Using a tens unit to build muscle?

tpt42087

Just wondering if anyone has heard of this before? I have 2 tens unit because of my back injury and a friend of mine asked if I used them to build muscle? I looked online saw some articles that say it works but just wanted to see if anyone here has tried it before if so did you get any results?

warmachinejt

i used tens unit before and i was also told to buy one but never did....i highly doubt it builds any muscle and besides you'd have to be in a calorie surplus

Willbenchforcupcakes

I've used a muscle stim (very similar concept) in physio in the past. The point was to recruit muscles that weren't being used properly during movements, to correct imbalances, not to be building more muscles. For example, for years, I wasn't properly recruiting one of the heads of my quads during squats, and the muscle stim was placed on that head so it was forced to contract as strongly as the rest of my quads, which has massively improved the functioning of my knee.

DocGu

A TENS unit will not do it. Period.

There is a form of electrical stimulation that has been shown to work in pathological situations such as muscle wasting (from disease or immobilization, etc) but it does not increase muscle mass in healthy tissue.

AdamAntium2k14

TPT, I use my tens in conjunction with weight training.... It does fatigue the muscle, which does build muscle... Anytime you excite a muscle, it flexes, which improves it's performance/build... I mainly use it on my posterior muscles, because I used to have the 'noassitol' disease... My lovers will tell you, there's an assitol...

Also, try to isolate your keigels with one, then you'll know for yourself how well it 'tones'/'builds' muscle... Enjoy it if you have one!!

Just remember to never isolate your chest, and always unplug the cords before you remove the pads... Be safe.

Azdak

The reason those units are used in therapy is because you have a deficit and the extra stimulation helps bring it up to normal. Or if someone is bedridden or has a muscle atrophy, then it can help.

For a normal, healthy muscle, however, the amount of voltage it would take to evoke an effective muscle contraction would kill you.

DavPul

For a normal, healthy muscle, however, the amount of voltage it would take to evoke an effective muscle contraction would kill you.

itsbasschick

i used to get EMS (electric muscle stimulation) sessions 3x per week, and i did build some muscle - i was visibly firmer. that being said, it wasn't a home unit, so may have been more powerful, and there were more pads, so i had my hips, upper thighs and belly done at once.

i was not bedridden and the EMS didn't kill me - however one must be careful not to turn up too fast or too far, as a careless tech once managed to burn me when her hand jerked and she cranked the machine.

StewBird4450

Good lord, the amount of people here who give advice and don’t know what the hell they're talking about is astounding. Yes, EMS works. It contracts the muscle harder than your normal voluntary muscle contraction does, leading to muscle gains. The amount of stimulation needed varies depending on the person (hence the mixed studies). I’m not even going to go into the stupidity of “caloric surplus” considering how poor of a measurement the calorie actually is, so I’ll leave you with that. Focus on macros and hit the weights hard, and you’ll be good, especially if you’re throwing EMS into the mix

Unknown

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Alatariel75

suzannesimmons3 wrote: »

StewBird4450 wrote: »

Good lord, the amount of people here who give advice and don’t know what the hell they're talking about is astounding. Yes, EMS works. It contracts the muscle harder than your normal voluntary muscle contraction does, leading to muscle gains. The amount of stimulation needed varies depending on the person (hence the mixed studies). I’m not even going to go into the stupidity of “caloric surplus” considering how poor of a measurement the calorie actually is, so I’ll leave you with that. Focus on macros and hit the weights hard, and you’ll be good, especially if you’re throwing EMS into the mix

Strong first post.

On a 3.5 year old thread.

bendyourkneekatie

Can a tens machine bring someone back to life? Like, a zombie? Like, say, a zombie thread?

Alatariel75

bendyourkneekatie wrote: »

Can a tens machine bring someone back to life? Like, a zombie? Like, say, a zombie thread?

That would be handy, we would know how ignorant we are when people resurrected ancient threads to tell us.