What Is Occlusion Training?
Have you ever wondered how you could get away with less time at the gym while gaining more healthy muscle, keeping a healthy heart, and not missing out on the positive mental effects of exercising? The answer is through blood flow occlusion training.
Blood flow occlusion training (also termed BFR training, BFRT, or occlusion training) is a type of training that has recently gained greater popularity. It was conceived by Dr. Yoshiaki Sato in 1966 and initially termed KAATSU training. BFRT involves the temporary restriction of blood flow to exercising musculature via elastic occlusion bands, which in turn creates a high-intensity environment within your muscle cells (source).
It is frequently being used in a clinical setting during physical therapy treatment, as it has shown to enhance the recovery from muscle injuries and manage pain levels. Blood flow restriction training can be used for aerobic training, as well as resistance training.
No matter what training programs you are on, BFRT allows us to reach our end-goal of muscular fatigue more efficiently and effectively, translating into improved muscular strength and more efficiently.
If, you wanted to train your upper arms using BFRT, you would occlude the blood flow towards those muscles during your workout. On the other hand, if you are planning on training musculature in your lower limbs, wrap your slightly wider cuff around your upper leg.
Numerous studies have shown that it is possible to achieve the same muscular adaptations as with conventional high-intensity resistance training. It can save you significant amount of time during your workouts and provide musculature with an effective exercise stimulus to bring about the positive adaptations from exercise (source).
Primary Mechanisms Involved in Occlusion Training
- The occlusion of your vasculature within the occluded limbs causes a challenge for your veins to return the deoxygenated blood to the pulmonary system (your airways and lungs). This creates a high-intensity environment on a cellular level within the muscle cells as the muscles further down from the occluded area have only limited nutrients available to them. Without sufficient arterial inflow, and the subsequent supply of oxygen to the muscle, your muscle will become less efficient in clearing by-products from the occluded muscle. As a result, your muscle has to find new ways of producing energy and increase the clearance of the pooled blood. It does so by recruiting fast-twitch muscle fibers, or Type II fibers. Type II fibers, also called your fast twitch muscle fibers, require higher levels of energy and through the deprivation of oxygen to those cells, they have to work harder while doing less actual work.
- Additionally, blood flow restriction training has also been found to increase metabolic stress within the muscle cells. This causes a significant increase in the production of by-products, signaling the brain to increase the levels of circulating growth hormone. This, in turn signals your brain to increase the rate of protein synthesis, the primary mechanism involved in muscle hypertrophy (i.e. increase in muscle size).
According to current research findings, 20% of your 1-RM (one-rep. max., the maximum weight you are able to lift once only) can be sufficient for occlusion training to achieve similar effects of muscle hypertrophy, when compared to conventional resistance training (source).
This means that you can recreate the same exercise stimulus within your working muscles with a 5 lb weight with blood flow restriction during a bicep curl, as you would with 20 lb weight. A further valuable effect of blood flow restriction is that you can leave the occlusion bands on for a while longer following your workout.
Following exercise, your body attempts to restore its natural physiological environment, however if blood flow continues to be occluded, your muscles continue to be exposed to a similar stimulus.
What About Non-Occluded Musculature?
Considering the aforementioned information, you may think that a big limitation of performing blood flow restriction training is that you are only training musculature below the blood flow occlusion cuff. While it is true that your musculature below the restricted area are working harder than other large muscle groups (such as your chest, back and glutes), your non-restricted musculature is also able to benefit from blood flow occlusion.
Among other mechanism, your nervous system detects the extreme fatigue in your restricted musculature. Subsequently, it recruits the non-restricted musculature as a way of compensating in order to overcome the challenge you place it under. Ultimately, all muscle groups are able to benefit from occlusion training. There are other proposed mechanisms of how non-occluded musculature such as your chest, glutes, and trunk can benefit from the use of BFR training. To read a detailed article about how to occlusion train for your chest, check out this article here.
Take-Home-Message #1: Occlusion training temporarily decreases blood flow to the exercising limbs and thereby creates a higher intensity environment within the muscle cells. With the end-goal being muscular fatigue, blood flow restriction allows us to work out more efficiently and save us valuable time. In addition, your non-restricted musculature can benefit from occlusion training assuming all of your limb’s blood flow is being restricted.
Benefits of Blood Flow Occlusion Training
- Muscle Growth and Strength. BFR training has been found to be effective in increase muscle size and strength, particularly if it is performed regularly.
- High Practicality. Lighter loads make it easy to implement BFRT into your daily life. You likely do not need access to heavy weights from your local gym, as 20% of your one-repetition maximum (i.e. the weight that you are able to lift once only, your one rep max) can be sufficient to bring about the strength gains from conventional high-intensity training. This makes it a safe option for strength training in older adults.
- Exercise Euphoria. As a result of high-intensity exercise and the experience of pain, your brain’s pituitary gland produces endorphins (one of your happy hormones). Endorphins can mask bodily pain and reward you for engaging in activities beneficial for your survival. Performing moderate to vigorously intense exercise are a great stimulus to increase the production, which will evolve into the experience of an exercise high following your training program.
- Other. BFRT has many more benefits to offer, including increases in bone density, pain management, as well as other numerous benefits for other bodily systems. Stay tuned and subscribe to my newsletter to get regular updates on new articles regarding exercise euphoria.
Practical Tips
- Setting the Optimal Occlusion Pressure. Set your occlusion pressure to a felt 6-7/10 at maximum. You will want to decrease the blood flow to working muscles, but adjust the amount of pressure to not fully cut it off. Signs that signal that your band is too tight include severe pain at rest, throbbing, muscle cramping, numbness, and limb discoloration. Start with lighter weights and slowly work your way up to the heavier weights to see how your body responds to this new stimulus.
- Take the Proper Precautions. Hydrate properly before you start your workout to increase your energy and avoid negative side effects from BFR training. Have a small, sugary snack about 30-60 minutes before and work out during natural times of high focus. This way, you will be able to get the most out of your blood-flow restriction resistance exercise.
- Recognize Side Effects. It is important to be aware of the side effects of occlusion training, so that you can take proper care when you are experiencing them. Side effects include: lightheadedness, dizziness, vomiting, severe pain, and others. For a detailed research article on the side effects of BFRT, check out this external source.
- Cool-Down Properly. Once you are done with your training, let your body and mind gradually calm down from the high intensity. Take off your BFR bands and rehydrate.
Blood Flow Occlusion Training Safety
You may be thinking to yourself that restricting blood flow to working musculature can be dangerous for your muscles, heart, blood vessels, or other systems within your body. But you will be happy to find out that occlusion training has been found to be a quite safe method of exercising in the healthy population.
- Individuals that suffer from cardiovascular health issues should check in with their doctor and physical therapist prior to starting a new occlusion training program. They may be at an increased risk for developing blood clots, as well as having a potentially exaggerated heart rate and blood pressure response.
- Side effects and potential risks to watch out for as you are performing BFRT include lightheadedness, dizziness, fatigue, severe pain (source).
- Following your training session, you are expected to suffer from mild to moderate levels of delayed onset muscle soreness as a result of increase lactic acid build up. You can counteract this by engaging in some low-intensity exercise such as going for a walk or through some active range of motion exercises.
To read my full summary about the safety of occlusion training, I recommend that you check out this thorough resource here.
Conclusion
In summary, blood flow restriction training is a training method that has recently gained greater popularity. It requires the occlusion of muscles in order to deprive the muscle of sufficient oxygen and cause the build up of by-products. This in turn causes increases in muscle mass and muscle strength.
BFRT is a practical workout method, as it does not require the use of heavy weights. Instead you will be able to get away working it with a lighter stimulus while achieving the same results. If you are able to take the proper precautions, set the optimal occlusion pressure and are able to recognize the potential side effects, it is considered a safe method of strength training and aerobic training that all major musculature can benefit from, whether they are occluded or not.
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