The Effects of Resistance Training With and Without Electrical Muscle Stimulation on Body Composition of Obese Women

Nowadays, total body resistance exercise has been added to instability training and has become popular for improving health and sports performance. Resistance training is a beneficial way to improve body composition and increase muscle strength. This study aims to evaluate the effect of suspension training (total resistance exercises [TRX]) with and without electrical muscle stimulation (EMS) on body composition and muscle strength in obese women.

This quasi-experimental research is an applied study in terms of research goal. A total of 36 Class 1 obese women (mean±SD age: 30.9±5.3 years, mean±SD body mass: 95.4±9.4 kg, mean±SD height: 168.2±7.8 cm) were randomly selected from qualified volunteers and grouped randomly into three groups (n=12 for each group): EMS, TRX, and TRX-EMS. The TRX group performed 8 weeks of suspension resistance training (3 sessions per week), and the TRX-EMS group performed the TRX exercises wearing a whole-body suit that provided electrical stimulation. EMS intervention includes 3 applications of 90 min/3 days per week for 8 weeks. Data were analyzed by analysis of covariance at a significance level of 0.05 using SPSS software. 

Findings of this study demonstrate significant differences in body composition measurements among three groups after 8 weeks of interventions (P≤0.05). All three interventions increased muscle strength after 8 weeks. TRX+EMS was the most effective intervention on body composition measures (-4.3% in body mass index [BMI], -7.2% in body fat mass [BFM], and +3.6% in skeletal muscle mass [SMM]) and muscle strength (21.93% in BP-1RM and 27.4% in LP-1RM). Also, these findings may indicate that EMS was the least effective intervention on body composition and muscle strength compared with the TRX and TRX-EMS. 

According to these results, it is suggested that obese women use EMS with suspension training to lose weight and improve body composition and strength.