What is Electrical Muscle Stimulation ?

If you've ever gone to physical therapy, you could have experienced EMS or "e-stim" to simply help loosen your tight muscles so they can recover. When used therapeutically, these devices are designed to stimulate nerves that make muscles contract, ultimately relaxing and loosening any tight spots.

You will find actually plenty of those 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 made to work on a certain area, not your physique, and are normally used under professional supervision. Although these devices are often "safe and user friendly," using them throughout a workout is not advised and, if anything, should only be presented "for pain-relief effects following a workout," recommends Fulop.

Okay, so how is that unique of an EMS workout?
In place of focusing on a particular body part as you'd do in physical therapy, during an EMS workout, electrical stimulation is normally sent 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 result in more muscle recruitment, says Dircksen.

It could sound simple enough, but it's no walk in the park. As the pulse actually acts as resistance, the movements feel much harder and make you fatigued much faster. Just as with other training, you may be sore: Overall, how sore you are after EMS training is dependent upon multiple factors, like the "intensity of the task, the weight used, the amount of time, just how much eccentric load was done, and if any of 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 in order to perform each movement. Over time, as a result 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 should normally be recruited. (See: How to Activate Underused Glutes aka Dead Butt Syndrome for an example of how this may play out IRL.)

However, when pulseperformancestudio EMS is put into the equation, you're in a position to call upon more muscle fibers (including those who have remained dormant). To be safe — which means 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 is enough," says Dircksen.

"By actively participating in an EMS workout class (rather than sitting and passively letting the e-stim activate your muscles), you're obtaining a good workout in, which will be chock-full of health advantages," says Dircksen. So long as you don't exaggerate, this increase in muscle engagement could end up in strength gains. (

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If you are using e-stim in tandem with movement and weight, parts of your muscles should get stronger than in the event that you did the moves alone, according for some research. In a 2016 study, people who did a six-week squat program with EMS had greater strength improvements in comparison to people who didn't use EMS.

So yes, the idea of EMS workouts seems to create 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 was impossible to create any conclusions on EMS training's effects.