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Marie France, located on the 15th floor of GT Tower International on Ayala Avenue, has a new machine to offer, and it’s the Evolvex. The principle behind the machine is that it combines both RF (Radio Frequency) and EMS (Electric Muscle Stimulation) in one machine. So, in principle, gone are the days when you’d have to book a RF session, and follow that up with a Physik EMS session. With a single Evolvex 40 minute treatment, you’ll be achieving your 50,000 sit ups and get the RF to help promote fat breakdown, all while lying flat on your back.

While that sounds great, be forewarned that achieving that maximum equivalent, does require a certain degree of tolerance level for both the heat of the RF, and the intensity of your stomach muscle contractions, as created by the EMS.

During the media event that Marie France held, I managed to wait until all the media had left, and got to indulge in my own 40-minute trial. The four pads placed on my lower stomach area were strategically positioned and taped down, and I was then asked if I was ready to let the machine do the work. Opting to start with a Level 10 EMS, I could feel my abdominal muscles contracting and doing the work. The heat at 40 degrees was similarly tolerable, and the first five minutes went by without a hitch.

It was when the attendant came in and asked if we could raise the levels of both the contracting and the heat, that factors of how much one can tolerate came into play. Apparently, as they raised the heat, I was told that some would readily complain about how it felt like their skin was being scorched. And as I raised the EMS to 15, I could imagine some feeling that was beyond comfortable and asking a lot from any individual undergoing the treatment.

Boy, was I wrong! Apparently, there are women who go up to Level 30 in the EMS factor, but I asked the attendant to turn down the heat so that the more active component of EMS is driving the treatment. I guess women and contractions are a more natural thing, or the pain threshold for women is just higher than men, given that they regularly go through such things as childbirth, or their monthly. At Level 15 EMS, the 10 minutes at that intensity was enough for me to say that we could keep it that level for the duration.

Similarly, the sensation of your skin getting scorched is mitigated by the gel, but there was a point when I felt that the heat level was more than enough and could be maintained without an increase in temperature. 

The thing with Evolvex is that you immediately feel the results, and that enduring the limits of tolerance is rewarded. I know I’d like to go back and do it again. Twice a week is the minimum recommendation in order to really make the regimen work. I also asked about what they’d recommend for the flanks. As beside the tummy area, I know I need work on my flanks. For the flanks, they recommended the RF with suction. 

Evolvex is, in my mind, a more than worthy addition to the offerings at Marie France. I loved their expanded floor space, the increase in rooms, and how there’s a men’s section that’s separate from those of the women. And there is one couples room, but with the higher pain tolerance level of the women, I’m not sure that couples room is all that attractive.

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