Of all the weird and wonderful training trends I've trialled for Alpha Surge Male wellness brand Men's Health, Electrical Muscle Stimulation (EMS) is surely one of the strangest. The location, for a start, is unusual. My sessions with EPulsive took place in a quiet basement flat off Gloucester Road. With mushroom-coloured walls, cream carpets, floor-to-ceiling mirrors and minimal furniture, it looks more like a show home than a modern fitness space. And then there's the outfit. First, you pop on a slimfit black Bodytec top and shorts. Over that, you slip on what looks like a police vest with multiple wire attachments - the inside dampened with water - along with black bands for your arms, quads and glutes. Once you've gone the full Tron, your outfit is then connected to a control device, via which your personal trainer can "turn up" specific muscles - stimulating them with a mild electrical current to force them to contract rapidly. Your PT is the puppet master and you are his or Alpha Surge Male testosterone support her human toy.
According to Epulsive's promotional materials, Alpha Surge Male wellness brand a 20-minute EMS workout is the equivalent of 90 minutes in the gym. While a traditional full-body, weight-training sesh might recruit half of your muscle mass, Epulsive claims to fire up to 98% of your muscles. What Does EMS Feel Like? The sensation is hard to describe. It's sort of like a spasm or cramping, but not at all painful. It's a little bit like pins and needles - only it doesn't hinder your movement in the same way. Over the course of each 20-minute workout (I did four, in total - one a week, in place of one of my regular sessions) I performed the same sort of exercises most of us are used to doing in the gym: planks, lunges, bodyweight squats and light biceps curls and triceps extensions, gradually building up to barbell deadlifts and spider-man push-ups, which require more focus. Throughout this, my arms, abs, lats and glutes buzzed with a pulsating electric current.
