If there is a training process that can revolutionize your fitness regime, it's definitely CMT training. In simple words, CMT - meaning Combined Muscle Training - is the technique that combines NMES with exercising a targeted muscle group in an active rather than passive way. This way you can reinforce the potential of your workout and get better results in less time. diPulse expert NMES advisor Heiko Van Vliet has coined the term and developed the technique after decades of working with top athletes and Olympians, in order to achieve their optimal performance. It's no wonder why the diPulse team is passionate about Combined Muscle Training (CMT); we have seen it can revolutionize a fitness routine and deliver impressive results.

The science behind the myth

NMES (Neuromuscular Electrical Stimulation) has the capacity to recruit muscle fibres - which may either be dormant or not adequately developed - by stimulating the motor points of the muscle. This is where the motor nerves are most superficial and easy to access with electrical currents. In turn, this creates a muscle contraction, and depending on the program we choose, we can stimulate different types of muscle fibers. CMT couples NMES with actively exercising a targeted muscle group, reinforcing the potential and the effects of your workout. For example, when we lift weights, we do this in order to load our muscles, place a demand on them by exercising them under stress and thereby (re)building our muscle fibres in a certain way based on the movement, weight, and total time under tension.

CMT benefits don’t stop there. Studies have shown the damage that can be done to joints, ligaments, tendons, and muscles when they are loaded repeatedly with heavy weights. As an example, for Type II muscle fibres development, using very heavy weights is necessary in order to build muscle bulk for power and inherent strength. Still, repetitive loading of the body is not a natural process and particularly for the human skeleton, which in its design is not always capable of absorbing such intense pressures. Here is when CMT comes in to help us keep our joints load free and provide us with training without the strain. In fact, this is the ultimate science-backed way to build muscle power without putting skeletal structures through undue stress. Think about working out AND putting our muscles under resistance with active stimulation.

The diPulse expertise

For diPulse expert advisor Heiko Van Vliet, muscle stimulation as a passive process is a thing of the past. In fact, better results can be achieved when we work out in conjunction with NMES. diPulse makes use of the vast experience of the team in this field to design diPulse programs that implement the full potential of CMT into clean-cut, easy-to-use routines. The combined years-long practice has shown that the effects of high-intensity exercise combined with muscle stimulation increase muscle volume while benefiting general metabolic health, and cardiovascular and physiological fitness. In that sense, diPulse has succeeded in harnessing the unrestricted training potential of wire-free, micro-module stimulation controlled conveniently by a smartphone. It only takes one try to understand the immediate effect CMT and NMES can have on the body - and just days of CMT workouts to experience better results and stress-free recovery. The complete win-win situation for any person looking at improving their fitness in a healthy and efficient way.