Daily Mail

Can this electric suit help you burn a day’s calories in 40 minutes?

- by Alice Smellie

Performing exercises on a London roof terrace is not for the shy and retiring, especially when you are wearing what looks like a black flak jacket hooked up to a futuristic machine.

i get more than my fair share of strange looks from onlookers in neighbouri­ng buildings as i execute a series of deep lunges and bicep curls while being barked at by a personal trainer.

normally, i would be a little self-conscious. But not today, for i am trying out a revolu-tionary fitness regime that has taken the world by storm and looks to be the next big thing in getting slimmer.

it’s called electrical muscle Stimulatio­n (emS) and involves wearing a suit that passes an electrical current through your muscles as you exercise, giving them a workout 150 times stronger than you could normally dream of.

What’s more, if you try hard enough, it is claimed, you can burn more than 2,500 calories (500 more than the average woman needs in a day) in just two sessions of roughly 20 minutes a week — the equiva-lent of four to six hours in a normal gym.

i am the first person in the UK to test the latest emS suit, which has just been launched here by a company called XBody. As i love the idea of a quick fix, i immedi-ately sign up for a session which would normally cost about £45.

even so, i am still a little anxious about what to expect when i arrive at a private members club in London for my session with mark Chesters, of the UK emS Trainer institute. Will it feel like i am being electrocut­ed?

‘Don’t worry, it sounds gimmicky, but the science has been around for years for sports rehabilita­tion, endurance, muscle-building and strength training,’ mark reassures me.

The XBody newave suit is all straps and padding and made from neoprene, polyester and nylon.

it has 20 small pads which are attached to your body to carry the electric current to each of the major muscle groups (shoulder blades, mid-back, lower back, glutes, ham-strings, quadriceps, abdominals, pectorals, biceps, triceps and calves or shoulders). Underneath i wear the soft cotton T-shirt and short leggings provided. NEXT, the pads are dampened in order to conduct the elec-tricity. it is cold and i shiver as i am firmly strapped in. i look like a superhero, but a very chilly one. mark then connects me, via a wire on the right of my hip, to the machine that is going to provide the electricit­y during my workout.

This is like a slender, S-shaped lectern with a screen at the top from which mark selects the strength of current for each part of my body.

When turned on, it simultane-ously stimulates all the major muscle groups for the whole 20- minute exercise session, meaning there are 150 times more muscle contractio­ns than in an equivalent normal workout.

Usually, you exercise only about 40 per cent of your muscle fibres, but with emS, that becomes more like 90 per cent. And the more you use your muscles, the more energy you burn and the better the results.

i am slightly apprehensi­ve it will hurt, so it is a relief to discover that mark turns the power on for each limb gradually, using the screen as a touch keypad. As he does so, a strange tingling suddenly starts to spread across my buttocks, which begin to gently clench and then release. it is the most extraordin­ary sensation but, so far, painless.

The tingling is intense but doesn’t hurt. it is like being tickled very firmly. i am unimpresse­d. How can this be providing the ultimate workout?

‘Can you feel that?’ asks mark.

‘ it’s rubbish,’ i say, ‘ there is no way i am burning 2,000 calories.’

mark gives me a look, which i initially interpret as disappoint-ment. it’s not. it is pure evil, for without saying a word, he touches the screen and the next thing i feel is not a tingle — more like a kick in the stomach. i jump back, stifling a scream. ‘You don’t have very strong abdominals,’ mark says innocently, hiding a smirk as i beg him to turn it down. He has a litany of stories about profession­al athletes, includ-ing footballer­s and a top cage fighter, who have tried XBody. Terrify-ingly, all of his tales end with variations on the sentence: ‘After 20 minutes he was a weeping wreck, quiv-ering on the floor and begging for it to stop.’ To avoid having him say this about me, we agree to keep the machine on a mid-range setting, although mark keeps turning it up and down throughout the workout to achieve maximum results. We start the programme’s five stages.

These vary from person to person but could be typically two minutes of warm-up as the machine is turned on, seven of resistance training, four of cardiovasc­ular training and another four of resistance training.

finally, there’s a warm- down lasting three minutes.

The resistance training involves straightfo­rward moves ( deep squats and bicep curls). it sounds easy, but it’s not when you are wearing a suit that makes you feel like you are walking through quicksand while being tickled by an affectiona­te bear.

During the bicep and tricep curls i can hardly lift my hand to my shoulder, so forceful is the resistance.

At the same time, i can feel the rest of my body being worked out by the rhythmic pulsating of the pads. The electricit­y is contractin­g muscle groups i didn’t realise i had, making everything incredibly hard work.

next, we move on to cardiovas-cular training. i find myself gasping for breath as i move my arms backwards and forwards as fast as i can in a static sprint. normally this would be a breeze.

When we do overhead throwing (not actually chucking balls but miming the action), it feels as though i am lifting a vast stone over my head.

i am panting with exertion, but anyone watching us would think that i was just doing an ordinary

workout. All the while, mark is fiddling with the controls. At one point he turns up the abdominal force a bit too high again and i wince and cry out. i am suddenly reminded of childbirth. ‘Women do use emS on men to show them how labour feels,’ says mark.

After another resistance session, by which point i can hardly lift my legs, we move on to the warm-down.

Through the pads, the machine performs a simulated lymphatic massage to boost my circulatio­n while i lie on the floor, twitching involuntar­ily and enjoying a faint tingling throughout my body.

it is a relaxing way to bring the body back down to its normal state.

After the session, i am utterly shattered but also overjoyed because the back pain i have been enduring for ten days (caused by picking up a heavy bag) has not bothered me once.

i am able to move freely, rather than wincing and whining as i have been doing for days. THIS is because as well as toning you up and helping you to lose weight, the XBody can also help with injuries. ‘ Stabilisin­g and targeting muscles around the spine gives support, and back pain can be alleviated,’ says Carlos Pacheco, of XBody.

‘it can also help the obese; being the only person in the room apart from the trainer means that very large people are less self- conscious.’

The only downside i can see, is that there is no way of measuring absolutely how many calories you have burned.

However, clinical trials are under way and i can easily imagine (especially given how hungry i am for the next two days) that i have burned at least 500 calories during my workout.

What’s more, as resistance training of any kind increases the metabolism long after your work-out is over, i will continue to burn more calories than normal for a couple of days (that could be another 500 to 750 calories) with-out even trying.

As i get dressed, i find that although i am weak with exhaustion, i can bend over properly for the first time since i hurt my back. The next morning i am a little stiff, but can walk without twitching with pain every few minutes.

This improvemen­t continues for two days and the pain does not return. i also feel fantastic and my stomach is tauter.

i must admit, i am convinced by emS. now i am just hoping it comes to a gym near me soon.

For more informatio­n, go to xbodyworld.co.uk or call 020 3837 4915.

 ?? Picture: RHIAN AP GRUFFYDD ?? Put through her paces: Alice on the XBody machine
Picture: RHIAN AP GRUFFYDD Put through her paces: Alice on the XBody machine
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