Body20, a Florida-based fitness studio specializing in electro muscle stimulation, is setting up shop in Prairie Village — for the company’s first location in the Kansas City area.
Where at? The Prairie Village location will be at the city’s unofficial wellness hub: Corinth Quarter. It will find a home nextdoor to Sherwin Williams and Club Pilates at 4057 W. 83rd Street.
What’s electro muscle stimulation? It is a type of training that involves individuals donning a suit of electrodes that send electrical pulses to their muscles.
- Carson Gilliland, manager of the new Prairie Village studio, says their EMS suits allow customers to get the equivalent of several hours of weight-lifting in short, 20-minute workout sessions, hence the company’s name Body20.
- EMS technology was approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Association in 2017 for certain medical uses.
- In a Q-and-A published that year, the FDA said EMS “may be able to temporarily strengthen, tone or firm a muscle” but has not been cleared as a device that specifically helps with weight loss.
- Gilliland says it’s safe for people over the age of 18 who are not pregnant and who do not have a pacemaker or a neuromuscular disease, among other health issues listed on a waiver.
Key quote: “I don’t think this is by any means a shortcut to working out,” Gilliland said. “It is a way to cut down the time, but you’re still going to be working hard for 20 minutes.”
What to expect: Members can visit Body20 up to twice a week, depending on their lifestyle and commitment, Gilliland said, and there are three workout types they offer — strength, cardio and relax.
- Each session is one-on-one with a personal trainer, Gilliland said, and there will be no group sessions offered.
- “Strength” workouts take members on a 20-minute session where pulses are set every 10 seconds as the customer works through various exercises.
- For “Cardio” workouts, customers will be doing exercises for 45 seconds straight at a lower electrical pulse setting.
- “Relax” workouts will be used largely as a way to warm-up the muscles to prepare for workouts, Gilliland said.
The details: Body20 is set to open in Prairie Village on August 1, Gilliland said.
- Lower-priced membership deals are still available until the pre-sale ends on that day.
- Memberships start at $200 and go to $300 per month with the pre-sale prices, Gilliland said, to get one-on-one support from a personal trainer.
- Body20 is also set to open up two other locations in the Kansas City area, Gilliland said, including a fitness boutique in Leawood or the Country Club Plaza area in Kansas City, Missouri.
