Compex Training

Written by Danielle Nederend

Best in Fitness: Workout Secrets and Where to Find Them

From yoga mats and ankle weights to bands and recovery tools, the online fitness marketplace is full of options, as in any category. As consumers search for their next product to maximize fitness and wellness, we offer expert insight on why Compex®  is the one to add to their cart.

How to do the best workout at home?

Fitness is perhaps more popular than ever. People are looking for new effective ways to optimize their workouts and speed up recovery time. Studies show that more and more consumers are purchasing fitness equipment to use at home. No longer just for physical therapy or the seemingly ‘intense’ athlete, utilizing at-home tools is the new norm in wellness.

So if you’re going to spend your hard-earned dollars to do your best workout at home to improve fitness, would you not want those purchases to be for quality products?

This, apparently, is the question. Consumers are finding knockoff options available online. Save a dollar now, but the product quality is not going to deliver the results you’re hoping for. Which is exactly why we’re here sharing our solutions for the best in fitness to make the most of your wellness dollars. Carry on.

How can I improve my fitness?

Seeming to be a secret among elite level athletes and fitness enthusiasts, electric muscle stimulation (EMS) majorly impacts the efficiency and results of a workout. By engaging a higher percentage of muscle fibers than without, EMS maximizes muscle effort at work. So while you do the same exercise you would typically do, adding EMS to your workout makes it that much more impactful. If you work out at home, you’re likely going for efficiency anyway - so why not use the best in fitness to make the most of your sweat?

When you add Compex® EMS to your training, you’re able to increase strength and explosiveness while building more muscle in less time than without EMS. Targeting specific muscle groups while you exercise will now get you more bang for your buck. Clinical trials show that you’ll also increase your VO2 max - meaning you’ll be able to take in more oxygen while you workout, so your body can use more energy.

Approved by professional athletes, Compex was created for anyone looking to improve their overall wellness. Not just for those at an elite level, but for the person working out at home, looking to uphold their health.

If you’re looking to improve fitness, look at adding Compex products into your workout regime. Regardless of your fitness goals, using muscle stimulators will make your workout that much more effective. Don’t think twice about giving the knock-off options available online a shot. The high value of Compex ensures the longevity of your purchase - so you can continue improving your fitness at a high quality over time.

What is the best way to speed up recovery?

In addition to improving your fitness, Compex products complement the work you do by reducing recovery time. A top search among wellness consumers as of late has been for the best massage gun. Known for their percussive massage therapy, these devices apply quick jolts of pressure to relax and calm sore muscles. However, not all massage guns are created equal. First off, the number of percussions per second (PPS) is a major contributing factor to the effectiveness of a massage gun. The noise it produces while massaging is also important, for the user’s overall enjoyment while using. Of course, the device’s longevity also plays a major role in its overall value.

Compex is here to tell you that quality is vital when selecting your tools for fitness and recovery. Choosing a knockoff brand because of a lower price point will give you exactly that - less percussion per second (resulting in less pressure, so less impactful), shorter product life, and most likely will be louder while in use. Lower price point yielding lower value. Since a knockoff brand, not the best massage gun option, is typically less ergonomic and offers less customizability with accessories, users will often experience pain from twisting in uncomfortable positions to reach the area they want.

On the contrary, Compex® strives to give value you’re looking for in your fitness tools. With both 3-speed and 5-speed options, along with interchangeable accessories to pinpoint specific areas on the body, Compex makes your massage therapy the best it can be. Plus, with 50 hits per second at a force 70% deeper than the average massage gun, the Compex® Fixx™ 2.0 Massager seems like the obvious choice.

Send blood flow to tissues impacted to flush out lactic acid, and your recovery game is that much stronger. Not only will you speed up the rate of recovery when using Compex, but clinical studies show that you will likely gain strength back as well.

What are top tools for fitness?

It’s quite clear that many of us are trying to make the most of our workouts. Whether recovering from surgery, finding the best workout at home, exercising to stay active or training for an upcoming 5K, training and recovery is invaluable. Likewise, the tools we implement to optimize our workouts also matter. If we’re dedicating time and money toward our fitness journeys, experts recommend choosing the clinically tested, professional athlete approved tool. Here are a few tools for fitness to highlight:

• Compex Massage Gun: Warm up before a workout and relieve stiffness after to speed up recovery with one of the best massage guns out there. Tailored for your needs with interchangeable tips, the Fixx™ 2.0 is here to do just that: fix your ailments
• Compex Muscle Stim 3.0: With 4 different programs to stimulate healthy muscles, use the Edge 3.0 as part of your warmup and to increase endurance. 
• Compex Wireless USA: With 10 different programs can help enhance your performance, speed up recovery. 
• Wireless Mini Muscle Stim: With 6 programs and smaller in size, use the Mini for explosive movements and recovery

Compex has been a global leader in muscle stim technology for over 30 years. Emphasizing muscle recovery, injury prevention and training programs, Compex wants each of us, the everyday active individual, to get the most out of our workouts. Time to jump in on the secret, don’t you think?

Sources

• https://www.newsweek.com/15-best-selling-fitness-products-amazon-1662230 
• https://www.consumerreports.org/massage-guns/massage-gun-buying-guide-a1197181514/ 

The contents of this blog were independently prepared and are for informational purposes only. The opinions expressed herein are those of the author and are not necessarily indicative of the views of any other party. Individual results may vary depending on a variety of patient-specific attributes and related factors.

Written by Danielle Nederend

Believe us when we tell you that using Compex is not complex. These products were created to offer the best training experience for any workout level. While technology like this would often be associated with competitive athlete’s training regimes, the founders of Compex created these for anyone looking to improve their physical fitness. Whether increasing core strength, running one mile or one marathon, or making the most of your at-home workout to hit a homerun in the neighborhood kickball game, integrate Compex into your training and watch your results soar. 

Make the Most of At Home Workout Equipment

Think about what workout equipment you use right now to target multiple body parts. Is it convenient? Can you take it with you anywhere? Does it work for various muscle groups? Well, it turns out that Compex can answer yes to each of these questions. Whether amplifying your V-ups to target abs, spiking the intensity of single leg deadlifts to strengthen hamstrings, or even placing on your back to advance your static hang or pull-up, Compex muscle stimulators really do increase the effect of any muscular movement. Anywhere you want it. 

Just as your yoga mat, resistance bands, and one or two sets of light dumbbells have now become part of the background of your living room - consider Compex to fit in this same at-home workout category. We’re seeing how technology is being integrated into regular areas of daily life in… well, pretty much every aspect of life. We talk to Alexa to play music, our smart watch indicates how many steps we’ve gotten in, and a sleep monitor of choice informs us how quality our dreaming hours are. Just as technology is improving and enhancing other areas of life at home, so can Compex make your workout the best it can be. 

Get Benefits of Weight Training Without Weights

Remember in the early times of Covid-19, when dumbbells and kettlebells were sold out everywhere? With worldwide gym closures, people rushed to get their hands on weights for at-home workouts. For good reason: continuous research shows the vast benefits of training with weights - from increasing muscle mass to strengthening bones and joints. Imagine seeing the same benefits that weight training yields by using equipment much more convenient to access, or even store in your home. 

Compex® muscle stimulators do just that. By maximizing the muscle fibers while training, Compex majorly increases the strain placed on muscles. This efficiently impacts your workout, sparking your training to increase strength, muscle mass and explosiveness in less time. Just as weights like dumbbells, kettlebells, and barbells take your workout to the next level, Compex simulates increasing the load placed on the muscle - no bells required. So you can opt to lift weights without the bells and whistles. 

Get Results Faster From Workouts

In a world of efficiency and maximizing time, we know that making time for your workout doesn’t always get its desired placement in your priority list. The phone rings, the baby cries, the couch finally gets delivered. With these day-to-day happenings, sometimes a workout just gets kicked to the curb. Which is why Compex is such a game changer by making your workout more efficient. 

When you place the muscle stimulators on particular muscle groups, those muscles are instantly stimulated. Flexing and working weakened muscles that wouldn’t usually be targeted increases the effectiveness of the workout. So if you’re working out at home, or in the gym, or prepping for your sport - wouldn’t you be interested to see how you could make your workout even more efficient? To get a better bang for your buck since you’re already out there sweating? Add Compex to your at-home workout equipment to make your sweat work even harder for you.

Use At Home For Faster Recovery

We’ve been told that recovery is important for the lifetime of our muscles, and particularly the longevity of our bodies functioning well. Time and professional athletes are proving over and over again how necessary recovery is to prolong our wellness. With Steph Curry being out from training just prior to NBA Playoffs due to an ankle sprain, and Mets pitcher Max Scherzer opting out from pitching because of a strained oblique, we see how injury prevention and recovery is an ingredient you can’t go without in your training. Not to say that we’re all training at the level that Curry and Scherzer are, but if you could improve your muscle recovery time with a simple application of Compex… what would hold you back?

When you use EMS (electric muscle stimulators), the electric impulses cause muscles to contract, which supplies a number of benefits. Blood flow to the tissue area involved is increased, which plays a role in repairing the muscle groups. When unused or weaker muscle groups are contracted and flexed, they grow in strength and put off the muscle atrophy process. By teaching muscle fibers to respond to certain patterns, they build strength. So while the sticky pads of muscle stimulators are placed in the targeted areas, they not only aid in recovery - they also strengthen and rebuild the muscle groups. 

So whether you use it to aid in your recovery at-home, to make the most of the short time you’re able to squeeze in a workout while the toddlers are asleep, or to level up the workouts you would typically wish you had weights for, Compex is the solution for you. With simple application videos available to target any desired muscle group, you can reap the benefits of training with Compex. It just takes getting started. 

To learn more about Compex and find the right product for you, visit: https://www.compex.com/training

References

• https://health.usnews.com/wellness/fitness/articles/benefits-of-strength-training-that-have-nothing-to-do-with-muscle-size
• https://www.coastalorthoteam.com/blog/what-is-electrical-muscle-stimulation-estim-uses-and-benefits 
• https://www.sportingnews.com/us/mlb/news/max-scherzer-injury-update-mets/oetya79qqjjslkn7en3q38nv 

The contents of this blog were independently prepared and are for informational purposes only. The opinions expressed herein are those of the author and are not necessarily indicative of the views of any other party. Individual results may vary depending on a variety of patient-specific attributes and related factors.

So, you’re thinking about doing the Open. What’s stopping you from doing it?

Five weeks of challenging workouts to test you both mentally and physically is not an easy feat. While many competitors will spend hours in the gym tiring themselves out daily and trying different training routines to improve their performance, you can do the same without spending hours in the gym or fatiguing your muscles. So, what’s the best way to be ready for the Open?

Brooke Wells, CrossFit® and Compex® Athlete, understands the demands your body goes under when competing during the Open and provides a little insight to help you be ready for the grueling few weeks, “The biggest thing is to treat the Open as if it were a regular training day! Don’t do anything different like try a new crazy pre-workout or warm up extra, extra long. Stay in your typical routine, and don’t freak or stress out about it,” she adds, “Trust your training and go as hard as you can. Make sure you are recovered before, have a good meal, get sleep, and proper recovery—like using a Compex® device).”

When Compex® electric muscle stimulation is added to your workouts, it helps maximize your muscular effort by engaging a greater percentage of muscle fibers. Compex® devices target both Type 1 slow twitch muscle fibers which impact endurance and Type 2 fast twitch muscle fibers which impact power and explosiveness. Using a Compex® EMS device can help take your performance to the next level. Here’s how to be ready for the Open with the assistance of one of our EMS devices.

Dynamic Warm-ups

Before you begin you the Open workout, it’s essential to warm up your muscles. Using our pre-designed programs can help make your time more efficient in the gym. A dynamic warm-up helps loosen muscles and gets them ready for rigorous activity, which may help to prevent injury during training or competition.

The Performance™, Sport Elite™, and Wireless Muscle Stimulator™ all offer the Pre-Warm Up program which produces a muscle twitch and runs at a low frequency while increasing local blood flow, warming the muscle tissue, and helping to improve reaction of the muscles prior to a workout or competition.

The Sport Elite™ and Wireless Muscle Stimulators™ offer Potentiation which is recommended before a workout or competition, especially for sports requiring speed and velocity. Applied briefly just before the beginning of a competition, it offers immediate, well-potentiated muscle fibers and helping to optimize performance.

So, before you tackle the challenge, turn on the Dynamic Warm-up setting to get ready to compete.

Quick Recovery

One advantage that you’ll have if you use the EMS device is that you can help speed up your recovery before the next workout, whether you want to redo the week’s challenge or you’re ready to take on the next one at The Open.

Compex® EMS devices offer multiple post-workout programs to assist in your recovery. The variety of recovery programs are designed to bring fresh oxygen and nutrients to the muscles to help flush lactic acid, aiding you to recover faster.

After your workout, place the electrodes on the muscle area you'd like to target. Select your program and let Compex® help you get stronger and fitter faster than you would with your regular routine.

The Edge™, Performance™, Sport Elite™ and Wireless Muscle Stimulator™ offer the Active Recovery program which increases local blood flow, leading to a faster reduction of lactic acid than mere rest, promotes muscle relaxation and helps enable faster recovery. These devices also offer TENS which can be used to temporarily alleviate localized pain.

The Sport Elite™ and Wireless Muscle Stimulator™ devices offer Recovery Plus which runs at a lower frequency for inducing gentle muscle twitches, increasing local blood flow, generating endorphins (the body's natural analgesic) and promoting muscle relaxation when muscles are fatigued after a vigorous workout or competition. They also offer Massage, which runs at the lowest frequency possible to help relax muscles that are fatigued after a workout or competition.

While other competitors may take breaks, stretch or try the workout before they take on the Open workouts, you can allow your body to rest while still helping your muscles improve and strengthen by using the warm-up and recovery programs. Good luck during the Open!

Shop our Compex® Muscle Stimulators

The contents of this blog were independently prepared, and are for informational purposes only. The opinions expressed herein are those of the author and are not necessarily indicative of the views of any other party. Individual results may vary depending on a variety of patient-specific attributes and related factors.

CrossFit® is registered trademark of CrossFit®, Inc.

Brooke Wells is a Compex® Sponsored Athlete.

Training for an IRONMAN?

Whether this is your first or you’ve tackled many IRONMANS, you know that you’ll need to put heavier-than-usual loads on your body to meet your training plan.

During training, you put a ton of stress on your body. All that amount of pressure can lead to injury before, during, or after race day. What can you do? Using electric muscle stimulation (EMS) and transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation (TENS) may be the final puzzle piece in your triathlon training plan to help you keep healthy for your IRONMAN and beyond the finish line.

Why EMS and TENS?

EMS and TENS is an essential part of IRONMAN training because it helps increase strength, endurance, stamina, and recovery, all of which help maximize performance.

Lisa Bentley, 11-time IRONMAN Champion, coach, speaker and author of An Unlikely Champion says, “I have used TENS to reduce pain around a few different injuries—inflammation of tendons, lower-back tightness, and subsequent SI joint issues. I have used EMS to stimulate the muscles which often get turned off due to injury.”

What are EMS and TENS?

Basically, EMS mimics the way your body works to cause your muscles to contract. Your muscles act as if you’re working out. Except, instead of voluntarily firing off (because you, say, lift something), the muscles fire when given a very particular electrical impulse from your Compex® device. The TENS can help relieve muscle pain due to injury and over-training. The TENS setting on your Compex delivers small, safe, electrical signals through conductive pads to stimulate the nerves under your skin. It relieves pain in two ways: by helping the body to release natural painkillers (called endorphins) and by blocking pain messages.

Using Compex® During Training

Using Compex during your training can help you gain muscle strength in hard-to-reach areas and strengthen muscles when injured. “I had patellar femoral pain, I used EMS to stimulate the medial quadriceps muscle to get stronger and activated so that it could help hold my knee cap in place and counteract my overactive ITB from pulling my kneecap to the outside,” explains Bentley. “I had used EMS when I had a stress fracture to keep the surrounding muscles activated while we rested the bone and joint as they repaired. That way, when the bone was healed, I was able to return to training faster since the normal muscular atrophy had been reduced or eliminated.”

Compex for Recovery

Also, Compex can also activate muscles on recovery days to enhance blow flow, which in turn helps heal your body. “Training is the process of stressing out muscles and breaking them down. Improvements come during the recovery phase where the muscle gets stronger and more resilient,” shares Bentley.

Ironically, injuries happen when you overload muscles and tendons. Recovery from injury occurs when you gradually introduce load to the muscle or tendons. You cannot have rehabilitation without introducing a controlled load. Adding in your Compex device to your training allows for that controlled load by stimulating the muscles.

Compex for Warming Up

On top of strength and recovery, you can use your Compex for an effective warm up. The pre-designed programs can target the specific muscle groups you’ll be using, whether you’re in the locker room, at your desk, or sitting next to the pool. The great thing about using Compex during your IRONMAN training is that it’s portable so you can multitask and warm up as you make your way to the pool or set up your bike for a ride. And, it reaches muscle groups that are hard to reach from a regular warm-up.

Supplemental Tool

Compex is a tool to supplement strength and endurance programs. You can use the conditioning pre-designed programs to supplement weight training on the same day. Say you focus on training legs one morning, you can use EMS strength on the same muscles that evening, and follow up with active recovery. This helps to fire up your muscles a little quicker than training alone.

You’re putting in a lot of hard work for your IRONMAN. You want to wake up feeling refresh and ready to train each day. In addition to your plan, make sure you get proper sleep, eat well, and use your Compex for an all-around solid training routine.

Shop for a Compex Device

The contents of this blog were independently prepared, and are for informational purposes only. The opinions expressed herein are those of the author and are not necessarily indicative of the views of any other party. Individual results may vary depending on a variety of patient-specific attributes and related factors.

Love or hate them; the squat is one of the most effective exercises for athletes and fitness enthusiasts alike. They are completely versatile. You can do them anywhere, at any time—with or without weights.  Also, the squat can help tone your legs and glutes, allow you to log a few more miles, increase speed, boost power, and prevent injury. However, to reap all the benefits from this one move, you must perform it with proper form.

Whether you’re new to the squat or not, it’s best to do this move with no weights to develop the good form. Once you’ve mastered the technique of a perfect squat, then you can switch it up and add Compex or weights to the move.

How to Squat with Proper Form

Starting Position:

• Stand tall with feet a little more than shoulder-width apart.
• Slightly point toes outward.

The Move:

• Begin to sit down, pushing the hips back (as you sit into the squat push your knees out to stay in line with your toes).
• Make sure your weight is on your heels, because if you are too forward or on your toes you can add stress onto the knee joint.

• Keep your chest up and eyes looking straight ahead as you continue to sit down.
• Once your hips descend below the knees, pause, the descent part of the move is now complete.

• Continue to shift your weight into your heels and push your feet into the ground.
• Press your body back up to extend you knees and hips, to finish in the starting position

Advance the Squat

Once you’ve perfected the basic squat, you can progress to a more advanced move. You can use weights, bands, or your Compex to increase the load on the muscles. It’s important to maintain your form, especially when you increase resistance, to prevent injury.

Here are some views that show how to use a regular barbell as well as how to set up your Compex device to complete these squats.  You can use your Compex with body weight, a bar or PVC pipe as you work on proper squat form.

Squatting with the bar

More Quad Activation with Compex

One of the big questions we get from athletes is how to use Compex for more than Recovery. We sat down with Casey Parlett, Co-Owner of CrossFit760, to discuss how they introduce Compex to their athlete’s at all different levels.

What is the CrossFit 760 philosophy?

CrossFit760’s philosophy is directly in line with what CrossFit has been doing since the beginning: Constantly varied, Functional movements executed at a high intensity.  To take that a step further at CrossFit760 we are adement the proper movement mechanics and consistency must be in place before adding intensity.

How does Compex fit in with that Philosophy?

Compex fits right in with what we are doing because of its ability to teach proper muscle recruitment to improve movement flaws.  Also the recovery and strength building with Compex allow our athletes to be in the gym more consistently – they’re constantly being able to work at those high intensities that produce the greatest results.

How do you recommend someone new to lifting use Compex?

New athletes wanting to use Compex will generally feel most comfortable using it for the recovery aspect. However, starting a new lifter on the resistance setting in a static position on a low intensity level, allows the athlete to start acheiving strength and muscle building benefits, while getting comfortable with how to use and feel of the unit.

When do you progress?

As with any other training protocol it is important to have a slow and steady linear progression over 4-8 weeks, gradually increasing intensity. Everyone is different in their level of fitness and how they’ll adapt to Compex.  Some people have more experience with form and technique, or have years of lifting experience so they may find they progress faster as they get comfortable with the device.

Example of a Squat Progression for a person new to lifting.

What gains have you seen compared to before recommending Compex?

In the gym we’ve seen improvements across the board from our athletes that are using it.  From increased recovery, to strength gains, to injury rehabilitation.

How does that change for a more experienced lifter?

The more experienced lifter is going to see smaller gains, but that little bit more work the device  allows through increased recovery and the small strength gains pay off huge long term.

Stay Tuned as we continue to dive deeper into incorporating Compex into specific lifting techniques, for beginners to advanced lifters, throughout the year.

Join Compex this weekend at the 2015 Reebok CrossFit Games at the StubHub Center in Carson, California. Stop by our Compex booth inside the Vendor Village which is open daily from 8am-7pm Thursday July 23rd- Sunday July 26th 2015 to test out a device, learn about the benefits of electric muscle stimulation and how you can use it to target your training and increase power, speed, endurance and recovery, meet Compex athletes, win prizes and more.

Compex athletes Camille LeBlanc-Bazinet, the 2014 CrossFit Games winner and Graham Holmberg, the 2010 CrossFit Games winner will both be competing this year in The Games.

Learn more event details on our CrossFit Event Page