The comparing effects of four-week rock climbing with or without blood flow restriction on vascular endothelial growth factor and Growth Hormone in elite climbers

Abstract

Background: Angiogenesis and increased capillary density of skeletal muscle is one of the potential physiological changes during the flow restriction exercise (BFR). Therefore, the aim of this research was to evaluate the effect of four weeks rock climbing with or without blood flow restriction on vascular endothelial growth factor and Growth Hormone in elite climbers.Methods: In this semi-experimental study, 26 elite climbers (aged 25-30 years; body fat percent 8-14%; 4 years athletic training history) in a randomized and double-blind design were divided in two equal rock climbing with blood flow restriction (BFR) or rock climbing without blood flow restriction (NBFR) groups. The training protocol included three sessions per week for 4 weeks of rock climbing with a severity of 80-60% of the difficulty of the route. The cuff pressure was in the range of 40 to 100 mm Hg during rock climbing. Blood samples were obtained in the 2 phases: before and 24 hours after rock climbing protocols. Vascular endothelial growth factor and Growth Hormone were analyzed. Finally, Data were analyzed independent and independent T test. The significance level was set at p<0.05.Results: Basal levels of GH and VEGF was significantly increased after four weeks rock climbing with BFR. However, the rock climbing without BFR had not any significant effect on the basal levels of GH and VEGF. Conclusion:It can be concluded that the rock climbing with BFR by increasing of basal levels of GH and VEGF could be increased angiogenesis process.

Low‐intensity climbing with blood flow restriction over 5 weeks increases grip and elbow flexor endurance in advanced climbers: A randomized controlled trial

“…Recent research revealed that BFR training can elicit improvements in both strength (Scott et al, 2016) and endurance (Held et al, 2020(Held et al, , 2022 indices. There is already some research on the effects of BFR and climbing (Aghaei et al, 2020;Ebadifar et al, 2021). These studies primarily focus on hormonal responses to BFR training rather than climbing-specific performance adaptations.…”

“…These studies primarily focus on hormonal responses to BFR training rather than climbing-specific performance adaptations. For example, studies have demonstrated that BFR climbing led to increased basal levels of vascular endothelial growth factors, growth hormones (Aghaei et al, 2020), and testosterone (Ebadifar et al, 2021) during a 4-week intervention trial. Despite these findings, the impact of BFR training on relevant climbing-specific performance indicators remains unknown.…”