Can shocking your body in an electric body suit lead to muscle gain?

By Sheree Gomes Gupta

Tell me about a new fitness innovation, and you’re guaranteed to get me hooked. While scrolling through Instagram, I saw a post about the FDA-approved 20-minute EMS (Electro Muscle Stimulation) based workout, which promised muscle strenghtening, body shaping, cellulite reduction, and weight loss. Suffice to say, I jumped at the chance to try the workout technique at the Eazy Gym, a new EMS Fitness Studio in Mumbai.

Designed initially as a rehabilitation aid, with a fanbase that allegedly includes sportsmen like Usain Bolt, Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo and celebrities including Ashley Graham and Madonna, this intense 20-minute fitness regime "creates 30,000 muscle contractions—equivalent to a two-hour gym workout," says Eazy Gym founder, Jay Gadhvi. It was typically used in situations where a person has muscle weakness due to an injury or swelling. Particularly in injuries like that of the ACL, EMS was used to activate the quads after knee surgery to prevent the loss of muscle mass or function. But lately, fitness aficionados and influencers have been getting in on the trend, as the electrical impulses from the machine you’re hooked up to force your muscles to work harder, letting you increase the intensity of your strength training routine in a shorter time than traditional workouts.

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By Rujuta Vaidya

By Aakanksha Kirtane

For muscles to contract, the brain needs to send an impulse to fire up neurons in the muscle fibres. The EMS machine essentially mimics this, as the electrode pads tell the muscle they are placed on to contract faster and better. Usually, the sensation feels strange for the first session, but most people that practice this say that it does not hurt. While this workout is suitable for mostly everyone, even beginners, pregnant women, those with pacemakers, and people suffering from circulatory disorders, arterial circulatory disorders, hernias or tuberculosis should stay away.

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Once I got to the gym, I suited up in black leggings and a full sleeved top that I was provided with there. After that, a futuristic suit with electrodes was placed on my muscles. The trainer basically placed the electrodes on my major muscle groups, adjusting the intensity of muscle stimulation depending on the body part I was working out. The exercises are similar to functional training exercises as it focuses on muscle development. Squats, lunges, pushups and crunches are common moves in the regimen. The session ended with three minutes of relaxation and stretching.

At the end of just 20 minutes, I was not expecting to feel as exhausted as I did—and I felt sore all-over by the next morning. However, the usual back pain I generally feel after a weights-heavy workout was missing, which was a huge benefit to me. I could actually feel the muscle burn throughout the session, without feeling uncomfortable at any point by the vibrations from the electrodes. I also felt I could work out better, concentrating more on my form and movement instead of the pain one feels when weight training.

Since so many muscles like the lats and glutes are left under-utilised due to our sedentary lifestyles, this practice wakes them up. Regular practice can even lead to better posture in the long run. And while EMS training can't result in miraculous weight loss or muscle growth, it is the ideal practice to include in a weekly regimen. And it is also great for those wanting to dive into a workout routine that doesn't need you to spend two hours at the gym.

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