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Would You Zap Yourself With Electricity To Get Into Shape? 62

Posted by msmash from the how-about-that dept.
One of the latest trends in boutique fitness is electrifying. Literally. From a report: Called whole-body electrical muscle stimulation, or EMS, the technique requires users to wear an electrode-studded suit that attaches to a machine. The suit delivers electrical impulses that make each exercise more difficult as muscles fight against the impulses. The result is a more efficient way to build muscle mass and strength, say proponents, who claim that one 20-minute session of whole-body zapping achieves the same benefits as two and half hours of conventional strength training.

In the U.S., the workouts are offered by about 400 fitness centers, spas and other outlets, and do-it-yourself home training kits are proliferating online. Yet whole-body EMS isn't a shortcut to a Marvel hero's physique, scientists say. Regulators have warned the equipment can be dangerous, with risks including muscle damage or burns. Whole-body EMS is attracting more attention from researchers studying whether the technique might benefit people who don't or can't exercise. Some doctors are investigating whether it can decrease inflammation in the obese and frailty in older people. A small study presented at an American Heart Association conference in November suggested that whole-body EMS might benefit the heart.

Twenty-four young, healthy adults who did 20 minutes a week of squats, lunges and bicep curls using electrical stimulation recorded greater improvements in waist and hip measurements, cholesterol levels, aerobic capacity and other indicators of cardiac health than a second group that did the same exercises without stimulation, according to the findings, which haven't been published in a scientific journal. Small studies like this suggest the approach might hold promise as a supplemental treatment for cardiac patients who don't get the exercise they need, says Jaskanwal Sara, the Mayo Clinic doctor who conducted the research.
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Would You Zap Yourself With Electricity To Get Into Shape? More

Would You Zap Yourself With Electricity To Get Into Shape?

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  • ...sounds like a less painful, less "needle" way to rehab your muscle mass than they used for Neo once they got him out of the matrix, eh?

    Couldn't this be worn while you're laying down watching tv....twitching away?

  • Again? (Score:3)

    by Major_Disorder ( 5019363 ) on Tuesday January 10, 2023 @03:08PM (#63196934)
    We have had quacks selling electrical fitness devices practically forever. None of them have ever worked. I seriously doubt anything has changed.

    • We have had quacks selling electrical fitness devices practically forever. None of them have ever worked. I seriously doubt anything has changed.

      I'm sure Bruce Lee [essentiallysports.com] would agree with you if he were stil around.

    • We have had quacks selling electrical fitness devices practically forever. None of them have ever worked. I seriously doubt anything has changed.

      There's a desire to get this done "quick" and "scientifically" to gain muscle / lose weight / make it easier. No surprise someone is selling it again.

      • There's a desire to get this done "quick" and "scientifically" to gain muscle / lose weight / make it easier. No surprise someone is selling it again.

        I think I found a demo video [youtube.com].

      • There is more to it than just "I want to be strong more quickly". Exercise, while beneficial, does have some drawbacks in terms of impact on joints, tendons, & bones. This would be ideal for some someone post surgery who needs to build muscle mass but needs to avoid the impact stress of a normal workout.

    • Re: (Score:1)

      by fermion ( 181285 )
      And this requires you still exercise. Remember the vibrating belt? But many kill themselves with steroids, so this should be a hit.

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by jbengt ( 874751 )

        And this requires you still exercise.

        Actually, this electric stimulation forces your muscles to exercise, it just moves your will to exercise a step away to use indirect actions. Unless you're unable to exercise the regular way, this only makes you think you're doing it without effort. (Assuming the specifics of the subject EMS really work)

    • We have had quacks selling electrical fitness devices practically forever.

      When I was a kid we had a reprint of a Sears Roebuck catalog from the late 1800s, and IIRC it featured a whole section of electric fitness belts.

    • I don't know what evidence you have to the contrary but electrostim is a valid way to get certain muscles into shape. I've used one for 20 years to keep my back muscles toned. I have something akin to scoliosis called hyperlordosis and one of the things that apparently happens in my case is that my back gets weaker if I stand too long. By the end of the day my back will literally try to pull itself out of place. When I tone with my electrostim machine, I don't have that problem as it maintains a minimum tha

      • Bruce Lee did it with AMAZING results

        No he didn't. He did lots of things which perhaps included EMS (there actually exists zero evidence that he did) but lots of weight training and cardio. If he in fact also did EMS then there is no way to determine what effect it had on his results since he did traditional training at the same time.

        One major problem with EMS is that yes it does work if your muscles are extremely weak but then comes the problem of how to increase the load, with EMS all you can do is to increase the current but you quite quick

      • Re:Again? (Score:5, Interesting)

        by MrKaos ( 858439 ) on Tuesday January 10, 2023 @08:15PM (#63197720) Journal

        Bruce Lee did it with AMAZING results

        No. He may have used a device like that as an augmentation to his training however that is not how *trained* his body.

        You may be able to use a device like this to use fat stores however one of the primary things that training weights or martial arts does is train the nervous system. What that means is as the muscle cells grow bigger and the body is stress beyond it's current capacity it is forced to grow new nerve ending and muscle cells.

        I've been doing both these styles of training (and others) for 35 years and to promote muscle growth your brain and mind are fully engaged in the process otherwise you would not derive the co-ordination necessary to use those muscles properly.

        Additionally, whilst I have also considered using this as a lazy way to do activate my muscles into burning fat whilst doing something else, what a device like this misses is the changes to bone mineral density and (like steroids) enhancements your body will make to the supporting organs that maintain the musculature.

        Body builders loose lots of mass due to this when they stop training and training aids. When you weight train without the assistance of these training aids you are training a collaborative set of systems in your body and you musculature simply represents the end process. What that means is if I stop training (generally to fix injuries) and I loose some muscle mass all of the supporting systems (including the nervous system enhancements I've earned) are still there so I regain my strength and mass really easily.

        Frankly I don't understand why people don't work out, it feels great, you get to push your body to it's limits, you get to listen to loud music and no one bothers you, so it is it's own reward. After finishing a heavy session it's also great to have some food and do some code. By the end of the day sleep comes very easily.

        • Re: (Score:2)

          by nasch ( 598556 )

          it feels great

          That is not everyone's experience.

          • Re: (Score:2)

            by MrKaos ( 858439 )

            it feels great

            That is not everyone's experience.

            Oh for sure, people with diabetes experience a lot of pain when they work out, for example. However most people can do something before it gets that bad.

            • Re: (Score:2)

              by nasch ( 598556 )

              I'm not talking about diseases and disabilities, just ordinary people. I don't find lifting weights feels great, it just feels like a lot of work.

              • Re: (Score:2)

                by MrKaos ( 858439 )

                I'm not talking about diseases and disabilities, just ordinary people.

                Then to be fair, neither of us can speak for anyone else, so I'll clarify that doing weights feels really great to me and the iron doesn't lie.

                I don't find lifting weights feels great,

                That's ok, there are plenty of other physical activities, like running which isn't my favorite exercise however it builds willpower. Or sports, or walking. Find what works for you.

                it just feels like a lot of work.

                It's supposed to be a lot of work to push you to new limits. It's where you find yourself and the strength you gain garners respect from others, which is good for your mental health.

                • Re: (Score:2)

                  by nasch ( 598556 )

                  Sure, I'm not surprised that it feels like a lot of work, because it is. I just wanted to point out that it isn't a pleasurable experience for everyone, which is one reason why not everyone does it, which is what you were asking about.

                  • Re: (Score:2)

                    by MrKaos ( 858439 )

                    Sure, I'm not surprised that it feels like a lot of work, because it is. I just wanted to point out that it isn't a pleasurable experience for everyone, which is one reason why not everyone does it, which is what you were asking about.

                    Heart disease isn't a pleasurable experience for anyone.

    • What has changed in this case is a third party has conducted a small scale study and got promising results. If you follow these things youâ(TM)ll realize thatâ(TM)s very very far from having definitive support for the idea, but itâ(TM)s a baby step in the right direction.

      One of the tells here is the tiny tiny dose. 20 minutes a week. Itâ(TM)s what youâ(TM)d do with a treatment whose safety is unproven but which is probably ok in small amounts. If this is a kind of substitute for ex

    • We have had quacks selling electrical fitness devices practically forever. None of them have ever worked. I seriously doubt anything has changed.

      Zapping people, dead animals, live animals, etc. was the first use for electricity, long before the light bulb was invented. "Frankensteins Monster" is based on this.

  • What's old is new again (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Ol Olsoc ( 1175323 ) on Tuesday January 10, 2023 @03:13PM (#63196970)
    I remember as a kid seeing machines for muscle stimulation. Usually for abdominal region.

    As well, since I'm allergic to most serious painkillers other than acetominiphen (with it's obvious problems), I often use a TENS machine. Which is essentially the same thing.

    And when I use it on my knee, it makes the muscles jump pretty good, but it's nice to have some pain free time. The muscle stimulation probably helps strengthen the knees as well. And zero side effects. Which by the way, TENS used to be a prescription-only device, which is stupid. Then again, if Aspirin were discovered today, it would be prescription only, and crooks like Abbvie would turn it into a 5000 a month maintenance drug.

  • I'd most likely walk more every day. An hour or two walking daily seems to be more than enough, really.

    • Re: (Score:1)

      by Anonymous Coward

      I'd most likely walk more every day. An hour or two walking daily seems to be more than enough, really.

      That and a bit of Capoeira Angola.
      I am not a paid spokesperson....

  • like this thing? https://allthatsinteresting.co... [allthatsinteresting.com]
  • Luckily, zapping yourself with electricity to get in shape is both snake oil, and slashdot snake-oil shill article.
  • There's deep structure that has to be utilized in a proper sequence to build health and strength. Using electric current to stimulate individual muscles is about as bright as using mortar explosions to direct traffic.

    • What's proper? Most exercise has little to do with natural hunter gatherer movement patterns, it's all artificial, this is simply another layer of artificial. It seems to activate a lot of opposing muscle groups during exercise, same as in isometric exercise.

      Ideally the purely electrically activated muscles during a movement get some exercise even when they normally would not and you can get the same resistance with less weight, thus with less stress on joints and back.

      • It's the same kind of self-delusion as gym rats, just even less intelligent. A manual laborer could easily dismantle a common gym rat bodybuilder in a fight or a practical competition without breaking a sweat, and for exactly the same reasons. You build your body by using the whole thing dynamically. Treating it like just an assembly of parts leads to all sorts of unhealthy imbalances. People really should not be getting their health cues from pro athlete routines, which have never been designed to maxi

    • I find your mortar explosion traffic directing idea very interesting and would like to join your news letter.

    • Yep! I did this once as someone over 50. It over excreted some muscles in the shoulder and tore the tendons.

      It took more than a year of pain to recover.

      Never again.

  • Didn't we have this in "Mad Men"? (Score:3)

    by iamacat ( 583406 ) on Tuesday January 10, 2023 @03:26PM (#63197052)

    And then it turned out the device was popular because it worked as a vibrator?

  • Using electricity worked for Cartman https://www.youtube.com/watch?... [youtube.com]

  • EMS is a great idea, especially for rehab. As a guy with joint pain, I'd love to do this to workout while the joints and tendons heal....as would many wealthy senior citizens and professional athletes. If this was even semi-effective, you wouldn't have to read about it as an upcoming trend from a paywalled WSJ article. Everyone you know would own one or be contemplating buying one. It would revolutionize the human experience.

    Yeah, yeah, yeah, you won't look like Mr Olympia if you use it every night,
  • Take that INTERNET!!! I'm being a smart ass if it's not obvious. :P
  • First of all, I want to say that the title question is a bit dumb, as people have been doing it for at least a century now. In second place, getting back to actual days, science has evolved a lot since those early days. There's lots of studies today showing that EMS may actually HELP people to get fitter and healthier. The emphasis in 'HELP' is because you still have to actually work out, and the EMS will provide better blood circulation, cell oxygenation and anesthetic effects. In particular senior citize

  • Sure (Score:2, Insightful)

    by istartedi ( 132515 )

    Sure. Anything but cutting back on sugar and taking the stairs instead of the elevator. Electricity. Radiation. Hormones. Methamphetamine. As long as I don't have to walk to the grocery store, ride a bike, or eat roughage it's all good. /sarcasm.

    • Sure. Anything but cutting back on sugar and taking the stairs instead of the elevator. Electricity. Radiation. Hormones. Methamphetamine. As long as I don't have to walk to the grocery store, ride a bike, or eat roughage it's all good. /sarcasm.

      Many people do eat healthy and exercise and still don't achieve their goals. I'll wager I eat healthier than you and workout a lot more and I am overweight. If you're too lazy to take basic steps, like cutting junk food and exercise, I doubt you're willing to spend a few thousand dollars for a suit to uncomfortably electrocute yourself.

      I can't imagine this thing is fun or pleasant. It certainly looks really uncomfortable. The market for such a device, were it to exist, would not be people too lazy to

  • This stuff has been around a long time. As a fitness trend, it's a stupid idea that relies on people not wanting to do actual work to get the body they want (a common theme among fitness trends). At the end of the day, all electrical stimulation can do is force a muscle to contract. What also causes a muscle contract? Just doing some actual exercise. You don't somehow end up doing less work because some external electrode caused the muscle to contract instead of a signal coming from your brain.

    The problem i

  • Zapping yourself with electricity to avoid having to exercise is a scam that's over 50 years old. Like vibrating exercise belts.

    'Small unpublished studies' (funded by the people who are trying to sell you the scam equipment) say lots of things, all of which turn out not to hold up under a real trial.

    You CAN use it to contract muscles for people who can't move at all, but that is an insignificant effect for anyone who can actually get off their asses a couple times a day and just walk to the fridge of anoth

  • ....it probably is.

    Still true in 2023.

  • The American Society of Masochists applauds this technology. But it has some questions about the groin region of the exercise suit.
  • It's amazing the lengths that people will go to to avoid cutting down on food and actually exercising

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