4 Reasons Why Protein Is Essential for Your Electrical Muscle Stimulation Workout

An electrical muscle stimulation workout is a great method of losing weight, toning your body and building muscles. While it is quite effective on its own, protein can make your electrical muscle stimulation training session much more valuable, and in some cases, easier. Protein is essential to muscles for a variety of reasons, making it a necessary macronutrient for your electric muscle stimulation workout.

What Is Protein and Why Is It Important for Your Electric Muscle Stimulation Workout?

Protein is an essential macronutrient that is valuable to building muscle mass, hence its importance to your workouts. It is one of the building blocks of body tissue and also serves as a fuel source. 

Electric muscle stimulation sends electric impulses that target your muscle fibres and activate up 90% of your muscles during your workout – almost 20% to 60% more than a conventional workout. Through this process, your muscles are developed and made stronger, eventually needing recovery time the next day.

Because of an EMS workout’s heavy impact on one’s muscles and the relationship that protein has with muscles, the macronutrient is considered essential to the workout.

4 Reasons Why You Should Eat Protein for Your Electrical Muscle Stimulation Workout

Help with Muscle Recovery

Protein is crucial for muscle recovery post-workout. When you engage in an electric muscle stimulation workout, your muscles experience exercise-induced muscle damage which prevents you from functioning properly post-workout because of the temporary decline in muscle strength and discomfort. When you consume protein after and/or before your workout, you improve your body’s protein synthesis which helps new proteins aid your muscles in repairing itself. 

Consuming protein before you sleep can also help with muscle recovery because protein’s building blocks, amino acids, are broken down overnight helping protein synthesis and thereby, improving muscle recovery.

Increase Strength

As mentioned above, protein is essential for building muscles. Eating adequate amounts of protein helps to maintain your muscle mass as well as promote growth and strengthening when you engage in electric stimulation training. 

Enzymes in your stomach and small intestine break down protein to form peptides. Peptides are chains of amino acids which are used by your body to build muscle fibres. The more you train, the more protein you will need.

Promote Fat Loss

Many people don’t realise that in addition to engaging in electric muscle stimulation training, consuming protein can also aid in your weight loss journey. If you replace fat and carbs with protein, you can reduce your hunger hormone and boost your satiety hormones, leading to a reduction in hunger and subsequent reduction in the number of calories that you consume. 

Additionally, protein is metabolically more active than carbohydrates and protein, meaning that you can eat more protein during your weight loss journey (provided there are limited fats and carbs) and maintain your weight.

A high-protein diet is helpful for persons who are on a weight loss journey with 20PerFit as it will not just help them with their muscle recovery between sessions but also positively impact their diet and effects of their training. 

Aid Endurance

Though 20PerFit’s electric muscle stimulation training sessions are relatively short (20 minutes), endurance remains an issue for many of our clients, particularly, beginners. Protein is helpful for improving endurance because it is needed for the formation of hemoglobin which carries oxygen to exercising muscles and is critical for maintaining hydration levels.

What Are the Best Sources of Protein?

Many foods contain protein, however, not all foods have a high content or high-quality protein. Some sources are better than others as they provide a balanced profile of nutrients including, protein, healthy fats, potassium and others. Here are our recommended sources of protein for 20PerFit users.

• Eggs: in addition to being high in protein, eggs also contain thiamine, riboflavin, pantothenic acid, folic acid, vitamin B12, biotin, vitamin D, vitamin E and phosphorus.
• Greek yogurt: an excellent source because it is low in sugar, high in protein and rich in healthy fats – a powerful combination.
• Almonds: anti-inflammatory and provide a solid amount of energy. It’s a perfect snack for those on a plant-based diet.
• Chicken: contains all of the essential amino acids and is easy to digest.

If you’re interested in joining 20PerFit but still have a few questions (including nutrition enquiries), then contact our team. They will also be more than happy to guide you through each step of the workout, explain its advantages and offer training advice. 

Try it for yourself and reap the benefits!

Book a session here, or reach out to us at 1300 202 073.