Are electrodes the future of exercising?
OPINION: Wearing a skin-tight bodysuit is a compromising experience. Being photographed in one, while damp and sweaty, should be illegal.
My introduction to EMS training (electro-muscle stimulation) was more intense than anticipated. The European fad is flourishing in Christchurch. It works by sending low frequency impulses, similar to mini electric shocks or a sharp surge of pins and needles, directly to 90 per cent of the body’s muscles.
The technology has been embraced by fellow sprinter Usain Bolt and if it’s good enough for him, it’s good enough for me, and surely must be useful for my final training days ahead of the ASB Summer Starter on Sunday.
Arriving at Barbadoes St’s Corporate Wellness Solutions gym, instructor Sabine Parry directed me to the changing room. She warned me to wear ‘‘nothing at all’’ underneath the regulation clingy black elbow-length shirt and leggings. Bit strange, but alright.
Back in the secluded studio, a heavy fabric suit of armour with chest, thigh and arm panels was sprayed with water to enhance conductivity and strapped firmly to me. Jarringly bright wires bulged out the sides and a long springy bungy cord connected me to a sci-fi style computer screen.
The display was tailored to my sub-par abilities before Parry activated the electrodes and prepared me to ‘‘engage’’ – basically stand in a squat position with a tensed core and bent arms.
Up to 90 contractions per second are pulsed into each muscle and a tickling sensation soon grew to a strange uncomfortable tingle, quivering and cramping after each four second contraction. Given my queasy gut and half my childhood road trips spent over a bucket, a hearty lunch an hour before was at best a foolish mistake.
The contractions didn’t hurt, but it threw me off balance more than once as we ran through a series of poses. Squats, curls and arm extensions were straightforward, a labour-esque stance, legs wide apart and arms bearing down into my thighs was more awkward.
Parry claims the 20-minute session compares to seven hours in the gym, with less joint impact. She was the first to bring the technology from Germany to the country two years ago and said if you feel like you can go again, she hasn’t worked you hard enough.
I didn’t reach full-blown exhaustion but certainly didn’t feel ready to go again.
"She warned me to wear "nothing at all" underneath the clingy black elbow-length shirt and leggings. Bit strange, but alright."
Marathon Maddie