According to Supertraining Serge Reding did .5-2 second contractions with 10-15 sec. rest. He also alternated each limb and stimulated in ipsilateral and contralateral sequences. What are the advantages to this versus standard 10sec. contraction to 50 second rest? I would assume you can due more intense contractions cause not holding it as long.
Also when buying a ems machine is the rise time critical? Most I find have a 3 second rise time when Charlie recommends .5-.75 rise time.:sing:
It’s good to have a variable rise time in order to spend as much time at high int as possible (obviously, Redding didn’t use a 3sec rise time! BTW, don’t take your sprint training advise from the super-heavyweight lifters. 6 to 10 sec contractions with a 50 sec rest are best here. Check the archives for more EMS info.
^ bump
Great article posted by ESPN.
This is taken from the above article:
"As our speed work, followed by lifting, occurred on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, with speed endurance work on Saturday (Tuesday and Thursday were reserved for low intensity work, with Sunday off), we used EMS on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. "
In CFTS an alternative EMS set-up is given with EMS on Monday, Wednesday and Saturday.
What decides the Friday/ Saturday EMS placement?
Charlie,
What about EMS for swimming athletes? The upperbody power would be helpfull…any suggestions?
[QUOTE=Bruce]According to Supertraining Serge Reding did .5-2 second contractions with 10-15 sec. rest. He also alternated each limb and stimulated in ipsilateral and contralateral sequences. What are the advantages to this versus standard 10sec. contraction to 50 second rest? I would assume you can due more intense contractions cause not holding it as long.
QUOTE]
Redding used EMS to potentiate the ensuing concentric action (probably by sentisizing the neuromuscular junction) so he wanted to avoid fatigue as much as possible. Redding used a complex of EMS + regular lifting … alternating between a “set” of EMS (quads for example) the would rest 2-3 minutes and perform a set of front squats.
Recent studies by Abbate et al. indicate that the post-tetanic potentiation effect from EMS can last as long as 5 minutes.
However if you use EMS as a stand-alone training tool, the Redding protocole would not be of much use.
I think the 10sec is best for athletes with some SE demand. With Milt Ottey, (no 1 in the World in the high jump with the biggest height differential ever) we found that he could put out so much initial force that the contraction deteriorated at 6 sec maximum, so that was set as his limit- but still with 50 sec rest. Redding’s rest period was assumedly due to a rotation of stim sites (thus longer rests per muscle group)
Any advice on the above post…upperbody ems?
I have used EMS on the triceps quite extensively with powerlifters. I find that it really improves lock out capacity, and esepcially the capacity to “grind” the rep when it slows down to much. I theorized that this may be due to the fact that with EMS you are basically causing a maximum contraction lasting 10 seconds. So you improve short-term strength-endurance. But this is only my theory I could be wrong as I have not seen any literature on the subject.
why not other muscle groups?
I don’t know about you guys, but the thought of doing EMS on the pecs gives me the willies! Seems to close to defibrillation. CLEAR!!!
I have performed it on biceps, triceps, deltoids, abdominals and lower back (spinal erectors), but not as extensively as the lower extremities, so the benefits have not seemed as apparent.
The idea of using it on swimmers is compelling and I would be curious as to how they would respond. Based on my experience with swimmers (only worked with high level swimmers in the last 2 years), I would suspect that it may be more profound than with track sprinters/jumpers/throwers or contact sport athletes. The weightlifting and plyo work with swimmers I’ve worked with has always created more soreness than with other athletes of similar calibre. This is not to say that the swimmers are not as strong, but they’ve needed more gradual progressions and longer tapers from high intensity work leading into competition.
Clemson, how does this compare with your athletes? BTW - I love the Compex Sport stim I bought. Very convenient and easy to use.
Number Two - that thing must have cost a bomb?
I actually found it for a decent price through a cycling shop in London (via their website). The cost was significantly better than what Compex was selling it for via their web site.
I’ve been looking at the Compex stims but I haven’t been able to find anything about their specs eg. frequency, ramp, contraction/rest time options, amplitude. Their site just talks about all the preset programs. Do you have any details of the specs you could post Number Two?
Also have you found any of the preset programs useful or do you just stick to the 10 reps of 10 secs with 50 secs rest protocol?
You can try emailing Dale Henn at Dale.Henn@compextechnologies.com he might be able to send you the specs. Tell him I sent you. He’s online right now, he just sent me an email.
Thanks Christian, just sent him an email.
Numbertwo,
I have only worked with Senior Club athletes (none world class) and found that swimmers responded very slow at first then made huge gains later…I did not use it on pecs since the idea of placing electrodes on the chests of females doesn’t look to PC with blue collar dads! Also I did not use on the back but I did use it on triceps and low back for one year. Great gains in sprinting but only two athletes used it.
As for the soreness in lifting I find that lifting before the start of swimming will help decrease DOMS better then adding weight training later…I contacted Dale from compex and will purchase a few (parents money) shortly…what was the site N2? London?
EMS on the pecs of females also creates problems with nipple rings… uuhhh, a friend told me that…
I bought my Compex Sport 400 from Pearson Cycles at:
http://www.pearsoncycles.co.uk/trolleyed/24/index.htm
It seems the price has gone up since I purchased my sport 400.
Another site that has very good prices is:
http://www.kit4fit.co.uk/compex.html
But I’m not sure if they ship outside the UK.
Compex USA has only one model they sell in the US - the Compex Sport - which looks like the Sport 400, but has a few less programs on it.
As for specs on work and rest intervals, they don’t provide that information in the manual. I would have to go through all the set programs and time them by hand to determine them. I’ll try to do that in the next week.
There are specific programs for:
Strength
Explosive Strength
Endurance
Hypertrophy
Potentiation
Active Recovery
Rehab
and many more…
Someone should e-mail the guy from Compex and tell him to set up on-line sales through Charlie’s site, since numerous forum members are interested in applying the technology. We could also provide great testimonials.
Here’s some more websites that sell Compex. The prices are pretty reasonable:
http://www.xxcycle.com/cgi-bin/shop.pl?SCREEN=detail&REF=2055