Abstract
Objective: Blood flow restriction training (BFRT) has been proposed to induce muscle hypertrophy, but its safety remains controversial as it may increase mean arterial pressure (MAP) due to muscle metaboreflex activation. However, BFR training also causes metabolite accumulation that may desensitize type III and IV nerve endings, which trigger muscle metaboreflex. Then, we hypothesized that a period of BFR training would result in blunted hemodynamic activation during muscle metaboreflex.Methods: 17 young healthy males aged 18–25 yrs enrolled in this study. Hemodynamic responses during muscle metaboreflex were assessed by means of postexercise muscle ischemia (PEMI) at baseline (T0) and after 1 month (T1) of dynamic BFRT. BFRT consisted of 3-min rhythmic handgrip exercise applied 3 days/week (30 contractions per minute at 30% of maximum voluntary contraction) in the dominant arm. On the first week, the occlusion was set at 75% of resting systolic blood pressure (always obtained after 3 min of resting) and increased 25% every week, until reaching 150% of resting systolic pressure at week four. Hemodynamic measurements were assessed by means of impedance cardiography.Results: BFRT reduced MAP during handgrip exercise (T1: 96.3 ± 8.3 mmHg vs. T0: 102.0 ± 9.53 mmHg, p = 0.012). However, no significant time effect was detected for MAP during the metaboreflex activation (P > 0.05). Additionally, none of the observed hemodynamic outcomes, including systemic vascular resistance (SVR), showed significant difference between T0 and T1 during the metaboreflex activation (P > 0.05).Conclusion: BFRT reduced blood pressure during handgrip exercise, thereby suggesting a potential hypotensive effect of this modality of training. However, MAP reduction during handgrip seemed not to be provoked by lowered metaboreflex activity.
Highlights
Resistance training with low to moderate loads performed under blood flow restriction (BFR) has been shown to elicit muscle hypertrophy and strength gains (Kaijser et al, 1990; Abe et al, 2006; Manini and Clark, 2009; Takada et al, 2012)
There was no significant difference across conditions and between T0 and T1 for heart rate (HR), cardiac output (CO), mean arterial blood pressure (MAP), systemic vascular resistance (SVR), VER, or ventricular filling rate (VFR)
This study investigated whether 1 month of BFR training was capable to reduce blood pressure during muscle metaboreflex activation in healthy subjects
Summary
Resistance training with low to moderate loads performed under blood flow restriction (BFR) has been shown to elicit muscle hypertrophy and strength gains (Kaijser et al, 1990; Abe et al, 2006; Manini and Clark, 2009; Takada et al, 2012). These effects have been associated to increased metabolite accumulation in the active skeletal muscle (Suga et al, 2012; Pearson and Hussain, 2015). Exercise training has been reported to reduce the metaboreflex activity (Wang et al, 2010)
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