Not sure why this topic caught my eye, but it has.
There is a lot written, but the details and the results are rather limited.
Have any of you tried it with good results? poor results?
The rep suggestions of 30 only seems limited. The first thing I question is if you can do 30 reps, and rest 15 seconds and do another thirty, is the load enough? I know that the load isn’t really the goal, but rather the pump. Even doing 30 reps, rest 15s, then 15, rest 15 sec,…when is enough, enough?
Google searching really didn’t find much in the way in detail.
If one did a high rep set and several short breaks, is it taken to exhaustion? Would a long break be warranted, removing the bands, decent enough time, and repeat?
I’d love to give it a shot for a short while, if it is worth it. Just curious if anyone has tried with success and if so, for how long.
Is there a noted foremost authority on the subject?
I’ve used it off and on for my legs. I think it really shines as a way to train around or through an injury or a beat up joint. In my case that was my knees. It allowed me to find a way to challenge my legs with lower weights (or in some cases no weights) when I wouldn’t have been able to challenge them with heavier weights. It also seemed to decrease my perception of pain in my knees while the cuffs were on (no idea why this is the case but John Rusin has talked about this).
The protocol I used was 30 reps, rest 30 seconds, 15 reps, rest 30 seconds, 15 reps, etc. for a total of 4 sets – 30-15-15-15. This is what my physical therapist suggested to me was the protocol that had the most research to back it up. I’m sure other rep ranges would work if you kept the rest intervals relatively short.
I have no objective results from it but subjectively I feel like it allowed me to keep a good bit of my quad size even though I wasn’t able to train them using heavy weights. And it certainly left me quite sore the days after using it.
Edit: There are a number of good articles on T-Nation about it.
Courtesy of Scott Stevenson in Fortitude Training:
Occlusion training [aka Kaatsu training or blood fow restriction (BFR) training] was developed in Japan over the past 45 years as a means of generating muscle hypertrophy in scenarios of rehabilitation for the frail elderly. Kaatsu training employs light load (<50%1RM) exercise during which blood fow is restricted using a tourniquet style strap that fts around a limb, proximal to the muscle(s) to be exercised (thus pooling blood in the capillaries). Y. Sato, Kaatsu training’s inventor cautions that Kaatsu training does not intentionally induce ischemia, which may cause thrombosis, as well as rhambomyolysis (permanent muscle tissue breakdown). These risks are approximately less than 1 in 1800.
Indeed, BFR training is a potent hypertrophic stimulus. In a extensive review of training variables that produce muscle growth, a two week Kaatsu resistance training (twice daily training sessions) demonstrated the highest rate of quadriceps enlargement of all the studies reviewed.
The pooling of blood thus brings about metabolite accumulation, creating an (anabolic) cell volumizing effect. Because BFR creates a reliance upon normally high threshold motor units even when loads are low, large increases in type II fber size are possible. Occlusion training recruits satellite cells [like high intensity training and other models of muscle growth] and also reduces myostatin expression, as is seen with anabolic steroids and dietary creatine monohydrate supplementation. [Heavier load training may have this effect on myostatin, although results are a bit mixed in this regard]. Perhaps most impressive is that some studies show that BFR creates minimal muscle damage, and thus could be employed a means of stimulating growth while permitting recovery from more damaging exercise.
Although tough (and quite painful), Kaatsu training is tolerable and its application should carefully consider the time under occlusion (and whether occlusion is intermittent or continuous), and the intensity (load) and volume (number of sets) of exercise when weighing the risks noted above. For this reason, I hesitate in formally including (unsupervised) BFR training (using an externally applied tourniquet) as a component of the Fortitude Training system, at least at this time. However, with continuous contractions above about 50-60% of maximal, especially with slower rep cadence, blood fow is limited due to intramuscular forces, but post-exercise hyperemia (increased blood fow and the pump) is substantial.
Method
Effectiveness
I’ve been doing these for about 6 weeks with Fortitude Training but cannot speak specifically about results presented by BFR as I have incorporated other relatively new training methods as well. Regardless, I have experienced some muscle growth and strength increase while in a deficit… again, I cannot promise you this is the sole result of BFR.
Hope this is useful information to you. If you want the sources Dr. Stevenson used in this, let me know and I will post them.
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Had a set bought for me, but have yet to try. Brother tried light curls using the 30-15-15-15. He had been off of training for a while, but the pump and soreness were impressive, per him.
We got to talking though…It’d be interesting to try on a recumbent bike or an upper body ergometer.
I think you would get far more pump by doing typical pump-style sets than cardio equipment. Just be careful with actual occlusion tools… they can jump-start clots.
Second being careful. I don’t think the recumbent bike and upper body ergometer are going to do much for hypertrophy but if I remember right there is some research that doing cardio using BFR leads to VO2 max improvements.
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