Work That Body

Zapping your muscles into a tougher workout sounds scarier than it is.

After putting on the wet electrical muscle stimulation (EMS) training suit (it’s spritzed heavily with water so the electrodes on it can more easily activate and stimulate deep into your muscles), it’s connected to the computer (aka “the brain”), which the trainer at Lucid Health & Fitness uses to personalize the workout to your needs, record your progress, get stats and create a training calendar. Then you do a workout—it can be anything from yoga and cardio to strength and plyometrics—as the trainer monitors and adjusts the level of EMS that’s transmitted. Focus, though; miss the four-second window to contract your muscles of whichever exercise movement you’re doing and you will indeed feel like you’re being zapped instead of the minor vibration you feel when you perform it on time. ‘The brain’ still contracts that muscle at the intensity level you were working out in and so you’ll feel zapped and as though you are unable to move.

Based on how spent we felt after a mere 20-minute EMS session, we’re willing to work on perfectly timing our reps when it results in a more efficient workout. — Karen Kwan

X Body, Lucid Health & Fitness, B15-99 Yorkville Ave., Toronto, (647) 669-7557, www.facebook.com/lucidfitness.ca