March 31, 2019: Stature
One of the hottest new rehab & training tools for the moment is Blood Flow Restriction, or “BFR.” A quick look through the literature reveals some promising results. When I am initially looking for consensus on new tools or techniques, I usually turn to the meta-analyses first to get a 40,000-foot overview before dropping in to look at specific studies. Hughes et. al (2017) is a thorough review of 20 published studies ranging from 1999-present. The results were fairly encouraging: BFR can be an effective way to boost muscle growth and subsequently strength.
I’ll admit, I was skeptical when I first heard about it. After all, muscles need oxygen to grow and for repair. How would occluding bloodflow help that? The secret is in the anatomy. Oxygen-rich blood is transported via arteries and arterioles which are located relatively deep in the limbs. On the other hand, de-oxygenated blood travels through veins which are more superficial. A BFR band, therefore, likely does not alter blood flow INTO the working muscle, but rather slows blood flow OUT. This delay results in a triggering of what exercise scientists refer to as “hypertrophic factors” or “intramuscular anabolic/anticatabolic signaling.” At the same time, there is some reason to believe that fast-twitch fibers are preferentially recruited even when lifting lower loads.
The good news for guys my age (I’m 44) and beyond as well as athletes recovering from injury is that you can essentially trick the muscle into growth mode that would normally be reserved only when lifting high loads which could pose risk to the muscle, tendon, or both. In my case, I have really only been lifting fairly heavy for about two years, so many of the aches and pains that older lifters tend to describe haven’t hit me yet. That said, I have found BFR to be a good addition to my training.
So that’s cool and all. But did I ever tell you that I invented it along with Chris Barger and Jimmy Rann?
Well, sort of.
When I was a kid, I grew up in the middle of nowhere Southern Illinois. I had to ride the bus an hour each way, and in a pre-cell phone era, the other kids on the bus and I were frequently bored out of our skulls. Instead of cracking a book or doing homework (the rough ride made it almost impossible to read or write even if we’d wanted to), we did dumb stuff. One of those things were what we called “vein contests.”
It went like this: a time keeper would declare the contest “on” and the two combatants would proceed to try and make the veins in one of their arms pop out as much as possible. At the end of the predetermined interval–usually around a minute–the time keeper would call stop. Usually I would drop one arm down between my legs in a concentration curl position, then grab my upper arm near the armpit to shut off blood flow. Cool, huh?
Typically, a pretty girl we were perpetually trying to impress would tell us how gross it was before declaring a winner.
I’m pretty sure this is the reason I’ve always had good veins…the kind that nurses take notice of. What I didn’t know was that we weren’t just stupid 11-year-olds. We were rehab pioneers.
Reference
- Hughes L, Paton B, Rosenblatt B, Gissane C, Patterson SD. Blood flow restriction training in clinical musculoskeletal rehabilitation: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Br J Sports Med. 2017;51(13):1003-1011. doi:10.1136/bjsports-2016-097071
Wisdom
- Read Chapter 13 in Gary Vaynerchuk’s Crushing It!
Stature
- 10k training prep: 40 minute total
- 5′ warm-up walk
- 30′ steady jog
- 5′ cool-down walk
Favor with God
- Sunday school & worship: Lesson on Forgiveness
- 20′ group prayer time at church
- 10′ family prayer time at home
Favor with (wo)Man
- Sunday nap with my bride