Originally developed for astronauts, electrical muscle stimulation (EMS) promises to build muscle quickly and without weights. L360 editor Mattie Lacey-Davidson put it to the test.
Building muscle without lifting weights — or resistance training of any kind — sounds like an impossibility. But with technology that was originally developed by NASA, it’s very possible indeed.
Popular among celebrities and athletes alike, anyone from Kim Kardashian and Tom Holland to Roger Federer Usain Bolt have been known to try an EMS training.
In a bid to see what all the fuss is about, I had to try it for myself. I was shocked to learn just 20 minutes of exercise, while wearing a full-body EMS suit, can get you the same results as a strength-training session lasting one hour and 45 minutes.
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What is EMS?
Electrical muscle stimulation (EMS) uses low-frequency impulses to mimic the way your brain contracts your muscles. While your brain gets them working at around 30 per cent, EMS can add an extra 50 per cent. It’s not to be compared with the promised effects of a vibration plate or body-toning belt because, trust me, EMS is in a league of its own.
Electrical muscle stimulation can trigger 50,000 muscle contractions from a mere 20-minute session and can burn fat three times faster than gym training. EMS suits were originally created to help astronauts build or maintain muscle in space — tricky without gravity. This technology found its way from space and onto gym floors where personal trainers will take you through a short exercise routine unlike any other.
“One of the advantages of EMS treatment is that it contracts 100% of your muscles, significantly more than would be possible in conventional exercises,” says Steve Doidge-Harrison, award-winning personal trainer, endurance runner and co-founder of Bio Skin & Wellness.
“Two of the biggest barriers for many people who want to work on their fitness are confidence and the initial discomfort after the first training sessions. Gyms can be intimidating places and muscle soreness (so-called ‘DOMS’) at the early stages, can put people off from sustaining new fitness habits. HIFEM EMS treatment can provide results and boost one’s confidence, without setting foot in a gym.”
The research looks promising, too. According to Bayreuth University in Germany, after six weeks of using EMS training, 85 per cent of people saw an improvement to their body shape and muscle growth.
The uptake in EMS training across Europe has been notable — there are more than 1,700 studios in Germany and Austria alone. And while the list of get-fit-quick gimmicks that have come and gone is almost endless, the emergence of studios across the country, especially in the London, suggests that interest in EMS is growing.
Feel Electric – the brainchild Jon Wright, the former Harlequins rugby player and founder of low-cost fitness chain Xercise4Less – is the latest brand to bring EMS to the capital. With studios in Clapham and St John’s Wood, plans have already been made to open a further 15 by the end of the year.
“Right from my very-first EMS session, the first thing that hit me was the chemical reaction in my brain,” says Jon. “After a 20-minue workout, it was the same as a long run or heavy gym session.”
Feel Electric was founded in lockdown after an army pal introduced Jon to EMS. As someone whose sporting career was cut short by injury at the age of 22, it was its potential to make training accessible to people with injuries and mobility issues that excited him the most.
“People who can’t get upstairs properly try EMS and no longer need their walking stick,” he says. “We had one member who was on tramadol after back surgery and they were off it within three weeks of doing EMS. Losing weight and getting in shape is transformative, but that’s life changing.”
Personal EMS training in London review
In my first sessions, my trainer Alex kept it simple with isometric and unilateral exercises such as squats, lunges, standing crunches, single-leg dead lifts and hip raises. While already low impact, for those using EMS for physiotherapy or to maintain muscle mass while injured, movements can be even simpler and completely avoid pressure on any sensitive joints.
It’s hard to describe how it feels, so lend me your imagination. As you read this, tense your stomach as hard as you can — EMS will greatly exceed how tightly you can do it. And with the technology strapped to your thighs, arms and around your torso and bum, this intense contraction is happening across your entire body at once. With everything tensed tightly, you have to push through into the movement of whichever exercise you’re under instruction for.
It was hard, but not difficult or painful, although as Alex slowly increased the intensity it took me by surprise despite agreeing (or determinedly requesting) to go up a level in intensity. While the physical benefits are remarkable, before my first session I’d been concerned those looking for weight loss wouldn’t gain the same cardiovascular health benefits that longer workouts and cardio can achieve. I was mistaken. It might not get your heart pumping quite like a HIIT class, but within minutes I’d worked up a sweat and needed to focus on my breathing.
Does electrical muscle stimulation really work?
I expected to feel sore the day after, particularly in places I wasn’t used to due to all muscles being worked, but I wasn’t. So, I attempted to exercise without the assistance of EMS and jumped on a treadmill, only to feel as if my body had nothing left to give.
It hit me on the second day, when I awoke to my body feeling so sore it was as if I’d never previously exercised a day in my life. And in a way, I hadn’t — not like this anyway, not working every single muscle group.
After just a couple of sessions, I noticed a difference; I’d lost weight and had notably improved muscle definition, so I can only imagine the results over the long term.
Just one session each week is enough for most people to see a difference, and Alex doesn’t recommend EMS more than twice a week. In fact, reports have found that overuse of EMS can have an inverse effect and cause muscle breakdown. This is probably why the machine doesn’t run for more than 30 minutes at a time.
