At the present time, electrical muscle stimulation is still probably in its basic stages. I have tried it on a number of occasions and I once did the dangerous thing of switching it on during a set of squats! Luckily no weight was on the bar incase of disaster. It was painfull, partly becuase it was difficult to time the reps to the time of the pulses, plus the eccentric lowering bit. Anyway I was just thinking…
Perhaps future E.m.s pads will only send a current through when you voluntarily contract the muscle. The idea being that once your own muscles reach a small threshhold leval the E.M.S then sends an immediate pulse through, which with the help of your own muscles would take you to a very high leval of contraction in a desired movement. This way you could voluntarily contract without being “out of time” with the pulses which would be less risky. Perhaps they could work something out for a lowering eccentric phase aswell. I don’t know if this would be a good idea, perhaps it would mess up the fast then slow twitch activation order of E.M.S that is apparently advantagous. Just musing…, any comments?
Bohersch check out: http://www.charliefrancis.com/board/philboard_read.asp?id=239
The Jury is out but the promises are promising!!!