To be the best of the best, Olympians and Paralympians sometimes resort to using peculiar methods to achieve even the most minute gains in ...
To be the best of the best, Olympians and Paralympians sometimes resort to using peculiar methods to achieve even the most minute gains in their fitness and performance. For example, things like ice baths and cupping are popular with elite athletes. More recently, many Olympians have been spotted wearing black cuffs around their muscles during workouts – a practice known as blood flow restriction training.
Blood flow restriction training sees athletes strap a cuff or band around their muscles – not unlike the kind of cuff you might use when having your blood pressure measured – which is then inflated. This cuff reduces blood flow to the muscle, leading to less oxygen being transported to the muscle cells.
Since oxygen is needed to help the muscles recover, when it’s limited, so is recovery during the workout. This means that it requires more effort for the body to work – so much so that even during a less intense workout, the exercises becomes harder because there is more fatigue. Once the workout is finished, the cuff is removed – allowing blood to surge into the muscle cells. This is thought to accelerate recovery post-workout, and fitness levels.
This is an emerging area of research, so there’s still much...
