What is electrical muscle stimulation, exactly?

If you've ever visited physical therapy, you might have experienced EMS or "e-stim" to help loosen your tight muscles to allow them to recover. When used therapeutically, these units are made to stimulate nerves which make muscles contract, ultimately relaxing and loosening any tight spots.

You can find actually plenty of these pain-alleviating devices available non-prescription and online (also called TENS — transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation units), which will run you around $200. But, again, they're designed to work on a particular area, not your physique, and are usually used under professional supervision. Although they are often "safe and user friendly," using them during a workout isn't advised and, if anything, should only be introduced "for pain-relief effects after having a workout," recommends Fulop.

Okay, so just how is that unique of an EMS workout?
As opposed to emphasizing a certain body part as you'd do in physical therapy, during an EMS workout, electrical stimulation is usually delivered to larger aspects of your body using a suit, vest, and/or shorts. As you exercise (which is already engaging your muscles), the electrical impulses force your muscles to contract, which can lead to more muscle recruitment, says Dircksen.

It would sound simple enough, but it's no walk in the park. Because the pulse actually acts as resistance, the movements feel much harder and make you fatigued much faster. Just just as in other training, you could be sore: Overall, how sore you're after EMS training depends on multiple factors, such as the "intensity of the job, the weight used, the total amount of time, simply how much eccentric load was done, and if the movements were done in new ranges," says Dircksen.

So, does EMS workout training work?

When exercising normally, neurotransmitters in the brain tell muscle tissue (and the fibers within them) to activate and engage to be able to perform each movement. With time, consequently of factors such as for example injury, overtraining, and poor recovery, muscular imbalances can occur and limit your muscle fibers' activation during moves when they will normally be recruited. (See: How to Activate Underused Glutes aka Dead Butt Syndrome for an example of how this could play out IRL.)

However, when pulseperformancestudio EMS is put into the equation, you're able to call upon more muscle fibers (including the ones that have remained dormant). To be safe — so you don't overdo it and risk muscle, tendon, or ligament tears — choose "the minimal effective dose. Meaning, once you receive a muscle contraction from the stim, that's enough," says Dircksen.

"By actively participating in a EMS workout class (rather than sitting and passively letting the e-stim activate your muscles), you're obtaining a good workout in, that is chock-full of health benefits," says Dircksen. Provided that you don't overload, this increase in muscle engagement could lead to strength gains. (

The Biggest Mental and Physical Great things about Working Out
If you utilize e-stim in tandem with movement and weight, muscle tissue should get stronger than if you did the moves alone, according with a research. In a 2016 study, those who did a six-week squat program with EMS had greater strength improvements compared to those that did not use EMS.

So yes, the idea of EMS workouts seems to make sense, and, yes, some studies do support claims of boosted strength. However, research (of which there is very little) ranges in sample size, demographics, and findings. Case in point: A 2019 report on e-stim research actually found it absolutely was impossible to produce any conclusions on EMS training's effects.