Has anyone used ES as part of their training? And if so, did he/she have positive results? I’m looking into getting a product called COMPEX that’s sold off of the Hammer website. Anyone have any input?
Dont have a compex but rather some other brand off of ebay for 100 bucks… works well for what i want it to do… just a little stim after hard workouts to aid in recovery… also it will help shorten soft tissue injury recover time. Wish it did the same for bone though. good luck
I purchased a Compex unit at Interbike last year but am ashamed to admit it has not been used as much as it should. That is not to say that the wife and I do not use it, simply that it has not been integrated into the training plan as much as I would like. I have primarily used the Active Recovery and Explosive strength routines but in my experience, their is some acclimatization required to get used to higher ‘exercise’ values. For example, for me using the device on Explosive Strength and level 1, settings above 60-70, well it starts to feel - um, rather uncomfortable for some muscle groups (like abs).
At higher intensity numbers, I noticed what I would describe as ‘bleed’ to other muscle groups. For example I was using the Explosive Strength program at the end of the day to help complement the ab work I was doing in the gym. As I got into the higher numbers, I would start to feel a tingling sensation in my hip flexors and as I increased the intensity, the tingling in the hip flexors also increased and at numbers approaching 70, would actually start to be uncomfortable. But to be fare, the compex includes a pictorial guide for placing the electrodes and at the time, I was doing the routine while lying on the bed so I was not stricly following the recommended workout procedure.
I will say from personal experience that when the Compex is used for explosive strength routines on the quads, hamstrings, or calfs, it is very effective and I would be hard pressed to hit the hamstrings in the gym as hard as the Compex does. Also, I really like the active recovery routines as it really helps to return some ‘spring’ back into my legs after runs or high tempo training rides with the race team. Unfortunately, despite what my wife thinks, the Compex is not a replacement for your other workouts but a complement to them. Tonight is a 3-hour training ride on the TT bike followed by explosive strength for quads and hamstrings on the Compex and ending with the active recovery for both the wife and I.
I used it for rehab 5 years ago. I saw pretty rapid results but I don’t have the knowledge to integrate it indefinetly. Seek out an expert is my advice…
There have been extensive threads about Compex in the last 4 months or so- here are links to some of them:
http://forum.slowtwitch.com/gforum.cgi?post=312795;search_string=search_string;#312795