Stuff.co.nz
Original post link : https://www.stuff.co.nz/nelson-mail/300925305/an-electric-way-to-jiggle-your-podgy-bits-away?cid=app-iPhone
Elise Vollweiler is a Motueka-based writer
COLUMN: Remember when those infomercials started coming out about vibration exercise platforms? Powerfit Xtreme and the likes. You know the ones: “The breakthrough oscillation system that helps you engage all of your muscles…” Basically, they claimed to jiggle your jubblies away.
A decade ago, in a moment of blithe ignorance, I remember commenting to my aunt that that surely didn’t count as real exercise.
“That’s almost cheating,” I scoffed at the infomercial. “Who would bother with something like that?”
Oh, the arrogance, the foolishness, of youth. (Mine, anyway. You might have been quite mature.)
“I would,” my aunt had replied, “if it worked. I wouldn’t mind my exercise being easier and more effective.”
I can still remember the words we exchanged, because years later, I’ve had to eat mine. Exercise that does more, in less time? Yes please. Make mine a double.
I recently booked a trial at BodyPulse, Motueka’s newest exercise business. (Richmond has had one for a while too.) All I knew was that it was not exercise in the traditional sense and that it included something called electro muscle simulation.
I admitted my ignorance to owner Kate Morris, a local who has recently returned to Motueka after a stint overseas. A former nurse, Kate also used to be an aerobics instructor at the rec centre, way back in the leg-warmer days (“for my sins,” she laughed).
It transpired there was a specific dress-code for her most recent endeavour too.
Kate handed me a black tee-shirt and bike shorts implanted with subtle conductor pads. When I reappeared from the changing room, she spent a couple of minutes strapping me into some light equipment that vaguely resembled body armour.
She explained the system. The suit is battery operated, so no wires. She controlled the EMS pulses with her tablet, continuously checking in to make sure everything felt okay. The resulting workout fired the muscles without me needing to move a single one. It was the equivalent of a 90-minute weight training session, but in 20 minutes and with virtually no impact.
Kate did some tapping on her tablet, explaining that I’d first feel a buzz in my quads. The EMS would trigger for four seconds, and then give me a four-second reprieve. It wouldn’t hurt at all, I was told, but I’d feel the muscles working.
And there it was. The faintest tingle. Under Kate’s guidance, I allowed her to slowly increase the charge, until the sensation was strong but still comfortable. We stacked on about eight other muscle groups, one after the other, encompassing the butt, torso and arms. Abdominals was a tingly one for me – after three children, mine are separated enough to be on opposite sides of the room – so Kate kept that charge nice and low.
It’s an unusual way to exercise, but it’s definitely effective. My muscles were firing, four seconds on, four seconds off, and I wasn’t doing a thing. As the EMS pulses surged and retreated, my biceps hauled my forearms up to a T-rex pose and then relaxed, completely involuntarily. We added the gentlest of exercises – slow squats and simple arm curls – and my muscles strained with the effort.
And then, in 20 minutes, we were done. The following day, my body had the pleasant leaden fatigue that comes from a decent workout. BodyPulse is not a cheap undertaking – the costs are akin to a fancy gym membership – but it’s perfect for people who are time poor, injury adverse or saddled with dodgy joints.
I’ll be telling my aunty about it.
