Lazy people are extravagant: Can you “electrically” muscle without exercising?

Since last year, the abdominal muscles and vest lines have become the symbol of the quasi-sports people. In particular, the previously neglected female strength training has received more and more attention. At the same time, a new shaped product that uses "EMS" technology has entered people's field of vision. Is it possible to practice muscle without exercising? Is it really possible?

What is muscle electrical stimulation?

"Relax, pay attention to breathing, right, relax, pay attention to breathing..."

Put on Batman-like bodysuits, connect the electrodes, 1, 2, 3, a simple "rolling belly" action, "trapped in EMS (Electro Muscle Stimulation) equipment reporter I haven't been able to do it until I get to the 5th. I just feel that my body doesn't know which group of actions to start from. After 20 minutes, it is already sweating.

In the next few days, EMS fitness "sequel" came - full of muscle soreness, the feeling is almost exactly the same as "long time no exercise, suddenly come to the field", until four or five days later completely disappeared.

“The whole body EMS fitness mode is a comprehensive and targeted training of 90% of the muscles in a comprehensive and targeted manner. The muscles and activities can be increased from 30% to 50% of traditional strength training to 90%. So only 20 Minutes of EMS fitness, plus 10 minutes of stretching and relaxation, can meet the training needs of the week.” 7+ New Concept Fitness founder Zeng Jing told the Journal of Chinese Journal of Science and Technology.

"EMS" literally should be "muscle electrical stimulation". According to reports, EMS fitness can simulate brain electrical signals, using low-frequency electrical impulses to stimulate muscle contraction, thereby making up the "inert defects" of the brain and nerves.

Zeng Jing said that EMS technology has been in existence for hundreds of years, and the EU and the United States have approved applications in fitness and physical therapy rehabilitation. But this kind of systemic EMS fitness has only recently become popular. “It is not only suitable for professional athletes, but also for the general public. Especially for those who are not suitable for traditional fitness methods, such as some people with back joint problems.”

The domestic hot discussion about "EMS" is mainly due to the listing of SIXPAD, a Japanese abdominal fitness equipment under the MTG company, which has attracted a group of young sports people. Since then, there have been domestic brands to launch this technology, and sold on the network platform.

For these products, the soreness is generally mentioned in the user experience, but there are doubts about whether it can really improve the strength.

Mainly used for relaxation and rehabilitation

There are many factors that affect the size of muscle strength, mainly myogenic and neurogenic factors. Myogenic factors mainly focus on muscle cross-sectional area, muscle fiber type, initial length and joint angle; while neurogenic factors are mainly concentrated in central activation, central nervous system coordination control of muscle activity and central nervous system excitability. In other words, the generation of muscle strength depends to a large extent on the intensity, frequency and level of nerve impulses emanating from the central nervous system.

For this reason, athletes who have been training for many years want to improve their muscle strength, mainly by increasing the intensity, changing the stimulation mode, and further increasing the frequency of nerve activation. Among them, functional electrical stimulation is an auxiliary means to induce muscle contraction with a certain frequency and intensity of current to improve muscle strength.

Experiments have shown that electrical stimulation, traditional strength training, and traditional combined electrical stimulation can increase the strength, but the traditional combination of electrical stimulation training has the best effect, followed by traditional strength training, and finally electrical stimulation training. Therefore, in theory, muscle electrical stimulation can indeed help increase muscle mass.

However, Xiong Kaiyu, director of the Sports Human Science Experiment Center of Beijing Sport University, told the Journal of the Chinese Academy of Sciences that the use of this technology is rare in athlete training practice. The coaches believe that the effect is not obvious.

He said that in fact, this technology is mainly used for the rehabilitation and relaxation of people with limited motor function, and the electromyographic stimulation can prevent muscle atrophy and functional deterioration. If it is used for training, it needs a proper frequency and time of electrical stimulation. The control is very complicated. The electrical stimulation that wants to effectively increase the muscle strength may cause burns to the athletes, which has certain risks.

However, he also pointed out that for ordinary people, if they usually do not exercise, especially strength training, there is a sore feeling after using myoelectric stimulation, which means that the muscles have excessive contraction, similar to the effect of excessive training, to a certain extent. It may be long on the muscles.

Passive exercise

However, after all, "EMS" is essentially a passive exercise that is not respected by professional sports people. The trick of passive exercise is that when it becomes a lazy sport, its effect is often very limited.

Xiong Kaiyu stressed that whether it is to lose weight or shape, if you give up diet control and planning and sustainable aerobic and strength training, it is impossible to achieve the desired results.

In recent years, the most typical passive exercise equipment requires a vibrating weight loss meter. Taking the vibration swinging machine as an example, the swinging machine designed to resemble the shape of a small skateboard can be slightly shaken as long as people stand on it, allowing the user's body to move up and down, left and right, and vibrate within 5 minutes. More than 10,000 times, so that you can fat dissolve fat and burn calories.

In fact, its principle is also to stimulate muscle contraction through vibration, mainly to relax and massage, and can not consume energy. The weight loss principle of the slimming machine may reduce the size and gap between the fat cells.

On the contrary, Xiong Kaiyu pointed out that long-term high-frequency vibration can not only cause dizziness, but also seriously damage the joints and spine of the human body.

Similarly, repeated stimulation of muscles through the “EMS” technique can make muscles more powerful within a certain range, but in the absence of additional planned diet and training, it is impossible to truly change muscle shape.

In addition, passive exercise can never have the thrill of exercise generated by active exercise. Exercise can promote the secretion of adrenaline and dopamine. In the state of active exercise, the sympathetic nerve is extremely excited, which will produce a sense of pleasure, which is so addictive.

In Xiong Kaiyu's view, people who have higher requirements for fitness can use some passive exercise equipment as an auxiliary means to improve the exercise effect to a certain extent, and for those who try to use it to completely replace active exercise and can not control their mouth, it is always In vain.