# Tourniquet training



## Yanick (Feb 21, 2003)

I still have a subscription to M&F from a long time ago.  When i get them, i usually just skim through them and throw them in the corner.

Yesterday i was reading the latest M&F, and i stumbled upon something very interesting.  It was in the Hotline section of the mag, where they offer new studies that are coming out.

The jist of the article is that when you use the tourniquet and restrict blood flow, you can use light weights and get the same effect as using heavy weights.  Because your restricting the blood flow, your 'tricking' your body into thinking its working in an anaerobic environment and you get pretty much the same benefit except using lighter weights.


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## DaMayor (Feb 21, 2003)

Now that sounds healthy!


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## Scotty the Body (Feb 21, 2003)

Sounds ridiculous and dangerous. 

Was there an add for Muscle Tech at the end of the add?


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## DaMayor (Feb 21, 2003)

No, the MT add had the free promotional syringe, valve stem and muscle pump kit.....or was that the can of Popeye super spinach?


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## Yanick (Feb 21, 2003)

Hahaha.

Glad to see you guys are open minded.

I'm not saying go tie off and start squatting, but there are circumstances where this would possibly be applicable.  Like if you have an injury and can't work heavy (can't recruit the necessary fibres, type II and type IIa which have the most potential for growth) this would be a godsend.

I do agree that it is dangerous, but so is ephedrine if you're an idiot.  The article was a summary of a study done in Asia i believe, and it didn't go into details, so i'm not gonna go run out and buy myself a tourniquet any time soon.


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## DaMayor (Feb 21, 2003)

<<<<post shrug workout.


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## Scotty the Body (Feb 21, 2003)

Sorry if I sound "close minded" :nuts: Cutting off the oxygen supply to my muscles just sounds like a totally bad idea. 

One thing I find with many of these studies published in the mags is that they list all the positives that come out of it but often fail to list the negatives that more than often are far worse than anything you can get out of it. 



> but there are circumstances where this would possibly be applicable. Like if you have an injury and can't work heavy (can't recruit the necessary fibers, type II and type IIa which have the most potential for growth) this would be a godsend.


I've used straps on my forearms because of a pulled muscle that made it impossible to train bi's but in no way did it cut off o2 supply. 

It's an interesting study but like you said, not something I'd try ANY time soon.


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## Yanick (Feb 21, 2003)

Yea i agree with what you said STB. 

I made this thread mainly for discussion and because i thought that it was pretty interesting.  They pretty much simulated heavy weight training using light weights, i think they used 40-50% of 1RM.


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## Scotty the Body (Feb 21, 2003)

I could see how restricting blood flow could tire the muscle out faster and make you seem like you were working harder but the whole muscle would suffer not just certain fiber types so I don't see how you could benefit.  

If anything, an increased blood flow and more O2 to the muscle seems like a better idea.


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## DaMayor (Feb 21, 2003)

Hey Yan, I was just poking fun at you man. You'll have to excuse me, its Friday, and I'm a little goofier than usual. (if that is possible) Secondly, I've been sparring with AlBob and the gang all morning.
I am open to any alternative training technique or concept you present, my friend.


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## P-funk (Feb 21, 2003)

> Hey Yan, I was just poking fun at you man. You'll have to excuse me, its Friday, and I'm a little goofier than usual. (if that is possible) Secondly, I've been sparring with AlBob and the gang all morning.



DM, what are you doing?  Don't apologize to Yan, he doesn't deserve it. lol


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## Yanick (Feb 21, 2003)

DM, dun worry bout it bud.  I'm not one to go and cry to mommy 

Pat,

one more word out of you and i'm gonna call alfred and tell him you want to be his personal trainer


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## P-funk (Feb 21, 2003)

PLease do....I'll give alfred a heart attack.lol


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## DaMayor (Feb 21, 2003)

Oh, I didn't realize that you and Yan had a relationship going, there, Yo' Funkiness. And Alfred too? Jeeze, now I see what you boys do when you get snowed in!
          
Just kidding....


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## Arnold (Feb 21, 2003)

> _*Originally posted by Yanick *_
> The jist of the article is that when you use the tourniquet and restrict blood flow, you can use light weights and get the same effect as using heavy weights.  Because your restricting the blood flow, your 'tricking' your body into thinking its working in an anaerobic environment and you get pretty much the same benefit except using lighter weights.



I must be really bored... 

how could this cause any muscle overload? 

what were the details in regards to "'tricking' your body into thinking its working in an anaerobic environment"?


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## Mudge (Feb 21, 2003)

So if we were to do this, our muscles would be "tricked", yet what about our tendons? Sounds like a nice waste of time. I can't wait to see all the blue limbed people in the gym using this new, amazing method for explosive growth.

See more on page 78


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## Scotty the Body (Feb 21, 2003)

I think there was a guy in my gym trying this method, well either that or his gym shorts were just to tight.


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## Yanick (Feb 21, 2003)

Okay, i don't think anyone is getting the idea thats behind this.

When we work with heavy weights, we are working in an anaerobic environment (meaning that the body isn't able to get enough oxygen to the muscles to continue the work).  That is what seperates aerobic exercise from anaerobic exercise.  We also produce more lactic acid in the muscle then the blood is able to clear out, thats another reason why we can't just keep hammering out rep after rep.  The reason for this is that there is not enough blood flow in the muscle to take away the LA and to give the muscle O2.

The researchers replicated this situation, except they used light weights, like i said something like 50-60% of 1RM.  Not enough blood flow etc.

They tested both groups using the same intensity, but only the group that used the tourniquet showed hypertrophy (because they were forced to utilize their CP stores for energy, just like they would do if they used heavy weights).

Now like i said the article didn't go into details, but i don't think that they kept the tourniquet on the entire workout as that would be dangerous.  Probably just during the set, then they took it off.  This pretty much replicated heavy weight training, without using the heavy weights.

I wrote this quickly and i hope everyone understands what i'm trying to say.  I just got back from doing legs, so i'm gonna go pass out for a while.


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## DaMayor (Feb 21, 2003)

Hey Prince, you've got to slum sometime, man....Gotta kick it with the groundlings. 
I don't think it is so much 'tricking' the muscles as it is forcing them to succumb via strangulation. (I think AlBob uses this technique for other reasons)


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## Yanick (Feb 21, 2003)

Oh yeah, one more thing Prince.  I don't know how this causes hypertrophy but unless i am mistaken we do not know the exact cause of hypertrophy.  I know there are models out there, but i don't think any of them have all of the angles covered.

I'm just as confused about as you guys are, but it seems interesting so i decided to post it up here and have a nice discussion about it.

I don't have time to write up the whole article here (although it is kindda short).  I'll just write up a quote from the article.

"How is this possible?  Ishii believes that because the tourniquet reduces blood flow to the exercising muscle, the muscle is in a true anaerobic (low oxygen) state.  This causes the fast-twitch muscle fibers to be maximally recruited, and they rely on the creatine phosphate energy system and the anaerobic breakdown of glucose to contract.  the result is high levels of lactic acid, growth hormone, IGF-1 and NOS-1, and a reduction of myostatin.  In other words, it's just like training with heavy weights to exhaustion."


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## Arnold (Feb 21, 2003)

I was not doubting anything, I just wanted to hear the details on how *they're* claiming this method could cause muscle overload.


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## Mudge (Feb 21, 2003)

I hope nobody has brittle vein or arterial walls.


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## Freeman (Feb 22, 2003)

I glanced over this article yesterday at my school bookstore in between classes.  I saw what it was talking about and told myself "hell no!"...and moved on to the nutrition section 

The way I look at it is this: training is supposed to be hard.  IT's supposed to be tough to get big and ripped etc.  To me, shortcuts like this always suck, either b/c yhou don't feel like you really accomplished anything AND/or they're potentially dangerous as fuck.  Also, how many out there ACTUALLY do this?  I doubt a lot, so, if they don't have to and they're huge/ripped etc/....then I don't have to!

ps- muscle-tech's ad department has gone crazy.  Seriously, I got my new FLEX yesterday in the mail.  Almost every other couple of pages is a god damn muscle-tech ad.  And I hate how they try to make them look like "real" articles...fucking bastardizing all my magazine!


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## kuso (Feb 22, 2003)

Yanick...while I didn`t read it ( was way too much effort in Japanese  ) I did notice a Japanese Olymic athlete training this way.


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## Doublebase (Jan 9, 2007)

I was just at CVS and picked up flex magazine and they mentioned this type of training.  I came home and searched it on the internet and this post came up.  What'd you know.


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## DOMS (Jan 9, 2007)

Doublebase said:


> I was just at CVS and picked up flex magazine and they mentioned this type of training. I came home and searched it on the internet and this post came up. What'd you know.


I read up on this a year or two ago.  It sounds crazy, but when you read the science behind, it makes sense.


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## P-funk (Jan 9, 2007)

i think there are better things to waste your time on.

what do you expect to happen by completly cutting off circulation to your arm (or whatever you want to work)?

Have you ever fallen asleep on your arm?  That feeling that it gets when it goes totally numb and you can't move it.  Is that something that you want to happen when you are trying to lift weights?  The neurological firing is compromised.


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