Ben Tomkins, 32, from London, was in the middle of training for his first Ironman, when a shock bike accident left him with serious injuries. After discovering EMS Personal Training at ViveFitness in Westminster, the weekly sessions became not only essential to Ben’s recovery, but also a pivotal part of his training as he once more set his sights on competing in an Ironman…
On 15th June 2020, Ben set out for a morning bike ride, as part of his training to compete in his first ever Ironman triathlon, but along the route he had a head-on collision with a moped.
“The accident left me in a really bad way,” says Ben. “I had a broken bone in my hand, cracked ribs and internal bleeding. The whole left side of my body was fully traumatised. I was experiencing spasms and real strain on my back from my ribcage being left hunched over.”
After six weeks of being completely out of action, Ben began a two-pronged approach to his rehabilitation; muscular myofascial therapy to relieve tension to his bones and soft tissue from the trauma alongside EMS training to help rebuild his strength and endurance. “I’d never heard of EMS before, until I met Fraser Smith, co-founder of ViveFitness. With my body still healing and very delicate, I couldn’t run or cycle – I needed to find a low impact form of exercise and EMS seemed the perfect solution,” explains Ben.
Ben began having two EMS training sessions a week at Vive. “In my early sessions, Fraser avoided any upper body focus or intense rotations, as my internal injuries were still healing. But even after the first few sessions, I really noticed parts my body began feeling less stiff,” recalls Ben. “What’s so brilliant about whole body EMS is you can choose a different level of intensity for each muscle group, which meant we could avoid my injured areas at first and slowly up the intensity as I began to recover.
“I couldn’t believe how quickly I felt physically stronger; it felt amazing when I could run again, and it was 100% down to EMS building my endurance back up. Just four months after my accident I felt nearly back to full strength again, it was incredible.”
Ben is now using EMS sessions to resume his Ironman training, with his sights set on completing his first one in August 2021.
“Before my accident, my training was purely endurance based. I never went to the gym as I’ve didn’t enjoy conventional strength training or the gym environment, meaning I was struggling to push through that strength barrier,” says Ben. “With EMS training, I’ve discovered a way of building lower body strength that I actually enjoy. I can’t wait to see the difference it makes to my performance this time round.”
“The whole team at Vive have helped so much with my recovery and training. I love the experience of an EMS session, giving it my all for just 20 minutes and really seeing a difference in my body without feeling exhausted for ages afterwards. EMS was instrumental to my fast recovery and now the sky’s the limit for my Ironman competing thanks to EMS training.”
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Source: Vive Fitness
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