MAX Strength

What Is MAX Strength?

Blood flow restriction therapy (BFR) is a therapy technique that allows an individual to perform exercises with a reduced blood flow to either the arm or leg. By doing this, an exercise can be completed at light intensity (20-30% of one-rep max) but still have the benefit of a high intensity training.

What Are The Benefits?

As with any high intensity training, your body elicits a hormonal response that stimulates an increase of testosterone and growth hormone. This hormonal response is what we need to get stronger.

BFR is able to trigger the same hormonal response by utilizing low loads at a low intensity. BFR has been shown to increase hypertrophy (an increase and growth of muscle cells), strength, as well as your aerobic capacity.

How Does It Work?

By utilizing BFR to restrict the blood flow, it creates a hypoxic (low oxygen) environment and increases metabolite accumulation (think your growth factors and stem cells – IGF, MSC). In doing so, it will cause increased muscle fatigue, muscle activation, and anabolic pathways, which leads to ‘all-out maximum muscle contraction’. As you may know, these factors are needed in order to induce muscle adaptation, aka strength.