Abstract
International Journal of Exercise Science 16(2): 304-314, 2023. The current study aimed to investigate exercise with blood flow restriction (BFR) as a low-intensity conditioning strategy in tactical professionals with load carriage. During the low-intensity exercise, researchers examined the acute metabolic responses from low-intensity BFR walking, walking with load carriage, and walking with BFR and load carriage. Twelve healthy adult males (age = 21.8 ± 1.5 yrs, height = 181.3 ± 7.2 cm, body mass = 84.4 ± 11.1 kg and BMI = 25.6 ± 2.6 kg.m2) completed five bouts of 3-min treadmill walking at 4.8 kmh-1 with 1-min rest interval under three different conditions: 1) blood flow restriction (BFR), 2) loaded with 15% of body mass (LOAD) and 3) loaded with 15% of body mass with blood flow restriction (BFR-LOAD). Oxygen consumption (O2), heart rate, and local muscle oxygen saturation was measured during the exercise bouts. O2 increased by 7% during the BFR- LOAD (p = 0.001) compared with BFR or LOAD alone. There were no differences in O2 between BFR and LOAD (p = 0.202). BFR-LOAD showed significantly lower (-9%) muscle oxygen saturation (p = 0.044) and deoxygenated hemoglobin (p = 0.047) compared to LOAD. Low-intensity walking with the addition of BFR shares acute metabolic characteristics similar to walking with a load. These characteristics suggest there is potential for the use of BFR to increase exercise intensity for individuals training with load carriage.
Recommended Citation
Dicks, Nathan D.; Mahoney, Sean J.; Barry, Allison M.; Lyman, Katie J.; and Hackney, Kyle J.
(2023)
"Comparable Acute Metabolic Responses when Walking with Blood Flow Restriction and Walking with Load Carriage: Implication for Tactical Professionals,"
International Journal of Exercise Science: Vol. 16
:
Iss.
2, Pages 304 - 314.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.70252/WQKT2646
Available at:
https://digitalcommons.wku.edu/ijes/vol16/iss2/5