How restricting blood flow will help you build up, become strong and enduring

Why restrict blood supply during exercise

If in the course of work the blood flow to the muscle slows down, it will not receive enough oxygen and local hypoxia will occur. At the same time, a violation of the outflow will ensure rapid “acidification”: lactate and hydrogen ions will not have time to enter the bloodstream and be utilized, so that burning and pain will appear in the muscles very soon.

Without additional devices, this can happen, for example, with a large number of repetitions or a long voltage in static. But in this case, the listed effects will come only at the end of the approach and quickly disappear after the work is completed.

To prolong the effect, Dr. Yokashi Sato from Japan developedS. D. Patterson, L. Hughes, S. Warmington. Blood Flow Restriction Exercise: Considerations of Methodology, Application, and Safety / Frontiers in Physiology kaatsu technique - creating additional pressure with the help of pneumatic tourniquets. In the West, this method is known as BFR (blood flow restriction) or occlusive training (OCT).

The essence of the method is that during exercises, tourniquets are put on the shoulders or hips, which partially limit the arterial blood supply and almost completely block the venous outflow from the arms or legs. Muscles do not receive enough oxygen, and venous blood accumulates in the capillaries, causing a number of changes.

How does blood flow restriction training affect the body?

It is believed that by limiting the blood supply, one can runZ. Pope, J. Willardson, b. Schoenfeld. Exercise and Blood Flow Restriction / Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research a whole cascade of reactions useful for muscle growth and sports indicators:

• Activate muscle fibers of the second type - those that are used during explosive and heavy loads and increase in size well.
• Increase the amount of glycogen - glucose stored in the muscles and liver, which serves as fuel for the muscles.
• Activate the production of growth hormone, growth factor and intercellular signals.
• Increase the production of reactive oxygen species, which accelerate tissue growth.
• After removing the tourniquet, cause a rush of blood and intracellular edema, which will stretch the cytoskeleton and promote tissue growth.
• Activate stem cells that will give their nuclei to muscle tissue.

Scientists don't yet know exactly how restricting blood flow helps the body adjust to stress. But at the same time, numerous studies confirm the effectiveness of local hypoxia for the growth of indicators.

What can be achieved by limiting the blood supply during exercise

Classes with special harnesses and cuffs can improve several indicators at once.

Increase strength and muscle mass

For strength training, it is customary to work with heavy weights. However, with harnesses, you can effectively raise this indicator with lighter shells by 15-30% of your 1-rep max (1RM).

In one researchG. C. Laurentino, C. Ugrinowitsch, H. Roschel. Strength training with blood flow restriction diminishes myostatin gene expression / Medicine and science in sports and exercise young men were divided into three groups. In the first, participants worked out with light shells (20% of 1RM), in the second, with the same weights and limited blood supply, and in the third, with standard 80% of 1RM for strength development.

After 8 weeks, the men in Groups 2 and 3 increased strength and muscle size equally—twice as much as those who lifted light weights without harnesses.

Similar results were obtained in experiments1. H. Madarame, M. Nya, E. Ochi. Cross‑transfer effects of resistance training with blood flow restriction / Medicine and science in sports and exercise, 2. Y. Takarada, Y. Sato, N. Ishii. Effects of resistance exercise combined with vascular occlusion on muscle function in athletes / European journal of applied physiology and occupational physiology, 3. Y. Takarada, H. Takazawa, Y. Sato. Effects of resistance exercise combined with moderate vascular occlusion on muscular function in humans / Journal of applied physiology featuring rookies, elite rugby players and older women.

Moreover, the restriction of blood supply helps to build muscle not only with the help of classical strength exercises, but also with useM. Shinohara M. Kouzaki, T. Yoshihisa. Efficacy of tourniquet ischemia for strength training with low resistance / European journal of applied physiology and occupational physiology isometric movements and workT. Abe, S. Fujita, T. Nakajima. Effects of Low‑Intensity Cycle Training with Restricted Leg Blood Flow on Thigh Muscle Volume and VO2MAX in Young Men / Journal of sports science and medicine on an exercise bike.

Thus, occlusive training will help increase strength and muscle size for those who have given up lifting heavy weights, for example, due to age or injury. Also, blood flow restriction is useful for athletes who want to increase the volume of training, but are afraid to overload the joints and spine.

Increase muscle endurance

Blood flow restriction maybeZ. Pope, J. Willardson, b. Schoenfeld. Exercise and Blood Flow Restriction / Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research increase the number of capillaries in the working muscle, which in the future will improve its endurance without a tourniquet.

In one researchA. Kachin, K. Strazar. Frequent low‑load ischemic resistance exercise to failure enhances muscle oxygen delivery and endurance capacity / Scandinavian journal of medicine and science in sports men performed knee extension with light weight (15% of 1RM) with or without circulatory restriction. Over four weeks, the OCT group saw a 63% increase in repetitions to failure, while those without a cuff only had a 36% increase.

Muscle Endurance improvedT. Abe, S. Fujita, T. Nakajima. Effects of Low‑Intensity Cycle Training with Restricted Leg Blood Flow on Thigh Muscle Volume and VO2MAX in Young Men / Journal of sports science and medicine and in another experiment, where work on exercise bike. After training in the local hypoxia group, the time to fatigue increased by 15.4%. And for those who pedaled for 45 minutes without any harnesses, only by 3.9%.

Upgrade overall stamina

In the already mentioned above researchT. Abe, S. Fujita, T. Nakajima. Effects of Low‑Intensity Cycle Training with Restricted Leg Blood Flow on Thigh Muscle Volume and VO2MAX in Young Men / Journal of sports science and medicine with an exercise bike, participants in the local hypoxia group not only pumped muscles, but also increased their maximum oxygen consumption by 6.4% - the main indicator of overall endurance.

In another experimentS. Park, J. K. Kim, H. M. Choi. Increase in maximal oxygen uptake following 2‑week walk training with blood flow occlusion in athletes / European journal of applied physiology and occupational physiology found that by limiting the blood supply, you can pump endurance even by walking on the track at a speed of 4-6 km / h and an incline of 5%.

Two weeks of such training increased the maximum oxygen consumption of young trained basketball players by as much as 11.6%.

Can occlusive training hurt and who shouldn't try it?

Since the blood is trapped in the limbs during tourniquet training, scientists fear that this may lead to the formation of blood clots. However, scientific data showH. Madarame, M. Kurano, H. Takano. Effects of low‑intensity resistance exercise with blood flow restriction on coagulation system in healthy subjects / Clinical physiology and functional imagingthat the risk of such an outcome is minimal.

In one research paper countedT. Nakajima, M. Kurano, H. Iida. Use and safety of KAATSU training: Results of a national survey / International Journal of KAATSU Training Researchthat out of 12,642 people practicing occlusive training, only nine developed health problems. Seven had a venous thrombus, one had a blockage of blood vessels in the lungs (pulmonary embolism). There was also one case of rhabdomyolysis, a massive damage to muscle tissue with subsequent development of kidney failure.

In general, occlusive training was found to be fairly safe, at least for healthy people and with the right exercise regimen. However, given some risk of formation blood clots, you should not limit the blood supply with the following factors:

• obesity;
• genetic predisposition to the formation of blood clots;
• recent surgery;
• pregnancy.

Age is also a risk factor, but as shownresearch1. C. S. Fry, E. L. Glynn, M. J. Drummond. Blood flow restriction exercise stimulates mTORC1 signaling and muscle protein synthesis in older men / Journal of Applied Physiology
2. T. Yasuda, K. Fukumura, H. Iida. Effects of detraining after blood flow‑restricted low‑load elastic band training on muscle size and arterial stiffness in older women / Springer Plus
3. T. Yasuda, K. Fukumura, Y. Uchida. Effects of Low‑Load, Elastic Band Resistance Training Combined With Blood Flow Restriction on Muscle Size and Arterial Stiffness in Older Adults / The Journals of Gerontology in older adults 61–85 years of age, power OCT did not increase the risk of blood clots, arterial stiffness, or other side effects.

How to choose and use equipment for occlusive training

Circulatory restriction training does not require special training and expensive equipment, but you still need to buy some equipment.

What can you do to limit your blood supply?

You can try several options:

1. Sports bandage. This is the cheapest and most affordable equipment with which you can pinch a limb and restrict blood flow. The bandage is wrapped several times around the arm or leg, and the free end is fastened with Velcro or simply pushed under the winding. The disadvantages of the method are that it is impossible to accurately determine the percentage of pressure, and winding takes a long time.

2. OCT strap. This is the same sports bandage, only with a special mount. It costs about 500 rubles and provides a little more convenience when putting on - you do not need to wrap the limb, just put on the belt and tighten the mount.

Considering the fact that you will have to remove the bandage every 5-10 minutes, it makes sense to think about such equipment so as not to bother with winding the bandage.

3. OCT cuff with manometer. This is the most expensive option with the ability to adjust the pressure. The cuff is put on the limb, after which the device is connected to it and pumps air.

The cost of such devices is 20-30 thousand rubles.

What to buy

• Sports wrist bandages from adidas, 890 rubles →
• Sports wrist bandages with a donut pattern from A2 union, 832 rubles →
• Belts for OCT with AliExpress, from 442 rubles →

How to properly put on your gear

For pumping the arms, shoulders and chest muscles, the bandage or cuff should be placed on the shoulder in the armpit. The tourniquet pressure for the upper limbs is advised to choose within 40–50% of the maximum.

If you have a special cuff with a pressure gauge or electronic calibration, set the appropriate values, if you have a regular bandage or an OCT strap, use the sensations.

For pumping legs pull the upper thigh in the groin area. Here, more significant pressure is required - 60–80% of the maximum.

How to train with blood flow restriction

The type and features of OCT will depend on your goals.

To increase muscle size, strength and endurance

UseS. D. Patterson, L. Hughes, S. Warmington. Blood Flow Restriction Exercise: Considerations of Methodology, Application, and Safety / Frontiers in Physiology the following course of action:

• Train 2-3 times a week for three or more weeks.
• Use working weights of 20-40% of your 1-rep max.
• Do 2-4 sets with 30-60 seconds rest in between.
• Do 75 reps per set, split into 30-15-15-15 reps, or work to muscle failure each time.
• Divide your workout into blocks of 5 minutes. During this time, work in bandages, then remove them and rest for the next 5 minutes to allow blood circulation to recover. Thus, the performance of one exercise can take from 1 to 3 blocks.

At the same time, it is important to note that if your main goal is to increase strength in specific exercises, you should not refuse to work with large weights.

You can replace some of the heavy movements with light approaches with local hypoxia to relieve the joints and spine. But it is not worth switching to such work completely.

For example, you can use OCT in additional leg movements, and perform the main exercises with heavy weights.

To develop general endurance

TryS. D. Patterson, L. Hughes, S. Warmington. Blood Flow Restriction Exercise: Considerations of Methodology, Application, and Safety / Frontiers in Physiology, the following load format:

• get busy walking or pedaling on an exercise bike.
• Arrange workouts 2-3 times a week.
• Use low intensity. Work at a conversational pace—when you can carry on a conversation without ceasing to be active or out of breath. If you are exercising with a heart rate monitor, try to keep your heart rate at 120-130 beats per minute.
• Do the exercises for 5-20 minutes.

To get good results, exercise regularly for 3 to 6 weeks.