How Blood Flow Restriction Training Works (per SAGA):
BFR Cuffs work by restricting a certain percentage of blood flow into your limb (and all blood flow leaving your limb) during your training.
Blood carries oxygen. Less blood flow to the working muscle = less oxygen to the working muscle. This is where the “magic” happens.
Sounds counterintuitive, right? Don’t we want to increase blood flow into the muscle?
It turns out, when oxygen supply to the muscle is limited, this kicks off a cascade of responses in the body that replicate many of the benefits of high intensity training.
Metabolite Accumulation + Hypoxic Environment = Increased Muscle Activation, Fatigue & Anabolic Signals all of which promotes Increases in Muscle Strength and Muscle Hypertrophy
So what does that mean?
- The hypoxic or oxygen deficient environment is making the muscle do MORE with LESS.
- Reduced blood flow increased the energy demand/deficit.
- Fatigue is induced at a faster rate which produces metabolites.
- Type 2 (fast twitch) recruitment increases, maximized with fatigue.
- Increases in strength and hypertrophy are the RESULT.
This is one reason why blood flow restriction training has time and time again proven through research to be extremely effective at building strength, muscle, and endurance at lower intensity and in shorter sessions.
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Benefits of BFR Training:
- Increase muscle strength
- Increase muscle size ie hypertrophy
- Increase muscle endurance
- Increase muscle recovery
BFR Training Workouts:
For people looking to enhance muscle strength and increase muscle hypertrophy, your program should focus on using loads at 20-40% of your 1 repetition maximum and lifting in rep ranges of 15 or more.
This is the beauty of BFR training!
You can use lighter loads to maximize strength and hypertrophy while at the same time decreasing the stress to healing or weakened joints and tissue.
These lighter loads also improve your recovery time and decrease post exercise muscle soreness.
If you don’t know your 1 repetition maximum, then you should start with a weight that is around 50% of what you normally work out with.
A typical workout would be 1 set of 30 reps followed by 3 sets of 15 reps all with a 30 second break between sets.
Training frequency should be no more than 3 times per week with recovery days in between.
Safety of BFR Training:
Our SAGA cuffs provide 50% occlusion to your arm and 80% occlusion to your legs which are shown to be the optimal percentages for doing BFR training safely while still promoting muscle gains.
Our SAGA cuffs automatically inflate and apply pressure to your limbs based on YOUR blood pressure.
Research Supporting BFR Training:
SAGA Training Guide: