Abstract
Purpose
To determine the macrovascular and microvascular function responses to resistance training with blood flow restriction (BFR) compared to high-load resistance training (HLRT) control group.
Methods
Twenty-four young, healthy men were randomly assigned to BFR or HLRT. Participants performed bilateral knee extensions and leg presses 4 days per week, for 4 weeks. For each exercise, BFR completed 3 X 10 repetitions/day at 30% of 1-repetition max (RM). The occlusive pressure was applied at 1.3 times of individual systolic blood pressure. The exercise prescription was identical for HLRT, except the intensity was set at 75% of one repetition maximum. Outcomes were measured pre-, at 2- and 4-weeks during the training period. The primary macrovascular function outcome was heart-ankle pulse wave velocity (haPWV), and the primary microvascular function outcome was tissue oxygen saturation (StO2) area under the curve (AUC) response to reactive hyperemia.
Results
Knee extension and leg press 1-RM increased by 14% for both groups. There was a significant interaction effect for haPWV, decreasing − 5% (Δ−0.32 m/s, 95% confidential interval [CI] − 0.51 to – 0.12, effect size [ES] = − 0.53) for BFR and increasing 1% (Δ0.03 m/s, 95%CI − 0.17 to 0.23, ES = 0.05) for HLRT. Similarly, there was an interaction effect for StO2 AUC, increasing 5% (Δ47%･s, 95%CI − 3.07 to 98.1, ES = 0.28) for HLRT and 17% (Δ159%･s, 95%CI 108.23–209.37, ES = 0.93) for BFR group.
Conclusion
The current findings suggest that BFR may improve macro- and microvascular function compared to HLRT.
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Availability of data and material
All relevant data are within the paper. The data that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.
Code availability (software application or custom code)
Not applicable.
Abbreviations
- ATT:
-
Adipose tissue thickness
- AUC:
-
Area under the curve
- BFR:
-
Blood flow restriction
- BMI:
-
Body mass index
- BP:
-
Blood pressure
- bpm:
-
Beats per minute
- CI:
-
Confidential interval
- ES:
-
Effect size
- haPWV:
-
Heart-ankle pulse wave velocity
- HLRT:
-
High-load resistance training
- HR:
-
Heart rate
- MAP:
-
Mean arterial pressure
- NIRS:
-
Near-infrared spectroscopy
- RM:
-
Repetition maximum
- SD:
-
Standard deviation
- StO2 :
-
Tissue oxygen saturation
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Acknowledgements
We appreciate the time and effort spent by our volunteers. We also thank Ms. Junko Endo for her technical assistance.
Funding
This work was supported in part by Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS, KAKENHI, Number; JP18K11012 to M.H.).
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MH, LS, and JP conceived and designed the study. MH performed the experiments. MH, LS, and JP analyzed and interpreted results. MH drafted the first manuscript. LS, and JP critically revised the manuscript, and all authors approved the final version of the manuscript.
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All study procedures were approved by the ethical committee of the Yamanashi Institute of Environmental Science University of Yamanashi (Mount Fuji Research Institute after renaming) in Japan and performed in accordance with the Declaration of Helsinki 2013 (ECHE-03-2012), with written informed consent obtained from all study participants.
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Communicated by I. Mark Olfert.
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Horiuchi, M., Stoner, L. & Poles, J. The effect of four weeks blood flow restricted resistance training on macro- and micro-vascular function in healthy, young men. Eur J Appl Physiol 123, 2179–2189 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00421-023-05230-3
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00421-023-05230-3