A Fitness Breakthrough or Just a Fad?
The golf industry is loaded with products making outsized claims, but it has nothing on the fitness industry. Google a term like “weight loss,” and you’ll be flooded with products promising massive body transformation without any effort. This made me skeptical when I was approached with the opportunity to check out miha bodytec, but I’m glad I gave it a chance. In an industry drowning in bull****, miha is the real deal.
What is miha bodytec?
If you’ve ever gone through physical therapy or rehab for an injury, you may be familiar with TENS Machines. In my own layman’s terms, a TENS Machine uses electrodes to put small electrical impulses into your muscles. This can be done with the goal is reducing pain or stimulating healing.
The question behind miha bodytec was, “Can we use that same technology to simulate a full-body workout?” They sought to stimulate muscle contractions with electrical impulses rather than weight lifting with the goal of gaining strength and building muscle.
A session with miha bodytec starts with putting on the body suit – a tight t-shirt and shorts. The electrodes on the suit get connected together with wires, then a single cable tethers you to the silver miha unit seen in the pictures. Each session is done with a trainer who starts by setting the level of stimulation that each muscle group receives. What happens next depends on your goal. miha bodytec can be used to build strength, warm up, or for physical therapy.
Golf Applications & Benefits
miha bodytec touts substantial benefits for golfers. Among them are increased swing speed, reduced fatigue, and better core stability. To test these claims for myself, I visited Catalyst Golf to work with their Director of Golf, Marty Evans [check them out HERE].
My session with Marty started with a self-directed warm up and hitting some drives to establish a baseline. I was hitting the ball pretty well but wasn’t feeling particularly fast. My fastest swing registered a little above 105 MPH with most hovering around 103 MPH.
Next, I changed into the miha shirt and shorts and was hooked up to the machine. After my levels were set, Marty put me through a twelve minute warmup from Super Speed [more on Super Speed HERE]. The movements were straightforward and low intensity – leg swings, arm circles, etc. While I was moving, the electrodes in the suit were putting a steady pulse of stimulation through all my muscles. It wasn’t fatiguing or uncomfortable, rather it felt like my entire body was being activated.
After the warm up, I was disconnected from the machine and handed my driver. My first swing registered at 114.3 MPH. That’s a 9 MPH jump in twelve minutes! My subsequent swings weren’t quite as fast – most were around 110 MPH – but even that was a 5 MPH gain.
It would be fair to ask how much of that boost is attributable to the warm up versus miha, and that’s a question I can’t answer scientifically. What I can say is that I’ve done lots of warm ups without miha, and I’ve never seen a speed jump like that. Also, the feeling in my body was unique. Because I wasn’t moving that much, there was no fatigue, I felt fresh. At the same time, I felt completely warm and prepared for all-out effort.
A miha bodytec Workout
In addition to testing miha for golf, I went through a strength building workout at miha’s headquarters. The set up is the same, but the workout is very different. For twenty minutes, you squeeze different muscle groups as hard as you can. Above, I’m doing a curl without weights, focusing on contracting my biceps. The contraction is held for several seconds, then relaxed. While this is happening, the miha bodytec is putting deeper stimulation into your muscles compared to the warm up setting.
The feeling of this workout is unique. Unlike weight lifting, there’s no stress on the joints, but my muscles felt tired by the end. miha states that their program engages 98% of your muscles and creates 85 contractions per second vs. 1-2 contractions per second with traditional training. They claim that one twenty minute session has the same benefits as 2.5 hours of strength training.
What impresses me about miha bodytec is how it offers something for people all across the fitness spectrum. If you’re someone who doesn’t enjoy working out, the low impact and tremendous efficiency of miha should be thrilling. Highly trained individuals can use miha as a way to maintain progress while giving their joints a break. Whatever your fitness goals or level of experience, miha bodytec is something you should check out.
Visit miha bodytec HERE
Matt Saternus
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Do you burn the same amount of calories in 20 minutes as you would in 2.5 hours lifting weights? That’s half the reason I lift, but my joints are getting worse by the day. Running went out the window a long time ago.
Brandon,
My understanding is that the 2.5 hour equivalent is in terms of strength gains, not calories burned.
-Matt
Matt,
Is this only offered as a service and not a piece of equipment that can be used at home? As in you’d need to go to a service provider for workouts and warm up?
Thanks.
Tom,
You can purchase a system for yourself, but that’s cost prohibitive for most. The majority of users are going to do their workouts with some kind of trainer.
Best,
Matt
Matt;
I loved your “review” of this new technology. I just booked a trial workout, for next week, at a studio near my home in Orlando, Fl. Unfortunately, it will not be golf specific, but the general workout that you had.
I am 75 years young and am really interested in less stress on the joints.
Awesome! Let me know what you think about it.
-Matt
Matt,
I had my “Intro” workout today at Bodystreet (about a 45 minute drive) and was very impressed. As a 75 year old golfer there was virtually no strain on any body parts and I was able to fully complete the workout. The question still remains how will I feel over the 24-48 hours in “revcovery phase”, but if all goes well, I plan to sign up for a 6 month program.
I would to THANK YOU very much, because this never would have happened except for your excellent review of this new technology.
Keep up the great work!!
Michael,
That’s great to hear! Thanks for letting me know.
-Matt