told me to move one way as I fought my body to go the other. This is resistance training like nothing else - and not just because of the skimpy body suit and paper G-string you're given for the session.
Fifteen minutes in, my hair was everywhere, sweat was dripping on the floor, my lungs were screaming and time seemed to have really slowed down. Surely there was something off with the countdown timer on the monitor?
The verdict:
As far as I can tell from the session I endured, EMS training delivers on its promises.
In the days following I experienced the kind of pain I hadn't felt in a long time – the same as you get from an immense physical workout. I'm talking marathon, boot camp, 30km bush run (I did that once, never again).
It was a good pain, one that says you're not putting your socks on today without a fight.
That round of golf I had planned in two days' time? Yeah, not happening.
My booty has never felt perkier, my triceps are bulging, I walk around like my chest is busting out of my shirt and my posture has never looked so sharp.
Squats, you know the really hard ones with the big weight? They're dead to me now. You'll do a couple of squats in an EMS session but they're different, I swear.
If you commit to this, I honestly don't see how you won't get results.