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I was a bit shocked, no pun intended. But he kept singing its praises -- "I know you think I'm crazy, but it really works -- you can feel it working -- and afterwards you can actually see your muscles bulging."

These electrical muscle stimulators (EMS) are advertised not only to tone, firm, and strengthen abdominal muscles, but also to provide weight loss, girth reduction, and "rock hard" abs. It sounded to me like just another "get fit quick" scheme. I mean, come on -- if it was so good, wouldn't everyone do it?

EMS works by applying electrical currents to the muscles, repeatedly stimulating them so they contract -- exercising them, so you don't have to. Typically, doctors and physical therapists use electrical muscle stimulators for patients who require muscle re-education, relaxation of muscle spasms, increased range of motion, prevention of muscle atrophy, and for treating medical conditions which often result from a stroke, a serious injury, or major surgery. In fact, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved the use of EMS for these types of medical situations.

In order to understand how EMS works, you first need to understand the different types of muscle fibers -- slow-twitch and fast-twitch. Fast-twitch muscle fibers contract quickly and are involved in quick movements such as sprinting, weightlifting, and swinging a golf club or tennis racquet. Slow-twitch muscle fibers contract more slowly and are used in low-intensity, endurance exercises such as jogging or walking over long distances.

When you have an injury, the first muscles to atrophy or weaken are your fast-twitch quick-movement muscles -- that's why EMS is so helpful. EMS recruits the fast-twitch fibers first and foremost and helps to bring them back to normal, as well as helping to prevent further muscle deterioration. So it seems logical that if EMS can help you to build muscle after an injury, it should help bring you from the world of the donut into the world of the physically elite.

Although EMS works to bring an injured body to a state of normality, it can't change your appearance or provide the benefits of strength training (e.g. prevention of osteoporosis).  "The difference between voluntary contraction, such as lifting weights, and involuntary contraction, such as EMS, is like night and day," says Susan M. Lowe, PT, MS, GCS, Professor of Physical Therapy at Northeastern University. Not only that, but using EMS burns less calories than good old fashioned strength training -- and regardless of how much you work those abs, you'll never be able to see them if they're obscured by a layer of fat.

"They [EMS] definitely cause a contraction of the muscles, but to the extent that there is enough frequency or intensity to provide toning and strength training benefits is seriously doubtful," says William E. Buckley, PhD, ATC, Professor of Exercise and Sport Science and Health Education at Pennsylvania State University. "Bottom line -- there aren't any Olympic athletes that use it to improve performance, as opposed to relying on good old-fashioned strength training and conditioning!"

Beyond that, using these electronic gyms can actually be harmful -- "They can convert fast-twitch fibers to slow-twitch fibers, throwing off your muscle balance in the process," cautions Lowe.

So is there any way to use EMS to avoid long, arduous hours pumping iron? "Sure, no problem -- but the electric current would have to be so high that you would definitely get skin burns, possible muscle damage, not to mention the excruciating pain," quips Lowe. In fact, the FDA has received reports of shocks, burns, bruising, skin irritation, and pain associated with the use of some of these devices.

After I told my friend that I was doing this story, he finally admitted that the pain of the electrical current was "pure torture." But this Ivy League graduate thought that the more pain he endured, the "fitter" he would become -- oh, the things we'll endure in the name of vanity.

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