Oct 15, 2019

A New Wave in Body Toning

By Chelsea Campbell

Going to the gym has a lot of benefits - it obviously improves muscle tone, increases strength and stamina, is great for releasing endorphins, and can also be a place to socialize. But sometimes your hours at the gym each week just aren’t giving you the physical results that you’re after, no matter how many different fitness routines you’ve tried, and that can be frustrating. Well, there’s a device for that - and no, it’s not out of a 1950s catalog or an episode of the Jetsons.

We talked with dermatologist Elizabeth Tanzi about a new generation body toning device that can help kick your workout up a notch without spending extra hours in the gym. It might sound too good to be true, but hear us out. 

1. What exactly is a body toning device?

First-generation muscle toning devices like EmSculpt use magnetic stimulation of the muscle to induce involuntary contractions, leading to tighter muscular fiber and better tone over time. This technology paved the way for second-generation devices like Cooltone, which is said to offer 50% more intense muscle contractions for even more impressive results.

Dr. Tanzi says, “I'm really excited about this next generation of body toning and muscle toning devices because they build on what was there before, but stronger than what we had before. So far, the acceptance and patient satisfaction has been great.” 

2. Why would someone need body toning?

Dr. Tanzi explains, “With age, even if we're going to the gym on a regular basis, we all lose some muscle tone and some muscle strength. Perhaps [with these devices] we will be able to keep our muscles as toned as they were when we were younger, which is fantastic.” 

Improved muscle tone, particularly in the core area, has many benefits. “Your core affects every area of your life”, says Tanzi, “It especially helps with back pain. Just standing tall is a function of youth! So it would be great to be able to keep those muscles toned, in a pretty easy way.”

3. What kind of results are patients able to achieve? 

“People who are looking to tone their core get a little bit stronger”, says Dr. Tanzi, “These are devices that can contract the muscle tens of thousands of times, much more than you could ever do in the gym. To strengthen the core lift the booty in, these are things that we can't quite do in the gym alone. So it's been helping people to get over that hump. I hear things like, ‘I have a better tennis team’, and ‘I can do more planks when I go to my workout classes.’ Men like it because it helps improve their golf swing. Particularly as we get a little bit older, you lose muscle strength, you lose muscle tone, no matter how much time you're working out at the gym.”

Dr. Tanzi emphasizes that it’s important to use these devices in conjunction with a good fitness and diet lifestyle - it’s no substitute for the hard work of being healthy. At this point in time, the device is not able to remove fat, but many patients do a fat removal process like CoolSculpting first, followed by body toning, with impressive results. Although it’s not a magic bullet for all of your workout woes and you can’t sit around eating cheeseburgers while expecting to maintain a six-pack, a body toning device can help kickstart a healthier lifestyle and give people a little boost in their workout routine. And we could all use that, no matter how much we might love the gym!