What is BFR and why should it be used?

Blood flow restriction (BFR) training allows individuals to perform exercise at lower loads, while their body gets the benefits that would typically come with a more strenuous training session. This is accomplished by slowing down the exiting of the blood through the venous system by placing bands around the extremities. B Strong has specifically engineered a narrow, elastic band with the ability to accurately determine the pressure placed through the bands. Their system allows individuals to safely perform BFR and utilize it wherever they go, not being limited by location or environment.

BFR works by impeding the circulation and decreasing the available oxygen to the muscle. As this occurs, there is less oxygen available in the environment to bring to the muscle as well as remove waste products. This creates an imbalance in homeostasis within the body where the muscle fibers fatigue and the body recruits additional muscle fibers to complete exercise. Soon, all the muscle fibers go into a fatigued state where an individual can’t complete the exercise.

The brain senses this distress and initiates autonomic and hormonal responses in an attempt to reestablish homeostasis and adapt to the exercise. Growth hormone and other anabolic hormones are released into the blood stream in an effort to build tissue that have been working or injured.

This type of training is advantageous to a wide spectrum of individuals from adolescents to the elderly as well as from the healthy to the injured. The hormonal response that BFR creates can be helpful in building muscle strength and size. It has also shown to be beneficial in improving neurological, vascular, and bone health without exposing the body to excessively heavy loads.