These are the ones that I bought. They have 1 inch arm bands and they seem to work reasonably well.
Mine are stretchy, but they also have a version that is non-elastic, which is what @CaptainKirk has. He has a link to where he got them in a post further up the thread. I think it was amazon. Same manufacturer. They have a 1" ridgid arm band as well.
Day 5 after first BFR training:
My legs are still a little bit sore today! Interestingly, there is just one muscle group left with soreness. Itās these ones:
Iām guessing theyāre used for more for stabilizing/balancing and donāt get hit nearly as hard with my slow 5:5 on a leg press sled as they did with the air squats (which I never do otherwise).
Since I canāt be sure that my legs will be 100% tomorrow, and my arms feel great today, I decided to do a BFR arm workout. I didnāt do it to total failure this time. For my first BFR workout, I noticed that although my biceps were crushed, my triceps didnāt have any soreness at all. Apparently the push-ups werenāt enough. This time around I added in dumbbell tricep extensions. Itās an exercise Iāve never done before, so I took it pretty easy on them and gave up with the first really challenging rep. I should have just done two sets, but I wanted to see if avoiding in-roading via static hold upon rep failure would make a difference in soreness. I did 30 seconds between sets for all exercises. The rep tempo was about 1:1. Here is what I did:
Dumbbell Bicep Curls: 5lbs 30/15/15/18
Pushups: 18/6/4/5
Tricep Ext: 5lbs 30/15/15/13
I also added in 2000mg of turmeric curcumin to my 1lb of hamburger, and Iāll be doing so every feeding day going forward. Iām very curious to see what my arms feel like tomorrow! Iāve got my fingers crossed for my tricepsā¦ 
Iām still really interested in āpassiveā bfr training like walking with bands for light exercise on recovery days. When I was doing some google-fu on the subject, I came across some links about āruckingā. What is rucking you ask? Apparently itās a re-badged hiking. People go hiking with backpacks full of sand because itās builds muscle and CV fitness. Think military marching in basic training. They train for ruck races that also include weighted backpacks. Sounds dumb at first glance, but it makes a hell of a lot more sense than running from a joint impact standpoint.
As you might imagine, the military have done a fair bit of research around making people hike with heavy backpacks. Apparently it does lots of positive things.
Imagine adding some BFR bands to that equation, and now youāre cooking with gas. Iāll probably never do it, but lord knows I have the hiking gear and a dog who would very pleasedā¦ 
It would be an interesting way to introduce progressive loading into BFR walks. At any rate, here is a link in case anyone out there is interested:
BFR Workout 2_Day 1:
Much better! I barely have any soreness at all. Amazingly, even my triceps arenāt really sore. Right now Iād rate their level of soreness at a ā2ā on a 10 point scale. Interestingly, my upper pecs and lats are more sore than my triceps and they shouldnāt be affected by the band, itās just normal soreness from push-upsā¦ My biceps have no soreness whatsoever.
My vastus mediallus on the inside of my quads are actually the sorest point on me right now, and thatās left over from last weeks initial BFR workout. Even those are probably good enough to do my BBS workout though. Iām still going to hold off until tomorrow; I want my legs at 100%.
Either in-roading during a BFR sesssion makes a bigger difference than I would have guessed, or the first BFR session causes more soreness due to the novel metabolic stress. Or both. Or maybe the curcumin really does prevent DOMS. Who knowsā¦
Iām just happy that Iām not really sore today! I probably jinxed myself, because the call it Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness (DOMS) for a reason, but Iām 20 hours in and feel terrific. Iāll keep my fingers crossed.
Here is a very interesting journal article on DOMS and BFR. Apparently it does in fact cause DOMS to a higher degree than normal resistance training when you first start out. Here is the key takeaway from the study:
For practitioners working with untrained participants, this study provides evidence to suggest that to minimize the perception of effort and postexercise muscle soreness associated with BFR resistance exercise, continuous low-pressure application may be more preferential than intermittent high-pressure application. Importantly, these perceptual responses are relatively short-lived (ā¼2 days) and have previously been shown to subside after a few exercise sessions. Combined with smaller initial training volumes (set Ć repetitions), this may limit RPE and DOMS to strengthen uptake and adherence and assist in program progression for muscle hypertrophy and gains in strength.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/m/pubmed/28118308/
TLDR: BFR tends to cause DOMS the first couple times you do it. This is normal. You can minimize this by doing fewer sets (two or three) or fewer reps (20/15/15), or both. The tendency towards DOMS diminishes after the first couple BFR sessions.
Interviewed by Dr. Mercola. Long (~ 2hrs). Iām 40% done and finding it useful.
Mercola PDF on BFR - Iām just starting to read this and it seems oriented towards the metabolic effects of BFR https://media.mercola.com/assets/pdf/ebook/blood-flow-restriction-ebook.pdf
Iām ordering my bands today. With my bad tibial tendon (on the mends) I can still do leg presses if they are light like 135 lbs. Iām guessing my 1 rep max is 300+ lbs. I tried the 135 lb press this AM and it did not irritate my bad tendon.
The video above mentions that even walking and the rotating arm machine are useful exercises to start with.
Thanks a ton for posting these!
Iām reading through the e-book now. Dr. Mercola is really terrific when it comes to breaking complex medical stuff down into something comprehensible to the thoughtful laymen, without dumbing it down too much or being condescending. I love that guy!
BFR Session 2: 2 days later:
I did in fact jinx myself. Ouch. Iāve got the DOMS. Bigly.
My triceps were fine yesterday morning, but by bed time I was starting to really feel the soreness. If you stuck a $1 million winning lottery ticket between my shoulder blades right now, I could not reach back there to get it. Iād score my triceps soreness at about a 9 out of 10. Interestingly, every other muscle in my body feels great this morning. No soreness anywhere else. Even my legs are at 95% this morning (7 day recovery).
So that answers that question. BFR will create DOMS even in the absence of in-roading techniques (like BBS style post-failure static hold). The key determinant seems to be exercise familiarity. I hadnāt done air squats in years, and doing so with BFR + in-roading put me at a 9 out of 10 for soreness at 48hrs. I had never done a tricep extension in my life before Monday, and doing them with BFR (but no in-roading) still put me at a 9 out of 10 on the soreness scale at 48hrs.
Conclusion: If you are going to introduce a new exercise into your BFR routine, just do 2 light sets, and donāt do them to failure. Stop when it gets mildly challenging. Increase the sets and reps each subsequent session. This should minimize DOMS.
Lordyā¦the things I do for science.
As a side note, my first indication that I was in trouble was that at lunch time I had an intense craving for fish, just like after my first BFR session. I ate 1lb of smoked herring! I would have had salmon for dinner too, but I had some hamburger that I had to use up. When Iām not lifting weights, I seldom eat fish, and I donāt enjoy it nearly as much. The heavier I lift, the more I want fish. BFR training rates even higher than Body by Science on my pesca-efficacy scaleā¦ 
Iām not finished with the video yet but they make the point that you should do strength training (for me BBS) if you can because BFR does not affect the strength of connective tissue.
Iām wondering, however, if connective tissue damage will be repaired faster with the flow of all the metabolites?
Iām hopeful that my tendon will someday be fully healed so I can do BBS leg presses and weighted squats.
Iāve read the same thing, but Iāve also read that the effect of BFR training on connective tissue is still undetermined. I tend to think that it would have some effect, but I have no idea. I love BBS, so I guess Iāve got my bases covered either way.
Do you have to do anything special for your injured tendon to help it heal, or do you just have to wait it out? That must be frustrating. 
@daddyoh have you looked at any of the research of Keith Baar related to tendon and ligament recovery. Here is a YouTube Video of one of his presentations: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CgcR5J1dwcY
His protocol is essentially:
Consume ~20g of collagen or gelatin with Vitamin C
One hour later, perform an exercise that works the affected area (jumping rope, etc.)
The amino acids from the collagen supplementation appear to preferentially assist the exercised area build new matrix.
Iām planning on trying in the coming year for some chronic knee issues.
Thanks.
It is better but I still have bad days.
Iām in the US (so maybe different amazon choices) and I spent a lot of time looking at the amazon bands yesterday and just gave up. I want ridgid (not elastic), 2 inch wide and with markers for tightness. The markers seem to be missing on the ones I like otherwise.
@Meerkatsandy let us know what you end up getting please.
What is the difference between rigid and elastic bands? The ones in my link are described as elastic.
Elastic gives when you flex. The Mercola video I posted above the they said use ridgid so that you donāt release more blood flow back when you flex.
I might go with elastic first if I canāt find ridgid with tightness markers. Iām thinking this is going to be a compromise.
I will have to watch those videos above concentrated and write down some notesā¦
I will also look into amazon.co.uk, maybe they have some other bands.
For the folks that are experienced with BBS training:
A spilt upper and lower exercises on back to back days. My recovery period is 7 to 8 days most of the time.
My urine is significantly darker on BBS days. Yes, I stay hydrated. Do you notice this for yourself? Iām assuming that it is either or both:
What say you?
Until recently I was a pretty weak 60 something person. With resistance training and recently failure training my strength is improving. I donāt have a trainer. I just have to mentally push myself. Somedays are better than other.
Today UB
I added the pull down 3 weeks ago. I had a good pull down session. I found the seated chest press to be especially hard and I was unable to complete the same number of reps and the same weight as last time. Do you experience this occasionally.
Sometimes I inroad when it seems I donāt have any more reps in me. But post inroading sometimes I can do 1 or 2 more reps. Why is that?
Thanks for your opinions.
