Anybody here complementing his/her training with Electrical Muscle Stimulation (EMS)? I’d love to hear your stories.
Well, I have borrowed it from a friend, and used it for recovery after HIM.
Not bad, like footing, increases blood flow and recovery.
Don’t know how effective for performance enhancing would be other programs, like capilarization/
Certainly the endurance programs can be a great addition to regular training. There are studies showing that used rigorously for several weeks the latter can increase aerobic characteristics of muscle fibers, such as increasing capillary density in the muscle (thereby improving oxygen supply). Also in times of less time for training, because of work or travel, the possibility of using an electrical muscle stimulator even at a desk or in an airplane, helps one to maintain a particular training shape in spite of no time available. That I think is invaluable.
You can download training schedules written by a two-time world triathlon age-group champion for EMS both for triathlon, cycling and running here or in this EMS Digest.
Do you have copies of the studies?
You want to hear stories or get free publicity?
I think you probably ought to disclose that you work for a company that makes EMS devices and that your job within that company directly pertains to said devices. If you want anecdotes, that’s fine, but just make it clear why you are asking. It’s usually better for you to be upfront than for someone else to force you into it.
I was low on my training hours but thanks to EMS, fixed that with 8 hours of training last night while I slept.
Anybody here complementing his/her training with Electrical Muscle Stimulation (EMS)? I’d love to hear your stories.
It’s crap as far as being a training supplement.
John
The early studies on muscle property changes were done in the '60s on mammals, and the results are well documented and incontrovertible: pictures showing increased capillary density in the muscles of sacrificed animals are quite dramatic. The picture on the left shows muscle-fiber capillary vessels of the control muscle of the calf of a rodent, and the one on the right capillary vessels after many hours of EMS.
Unfortunately not until few years ago it has been possible to study the muscle fiber properties of hu8mans without sacrificing them. For a study showing change of fast-twitch fibers to slow-twitch fibers (type 2a → 1), see Nuhr et al., Functional and biochemical properties of chronically stimulated human skeletal muscle, 2003 European Journal of Applied Physiology; the study employed 15 Hz EMS (I do have a copy of the study). The study employed EMS for several hours a day, which would be impractical. However, you have to remember that was in 2003, and electrostimulation research has been progressing a lot in this decade. In the last couple of years another research study has shown a remarkable change in muscle fiber composition (albeit in the opposite direction for maximum strength creation), in 8 weeks with an EMS training routine that is perfectly in line with normal times of training: ee: Maffiuletti et al., Neuromuscular Adaptations to Electrostimulation Resistance Training, 2006 American Journal of Physical Medicine & Rehabilitation; the study employed EMS at 75 Hz.
Unfortunately not until few years ago it has been possible to study the muscle fiber properties of hu8mans without sacrificing them.
uhhhhh, biopsy?
I may be wrong because I’m not a specialist in the techniques used, and I’ve only read the studies, not performed them. The technique to show the capillaries in the picture, consisted in taking sizable muscle samples, then injecting polymers in the capillaries, and finally using acids to dissolve the remaining tissue: I guess one would not want to do this with humans. The biopsy technique to take samples in one of the more recent studies in humans dates from 1979. My guess, why determinations of certain muscle properties (Myosin Heavy Chain content) were not done until a few years ago, is that the technique to determine it in small biopsy samples was not good enough until a few years ago.
I was promised that EMS could turn me from this:
to this:
.
does it have bleaching properties? 
You want to hear stories or get free publicity?
I want to educate people on EMS. Since you grew up and were partly schooled in France, I’m sure you are aware of the different perception in Europe, where electrical muscle stimulation is used by many more people, and sportsmen are aware of the possibilities of its use to tweak and complement training. In the USA unfortunately, for historical and/or cultural reasons, even professionals trained on EMS have much less knowledge about it. For instance see this blog in the New York Times on marathon gadgets, in which the PhD interviewed doesn’t even address the question asked about EMS use for sport recovery (i.e. to prevent delayed onset of muscle soreness), and concentrates instead on rehab.
I think you probably ought to disclose that you work for a company that makes EMS devices and that your job within that company directly pertains to said devices. If you want anecdotes, that’s fine, but just make it clear why you are asking. It’s usually better for you to be upfront than for someone else to force you into it.
I disclosed it in my profile after your request. I’m not here to promote a brand, and I thought that disclosure would have been tantamount to direct advertising. My purpose here is just education of what EMS is, and what it is not.
I use regulary my Compex Sport that I bought in 2006. Great tool for recovery.
Mine has specific programs so I dont need to take care of the frequency, and timing.
After car accident the chiro did it to me and I went there after workouts. It felt great only, wish the insurance would still pay for it.
We are just wary around here. I appreciate you updating your profile. From experience, I will tell you there are no downsides to laying your cards on the table. I suspect you will get more of what you were looking for having done that.
Now, to answer your question, I used NMES during some rehab with a physio for my rotator cuff. We used the NMES to stimulate my scapular stabilizers during strength training (internal rotation, external rotation, overhead press, etc.) as I had a lot of trouble just getting these muscles to fire at all since they had basically become totally subordinate to my pecs and traps. The NMES helped a great deal in that particular instance. I’ve never used it as part of a recovery protocol, though I can potentially see some value in it there, but not nearly as much as something like a NormaTec, which obviously works and has a lot of very well grounded science supporting it. I see basically no value in the supposed usage as a supplement to training (i.e. the “get ripped while sitting on the couch” nonsense), other than the obvious asset of improved recovery and the positive impact that would have on actual training.
I was promised that EMS could turn me from this:
I dunno, from everything I've heard lately, you've got a ways to go to get to "this" even. :)~
John
I may be wrong
Unfortunately, you are.
because I’m not a specialist in the techniques used, and I’ve only read the studies, not performed them. The technique to show the capillaries in the picture, consisted in taking sizable muscle samples, then injecting polymers in the capillaries, and finally using acids to dissolve the remaining tissue: I guess one would not want to do this with humans.
No, but you can also visualize/quantify capillarization in muscle using histochemical/immunohistochemical techniques coupled with light or electron microscopy.
The biopsy technique to take samples in one of the more recent studies in humans dates from 1979.
The needle biopsy technique was first described in 1865:
Charriere, M.; Duchenne, G.B. Emporte piece histologique. Bull. Acad. Natl. Med. 30:1050-1051; 1865.
but then fell into disuse until reintroduced by Bergstrom in 1962:
Bergstrom, J. Muscle electrolytes in man. Scand. J. Clin. Lab. Invest. Suppl. 68:110-167; 1962.
For a (now somewhat dated) review of studies that have employed this method to determine the effects of aging in humans, see:
Coggan AR. Muscle biopsy as a tool in the study of aging. J Geront 1995; 50A:30-34.
As for the effects of chronic electrical stimulation of muscle in humans, I have seen studies demonstrating modest increases in, e.g., mitochondrial enzyme activities in previously untrained persons. It is difficult, however, to tolerate the sorts of current needed to recruit significant numbers of motor units, because the stimulation also activates cutaneous pain receptors in the skin. As a result, a number of years ago we were unable to detect any significant changes in fiber type, size, capillarization, or glycolytic or mitochondrial enzyme activities in highly-trained powerlifters who underwent 6 wk of chronic EMS for a small pilot study.