Has anyone ever tried it? I gave it a shot the other night on Layne Norton’s recommendation and holy shit!
In case anyone doesn’t know what it is, you basically wrap whichever limbs you are looking to train tightly enough so that blood can flow into them but not out. The training protocol you use is:
And that’s it. I tried it last night and there’s definitely something to it. I supersetted bi’s and tri’s, just going straight from one exercise to another, and by the time you’re halfway through it’s fucking agony! I pushed through and got what was definitely the best pump I’ve ever had in my life.
The weird thing is the pump just got better and better. An hour or so after I’d trained my arms were even more pumped up than they’d been.
There’s definitely something to this; you just have to try it. I couldn’t believe how trashed my arms were and how quickly it happened. The whole protocol was done in less time than it took to listen to You Could Be Mine by Guns n Roses.
Seriously guys, you’ve got to try this. In case anyone’s wondering what to use to wrap your arms - buy a couple of quick release medical tourniquettes; and for your legs just use knee wraps (I haven’t tried it for legs yet).
Didn’t Layne say that you should wrap only with a rope that isn’t wider than 5cm or 2 inches, if it’s wider it increases the chance that the blood can’t come out. He does also say, though, that he started doing it with a kneeband.
He also says you must tape it as tight as 8/10. 0 meaning as loose as can be and 10 being as tight as you can possibly wrap it. Though you can also buy a semi-proffesional thing from the guy first started doing occlusion training, Kaatsu, who almost died from it, and now is bringing a product on the market called Kaatsu cuffs which you can exactly get the right amount of pressure with.
It seems too risky to me. I can imagine it feeling really nice, though, but it says it doesn’t really have much benefit if you’re healthy because it doesn’t cause more hypertrophy than traditional resistance training apparently. It’s mostsly interesting for people who can’t exercise, or can only exercise lightly.
Bedpatients, elderly and also people who can’t move at all it has shown that it can decrease muscle atrophy. THere’s also this article on the internet about some hockeyplayer in Norway who had to go to the hospital and because occlusion training “destroyed his muscles”, but it’s kind of a vague article.
I employ it on the first bi/tri exercises of every arm workout. (I’m a fan of any technique that allows me to use lighter weights and still get a good growth stimulus).
Interesting research article on how occlusion training spikes growth hormone levels without concomitantly raising IL-6:
I reckon I’ll use it to get some volume in on exercises that give me joint pain when I get too heavy with them. Overhead extensions and hammer curls bother my elbow when the weights get heavier, so this could be a godsend.