Welcome to the Get Fit Guys quick and dirty tips to slim down and shape up.

My name is Ben Greenfield and I'm the Get Fit Guy.

Now, you've probably seen it before.

The infomercials on TV that feature this man or woman lounging happily on the couch

while some fancy

electrodes stimulate their stomach into an instant six-pack.

These electrode machines, also known as electrical muscle stimulation or EMS, are becoming

more and more common at online shopping websites and in fitness magazines. But isn't this too good to be true?

How on earth could you actually shock yourself fit? Well, in this episode, you're going to find out

whether you really can lose fat with electrical stimulation. So let's jump into the research

on this whole EMS thing. A recent study entitled

Effects of High Frequency Current Therapy on Abdominal Obesity in Young Women, a randomized

controlled trial, is a perfect example of research that looks into this very question about

fat loss and EMS. In the study, a group of subjects received 30 minutes of high-frequency current therapy

via a series of electrodes placed on their stomachs, just like on TV.

The subjects did these sessions three times per week for six weeks for a total of 18

electrical muscle stimulation sessions. The researchers measured

waist circumference, body mass index, subcutaneous fat mass, that's fat found under the skin,

and body fat percentage. The results were surprising, especially considering these women didn't

modify their exercise or diet. The electrical stimulation caused significant effects on decreasing

waist circumference, abdominal obesity, subcontaneous fat mass, and body fat percentage,

leading the study to note in the final results that,

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