vascular occlusion training

Yeah, we use it in a variety of ways.

I'll start with maybe kind of the more traditional or common sense of BFR in terms of athletic performance and recovery and things like that right now.

And that's, you know, in our training room.

So, um, you know, we've got, uh, BFR cuffs down there that, um, are used for a variety of things, whether it's like a passive BFR recovery, whether it's active in terms of guys will use it for part of their arm care routine.

Um, that's one, um, you know, maybe some sort of return to play or rehab or maintenance program the guys on with some sort of injury consideration.

Some of your traditional uses there.

We use the Hydro BFR garments a good bit, both in Mainly in training in the weight room.

And then also we will travel with them.

Everyone's a little bit different.

So for me, BFR in the upper extremity is probably a 4 or 5 out of 10.

In the lower extremity, it's probably an 8 or 9 out of 10.

Pneumatic compression devices.

And our athletes generally like to really use the Rapid Reboot a lot in their lower extremity.

sometimes in their upper extremity.

So it's a little bit similar to BFR in that sense, but we're big fans.

And the curls of course are a problem.

So that is more like, okay, what loading pattern, what exercises, how much neutral grip do we do BFR? Do we shift to doing cuffed pull downs and rows? Or like you're suggesting, do I actually decrease the volume on some of these other exercises? And I can't say that it is a physiological bottleneck, but it absolutely could be a joint bottleneck, an overall training bottleneck, a mental bottleneck where they can't bring the same level of intentionality or focus or the lifestyle constraints are not allowing them to increase volume on one muscle without shifting other things.

Could also just be, I don't have that much time in the gym.

You want me to do 10 more sets a week for any muscle group? Where's that coming from in my life? And we go, oh, well, if you don't have the time for that, it should probably come from the muscle groups that seem to grow really well because every unit of training seems to be more stimulative for whatever reason.

I'm Chris Hewan, and in this episode, I sat down with Laura Opstadahl to discuss all things ACL rehab.

We discussed the overrated and underrated aspects of ACL rehab, including NMES, BFR, quad tendon grafts, limb symmetry, force plates, neurocognitive training, and much more.

We hope you enjoy.

Okay, we're back.

All right.

Let's go to next one.

Overrated, underrated, blood flow restriction or BFR.

I think it is underrated early, overrated late.

Like think about something.

One thing that I utilize a lot in practice to work around niggles or aches and pains is BFR.

We cannot do BFR in the three to five rep range.

So automatically you're essentially taking tools out of the toolbox and essentially saying, well, women specifically cannot use, you know, Katsu training or blood flow restriction.

They can't use high repetition ranges.

Um, and there was a lag time of if I am going to do the thing of where I'm pushing and getting as much possible work in as I can, uh, with my constraints and my recovery, then that would've became a bottleneck.

Um, especially if there was the use of time-saving techniques, and especially if you and I are, you know, old, old creaky long-term training guys who sometimes get tendonitis and need to do high reps or BFR or, um, you know, pre-fatiguing because a lot of the techniques that are joint savers, you-- there's even a little bit of a cost there.

You end up saving your joints, but you have to push into, um, a more discomforting place in terms of the cardiorespiratory demand, right? So if you are not pushing the limits of volume, or if you are pushing the limits of volume, but you have plenty of time to train, and you don't get any joint pain, and you don't experience like, you know, just a mental fatigue monster, then maybe it won't matter, and you can just spend three hours in the gym and do all sets of six to eight, you know, and, and it's fine.

Um, but I think that's a rare combination of factors, you know.

I find benefit with a little bit of blood flow restriction for arm training.

Like if it's hurting you in the gym, do BFR early in the session.

That'll give you a little bit of a cane blunting effect.

So that's something else you could do.

That's why the number one person who has golfer's elbow is manual laborers, right? Because they're just repetitive, repetitive, repetitive.

Beyond isometrics, beyond eccentrics, I'm going to be a broken record.

I love BFR.

I think BFR bridges the gap between isometrics and eccentrics, getting you back to heavy loading.