(NEW Study) Electrical Muscle Stimulating Machines Work?

Years ago, I had a friend who bought one of those ab contraction machines.

The type made the abs flex involuntarily.

Now, he actually needed to get leaner more than anything.

But for adding strength and mass - it turns out these machines actually work.

You still need to do traditional lifting, but they can enhance the results you get from a regular routine.

A new meta-analysis[1] came out a couple of weeks ago.

They analyzed 13 studies with 374 participants.

Combining electrical muscle stimulation (NMES) with weightlifting boosts gains better than lifting alone.

NMES devices force your muscles to contract without conscious effort.

The main thing it is doing is strengthening "lazy" neural pathways.

So you passively increase the mind-to-muscle connection.

You can achieve the same effect by practicing perfect reps ALL. DAY. LONG.

This is what Pavel Tsatsouline calls Greasing the Groove.

Let's say pull-ups are a weak point for you.

Here's how you would do it with pull-ups.

Get some sort of pullup bar in your home, even those type you can put in your door jam.
Let's say you can do 5 to failure.
Do less than 1/2 of that many reps every time you walk past that bar (maybe 3-5 times per day).

I have heard stories of people going from 5 max reps in pull-ups to 15 reps in 3-6 months using this technique.

The key to this Grease the Groove technique is to not fatigue the muscles at all.

You don't want fatigue or breakdown to interfere with your regular workouts.

You also just want to pick one movement at a time.

Any muscle group you want to improve.

I'm actually currently doing this with kettlebell curls.

I really like kettlebell curls.

It felt weird at first but they provide tension all the way to the top of the curl due to the offset center of mass as you curl them.

I just crank out 4-5 reps with each arm every time I leave my office to get water, go to the bathroom, etc.

I've been doing this since the beginning of the month.

I'm already feeling stronger and improving my biceps.

Anyway...

Give this a try with any muscle group that needs a little attention.

You are just trying to increase the mind-to-muscle connection.

So it shouldn't feel fatigue at all.

If you want to learn more about mind-to-muscle connection and these type of workout nuances?

Pick what I consider to be my best workout plan.

These are my best workout principles all in one course.

You can easily read through it in one sitting and implement the principles immediately.

Short, to the point, with crisp pictures (like most of my stuff).

Cheers,

Visual Impact Fitness