20-minute workouts might be all you need, if you involve EMS

One of the latest fitness trends claims results of a 90-minute workout in 20 minutes and fitness experts believe it might actually live up to the hype.

Electrical Muscle Stimulation (EMS) is a wearable technology that uses electrical impulses to stimulate the contraction of your muscles.

The suit contains electrodes strategically placed over all major muscle groups.

The external stimulation, coupled with basic exercises like squats, causes intensified muscle contractions.

A 20-minute EMS workout is said to garner the same results as a 90-minute strength workout.

Melissa McCary, a school teacher in her 40s, says she was looking for options after years of regular workouts weren't giving her the results they used to.

"I was working out five times a week, sometimes even more, and never saw the difference," said McCary. "So just figure, give it a try, something different."

She now incorporates twice-weekly EMS workouts at Shape Health Wellness in Frisco.

"When the start of that electrode is coming through your muscles, you're like, 'What is going on?' But then as you get through it, you're like, 'OK, this is fun,'" said McCary.

She wears the suit while a trainer guides her through basic exercises like squats.

"The difference that I've seen is just amazing," said McCary.

Fitness Director Mary Edwards at the Cooper Fitness Center spent months researching the technology before deciding to offer it to the programs at the Cooper Aerobics Health & Wellness.

"Within that 20-minute workout, all muscles are stimulated, and they're stimulated evenly, consistently and simultaneously," said Edwards.

She said convinced was the science.

"We are huge power play fans within our facility, and I think we understand kind of the physiology behind muscle contraction. It was something that made sense to us. We also felt like it could cater to a variety of individuals. So from someone that is very well trained to someone that needs more postural correction, to someone that's on the verge of kind of stepping back in and rehabbing from an injury, all of those environments can be very safe in really trying to get muscle to fire and work properly within kind of a movement setting," said Edwards.

She also added that it could help a population that is probably not as active or engaged in strength training as they should be.

"This is an easy fix to get people in the door engaged and obviously moving towards improvement," said Edwards.

The benefits of EMS, according to Edwards, are increased strength and endurance, increased energy expenditure during and after a workout due to full engagement of major muscle groups and accelerated metabolism by increasing lean mass.

The technology is FDA-approved for fitness activities, not medical activities.