Unai Adrian Perez
PhD in Biomedicine, University of Granada
Society has become very sedentary: between 60% and 85% of the world’s population maintain a physically inactive lifestyle. In fact, the World Health Organization (WHO) is very clear that it is necessary to exercise on a recurring basis to maintain a good state of health.
The arguments that we usually use for not doing physical exercise are the lack of time and the low motivation that conventional programs arouse. This is the main reason why the fitness and training sector has created different types of activity that reduce session time and they seem to offer the same results.
Thus, a few years ago, high-intensity interval training or HIIT (abbreviations of English High Intensity Interval Training). Its main advantage is that it maintains the benefits of prolonged exercise but in less time. We could say that in a session of half an hour we could obtain the same results than with a one-hour workout, for example.
Misuse and good use of one more tool for training
Along the same lines, new methods have emerged that increase the intensity of exercise to obtain similar or even better benefits but with different sensations. It is the case of the electrostimulation full body overall. This technology uses a suit and a mobile application to produce an involuntary contraction in different parts of the body such as the chest, back, abdomen or arms. In 2021, a review of studies supported his effectiveness to modify body composition and increase muscle strength in untrained people.
However, a mal marketing and a ‘dark’ era in which there were more commercials on the teleshopping than scientific articles caused this method to be demonized in the early 2010s. For example, an investigation revealed an increase in muscle damage due to the use of electrostimulation. I would like to emphasize that we are talking about one more tool for training, but that one mala praxis it can make it dangerous. This does not nullify its potential advantages, since it can help reduce training times and motivate the population to exercise.
The main problem is that the administration of electrical current can be associated with a increased concentration of protein creatine kinase and eventually damage the kidney. This muscle damage protein is also elevated with the practice of other disciplines, such as triathlon or CrossFit, which are not considered dangerous.
As long as it is used by qualified personnel, there should be no problem. Recently, a group of experts have published a guide to make proper use of electrostimulation full body overall. And furthermore, a study carried out in our laboratory, located at the Sports and Health Mixed University Institute of the University of Granada, reveals that it can offer great benefits.
Ten ‘electrostimulated’ men
The objective of the experiment was to verify if the different forms of application of the electric current produced different results. So that we understand it, it is as if we compare lifting 10 kilos 20 times against 20 kilos 10 times. For this we have the collaboration of 10 healthy and physically active men who visited our laboratory on two occasions. So we were able to make a comparative with the different types of electrostimulation, both at rest (lying down) and walking.
The participants were connected to a metabolic cart that measures oxygen consumption and carbon dioxide production through a mask. Thanks to some mathematical formulas, we obtain the number of calories that are consumed with that certain exercise. And the result was surprising.
The volunteers managed to increase a 604% the number of calories they consumed while lying down, and 44% while exercising. But the most incredible thing was that the number of calories burned with electrostimulation at rest was similar to what they spent walking at a moderate intensity without the device.
In other words, we show that in an acute exposure –that is, in a single session–, lying down with electrostimulation is equivalent to walking. However, it should be noted that the applied electricity it was of high intensity and that people reached very high values of heart rate.
An interesting complement to physical activity
By way of conclusion, we can confirm that electrostimulation is a effective tool to increase the number of calories consumed both at rest and during exercise. This may be of great interest to people who want to increase daily caloric expenditure in both circumstances.
It should be noted that this type of technology, applied at rest, is very interesting for people with reduced mobility or with extreme obesity, since they usually report problems and pain during exercise. This should never be a substitute physical activity, but rather a complement.
Maintaining active muscles and average levels of physical activity are necessary to maintain good health. And global full-body electrostimulation, it seems, can help us achieve it.