Occlusion Training Blood Flow Restriction Bands
Occlusion training, and the bands that facilitate it, is for all the lightweights out there. As in the plates, bars, dumbbells, and kettlebells that are physically on the lighter side. Originally termed KAATSU training by Yoshiaki Sato, the Japanese doctor who developed the method, occlusion training applies a light tourniquet or, as we see here, a blood flow restriction (BFR) band, to reduce a targeted muscle's access to oxygen. The deficit pre-fatigues slow twitch muscle fibers and lessens their ability to move work loads, while enabling fast twitch muscle fibers to respond and contract quickly, producing faster lean muscle growth. At least that's the theory. And most of its supporting evidence comes directly from Sato and his KAATSU training university.
Still, if you want to give occlusion training a whirl as an alternative to throwing around heavy weights around, these elastic BFR Bands are 2" wide, and designed to strap up easily, and pull off as soon as your reps are complete with a quick-release cam buckle. Their recommended pairing load is 10% to 30% of a 1 rep max weight. So like for me, the heaviest single rep bicep curl I could handle would probably be around 500 pounds, so I should be BFR Band curling at 50 to 150 pounds. Yeah, that sounds about right.
Since occlusion training significantly lightens your weight load, it requires a proportionate increase the number of reps you do while wearing the bands. Basically as many as you can with as little rest as possible until you fatigue. This set includes 2 bands so you can work out both legs or both arms at the same time.
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