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by John Comerski (A member of the American College of Sports Medicine  and the Weider Group)

It's 7:00 a.m. and Lee Haney heads for the gym to bomb his legs. On his way home Lee's quadriceps feel like they're ready to burst. But an hour later, his legs are feeling more relaxed and Lee knows that his quadriceps muscles are now in a critical rebuilding phase. Blood flow, temperature and metabolism are still elevated, and the uptake of nutrients by these thoroughly worked muscles is about at its peak.

Lee knows it's time to hook up the electrical muscle stimulation (EMS)  on both legs. He places electrodes on his vastus medialis (inside quad). Turning on his electrical unit Lee carefully increases the current to these muscles to a level as high as is comfortable. Pulses of current are then sent to Lee's quadriceps: the muscles contract for a moment, then relax, contract, relax... Twenty minutes later - after  perhaps 1,200 to 1,500 split-second contractions and relaxations - Lee's supplemental quadriceps workout is over.

This entire process is repeated every time Lee trains as he prepares for the Mr. Olympia contest. The EMS, he thinks, just might give him the edge he needs to get bigger, harder and denser.

 ORIGINS OF EMS

EMS has been around for some time but was really brought to light after the 1972 Olympics when the USSR swept up a basketful of gold and silver medals. EMS was reportedly used on Soviet athletes with benefits reflected in the medal harvest. Since then, numerous research studies have been performed using EMS. Bruce Lee used EMS extensivley to increase speed and hardness. John Cardillo of Ontario Canada used EMS to create mindblowing cuts and size.

Increases in strength, muscle size and athletic performance have all been attributed to this technology. Even claims of improved cardio-respiratory efficiency and reduced body fat levels have been made.

STIMULATING MUSCLE GROWTH & STRENGTH

As you know, muscles need stimulation to become stronger and larger. In any bodybuilding program, you must always attempt to better your past performances, whether it be in number of reps, sets or weight. Regardless, it all comes back to progressive overload of your muscles.

A host of various physiological changes occurs through bodybuilding and the changes are very specific to the type of training you are performing. For instance, if you workout with heavy poundages and low repetitions, you can improve your strength, power and muscle size. On the other hand, lighter  weights, higher reps and shorter rest periods are used to develop Muscular definition and endurance. However, the  increased nerve-muscle activity is the primary stimulus needed for muscles to enlarge, become stronger and have more endurance.

A major topic of researchers as well as athletes has been whether electrical muscle stimulations could play a significant part in training. The concensus, although guarded, is that if utilized correctly and consistently, EMS can be extremely beneficial. At TONEATRONIC we have seen this to be true at our facility.

 




THE BASIS OF EMS

When you perform any exercise, your brain sends a message down the spinal cord through the nerves innervating all the muscles you're using that causes them to contract. This is referred to as voluntary muscle action. In essence, your brain controls the muscle.

The idea behind electrical muscle stimulation is that an outside electrical source stimulates the nerves to send these signals to your muscle to contract. This is accomplished by passing electrical current through electrode pads placed over a muscle. The current passes through your skin to the nerves in the immediate area, stimulating the connecting muscles to contract.

 EMS CLAIMS

Studies have shown that EMS stimulates large nerve axons (long outgrowths of a nerve cell body), some of which you cannot stimulate voluntarily. It is possible that EMS might allow for additional muscle  hypertrophy (ie, increased development of tissue by enlargement, without multiplication of cells).

EMS manufacturers claim substantial increases of muscle hypertrophy (growth), strength and endurance. EMS may be used solely to do this or in conjunction with regular weight training by aiding recovery and thus helping muscles grow and get stronger. EMS also increases your heart rate, body temperature and metabolism - thus promoting energy and fat absorbtion from your body.

EMS FOR BODYBUILDING

EMS is beneficial to bodybuilders who use it correctly. Since EMS may  be able to stimulate muscle tissue which is not voluntarily stimulated, bodybuilders can use EMS soley or in conjunction with weights to supplement their regular training to fully exhaust muscles and to speed recuperation to enhance maximum growth.

EMS has been shown to help improve strength and muscle hypertrophy.  It seems that slow-twitch, especially when pain tolerance is used to determine maximal power transmitted to a muscle  gives the maximum benefit. However, low current settings utilized in a rythmic manner may be somewhat effective in stimulating slow-twitch muscle fibers.

As the scenario of Lee Haney using EMS in his quadriceps training suggests.  EMS can be used to enhance recovery from bodybuilding training. Increased blood flow to the muscles helps to deliver nutrients necessary for recovery and subsequent growth while the pumping action (stimualtion/relaxation action  of EMS training) helps to remove waste products, mainly lactic acid, from these muscles.

EMS will enable muscles to relax quicker and more completely. This in itself also serves to increase blood flow to and from the muscles. Several bodybuilders have reported muscle spasms following their workouts, especially in their calves and hamstrings. EMS is a very effective means of relieving these spasms.

Following very intense workouts, edema or fluid can occur. Such swelling inhibits recovery. The pumping action of EMS training can reduce edema and promote recovery in the manner described above.

EMS has also been shown to block pain signals referred to your brain. By stimulating alternate sensory mechanisms, EMS can reduce pain like the soreness we experience from intense bodybuilding.

As a result of heavy training, muscles can actually become scarred.  Adhesions can appear, resulting in a loss of muscle elasticity and maximal force potential. EMS may help prevent such adhesions from occurring as well as possibly stretching old scar tissue.

If you should experience an immobilizing injury, as we all have at one time or another, EMS use can effectively reduce muscle atrophy and prevent large-scale losses in the enzymes  responsible for energy production in both slow and fast-switch muscle fibers. In addition, regular EMS use during immobilization improves nerve-muscle interactions necessary for a speedy recovery.

As you can see, EMS use is a variable tool in bodybuilding training  and has a positive influence on muscle strength and muscle growth.

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