IF I TOOK ROIDS I'D BE MR OLYMPIA
02-15-2009, 10:12 PM
Blocking blood flow while training a muscle... like a cuff around your arm..
i have tried it before and wam I GOT MASSIVE.. dont take my word for it, take my friends
MY FRIEND: he got Hoooooge!!
In all seriousness... (if thats a word)
Have you tried it?
OCCLUSION TRAINING
Mechanisms of Action
Several mechanisms may explain the exciting growth and strength adaptations that occur with blood-occlusion training. The first is related to fiber recruitment. One of the major reasons high-intensity training works so well is that it forces trainees to recruit the larger fast-twitch muscle fibers, the fibers that have the greatest capacity for growth. Studies have demonstrated an increase in fiber activation equivalent to high-intensity training, as measured by electromyographic activity, greater whole-body oxygen uptake and increased depletion of ATP from muscle tissue. Likely, the fatigue in the small slow-twitch muscle fibers in a low-oxygen (no blood flow) environment causes increased motor unit recruitment, as well as inhibiting muscular contraction in those fibers due to lactic acid buildup. As fatigue sets in, the body is forced to recruit larger muscle fibers to maintain force output.
A second major mechanism is related to occlusion training’s stimulation of anabolic hormones. Occlusion during leg extensions increases blood growth hormone by as much as 290 percent. To put that in perspective, traditional high-intensity training has resulted in up to 100 percent increases in GH.
The explanation lies within the finding that low-oxygen environments increase lactic acid production, while the occlusion traps it inside the muscle tissue. Past studies show strong correlations between blood lactic acid and GH, a phenomenon most likely explained by increasing acidity in the blood. Moreover, research suggests that the accumulation of lactic acid in fast-twitch muscle fibers is sensed by local chemical receptors and carried back to the hypothalamus, which ups the rate of GH secretion.
Myostatin has received a great deal of press over the past decade, and rightly so, as its upregulation stunts muscle growth by inhibiting the addition of nuclei capable of supporting further growth to muscle fiber. That factor was recently found to be inhibited in the quadriceps following short-duration occlusion training.
What really makes the technique unique is its ability to stimulate muscle growth without a detectable rise in muscle tissue damage. That’s amazing, as many scientists suggest that muscle damage is essential to trigger growth. Finally, a number of studies have revealed that cortisol may not increase after occlusion training. By contrast, cortisol rises relative to increasing intensity and is responsible not only for myostatin upregulation but also for overtraining and the breakdown of muscle tissue.
To recap, blood-occlusion training can increase motor unit recruitment, raise anabolic hormones and suppress local negative regulators of muscle growth. It’s also free from many of the negative side effects of training, such as increased muscle damage and unfavorable catabolic hormone increases.
Practical Applications
“Okay,” you’re saying. “I get it. Occlusion training works. Tell me how to do it already.” After reviewing the studies and doing some experimentation, I’ve devised a few protocols. Unfortunately, occlusive training is feasible only for the arms, legs and possibly shoulders, as it would be nearly impossible to occlude blood flow to the chest and back muscles without suffocating.
You must place more pressure on the limb you’re trying to occlude than the blood pressure of that area. That’s how a tourniquet works. In the lab, researchers used a specialized blood pressure cuff to achieve a diastolic blood pressure of around 200 mm Hg—probably overkill, as most people have diastolic pressure of far less than that. Most people’s readings are anywhere from 110 to 140 mm Hg.
You can use several different methods to occlude a muscle:
1) Buy the actual cuffs used for kaatsu training. Unfortunately, they’re hard to find, as they’re made in Japan and are on the expensive side.
2) Use a blood pressure cuff. That enables you to get a precise measure of the pressure needed. Still, an actual blood pressure cuff may be a bit awkward to use in the gym. People may look at you as if your fly is open.
3) Use a Velcro-equipped lifting belt. They’re inexpensive, easy to find and quite fast and easy to use. The downsides: You’ll probably be able to use it only for legs, as the belt will be too big to properly occlude your arms. You also won’t know exactly how much blood flow you’re blocking the way you do with a pressure cuff. A quick and dirty method of finding out if it’s tight enough is to put the belt around your leg tightly, then stand up and see if you feel a strong “pump” and slight numbness after about 60 seconds. If you do, it should be tight enough.
4) Use powerlifting knee wraps. They’re inexpensive and readily available and can occlude the arms or legs. The downside is that it takes time to wrap your limbs, and if they’re not tight enough, you’ll spend more time rewrapping. Additionally, it can be more difficult to get them on both limbs with the same degree of occlusion; you don’t want to occlude one limb more than the other if you’re wrapping them both at the same time. Unilateral training is an easy fix: Wrap one limb, do your sets, and then wrap the other limb.
5) Apply a compression wrap—typically used for injuries—tightly around the trained muscle. They’re particularly effective for small muscle groups such as calves, biceps and forearms, but they can be rather difficult to wrap around the arms. Having someone assist in the wrapping is helpful.
i have tried it before and wam I GOT MASSIVE.. dont take my word for it, take my friends
MY FRIEND: he got Hoooooge!!
In all seriousness... (if thats a word)
Have you tried it?
OCCLUSION TRAINING
Mechanisms of Action
Several mechanisms may explain the exciting growth and strength adaptations that occur with blood-occlusion training. The first is related to fiber recruitment. One of the major reasons high-intensity training works so well is that it forces trainees to recruit the larger fast-twitch muscle fibers, the fibers that have the greatest capacity for growth. Studies have demonstrated an increase in fiber activation equivalent to high-intensity training, as measured by electromyographic activity, greater whole-body oxygen uptake and increased depletion of ATP from muscle tissue. Likely, the fatigue in the small slow-twitch muscle fibers in a low-oxygen (no blood flow) environment causes increased motor unit recruitment, as well as inhibiting muscular contraction in those fibers due to lactic acid buildup. As fatigue sets in, the body is forced to recruit larger muscle fibers to maintain force output.
A second major mechanism is related to occlusion training’s stimulation of anabolic hormones. Occlusion during leg extensions increases blood growth hormone by as much as 290 percent. To put that in perspective, traditional high-intensity training has resulted in up to 100 percent increases in GH.
The explanation lies within the finding that low-oxygen environments increase lactic acid production, while the occlusion traps it inside the muscle tissue. Past studies show strong correlations between blood lactic acid and GH, a phenomenon most likely explained by increasing acidity in the blood. Moreover, research suggests that the accumulation of lactic acid in fast-twitch muscle fibers is sensed by local chemical receptors and carried back to the hypothalamus, which ups the rate of GH secretion.
Myostatin has received a great deal of press over the past decade, and rightly so, as its upregulation stunts muscle growth by inhibiting the addition of nuclei capable of supporting further growth to muscle fiber. That factor was recently found to be inhibited in the quadriceps following short-duration occlusion training.
What really makes the technique unique is its ability to stimulate muscle growth without a detectable rise in muscle tissue damage. That’s amazing, as many scientists suggest that muscle damage is essential to trigger growth. Finally, a number of studies have revealed that cortisol may not increase after occlusion training. By contrast, cortisol rises relative to increasing intensity and is responsible not only for myostatin upregulation but also for overtraining and the breakdown of muscle tissue.
To recap, blood-occlusion training can increase motor unit recruitment, raise anabolic hormones and suppress local negative regulators of muscle growth. It’s also free from many of the negative side effects of training, such as increased muscle damage and unfavorable catabolic hormone increases.
Practical Applications
“Okay,” you’re saying. “I get it. Occlusion training works. Tell me how to do it already.” After reviewing the studies and doing some experimentation, I’ve devised a few protocols. Unfortunately, occlusive training is feasible only for the arms, legs and possibly shoulders, as it would be nearly impossible to occlude blood flow to the chest and back muscles without suffocating.
You must place more pressure on the limb you’re trying to occlude than the blood pressure of that area. That’s how a tourniquet works. In the lab, researchers used a specialized blood pressure cuff to achieve a diastolic blood pressure of around 200 mm Hg—probably overkill, as most people have diastolic pressure of far less than that. Most people’s readings are anywhere from 110 to 140 mm Hg.
You can use several different methods to occlude a muscle:
1) Buy the actual cuffs used for kaatsu training. Unfortunately, they’re hard to find, as they’re made in Japan and are on the expensive side.
2) Use a blood pressure cuff. That enables you to get a precise measure of the pressure needed. Still, an actual blood pressure cuff may be a bit awkward to use in the gym. People may look at you as if your fly is open.
3) Use a Velcro-equipped lifting belt. They’re inexpensive, easy to find and quite fast and easy to use. The downsides: You’ll probably be able to use it only for legs, as the belt will be too big to properly occlude your arms. You also won’t know exactly how much blood flow you’re blocking the way you do with a pressure cuff. A quick and dirty method of finding out if it’s tight enough is to put the belt around your leg tightly, then stand up and see if you feel a strong “pump” and slight numbness after about 60 seconds. If you do, it should be tight enough.
4) Use powerlifting knee wraps. They’re inexpensive and readily available and can occlude the arms or legs. The downside is that it takes time to wrap your limbs, and if they’re not tight enough, you’ll spend more time rewrapping. Additionally, it can be more difficult to get them on both limbs with the same degree of occlusion; you don’t want to occlude one limb more than the other if you’re wrapping them both at the same time. Unilateral training is an easy fix: Wrap one limb, do your sets, and then wrap the other limb.
5) Apply a compression wrap—typically used for injuries—tightly around the trained muscle. They’re particularly effective for small muscle groups such as calves, biceps and forearms, but they can be rather difficult to wrap around the arms. Having someone assist in the wrapping is helpful.