PEPPER EMS Suit Review: Bring Science Fiction to Real Life with This Muscle-Zapping, Workout-Maximizing Gear!

If there’s one constant in the world of fitness gadgets, it’s that someone is always offering you optimizations. It can be as simple as something like fat grips to work your forearms while you lift, or as complex as connected wearables and heart rate monitors designed to keep your workout in a precise effort zone. Sometimes these are genuinely great improvements, and sometimes they’re just window dressing. We were offered the chance to try the PEPPER EMS Suit, which leverages electromagnetic stimulation to maximize your workout in less time. Is it a winner? Let’s check it out!

The PEPPER EMS Suit comes with a suit, a control box, and a companion app. The way the suit works is based on electromagnetic stimulation, or, in very simple terms, it zaps your muscles to force them to do extra work while you’re moving. If “zapping muscles” sounds vaguely familiar, you might know it because it’s a known modality to improve muscle development in physical therapy. So this isn’t a new concept, and on the face of it, EMS is accepted science and not “bro science.”

Now, Gear Diary is known for our thorough reviews, but we are not capable of producing scientific, peer-reviewed studies. Disappointing, I know. However, great news: plenty of highly qualified people HAVE conducted studies like that on EMS, so before we even get into the specific PEPPER package, we can quickly detour to why EMS might be an option for someone.

We looked at a few studies comparing EMS with “traditional” strength training. It appears that when studied with control groups, the conclusion is that a properly followed EMS protocol will increase strength and reduce fat, leading to better overall fitness. If you want to really get into the specifics, you can read this study and this one for some interesting charts and graphs. There’s also this article from a Wild Health physician that helps explain the benefits of EMS in plain language.

Here’s the gist of these studies: EMS will absolutely help improve your fitness when used as part of a workout plan. Some studies showed significant strength gains and fat loss; others showed good improvements but not as much as “traditional” longer fitness sessions, though the science is fairly clear. Stimulating your muscles during workouts, especially bodyweight workouts, will yield statistically significant benefits. We know the science behind PEPPER is real, so let’s dive into whether the PEPPER EMS Suit pulls it all together in a usable way!

We’ll start with the PEPPER EMS Suit. It’s made of 68% nylon and 32% spandex, with 20 dry electrodes distributed throughout to target all your major muscle groups. It is machine washable once the control box is removed. The suit is understandably extremely fitted, so you will want to use the website’s calculator to determine your size. I inputted all my data, and it suggested a size large for me. When I first unboxed it, I honestly was concerned I’d asked for a size too small, but there’s definitely a lot of stretch in the material, and it actually fit me perfectly.

Putting the suit on takes a little bit of practice. The first few times were a little bit stressful, because it took some adjusting to figure out where it should sit on my hips to easily slide my arms in, and getting the back zipper pulled up took some mild maneuvering. Once I figured it out, though, I could easily pop the suit on and off without an issue.

PEPPER did an impressive job constructing the suit-it is remarkably comfortable; the seams don’t bite into your arms or legs, and everything still stays in place during active workouts. They also did a great job with the extended zipper pull, making it easy to zip yourself up. A small magnet sewn into the PEPPER EMS Suit’s tab on the end means the string automatically secures itself on the back until you’re ready to undress.

Note that you should NOT wear clothing underneath the PEPPER EMS Suit. The electrodes need to make direct contact with your skin. However, if you’re weirded out working out in a skintight suit, you can put clothing over the PEPPER EMS Suit without a problem. If tightly fitted clothing isn’t usually your thing, toss a t-shirt or shorts or both over it, and you’ll feel a lot better.

It’s worth noting that if a piece of fitness equipment is making you feel bad about yourself, you’re not going to want to use it. So it’s good to know you can layer, as long as PEPPER is the bottom layer!

Once you’ve wriggled into the suit and feel like a cross between a lost scuba diver and an 80s interpretation of a far-future astronaut, you can connect the control box. Again, the PEPPER EMS Suit really thinks this through, with a simple magnet plate for the box and a little velcro strip that keeps it from being knocked loose during vigorous movement. I did several PEPPER classes as well as my own personal workouts and warm-ups in the suit, and the box didn’t budge, even during jumping jacks and kettlebell swings.

The PEPPER EMS Suit’s control box itself is extremely simple. It charges via USB-C, and it has an LED that lights up to let you know it’s on. There’s only one power button, and it’s flush with the box. The USB port also sits facing down in the suit. This means that you won’t accidentally hit the off button mid-workout, and unless you sweat from some very odd places, there’s almost no chance you’ll sweat into the charge port. There’s no cover on the port, but I think that’s actually okay, as a cover would be unnecessary (again, unless you sweat in weird, gravity-defying ways).

PEPPER clearly took the time to consider the simplicity of the hardware design while also addressing potential failure points. The PEPPER EMS Suit’s box clips on smoothly; there’s absolutely no disconnection when you jump or move, yet it’s still super easy to detach for washing and charging. It’s clear a lot of care was put into this to make sure getting geared up for a workout wasn’t a strain. Since PEPPER’s whole fitness philosophy is about maximizing your workouts in the minimum time, it is great to see that it extends to getting ready for the workout, too.

Now that you’ve charged and donned the PEPPER EMS Suit, it’s time to work out. The app does a great job of walking you through getting to know your suit and learning the controls. You can preset specific settings or adjust the power on the fly, and dial it in on specific muscle groups. So if you’re doing a particularly upper-body-heavy day and want to make sure your arms are getting activated, you could theoretically increase the power on your arms, or lower it if you find that smaller muscles need less stimulation to achieve the same effect.

Here’s a good place to address the electrical stimulation. The number one question that came up whenever I discussed this suit was “does it hurt when it zaps you?” It doesn’t hurt, but you are aware of the sensation. The best way to describe it is imagine you’re randomly brushing against the hooked side of velcro. Just like that, it doesn’t hurt, but you definitely feel it hitting your skin. For reference, I did a weightlifting workout wearing the suit, and at no point was the zapping sensation so uncomfortable that I felt unsafe holding weights over my head. You can and should adjust the intensity as you go, so if you find that you’re more sensitive to the sensation, you can start at a very low level and move up slowly.

There are two ways to use the PEPPER app. You can do your own workouts, where the PEPPER EMS Suit zaps you at regular intervals and you just time your movements to the suit, or you can follow along with an instructor and a structured course in the app. Personally, while it was nice to know I could use the suit for my own workouts, I don’t have the sort of internal rhythm to easily match movements to the pad activation. I vastly preferred following along with the instructors since then lining up movement with activation was their job!

When you first start using the app, you take the introductory course. Once you’ve completed that, you can choose from beginner, intermediate, and advanced levels of options for the guided workouts in the future. At the end of each workout, the app asks you to rate the instructor and the workout, presumably so PEPPER can continue to fine-tune the content and get a sense of what is and isn’t popular with its users.

The preset workouts range from 14 minutes to around 25 minutes, but no longer than that. PEPPER (along with the above-mentioned studies) believes that the passive activation of your muscles during the workouts creates more effort than you realize. According to the app, the 68 minutes I spent in June with the PEPPER app are equivalent to 204 hours of non-EMS training!

I tried a few different workout styles, and I found them all great. All the exercises are bodyweight, so all you really need is a mat or some open space as well as your PEPPER EMS Suit. The instructor usually does a warm-up to start the class, but PEPPER also suggests you try to get really warm in the suit because if you’re a little sweaty, you’ll have better conductivity with the electrode pads. I usually did my personal generic warm-up routine (10 kettlebell swings, 5 goblet squats, 5 American swings X 5) as well as the instructor’s warm-ups, and I felt loose and ready for each session.

The instructors were great; I found everyone was easy to follow and understand, and they did a great job of keeping the movements in rhythm with the suit’s zaps. They demonstrated as needed and would call out how to adjust if you wanted more of a challenge or needed to modify the movement. You can easily tweak the PEPPER EMS Suit’s intensity either by pushing every electrode up/down, or by pulling up an overlay of the whole array and adjusting per muscle group. All of this can be accessed while you’re following the instructor, so there’s no break in the workout’s flow.

PEPPER recommends that you rest for 24-48 hours between EMS workouts to give your muscles time to recover. My experience was that this is a pretty accurate time frame. While I didn’t experience any major delayed-onset muscle soreness from using the suit, I did notice that after a core-heavy PEPPER EMS Suit workout, I was very aware of my core the next day while rowing. It wasn’t a bad feeling, just a “wow, ok, I didn’t think a few planks would do that, but I really feel this today” sort of sensation.

So here’s the real question: is the PEPPER EMS Suit about to become a regular part of my workout rotation? Probably not, HOWEVER I can easily see it working for other people, and I can definitely see myself using it in specific contexts.

Without the PEPPER EMS Suit or some other fitness item to test, my usual workout week looks something like this: I work out 2-3x a week over Zoom with a personal trainer, usually concentrating on free weights, with some high-intensity intervals and the occasional “don’t hate me but it’s yoga day” thrown in the mix. Typically, I try to use my rowing machine 1-2 days a week and hit my local climbing gym once a week. So basically, 4-6 days a week already have some sort of workout plan penciled in. All of these are important to me and serve specific needs, and so it’s hard to see where I’d fit in the consistent use of the PEPPER EMS Suit alongside that.

Now, having said that, the PEPPER EMS Suit is extremely portable. It comes with a small bag for easy transportation, the control box uses the same USB-C charger as every other electronic I own, and the suit plus controller come in at under 3 pounds. That means that anytime I’m on vacation or traveling, I can easily fit in a workout with PEPPER. And since the workouts are designed to be short and time-efficient, that makes it even easier and more logical of a choice for an on-the-go tool.

When I work out, whether at home or at the gym, I enjoy taking my time. I like a lengthy workout that leaves me feeling tapped out; it’s something that has long provided me with mental and physical benefits.

But not everyone has that kind of time, and not everyone needs to push themselves that hard to clear their heads. If working out is hard for you, or you’re trying to fit in a sweat session while juggling a crazy schedule, the PEPPER EMS Suit is ideal. It’s scientifically backed, offers a comprehensive catalog of workouts and movements, and is about as efficient as you can get in the fitness world.

The PEPPER EMS Suit is normally around $1,200 if you include the suit and 12 months of the app, but it is currently on sale for around $971. The suit itself is around $450, and then you’d pay monthly for the app. Either way, this works out to less than the cost of a gym membership once you get past the initial suit costs.

Zapping your muscles for gains sounds like a science fiction concept. It’s very real, and the PEPPER EMS Suit makes it possible to do at home, anytime. Whether it’s part of your regular routine or something you mix in as needed, EMS is a cutting-edge way to maximize a workout without committing all your free time!

The PEPPER EMS Suit retails for 849€ (~$971 USD), and includes three months of PEPPER App Premium; it is available directly from the manufacturer.

Source: Manufacturer-provided review sample

What I Liked: Extremely well-made suit; The control box snaps on and is secure; Easy-to-use app; The science behind the concept is solid; I can get a full workout in under 30 minutes; The suit is portable and machine-washable; There are multiple workouts offered on the app for different levels of fitness and energy

What Needs Improvement: Dependent on an app subscription; Off-class use of the suit can be hard to organize and time with the pulses; The skintight nature of the suit can be uncomfortable for some users