Strength training is a vital element of basic sport fitness and forms the foundation on which further capabilities can be built. It’s also a key element of sports rehabilitation training.

EMS, or Electric Muscle Stimulation, mimics the signals that the brain sends to the muscles to make them contract by instead sending electrical impulses via electrodes attached to the body to stimulate deep muscle tissue. The EMS makes muscles work harder for longer, and more effectively, than traditional strength training. This is because using EMS enables the simultaneous tensioning of all the major muscle groups, including the stabilising “core” muscles, which are hard to reach with traditional training methods.

It also allows sport-specific movements, often tricky to integrate into traditional work-outs, to be fitted into an EMS strength training session. Plus it can be carried out without placing undue stress on the joints, which in itself allows for a greater intensity of training.

And the time-saved by incorporating Body Time workouts can be significant – creating performance improvements in just 20 to 30 minutes of whole-body EMS training that you’d struggle to achieve in an hour of conventional training. For instance, studies show that there can be an increase of between 8% and 9% for maximum strength after just four EMS training units.

Studies have shown that men using EMS have seen an increase in size of upper arms, breast/back, shoulders and thighs, beyond the results typically achieved with classic training methods. However, women using EMS see no difference in muscle size, despite significant increases in strength they can achieve using EMS, completely negating any fears that women using EMS will “bulk up”.
And in professional sports men and women, the positive effects of EMS training compared to conventional strength training were marked. Whole body EMS increased the maximum performance of athletes by up to 30% in sport studies and the long-term effects were also impressive with increases in speed recorded up to three weeks after the last EMS training session.