Acute Effects of Continuous and Intermittent Blood Flow Restriction on Movement Velocity During Bench Press Exercise Against Different Loads

Abstract

This study evaluated the effects of continuous and intermittent blood flow restriction (BFR) with 70% of full arterial occlusion pressure on bar velocity during the bench press exercise against a wide range of resistive loads. Eleven strength-trained males (age: 23.5 ± 1.4 years; resistance training experience: 2.8 ± 0.8 years, maximal bench press strength – 1RM = 101.8 ± 13.9 kg; body mass = 79.8 ± 10.4 kg), performed three different testing protocols in random and counterbalanced order: without BFR (NO-BFR); intermittent BFR (I-BFR) and continuous BFR (C-BFR). During each experimental session, subjects performed eight sets of two repetitions each, with increasing loads from 20 to 90% 1RM (10% steps), and 3 min rest between each set. In the C-BFR condition occlusion was kept throughout the trial, while in the I-BFR, occlusion was released during each 3 min rest interval. Peak bar velocity (PV) during the bench press exercise was higher by 12–17% in both I-BFR and C-BFR compared with NO-BFR only at the loads of 20, 30, 40, and 50% 1RM (p < 0.001), while performance at higher loads remained unchanged. Mean bar velocity (MV) was unaffected by occlusion (p = 0.342). These results indicate that BFR during bench press exercise increases PV and this may be used as an enhanced stimulus during explosive resistance training. At higher workloads, bench press performance was not negatively affected by BFR, indicating that the benefits of exercise under occlusion can be obtained while explosive performance is not impaired.

Impact of Ischemic Intra-Conditioning on Power Output and Bar Velocity of the Upper Limbs

“…It is interesting to note that the increase of performance for ischemia condition was observed particularly in sets 3 to 5 (Figure 1), which suggests that ischemia allows the athletes to maintain a certain amount of force even in the presence of biochemical changes within the working muscle that lead to fatigue. Such an effect was also observed in the study of Wilk et al (2020b), which showed that both intermittent (used only during exercise) and continuous (used during exercise and during the rest interval) ischemia significantly increased peak bar velocity during the bench press exercise for lighter loads (20 to 50%1RM), while not for higher ones (60-90%1RM). Despite, the lack of an increase in bar velocity at higher loads during ischemia condition in study Wilk et al (2020b), the level of performance was maintained while, our research showed not only a maintenance of performance for the ischemia condition, but an increase in power output and bar velocity compared to control condition.…”

“…Such an effect was also observed in the study of Wilk et al (2020b), which showed that both intermittent (used only during exercise) and continuous (used during exercise and during the rest interval) ischemia significantly increased peak bar velocity during the bench press exercise for lighter loads (20 to 50%1RM), while not for higher ones (60-90%1RM). Despite, the lack of an increase in bar velocity at higher loads during ischemia condition in study Wilk et al (2020b), the level of performance was maintained while, our research showed not only a maintenance of performance for the ischemia condition, but an increase in power output and bar velocity compared to control condition. However, contrary to Wilk et al (2020b) in presented study the ischemia was used only during the rest intervals and not during the exercise, which suggests that different ischemia protocols may be an important factor in affecting on acute responses.…”

“…Despite, the lack of an increase in bar velocity at higher loads during ischemia condition in study Wilk et al (2020b), the level of performance was maintained while, our research showed not only a maintenance of performance for the ischemia condition, but an increase in power output and bar velocity compared to control condition. However, contrary to Wilk et al (2020b) in presented study the ischemia was used only during the rest intervals and not during the exercise, which suggests that different ischemia protocols may be an important factor in affecting on acute responses. Furthermore, similar as with ischemia used during exercise, the ischemia used only during the break intervals, there may be an interaction between the resistive load, the width of the cuff, and the pressure in the cuff, which determines the size of the acute changes (Loenneke et al, 2012;Rossow et al, 2012).…”

“…However, such potential benefits were obtained only under high pressure and wide cuff (10 cm), while no benefits were observed under a narrow cuff (4 cm) (Wilk et al, 2020g). Further Wilk et al (2020b) showed that ischemia (continuous as well as intermittent) with a narrow cuff can increase bar velocity during the bench press exercise at loads of 20 to 50%1RM. Although ischemia used during resistance exercise increases acute power output and velocity of movement (Gepfert et al, 2020;Wilk et al, 2020b,g), there is no scientific data assessing the effect of ischemia used only during the rest interval between successive sets of resistance exercise.…”

“…Despite that, much attention has been focused on ischemia used during resistance training, only few previous studies have compared the acute effects (Luebbers et al, 2014;Teixeira et al, 2018;Rawska et al, 2019;Gepfert et al, 2020;Wilk et al, 2020b,g), and only two studies have examined its effects on subsequent power output performance in the upper limbs (Wilk et al, 2020b,g). Wilk et al (2020b) showed that intermittent (used only during exercise), ischemia increases bar velocity and power output during the bench press exercise at 70% one-repetition maximum (1RM). However, such potential benefits were obtained only under high pressure and wide cuff (10 cm), while no benefits were observed under a narrow cuff (4 cm) (Wilk et al, 2020g).…”