Muscle Stimulator: Does it Actually Work?
There is a regular stream of marketing for ab stimulators on health and fitness websites as well as social media platforms. Electrical stimulation is the method that these devices guarantee will result in strengthened abdominal muscles.
Although ab stimulators have the ability to cause the abdominal muscles to contract, they do not burn fat or lead to a significant reduction in body weight. For decades, medical professionals and physical therapists have relied on electrical devices to treat patients with injured or paralyzed muscles.
Functional electrical stimulation, often known as FES, is when muscles are forced to contract with the use of an electrical pulse. When you do this, you stop the breakdown of muscle tissue and boost the circulation of blood to the muscles. Additionally, it may assist in repairing the damage.
In more recent years, manufacturers of abdominal stimulators have started marketing and selling these products directly to consumers. Some manufacturers claim that their products can help users lose weight or develop strong abdominal muscles without the need for physical activity. On the other hand, there is little evidence to suggest that the use of a muscle stimulator can significantly alter a person’s body.
Ab stimulator is a subcategory of electronic muscle stimulators. It is a device that electronically stimulates your abdominal muscles in order to give the appearance that those muscles are more toned and firm.
However, if you don’t change your diet and get some exercise, it won’t help you lose weight or achieve abs that look like granite. In addition, there is the potential for adverse effects while using muscle stimulators, particularly those that are not FDA-approved.
Electronic muscle stimulators accomplish this by transmitting electrical signals to your muscles, which causes them to contract. Physical therapy and rehabilitation are common applications for their utilization.
Since the 1960s, physical therapists have been using this form of exercise to help patients recover after surgery by increasing and maintaining their muscle strength. It was found that elite athletes in the countries that made up the former Soviet Union had strength gains of between 30 and 40 percent, which indicates that this sort of stimulation may be more beneficial than exercise alone.
Does electrical muscle stimulation burn calories?
During the activity, calories are burned by the muscles; the greater the level of activity, the more calories are burned. Because it stimulates the muscle fibers, a muscle stimulator can help you burn more calories throughout the day. The labor becomes analogous to strenuous physical activity once it is completed.
Therefore, electrical stimulation can assist with weight loss; however, this is only the case when it is used in conjunction with a healthy lifestyle and proper nutrition. In other words, employing a muscle stimulator alone will not produce sufficient results; cardiovascular activity is required in addition to the use of the vest.
You can increase the effectiveness of the electrical stimulation technique by engaging in cardiovascular exercise such as jogging, biking, swimming, riding an elliptical cycle, and other similar activities.
Your muscles will become more toned and stronger if you engage in training with electrical stimulation. This results in a greater loss of calories. The greater the amount of muscle mass, the greater the amount of calories that are burned during rest (basal calories are what is needed daily to stay alive). In addition, you will burn the required number of calories just by going about your everyday routines and engaging in physical activity.
Can a TENS unit reduce belly fat?
Simply using a TENS unit will not result in weight loss on its own. TENS is a form of pain relief that focuses on the nerves and sensory aspects of our bodies, such as lowering labor pain. On the other hand, a TENS machine for weight loss may be effective if it also incorporates EMS features and if it is used in conjunction with physical activity.
There are some modern gadgets that integrate EMS and TENS functions into a single package. Electrical stimulation is beneficial for weight loss for a number of reasons, one of the most important of which is its ability to alleviate muscle discomfort and soreness, thereby preparing the body for increased physical activity. During workouts, you may notice an overall improvement in performance as a result of this.
Do muscle tone stimulators work?
After a spinal cord injury, a doctor may suggest ab stimulation to help a patient breathe on their own. A 2016 evaluation of 14 research indicated that after FES, spinal cord injury patients could breathe more independently than controls.
Few studies show that an ab stimulator improves muscle strength, posture, or waistline. The little research on these devices found extremely modest modifications insufficient to modify a person’s appearance.
In 2005, 24 adults who didn’t exercise utilized an ab stimulator 5 days a week for 8 weeks. 20–40 minute sessions. 16 adults who didn’t utilize an ab stimulator or do ab exercises were also studied.
The team measured the study group’s ab strength using an isokinetic dynamometer. In a curl-up test, these people had 100% more abdominal endurance than the control group.
The research group’s waist circumference dropped 3.5 cm (1.4 in). All 24 persons in the stimulation group reported toned abs and improved posture. The control group reported no waist circumference loss.
Ab stimulators may increase strength and posture while reducing waist size. The study was modest and hasn’t been reproduced. Muscle stimulator efficiency cannot be determined scientifically.
A recent study demonstrated that 12 weeks of FES did not increase abdominal muscle size in trained athletes.
FDA-regulated ab stimulator is safe to try despite little evidence that it tones muscles.
Fat-burning ab stimulator doesn’t work. To burn fat, a person must consume less calories than they burn through exercise and movement. Even if an ab stimulator significantly strengthens muscles, a person won’t perceive a difference if they’re not burning fat.
Do ab stimulators work on fat people?
Unfortunately, they are ineffective for everyone, regardless of whether or not they are overweight. Even though the electric impulses cause the muscles to tense up, the research that has been done indicates that such stimulation is effective.
Basically, there is no advantage of any real significance. Therefore, if you want to improve your core strength, you should perform core exercises such as crunches, planks, and other exercises of a similar nature.
Does this imply that you are free to consume any kind of muscle stimulator, along with pizza and ice cream, without fear of repercussions? Of course not. Does this mean that you can finally give up on working out because science has found a solution? Unfortunately, the answer is still no in this case as well.
However, what this does indicate is that using an electrical stimulation device for weight loss on a long-term basis may be an effective method of doing so. On the other hand, similar to other weight loss strategies, it will only be truly effective if it is combined with already-healthy behaviors, such as a nutritious diet and consistent physical activity.
If you have a poor diet, you won’t be able to lose weight no matter how much you exercise, and if you try to get rid of belly fat by using a stimulation belt instead of exercising regularly, you won’t be successful.
Sources:
https://www.webmd.com/fitness-exercise/what-to-know-about-ab-stimulators
https://www.imotion-ems.com/en/electrical-stimulation-help-you-lose-weight/
https://itens.com.au/tens-machine-for-weight-loss/#:~:text=A%20TENS%20machine%20alone%20will,is%20used%20simultaneously%20with%20exercise.
