Nice routine!
I would TRY Collagen in coffee pre-workout. I was kinda surprised how it helped.
Doing it today!
I don’t worry about keeping the heart rate up while working out with weights. I keep the two concepts separate, but that’s me.
I only do the overhead press motion BECAUSE I am walking and I WANTED as many movements as I could to deplete my arms. Those help, and the side benefit was gravity helping to drain the blood/relieve the pressure. HTH
Same. The power-racks seem to be occupied 24/7 in my gym. I don’t think that the standing overhead press is critical by any stretch, I just want to try it out. I don’t doubt that an OH press machine will get you 90% of the benefit.
The one nice thing about our way of working out is that it only takes 90 seconds. It’s actually acceptable gym etiquette to ask if you can do a set while someone is resting between sets. If the guy or gal has a stopwatch and is timing each rest period, they’re probably not the right person to ask, but if they’re doing 8 sets and just wandering around drinking water between sets, they’re usually pretty cool about letting someone hop in. This is particularly true in our case because we only need 60-90 seconds! They’ll think you’re weird doing just one set in slow motion, but they usually won’t mind. 
I use this strategy sometimes when I stuck working out on a Saturday and the gym is packed.
Yup. I owe you big time.
My biceps were just a little over 1cm in circumference bigger when I measured this morning. That’s not a massive change, and it’s entirely possible that’s a measurement error, but the difference in muscle definition is visible, and the muscle seems firmer. It’s hard to imagine how that’s possible. I’m not going to entirely discount the possibility that it’s a temporary adaptation because I don’t want to get my hopes up too much. Time will tell!
Regardless, BFR is an amazing workout that takes about 10 minutes, turns my limbs to rubber, and allows me to sneak in an extra resistance training workout between BBS sessions. It’s a huge win no matter how you look at it. Thanks for putting it on my radar!
You might also be interested in these talks with Jim Stray-Gunderson talking about BFR. Note, that he does sell B Strong BFR bands…
Jim Stray-Gundersen explains how blood flow restriction training builds muscle
Jim Stray-Gundersen - Blood Flow Restriction Training: Anti-aging medicine for the busy baby boomer
Well, after a 12 day hiatus I went back into the gym today for my BBS workout. It went pretty damn well. For multiple lifts, it was the biggest increase in TUT that I have experienced in 2 years of BBS training. It’s hard to draw definitive conclusions about how interim BFR training affected the workout, but it didn’t seem to negatively effect anything but the chest press because my triceps still weren’t 100%. It’s hard to know why it went so well; there are a lot of variables involved!
Leg Press: I absolutely destroyed the leg press today with TUT of 136 seconds. It felt like there wasn’t any weight. I was literally counting plates during the set to make sure I hadn’t made a mistake! It’s impossible to know whether that’s newbie gains, an extra 5 days of recovery, or if the BFR played a role. My guess is that it was the extra recovery time that had the biggest impact. Regardless, I’ll need to add 100lbs to get that back under 90 seconds. I want weight to increase progressively with each workout though, so I think I’ll add 50lbs next week and see where I am.
Row: No big change here. An increase of about 5 seconds, which is pretty normal from week to week. Not sure what to make of that.
Bench Press: This stayed basically flat. My triceps still weren’t totally recovered from the BFR work earlier in the week, and I could definitely feel them at the end of the set. They gave out 1/4 of the way through the final rep. Lesson learned.
Lat Pull Down: This actually dropped 30 seconds, but for a good reason. For the past 5 sessions I’ve been doing the lat pull down with an overhand grip, which allows recruitment of more of the back. I decided to switch that to an underhand grip to hit the biceps harder. It makes a big difference. One idea that came to me when I hit failure in the set was to switch to the overhand grip and crank that to failure as well. That let me get in 3 more reps hitting different back muscles with a pretty minimal time investment. I think I’ll kep doing that weekly.
Overhead Press: This one surprised the heck out of me. I added 28 seconds on this one! That’s nuts. I don’t have a clue why. Overhead press has always been the lift that I progress the most slowly on, so I’ll just raise the weight in 10lb increments until I’m back under 90 seconds.
Dumbbell Curl: I increased the TUT quite a bit on this one, which was surprised the heck out of me because I’d already hit them pretty hard with the lat pulldown. I gained 13 seconds. Nice!
I’m starting to think that the extra recovery time was really helpful. It couldn’t have hurt that I was feasting for the full 12 days of recovery. Historically I’ve only eaten for 2. That probably makes a difference! Hard to say what impact BFR had. I’ll learn more over the next couple of weeks as I settle into a routine.
Okay I should have my bands by Sunday or Monday.
I have dumbells in lbs
I also have leg weights that I think are 5 lbs.
I’m thinking of starting with the 2 lb arm weights and doing
Not sure yet what to do with the legs. I do have stairs. I can’t squat at least fully because of my tibial tendon. I can go to the gym and do the stationary bike or walk the track but walking can be a problem somedays. Damn I need to get my tendon healed.
I will ease into this.
LOL. Merry Christmas!
And EVERYONE who comes behind us will see this…
Imagine 100 years from now, some 9yr old training his AI to find obscure stuff…
His summary:
Imagine living in such backwards times that BFR was “new”, and imagine using “bands” as opposed to having the mental control and nanites that handle it for you! Crazy times… I am surprised we evolved from these creatures, my thoughts of Panspermia are hard to keep back. We have to be from another planet! Or this is a simulation!
ROTFLMAO!
@daddyoh, that set should be about perfect in conjunction with the arm/ankle weights. I’d say you’re good to go!
This what I’ll be using in conjunction with a couple extra barbbell handles that allow me to have 3 different weights set up and ready to go. It’ll let me adjust weights to allow for progressive loading over time.
Have you talked to your physiotherapist about BFR training? He/she probably would have some good suggestions.
One thing you can definitely do is take a walk with the bands on. It doesn’t cause hypertrophy as quickly, but it really does build muscle. They’ve done a few studies on it.
Here is the seminal study. The BFR + walking group were able to increase muscle mass & volume by a little over 3% by walking 20 minutes on a treadmill 4 days per week for 10 weeks. That might not sound like much, but if your legs weigh 60lbs, that’s 2lbs of muscle. The control group walking without BFR had no significant change. A second study found the same results.
I did a BBS workout on Friday and this is the first time in well over a month that I don’t have any DOMs whatsoever. I hit the workout particularly hard and I hadn’t done one in 12 days so I was really expecting DOMS.
I’ve added in several things since my last BBS workout, so there is no way to know what helped.
Probably all of these things helped. It feels pretty awesome to have just “mild soreness” after BBS rather DOMS. My soreness today is about a 2 on a ten point scale, and I was expecting an 8!
Ok this is pretty funny. Is the world ready for BFR fashion? These shirts and tights have BFR training bands built in so you don’t look as strange at the gym. If I’m honest, they actually look pretty cool, but the prices are a bit silly.
Enjoy:
One thing I do like is that instead of BFR (blood flow restriction) they use VOT (venous occlusion training). The latter is a more precise description of the activity and it sounds a bit less insane. Whenever I mention BFR training and have to explain that it stands “Blood Flow Restriction”, most people have a visible reaction of “wtf is wrong with you, and why would you do that???” .
I think I’ll be describing it as “VOT” or “occlusion training” to folks that have never heard of it; it seems less intimidating somehow.
One thought that occurred to me recently is that occlusion training, much like fasting, has a dearth of studies that evaluate long term use. For example we have dozens of studies of extended fasting done by individuals for the first time, but there is no study of individuals doing extended fasting a second time. Not one! It seems extremely likely that metabolic adaptations occur due to serial fasting, but we have zero information in the medical literature as to what those might be.
This is somewhat true for occlusion training as well. Almost all of the studies that I’ve seen are of 4 to 10 weeks in duration. We know how it works for the first 10 weeks, but what about 52 weeks? It seems very likely that concentrating metabolites in the muscle on a frequent basis builds a resistance/tolerance for them. If an athlete develops tolerance to lactic acid for example, does this mean that the hypertrophy response to lactic acid for that individual is reduced? Put differently, does each subsequent BFR training session have diminishing marginal returns? Does this affect hypertrophy from BBS workouts as well?
If so, would it make sense to periodize occlusion training in 4-6 week blocks in order to prevent adaptations like increased metabolite tolerance?
I don’t know the answer to any of these questions obviously, but I’m very curious. We know that the body never really adapts to resistance training such that it stops building muscle provided the weights being used increase progressively. The same is probably true for occlusion training as well.
Has anybody found research on the long term effects of occlusion training?
TLDR: If you’re going to be conservative with occlusion pressure (40%-50%), you need to increase the weight up to 40% 1 rep max.
It looks like if you’re going to be erring on the side of caution with occlusion by leaving the bands 40% tight, you’re best bet is to go a bit heavier on the weight. This journal article found that if occlusion is 40%, and weight is 40% 1RM, the hypertrophy is double that occurs with 40% occlusion and 20% 1RM. If you’re going to go as light as 20% 1RM, you’ve got to increase occlusion press all the way to 80% to get comparable results, which is a bit closer to the edge than I’m interested to go.
The table below is showing results in the form 1 Rep Max % / Occlusion Pressure %. CSA stands for cross-sectional area (muscle size increase).
https://www.owensrecoveryscience.com/campaigns/blood-flow-restriction-intensity-and-occlusion/
Okay completed first ARM BFR. Limited time today so will do legs later.
2 lbs for bicep curls and overhead triceps. 3 lbs for wrist curls
30/15/15/15 reps with 30 second rests
BP 15 mins rest 116/65 so that is good.
My goal was to just get used to the process and some occlusion. I could feel the weights getting slightly heavier and post strap release can feel a slightly increased heart rate and some excitability (not sure what to call it).
Next time the straps will be a little tighter and the time after 3 lb weights.
Your approach seems really sensible, much better than what I did. BFR is definitely something that it’s best to ease into. 
How was the soreness? Have you done a second BFR day yet?
I did not have any soreness. I just completed the 2nd one and the bands were tighter. I think I need to tighten them a little more. * Did 3 lbs bi and tri and 8lbs wrist curls
I went to a local sporting goods store to get 5 lb dumbbells but they were out.
I’m going to just do arms since I have significant varicose veins in one leg and don’t yet understand the risks of that condition. I’d love to talk to an expert but will use Dr Google to see what I can find out.
Also my BBS workout is going great. I discovered a overhead press upstairs (in my circuit area) and will be adding that into the rotation on Friday.
I’m psyched about the progress I am making with BBS. 3 to 5 days post workout I can feel areas on my body that are significantly leaner and stronger. Lower thigh anterior above the knee and around the collar bone as well. Also my wrist areas and just below the elbow.
This old man is getting into shape 
