Putting on BFR Bands - How do you reach a safe place prior to exercise?

Blood flow restriction (BFR) training is a way to manipulate the vascular system to cause the body to feel like it is doing more work than is actually being performed. It accomplishes this by reducing blood flow and available nutrition to a working muscle.

When selecting equipment to be used it is important to consider how it will impact the vascular system when applied. The properties of an artery and vein are unique in the following ways:

Artery - thick muscular outer layer, smaller diameter, harder to collapse

Vein - thin collapsible layer, larger diameter, easier to collapse

Therefore, if you are applying pressure into the tissue with a band around your limb for exercise, you want to apply enough pressure to slow the blood flow down, but not cut it off completely. Depending upon the type of system used, you can reach the point in two different ways. The straws serve as a good example in the video below to model the difference between how the artery and vein respond when setting up the BFR bands. One is with a system that is intended to occlude to determine a safe pressure with exercise and the other is with a system not intended to occlude.

B Strong makes BFR bands that are not intended to occlude. Their design ensures the artery is open with proper application. A system like this doesn’t need to use a handheld doppler or determine a limb occlusion pressure (LOP) as the design creates a high ceiling of safety for the user. You can watch a video below to see how even with a band maximally inflated blood is still entering into the the limb.

Saga Fitness makes BFR bands that are designed to occlude and can be used safely with exercise. The LOP is determined when the pulse is lost. The Saga Fitness App recommends training at 50% of the LOP for the upper body. In the video below you can see when 50% LOP is applied, the strength of the pulse is diminished, but is still present. This reflects the artery is open and blood flow is continuing to enter the limb.

Confidently and consistently keeping the artery open during BFR training is an important safety feature to consider with applying BFR bands. The set up will look different depending on if you are using BFR bands intended to occlude or not, but the important part is creating an environment where blood flow continues to move through the limb while exercising.