What is EMS?
EMS is an abbreviated term for:
- Electrical
- Muscle
- Stimulation
EMS is an advanced muscle exercising, building, and toning technique.
EMS pulses are designed to make muscles contract similar to a sit-up.
EMS pulses are adjustable for short contractions, to longer, more drawn out contractions that are adjustable in seconds. The Medical Advisory Committee has allowed the use of EMS systems by athletes since the 1972 Olympics.
Professional athletes, bodybuilders, Physio-therapists, sports doctors, US/Canadian/Australian track and field athletes often use EMS units to supplement their routine exercises and training. EMS machines are mostly used to build muscle and rehabilitate injuries, although as previously mentioned, many people use them to exercise and tone muscles.
EMS pulses are used for:
- Buliding muscle
- Circulation enhancing
- Exercising muscles
- Toning muscles
- Rehabilitating muscles
- Can be used for deep tissue massage also.
How does EMS work?
EMS modes/pulses are very similar to using TENS modes/pulses. Connect a lead to your machine, and then connect the pads/electrodes to the ends of the lead.
Place the pads/electrodes on the area of your body that you want to exercise/build/tone.
You can use a muscle chart to isolate muscle groups, or check with a Physio-therapist or Doctor for positioning of your pads/electrodes to suit your needs. Although a lot of people just place them around the area that they want to exercise/build/tone, and make sure that the pulses feel even across the pads/electrodes. The pulses need to feel even, and good so that you can turn the intensity up high enough to contract the muscle. You may need to move the position of your pads/ electrodes to suit you. It can be good to use charts as a guide, but especially listen to what your body says back from the pulses.
The muscles will react to the impulses from your EMS machine by contracting and relaxing, similar to a sit-up. You can adjust the pulses in seconds to create longer, more drawn out contractions, or quicker contractions. EMS modes/pulses usually have three ways to do this:
“ON” time, is the number of seconds that the pulse is at its peak (top of the sit-up).
“OFF” time, is the number of seconds that the pulse is off (laying down between sit-up)
“RAMP” time, is the number of seconds that the pulse takes to go from “OFF” to “ON” (From laying down to fully clenched at the top of the sit-up)
Muscles are usually built,exercised, and toned by the brain sending electric pulses to your muscles, and are driven by your desires, and need to flex them. The electrical stimulation delivered by your EMS machine is a similar way to make your muscle flex. When a muscle contracts as a result of the EMS pulses, the chemical reactions taking place within the muscles are also similar to those that are associated with voluntary contraction (normal exercising) These chemical reactions utilise glycogen, fat, and other nutrients stored in your muscle.
EMS modes are a great, safe way to build muscle when rehabilitating an injury, or muscle wastage/atrophy. EMS greatly decreases the risk of re-injury, as it is only the muscle that flexes, and there is no impact or jarring like normal exercise can deliver.
EMS has been used for decades by Olympic athletes, body-builders, Sports-therapists, and many others to exercise, build, tone, and rehabilitate muscles.
