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

Background and Purpose: 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. Materials and Methods: 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.  Results: 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.  Conclusion: According to these results, it is suggested that obese women use EMS with suspension training to lose weight and improve body composition and strength.