Literature collection selected and summarised by Prof. Dr. Dirk Fritzsche Version 2.0 Date 20.07.
Trained athletes from various disciplines experienced increases in maximum isometric strength of between 15% and 40%, with an average of 32.6% (5, 6, 7, 9, 22, 24, 27).
The average improvement in maximum isometric strength following EMS training with untrained subjects was 23.5% (1, 2, 3, 4, 8, 10, 11, 14, 15, 16, 18, 19, 20, 21, 25, 28).
Athletes can achieve 30 – 40% improvements in maximum strength after only 5 weeks using EMS (12).
Using MVC, competitive swimmers achieved improvements in the eccentric and concentric contrac- tions of their latissimus dorsi and quadriceps femoris muscles and better freestyle swimming times (23).
Case study of a high-performance weightlifter: 4 months of EMS training: 1 RM (repetition maxi- mum) increased during squats by around 20kg, further improvements to ‘snatch’ and ‘clean and jerk’.
EMS can also be provided to untrained people and those looking to get fit: muscle size increased by around 10% after 8 weeks using isokinetic training (eccentric and concentric) combined with EMS (26, 29).
Mixed training (hypertrophy using machines) combined with EMS was shown to have the greatest effects on maximum strength (13).
Selected literature:
le activation. Journal of strength and Conditioning Research, 9, 155-159.
Stimulation. Physical Therapy, 65(2), 186-196.
cal Stimulation. Phys Ther (United States), 68 (3), 333-337.
Medicine and Science in Sports & Exercise, 33, 1304-1310.
Various authors have confirmed a positive effect on contraction speed (1, 3, 5).
The EMS training group saw the greatest gain in movement speed (approx. 30% improvement in
muscles involved in bending bones), thus significantly increasing performance (4, 6).
A combination of classic strength training (hypertrophy) and EMS training increases both performance elements (movement speed and power), (4,6).
Selected literature:
Speicher, U., Schmithüsen J., Nowak, S., Kleinöder, H., de Marées, M., & Mester, J. (2008). Effects of dynamic electromyosti-
mulation on current strength-diagnostics. (Noch unveröffentlichter BiSP Bericht 2009).
The sprint studies showed improvements in competitive athletes of 3.1±1.7% over a 3-week period. • Brocherie et al. (2) improvement of 4.8% in the sprint time of ice hockey players over 10m. Pichon et al. (9) improvement of 1.3% to cover 25m (sport type: swimming) and 1.45% for the 50m freestyle time.
With combined strength training (plyometrics/EMS), Herrero et al. recorded (3) a 2.3% reduction in time needed to sprint 20m among untrained individuals.
After EMS training, jumping abilities improved by between 2.3% and 19.2%; after isometric EMS training (an average of +10±6.5%); and 6.7% to 21.4% after dynamic EMS training (1, 4, 5, 7, 8, 13).
After combined EMS training, the literature states that there was an average increase in jumping ability of 11.2±5.5% (3, 6, 11).
Selected literature:
Wissloff, U., Castagna, C. Helgerud, J. Jones, R., & Hoff, J. (2004). Strong correlation of maximal squat strength with sprint performance and vertical jump height in elite soccer players. Br. J. Sports Med, 38, 285-288
Static endurance: the average increase is 30.3% at an average stimulation frequency of 75 +/- 44 Hz. (1, 2, 3)
Dynamic endurance: the average increase is 41% at an average stimulation frequency of 76 Hz +/- 10 Hz (2, 4, 5, 7).
Long-term stimulation with low frequency stimulation of skeletal muscle in experiments on animals (rabbits) resulted in the development of mainly slow twitch muscle fibres with a high proportion of mitochondria (6).
Selected literature:
Increasing bone density
Prevention of age-related fractures, particularly vertebrogenic compression fractures • Alleviation of osteoporosis
Optimisation of fat distribution and body fat/muscle ratio
Selected literature:
EMS training leads to an increase in maximal oxygen consumption or oxygen uptake at the anaero- bic threshold (at) of 22-37%.
Vo2max; VO2 at 22-37%
EMS training leads to an increase in maximum strength and/or performance at the anaerobic th-
reshold (at) by up to 32%.
Watt max; Watt at 32%
EMS leads to an increase in the cardiac ejection fraction (EF) of 8%
Selected literature:
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