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Hytro / Discover Hytro / What is BFR?

What is BFR?

BFR involves applying a strap to the arms or legs, allowing oxygenated blood to flow into the limbs while restricting the return flow.

- Hytro

What is BFR?

BFR involves applying a strap to the arms or legs, allowing oxygenated blood to flow into the limbs while restricting the return flow.

- Hytro

This causes metabolic stress and swelling in the muscles, resulting in significant and rapid increases in muscle size and strength due to an up-regulation of muscle building hormones.

Experienced lifters know this phenomenon as ‘the pump’; for others, it can be described as a throbbing sensation.

So how does BFR work?

  • 1. Oxygenated blood flows into the exercising muscle where oxygen is used to produce energy in a process called aerobic respiration.
  • 2. Pressure applied by the BFR strap restricts the return flow of now de-oxygenated blood to the body which causes muscle swelling and stress as blood continues to pool.
  • 3. As de-oxygenated blood builds in the muscle, decreasing oxygen concentrations create a hypoxic environment (low oxygen), triggering production of lactic acid which further stresses the muscle cells.
  • 4. The body responds to this stress through production and accumulation of metabolites responsible for muscle growth, while the brain significantly increases production of growth hormone.
  • 5. Slow twitch fibers (requiring oxygen for energy) rapidly fatigue in a hypoxic environment, and consequentially, fast twitch fibers (working without oxygen) are recruited to help the muscle contract.
  • 6. This condition is unique to BFR whereby all types of muscle fibers work together to produce force while performing low intensity exercise. Under normal conditions, fast twitch fibers are reserved for high intensity exercise and explosive movements. With BFR, they are forced to contract and grow.
  • 7. Together, these reactions upregulate muscle protein synthesis and increase the body’s ability to hypertrophy, similar to conventional weightlifting while using much lighter loads.
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