Abstract:
Introduction: Traditionally, resistance exercise stimulates growth hormone (GH) secretion and leads to muscle hypertrophy in a load-dependent manner; however, new research demonstrates that blood flow restricted resistance exercise (BFR) produces potent GH responses that are similar to or exceed those produced following high-load resistance exercise. The purpose of the present study was to examine the effects of BFR resistance exercise versus traditional resistance training (TRT) on GH levels and thigh muscle cross-sectional area (CSA). Material & Methods: Twenty untrained healthy men volunteered to participate in this study. The subjects were divided into BFR resistance exercise group (4 sets with 20-50% of 1-RM in each station with 30-60 second of rest) or TRT group (4 sets with 6-12 maximal repetitions at 70-80% of 1-RM in each station with 2-3 minute of rest) randomly. All the subjects executed five resistance exercises selected to stress the thigh muscle groups in the following order: leg press, squat, leg extension, prone leg curl, and dead lift. BFR resistance exercise and TRT consisted of 50-60 min of station weight training per day, 3 days a week, for 8 weeks. Thigh muscle CSA and GH concentration were measured before and after the intervention. Results: The results showed that maximum strength in each station was increased after BFR resistance exercise and TRT (P Conclusions: The data suggest that BFR resistance exercise method is a superior method for thigh muscle CSA in compare to the TRT method.
Machine summary:
com (2) MS in Exercise physiology, Education Administration in Shiraz Abstract Introduction: Traditionally, resistance exercise stimulates growth hormone (GH) secretion and leads to muscle hypertrophy in a load-dependent manner; however, new research demonstrates that blood flow restricted resistance exercise (BFR) produces potent GH responses that are similar to or exceed those produced following high-load resistance exercise.
The purpose of the present study was to examine the effects of BFR resistance exercise versus traditional resistance training (TRT) on GH levels and thigh muscle cross-sectional area (CSA).
Blood flow restriction (BFR) exercise is a novel exercise modality in clinical settings, which induces muscle hypertrophy and strength with low to moderate training intensity through increased anabolic processes mediated by BFR (usually with cuff inflation) (7).
Similar to traditional high intensity protocols, low intensity BFR resistance exercise has been shown to acutely increase serum hormone levels and blood lactate in men (8,9).
In addition to the improvement in muscle strength and hypertrophy, BFR resistance exercise was proven to be safe, with no significant differences following training in resting creatine kinase, interleukin-6, insulin-like growth factor 1 (IGF-1) or hemostatic markers (17).
The effects of low intensity BFR resistance exercise on thigh muscle CSA and hormonal responses in compare to the traditional resistance training (TRT) are not well known.
Discussion The purpose of the present study was to examine the effects of BFR resistance exercise versus TRT on GH levels and thigh muscle CSA in untrained healthy men.