'Shocking' New Workout Promises To Cut Your Gym Time In Half

NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -  If you could change your entire body by simply doing a 30-minute workout twice a week, but you'd get shocked in the process, would you do it?

Shock Therapy gym on the Upper East Side offers workout classes that promise just such an electric edge.

Clients don a power suits that hook up to Electronic Muscle-Stimulation Technology, known as EMS.

The electrode-studded bodysuit must be dampened to conduct electricity before the workout. Class goers dress in special undergarments, get strapped in and attached to mini-power packs that send tiny pulses of electricity to activate 300 critical muscle groups all at once. These electrodes make muscles involuntarily contract.

The intensity of the shocks are customized to each person's tolerance and strength level.

After suiting up, the real work out begins: A mixture of strength-training and aerobic conditioning. The instructors get heart rates up with cardio and mix in upper and lower body moves, all while the trainer raises the intensity.

Participants' muscles work overtime, but the class is only 30 minutes long and actually cuts gym time in half, according to Shock Therapy's founder Esra Çavuşoğlu.

"That's why we only suggest twice a week, so it will be equal to six days working out and take a day off to enjoy your family," he said.

Lisa Michelman attends classes consistently and,  in four months, has seen a change in her body.

"I'm so sore the next day, which I'm sure you will be," she said. "But, in places that are hard to get. Like your abs."

Regulars claim the added jolt helps muscle definition for a knock-out workout. Classes are $50 a sessions, typically attended only twice a week.