There's a lot of emerging science on our new training intervention.
That's having alarming impacts on aerobic performance and the craziest part.
You don't even have to peddle hard.
It's called blood flow restriction training.
And here at trainer road, we dug into the science.
So you don't have to.
Blood flow restriction, training or BFR training for short uses an elastic band or
an inflatable cuff to restrict blood flow.
While you train for cyclists, you'd want to put this on your leg and
proximal on the limb or as high up toward that hip joint as possible.
What this does is mostly restrict the blood flow from going into the limb
and almost entirely restrict the blood flow from going out of that limb.
And the theory here is.
Blood flow restriction training, just exacerbates.
What exercise already does as intensity increases in normal exercise.
Our body has to increase the rate at which it pumps blood to
through and out of our muscles.
The reason for this is to deliver more fuel to our muscles and remove
metabolic byproducts like lactate.
So our muscles can operate more effectively.
Oh, it's the bird.
Now when intensity increases to the point where our body can't satisfy the.
That's when our muscles enter a state to scientists called muscle toxicity,
muscle toxicity is uncomfortable, but it's also a goal of training.
And the more that we experienced, the harder our bodies work against
that happening in the future.
And they do this by building more efficient and stronger muscles,
connecting this back to BFR training, restricting blood flow while
exercising, induces muscle toxicity at a lower intensity than we would
typically experience without BFR train.
And this leads to a robust.
There are additional cardiovascular in general benefits from this, but the point
is it makes aerobic adaptations happen.
And that's the very thing that all of us cyclists worked so
hard for day in and day out.
So how much improvement to a rubbish performance are we
talking about here with BFR?
Well more than you think, or at least more than I thought.
Let's look at some science, a 2018 systematic review looked at 14 studies
on young athletes, 11 of those studies focused on aerobic exercise while six
of them focused specifically on cycling of the 11 aerobically focused studies.
Eight of them saw improvements and viewed.
The subjects and the studies, and perhaps more importantly for a
cyclist, all 11 of those studies saw improvements in mechanisms
that lead to a road performance.
Another set of studies from 2016 and 2017 used cyclists VO
two max values higher than 60.
So pretty fit cyclist.
And here's what they did.
They give them four weeks of sprint intensity interval.
Where they performed 32nd sprints separated by four and a half minutes
of recovery during which they'd apply the BFR cuff to the legs for the first
two minutes of rest, and then remove it for the last two minutes of rest.
So what did they see?
They saw VO two max increases between five and 6% and maximum aerobic
power increases between three and 4%.
Another study looked at young elite rowers and had them do three sessions per week
of two by 10 minutes at low intensity.
For five weeks and they sold remarkable improvements in VO two max, as much as 9%.
Now it's important to note that most of this research is pretty recent
and relatively speaking, there's a small amount of research published
on BFR training as of recording this video, but still seeing results like
this is promising at the very least.
And if you're anything like me, it's downright exciting.
There's more research going on right now that will surely teach us more about
this, the benefits as well as the risks.
Speaking of risks.
What are they?
One review looked at 35 different studies with physical therapy patients and
found no detrimental outcomes, but it's not without its potential downsides.
First, it's not a recuperative thing to do.
Even at low intensity exercise, it was noted in some studies that RPE
or rate of perceived exertion and discomfort was increasing similar to
levels that people would experience during high intensity interval training.
It also elevates heart rate increases, oxygen uptake, and in one.
Showed a significant increase in dogs or delayed onset muscle
soreness for 48 hours after.
Well, all of these risks may seem manageable, complete arterial
occlusion just comes with its own inherent set of risks.
So if you've ever had something like a history of heart disease, thrombosis,
a currently infected lamb, or if you're going through cancer, this is definitely
one of those times where you want to talk to your doctor before trying, assuming you
are okay with the risks of BFR training and you're a healthy candidate for it.
I'm sure the next.
How do I implement this into my training plan?
And that's where things get a little bit complicated.
And the studies we already mentioned BFR training was implemented in different
ways in different outcomes occurred.
And according to a 2019 blood flow restriction review, if you change
any of the following variables, different outcomes should be expected.
The pressure with M positioning of the cuff device, exercise
duration and intensity time between intervals, proximity, and order of
BFR training to standard interval.
Frequency and periodization of BFR training.
So understanding the changing any of those variables could
yield a change, an outcome.
Let's just look at how BFR training was typically implemented in the
studies we've looked at so far.
The goal is to achieve roughly 40 to 80% of arterial occlusion, and then go.
A specific training protocol and some studies, they had athletes use it only
during the recovery intervals of their high intensity interval workouts.
Whereas in other studies, they have them perform specific low intensity work
with a BFR custom applied, regardless of how it was implemented in every study.
The goal wasn't to spend a lot of time in a BFR state, instead it was to spend just
enough time so that you were getting the benefits of BFR training without harming
your recovery or your future workouts.
It's typically vary between 15.
30 minutes of total time accumulated in a 24 hour period.
And it was often split up into multiple shorter sessions with
those basics out of the way.
The next logical question is, should this serve as a replacement
for your scheduled workouts?
But as of now, BFR doesn't look like it's a replacement for interval training.
And here's why let's look at the science and the study with cyclists
that saw increases in max aerobic power between three to four hours.
The researchers made a really crucial note.
They said more work is required to translate laboratory findings
to real world applications.
And in another study, researchers saw increases in the hypertrophy
and Mio nuclear addition, but no increases in strength.
So let's recap.
What is the current research told us and not told us about BFR training.
Yes.
As of now research points to convincing improvements in mechanisms
that drive aerobic performance, but we have yet to link BFR training
to becoming a faster cyclist.
Number two, it also seems like it's a good supplementary addition
to your training, but not a replacement for the training itself.
Third, we know it needs to be executed carefully to get specific outcomes,
but we still don't know which cycling disciplines benefit most or least from
this sort of training intervention.
Or how you should go about it specifically for your cycling discipline.
Finally, it seems low risk, but we still don't know if any long-term
risks exist with BFR training.
It's important to keep all of this in perspective and respect the research for
what it is and is not saying, although it seems very promising that BFR training
could improve performance on the bike.
It is yet to be conclusively proven by science structured
interval training for cyclists.
However, has an ever growing mountain of evidence.
Sure.
Does make cyclists faster.
So if you have to choose, absolutely pick your structured workouts and stick
to that training plan in conclusion, as of now, it seems reasonable
to use BFR training as you would.
Any other additive training intervention.
He training or elevation training, if you're a good candidate for
it, you're okay with the risks.
It seems reasonable to implement it into your training.
As long as it doesn't compromise the workouts or recovery that you
have going on during your training.
As for me, what am I going to do?
I'm going to keep prioritizing consistency and following my train road training
plan, hitting my workouts, and I'll find ways to work in BFR training and
experiment with it so long as it's not compromising future workouts or recovery.
So that's it for the.
Between now and next time, go down into the comments and let
us know what other topics you want us to cover like this video.
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