I Wore an Electrical Muscle Stimulation Body Suit to Zap Myself Into Fitness

我穿上了一套电刺激肌肉（EMS）紧身衣，试图通过“电击”来健身

The use of electrical muscle stimulation as a shortcut to improving physical fitness was first commercialized sometime in the early 19th century, and while EMS has waxed and waned in popularity over the years, it’s never gone away. Today it is widely used across rehabilitative medical applications but also to boost strength and stamina.

将电刺激肌肉（EMS）作为提升体能的捷径，最早在 19 世纪初就已商业化。尽管多年来 EMS 的流行程度起起伏伏，但它从未真正消失。如今，它不仅广泛应用于康复医疗领域，还被用于增强力量和耐力。

The promise is simple: Stimulate the muscles with pulses of electricity while you’re working out and you can create thousands of muscle contractions in a short amount of time, far more than you can achieve through standard reps. You still have to activate the muscles through flexing and the like—you can’t just lay on the ground and zap your way into shape—but you can accomplish more with a lot less if you’re using EMS as part of your workout.

其原理很简单：在锻炼时用脉冲电流刺激肌肉，可以在短时间内产生数千次肌肉收缩，这远超通过常规重复动作所能达到的效果。你仍然需要通过屈伸等动作来激活肌肉——你不能只是躺在地上靠电击来塑形——但如果你将 EMS 作为锻炼的一部分，确实可以用更少的努力实现更多的目标。

Studios like Body20 and Manduu now outfit clients with electrodes and pair them with trainers to guide them through EMS sessions. Both companies promise complete body workouts in 20 minutes or less.

像 Body20 和 Manduu 这样的工作室现在为客户配备电极，并由教练指导他们进行 EMS 训练。这两家公司都承诺能在 20 分钟或更短的时间内完成全身锻炼。

The latest spin on EMS is even more appealing: Rather than requiring a studio visit, why not give consumers an EMS suit they can wear at home and use on their own schedule? To that end, German EMS suit maker Pepper offered to let me try out one of its fancy electro-suits to gauge its long-term impact. The company claims that working out while wearing the suit for 20 minutes gives you the equivalent caloric burn and muscle activation of an hour-long traditional workout, all with less strain on the joints.

EMS 的最新玩法更具吸引力：与其去工作室，为什么不给消费者提供一套可以在家穿戴、按自己时间表使用的 EMS 紧身衣呢？为此，德国 EMS 紧身衣制造商 Pepper 让我试穿了他们的一款高级电刺激服，以评估其长期效果。该公司声称，穿着这套衣服锻炼 20 分钟，其热量消耗和肌肉激活效果相当于一小时的传统锻炼，且对关节的压力更小。

At least five companies occupy this space at present, ranging from Apeborn’s $4,000 offering to Pepper’s $1,400 suit, which is the cheapest one I’ve found. And even though the idea of getting ripped with minimal effort tickled my lazy bone, it took me a while to come around to the idea of zapping myself on purpose. Could this possibly do any good?

目前至少有五家公司涉足这一领域，产品价格从 Apeborn 的 4,000 美元到 Pepper 的 1,400 美元不等（这是我找到的最便宜的一款）。尽管“以最小努力练出肌肉”的想法触动了我懒惰的神经，但我还是花了一段时间才接受“故意电击自己”这个概念。这真的有用吗？

It turns out EMS has been exhaustively studied—dozens of research papers have been published in the past 20 years—and while results vary, researchers seem optimistic on the whole. One 2021 meta-study determined there is “significant evidence for significant, large-sized effects of [whole body]-EMS on muscle mass and strength parameters, but not on body fat mass.” A 2012 study on trained athletes measured the benefits of using EMS for three to six weeks directly: Vertical jump height increased by up to 25 percent, and sprint times got faster by as much as 4.8 percent.

事实证明，EMS 已经得到了详尽的研究——过去 20 年里发表了数十篇研究论文——虽然结果各异，但研究人员总体上持乐观态度。2021 年的一项荟萃分析确定，“有显著证据表明，全身 EMS 对肌肉质量和力量参数有显著的大幅影响，但对体脂质量没有影响。”2012 年一项针对受训运动员的研究直接测量了使用 EMS 三到六周的好处：垂直跳跃高度提高了 25%，冲刺时间缩短了 4.8%。

Another meta-analytical study from 2023 offered perhaps the most compelling commentary, concluding that “eight weeks of continuous resistance training combined with daily upper body, lower body, and abdominal EMS training can significantly improve muscle mass and upper body muscle strength performance, as well as significantly reduce body fat percentage in healthy subjects.”

2023 年的另一项荟萃分析提供了或许是最具说服力的评论，结论是：“八周的持续阻力训练结合每日的上肢、下肢和腹部 EMS 训练，可以显著改善健康受试者的肌肉质量和上肢肌肉力量表现，并显著降低体脂率。”

It all sounds promising, yet despite the extensive research into EMS, there’s no general medical consensus about the tech.

这一切听起来很有希望，但尽管对 EMS 进行了广泛的研究，医学界对这项技术并没有达成普遍共识。

I spoke to a half-dozen physicians about EMS for this story, and opinions varied along quite a wide spectrum. At one end, Andrew Mock, a primary care physician in Newport Beach and five-time winner of the California’s Strongest Man competition, lightweight division, said that EMS had proven beneficial for rehab or critical care situations in patients with severe mobility restrictions, but healthy patients were unlikely to see much value. “If you go outside and start shivering, those are muscle contractions,” he says. “But shivering doesn’t make you stronger.”

为了写这篇文章，我采访了六位医生，他们的观点差异很大。一方面，纽波特比奇的初级保健医生、五届加州最强壮男人比赛轻量级冠军 Andrew Mock 表示，EMS 已被证明对行动严重受限患者的康复或重症监护有益，但健康患者不太可能从中获得太多价值。“如果你走到户外开始发抖，那也是肌肉收缩，”他说，“但发抖并不会让你变得更强壮。”

At the other end, I heard from Ethan Kellum, the team doctor for the NFL’s Tennessee Titans, who said he uses a form of EMS not just for rehab but to supplement his own workouts. “It’s really a function of the nervous system,” he says, noting that in older patients, muscles can become unresponsive and “go to sleep,” requiring significant effort to reawaken them. “When used appropriately, EMS can help improve the efficiency of communication between the nervous system and the body. Add it to what you’re doing. It can be really helpful.”

另一方面，NFL 田纳西泰坦队的队医 Ethan Kellum 表示，他不仅将 EMS 用于康复，还将其作为自己锻炼的补充。“这实际上是神经系统的功能，”他说，并指出在老年患者中，肌肉可能会变得迟钝并“进入睡眠状态”，需要付出巨大努力才能重新唤醒它们。“当使用得当时，EMS 可以帮助提高神经系统与身体之间的沟通效率。把它加入到你的日常锻炼中，真的很有帮助。”

Across the board, everyone I spoke to hedged by saying that EMS could, at least for some users, provide some benefit. Perhaps the most representative comments came from Joseph R. Hribick, a professor of physical therapy at Lebanon Valley College. “Current research does not suggest that EMS alone is superior to strength training for developing strength,” he says, “Instead, it should be looked at as a tool to complement strength training and not replace it.”

总的来说，我采访的每个人都持保留意见，认为 EMS 至少对某些用户来说可以提供一些益处。或许最具代表性的评论来自黎巴嫩谷学院的物理治疗教授 Joseph R. Hribick。“目前的研究并不表明 EMS 单独在增强力量方面优于力量训练，”他说，“相反，它应该被视为一种补充力量训练的工具，而不是替代品。”

Suiting Up

穿上装备

Me and my Pepper suit. Photograph: Christopher Null 我和我的 Pepper 紧身衣。摄影：Christopher Null

After speaking to Pepper founder Emilia von Keyserlingk at length, I relented. To mimic the aforementioned 2023 study, I would work out with the Pepper suit regularly for two months, three times a week—in addition to maintaining my regular cardio and strength-training workouts and keeping my diet and daily routines the same—and see what transpired.

在与 Pepper 创始人 Emilia von Keyserlingk 深入交谈后，我妥协了。为了模拟上述 2023 年的研究，我将每周三次、持续两个月穿着 Pepper 紧身衣进行锻炼——同时保持我常规的有氧和力量训练，并维持饮食和日常作息不变——看看会发生什么。

The suit is a lot like a spring-weather wetsuit that stops at the knees and the elbows. Like with a wetsuit, putting it on can require some effort. Twenty electrodes cover the abs, pecs, glutes, thighs, pecs, biceps, and multiple parts of the back. These are dry electrodes, so you don’t have to wet Pepper’s suit down before you put it on (a common requirement for older gear), but your sweat will improve the conduction of electricity. Of course, if you’re pregnant or need a pacemaker, you shouldn’t use an EMS suit.

这套衣服很像春季穿的潜水服，长度到膝盖和肘部。和潜水服一样，穿上它需要费点劲。20 个电极覆盖了腹肌、胸肌、臀部、大腿、二头肌和背部的多个部位。这些是干电极，所以你不需要在穿上 Pepper 紧身衣之前将其弄湿（这是旧款设备的常见要求），但你的汗水会改善导电性。当然，如果你怀孕了或装有心脏起搏器，则不应使用 EMS 紧身衣。

Pepper’s suit, available in sizes from XXXS to XXXL, is designed to be very tight so that the electrodes won’t slip into places you don’t want them. Since the suit is intended to be worn with nothing underneath it, that’s a particularly important consideration. And based on the way certain body parts are situated beneath the fabric, it is definitively not something I felt I could wear in public without a cover-up layer.

Pepper 的紧身衣提供从 XXXS 到 XXXL 的尺码，设计得非常紧，以确保电极不会滑到你不希望它们出现的地方。由于这套衣服设计为贴身穿着，不穿内衣，这一点尤为重要。而且考虑到某些身体部位在织物下的呈现方式，我绝对觉得如果不加一件外罩，我是没法穿着它出现在公共场合的。

The only removable part of the suit is a small box that connects at your hip. This is the brains of the operation and its…

这套衣服唯一可拆卸的部分是一个连接在臀部的小盒子。这是整个系统的核心大脑，它的……