Practical Guide To Blood Flow Restriction Training. Don´t Lose Your Gains While You #Stayhome.
With most of us staying at home, far away from heavy barbells and gyms, many of us are worried about our gains, or lack thereof…… myself included. Currently I don’t access to any barbells or heavy weights but I’m not too worried, because I know that it is possible to maintain, even increase muscle mass and strength, during this period of social distancing.
With a little bit of science, a training protocol called Blood Flow Restriction (BFR) and a few light weights, you can get very similar results to High Intensity Strength Training.
How does it work
When we lift heavy weights, we put our muscles under mechanical tension and create metabolic stress within the muscle. This is all done to create a certain state within the muscle, which forces the body to react by releasing anabolic hormones to stimulate protein metabolism etc. for muscle hypertrophy and strength gains to occur. BFR training creates this same state by cutting off the blood flow to the muscles while we are working. So, we achieve the same stress within the muscles with much lighter weight and lower intensity.
BFR has been proven as effective in multiple studies, showing an increase in muscle hypertrophy and strength at a similar rate over the same period of time as High Intensity Resistance Training without BFR.
Before I lose you and myself in the science, below is a practical guide on how you can use BFR in your training at home.
If you are nerdy like me, you can read more about the science behind BFR online, there are a lot of resources online. I also found this website had a great summary (Physiopedia (https://www.physio-pedia.com/Blood_Flow_Restriction_Training)
Disclaimer: You should NOT consider BFR as a part of your training routine if you have poor blood circulation system, including but not limited to heart problems, diabetes, arterial calcification, severe hypertension or any renal complications; or if you have a history of venous thromboembolism, vascular disease or comprise, cancer, tumour, open wounds or fractures, infections, vascular grafts or increased clotting risks.
If you are healthy and ready to explore new ways of getting after your gains keep on reading ;)
Practical Guide
Equipment needed:
You need a tourniquet or Blood Flow Restriction Cuffs, preferably two cuffs about 10-15 cm wide, slightly elastic and appropriate length. For example wrist wraps with velcro, voodoo floss bands, knee wraps or similar. Please avoid to narrow bands, material that cuts into your arm/leg. This bundle from AMAZON has two cuffs, for upper and lower body https://amzn.to/300KVEm
Timer / Clock
Some weights around 20-40% of your 1RM
Pressure of the Cuffs: Right placement & How tight?
It’s important to get the placement and pressure right, since too much pressure risks tissue damage and to little pressure gives you no results. In clinical settings they use pressure measurements and ultrasound to measure the blood flow in the extremity, it’s highly unlikely you have access to these methods at home so we use a more practical advice. For reference on placement check out the videos below.
Place the cuffs for legs, at the top of your thighs, above your quadriceps muscle - as high up as you can without discomfort.
For your arms place the cuffs at the top of your arm, 1-2 cm below your armpit. Or above the biceps, below your deltoid muscle.
The perceived tightness of the cuff/wrap should be around 7 out of 10. On a scale of 0-10 where 10 is the maximum tightness you could achieve for both arms and legs.
The right pressure for BFR training should be high enough to stop venous blood flow, allow for some pooling but not so high that it restricts the arterial inflow. In practical language your extremity should get red/purple and warm during training but not turn cold, numb and tingly. If it does you simply need to loosen the cuffs up a tiny bit.
One More Warning About Using Cuffs: To limit any risk of tissue damage it is not recommended to keep the cuffs on and tight for more than 16 min at the time (some studies say 20 min+ but lets stay on the safe side)
Training Protocol
Put the cuffs on either your arms or your legs. Choose 3-4 movements for upper body or lower body I do not recommend both at the same time to avoid keeping the cuffs on for too long. If you have never tried this before i recommend only doing 3 movements in a row, to get use to the “pump” feeling.
Following circuits can be inspiration but by no mean the only way to put together a BFR workout.
Upperbody:
Push Ups
TRX row / Towel Door Rows
Biceps Curl (light weight)
Triceps Skull Crushers (light weight)
Lower Body:
Goblet Squat (KB or DB)
DB/KB deadlift
Alt Jumping Lunges (BW)
Calf Raises on step or stairs
Rep Scheme:
There are two main protocols that you can use, time specific and rep count.
Option A, with a time specific AMRAP style is more effective if you are working with more limited weight options.
Option B, with certain rep range is better if you have more weight options available and can use the 30-40% of your 1 RM for each movement.
Keep the cuffs ON and TIGHT until you complete all 3(4) movements AND during all your rest periods.
**Be prepared that the rest periods will likely be more painful than when you are moving.
B. On a running clock preform
30 Rep, rest 30 Sec
3 set x 15 Rep, rest 30 Sec between sets
Rest 1 min before next movement
A. Set Your Timer For
45 sec AMRAP, 30 sec Rest
3x 30 sec AMRAP, 30 sec Rest
Rest 1 min before next movement
After your last set, rest the last 30-60 sec before taking the cuffs of. Enjoy the rush!
Be prepared to get higher heart rate, slightly light headed and possibly little bit dizzy when you remove the cuffs of your legs/arms after cutting blood flow of to 1/2 your body for some time :)
Check Out these speed up sessions
BFR Legs
BFR Upperbody
Known Side Effects
DOMS (Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness) one could argue that is a very favourable and desired side effect in this context…. other side effects can include fainting and dizziness, numbness, pain and discomfort.
How Often and How Much?
For best results these sessions should be added in 2-4 x pr week as a part of your training routine, you can do more than one “circuit” for each bodypart pr session if you loosen the cuffs for some time between (no longer than 16 min at the time).
There is some studies that use BFR while doing cardio training, so if you are interested you could look into that as an option as well.
Like most strength training protocols, it takes about 3-6 weeks before you start to see results so keep at it and be creative with the equipment you have and movement options.
Hope You Enjoy this as an fresh input for your training routine, and let me know how you get on here or on IG!
#fitwitheik #trainwitheik #becausescience #gaintrain
