Blood Flow Restriction Training

Novelty in any circumstance creates a new sense of enthusiasm especially when it comes to resistance training. I was listening to my favorite fitness podcast “Mind Pump” when I was sparked with inspiration. In the episode, they were discussing occlusion training otherwise known as blood flow restriction. This concept wasn’t new to me in the sense that I have seen this done in videos by some of my favorite bodybuilders. This has driven me to take a deeper dive into BFR to better understand the science and if it is truly effective.

Blood flow restriction training is exactly what the name implies, the name of the game is to cut off blood return to the heart from the muscle so it can’t be oxygenated. I know you may be thinking this sounds dumb as fuck and potentially dangerous but bear with me because two magical things happen during this process.

When we resistance train blood engorges the muscle to provide it with oxygenated blood from the heart. When we add a tourniquet right above the extensor/flexor muscles (bicep/triceps/hamstring/quad) we temporarily restrict the muscle from receiving this oxygenated blood. This is when the magic happens. Another byproduct of resistance training is the secretion of creatine phosphate and human growth hormone from the muscle. Both are imperative for muscle growth. In the scenario where we don’t have something restricting blood flow both creatine phosphate and growth hormone are flushed out of the muscle and into the bloodstream. When we add a tourniquet, the blood has nowhere to go, therefore, creatine phosphate and growth hormone saturate the muscle until the blood flow is unrestricted. This process creates an extremely anabolic (muscle growth response) environment for the muscle. The restriction of blood also causes a high amount of metabolic stress in a very short period compared to standard resistance training. Metabolic stress is one of the three laws of building muscle along with muscle damage and mechanical tension.

I’ve been experimenting with this new way of training for a few weeks now and I can honestly say I’m enjoying it because of its novelty. When it comes to training arms my motivation has lagged and I’ve been much more dialed in to improving other areas of my physique. Blood flow restriction training has added that level of excitement back into training arms. The way I incorporate BFR into my training is simple. The high metabolic stress and fatigue it causes makes a perfect finisher on my push/pull days. At the end of my training sessions, I wrap up with bands right above my bicep and right below my shoulder. They say you ideally want the tightness to be a 7/10. Obviously, that’s very subjective so my rule of thumb is have it tight but not too tight to where it causes pain prior to starting the movements. Whether you are working biceps, triceps or both you are going to want to start with a LIGHT WEIGHT!!!!!! There is a high volume of reps involved with very minimal rest between sets. The first set is going to be 30 reps with 25 seconds of rest, then down to 25 reps and 25 more seconds of rest. You continue this until you get all the way down to 10 reps. I must warn you it is painful; towards the end, it’s going to feel like someone is taking batting practice off your arm! That means you have done it properly! The fatigue from BFR reminds me of the first few times I picked up a weight back in high school.

I’m not saying Blood flow restriction training is the end all be all, and by no means is it necessarily better than standard resistance training. What I am saying is new ways of training keeps things fresh and creates a new stimulus to the muscles. There’s also some pretty cool science to back it up and that’s what fires me up.