BFR Radio

Ep. 5 BFR and Hamstring strength - a potential for injury prevention. Guest - Selwyn Griffith

Hi everyone and welcome to episode 5.

A little while ago I had someone email me with respect to asking about possible improvements in hamstring and gluteal strength and hypertrophy with BFR use.  Further to this, hamstring injury prevention is quite topical at present so I thought I'd review a couple of papers that highlight the effects of BFR use on the hamstring and gluteal muscle groups.

 

In particular I review the papers:

1.Abe, T., et al. "Skeletal muscle size and circulating IGF-1 are increased after two weeks of twice daily “KAATSU” resistance training." International Journal of KAATSU Training Research1.1 (2005): 6-12.

and 

2. Sérgio, R., et al. "Short-term Blood Flow Restriction Training Enhances Hamstrings/quadriceps Force Ratio in Professional Soccer Players: 3550 Board# 194 May 31, 9." Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise 46.5S (2014): 955.

 

In "how you do BFR" I interview Selwyn Griffith who is an Osteopath and works and the rehabilitation co-ordinator for the Brisbane Lions AFL club.  Selwyn works with professional footballers and has a few different methodologies according to the athlete's needs and stages in physical preparation.   In particular he covers the areas acute injury, load compromised athletes and the use of BFR in priming and activation areas.  He has a real pragmatic approach to his BFR use.  

If you want to contact Selwyn:

Twitter: @selwynosteo

Instagram: @selwyng

Linkedin: Selwyn Griffith

He also has some courses coming up so give him a follow so you can check it out.

 

If you use BFR or have any questions that you'd like to be answered please contact me.  

If you enjoy the podcast please give it a rating on iTunes (BFR Radio)

Thanks for listening.

 

Chris

Ep. 4 BFR strength training among women with Osteoporosis (with Kelly Beahan

Hi everyone. Welcome to episode 4.

Osteoporosis is a relevant issue in an ageing population.  Strength training has been shown to assist with improving outcomes with those who have osteoporosis.  The addition of low-load BFR to a strength training routine is that it can provide the user with similar benefits to that of traditional high-load resistance. In an ageing population this has multiple benefits due to the need to not having to lift heavy loads.

This podcast reviews the article: Chronic Effect of Strength Training with Blood Flow Restriction on Muscular Strength among Women with Osteoporosis by Silva, J. et al., (2015). Journal of Exercise Physiology Online, 18(4).

It covers some fantastic practical outcomes from other studies as well.

This article fits well with my interview with Kelly Beahan in "how you do BFR."

Kelly has extensive experience as a strength and conditioning coach in a multitude of professional and top tier sports:

• NRL team Wests Tigers
• Rehabilitation Coordinator with the Australian Rugby Union (ARU Academy, Mens & Women's Rugby Sevens and the Australian Wallabies)

• NRL team Cronulla Sharks and a role as Rehabilitation Coordinator followed before roles with
• Cricket NSW as Strength & Conditioning Coach - developed the NSW Women's Pathway Program, 
• Head S&C for NSW Breakers and a member of the coaching staff in the inaugural WBBL winning team Sydney Thunder - the first time a female as lead S&C Coach has won a national title.

Kelly is urrently preparing Australian Paralympian Sit Ski Athlete Sam Tait (click here to check some of his training) who competes in Alpine Ski and Slalom events for World Cup events scheduled for the Northern Hemisphere Winter and Beijjing 2022 as well as partnering with US based S&C Coach Joel Jamieson as the Australian distributor for the Morpheus Recovery Band.

 

She also does a lot of injury rehabilitation work so make sure you look her up at the following:

Instagram: @itskel and also check out @morpheus_aus

Twitter: @kellybeahan

 

Thanks for listening

 

Chris

Ep. 3 - Get fit and strong with BFR cycling. (Guest - Gavin Pratt)

A lot of attention is given to the benefits of BFR strength training. However other exercise modalities such as cycling and walking have also been studied. Therefore today’s episode looks into the effects of four different interval-training protocols on aerobic fitness and muscle strength. In particular this study investigates how low intensity BFR cycling may be a possible addition to improve aerobic fitness and muscular strength.

The paper in particular I discuss is: Short-term low-intensity blood flow restricted interval training improves both aerobic fitness and muscle strength. (de Oliveira et al 2016).

“How you do BFR” interviews Gavin Pratt from GCP Fitness Online. Gavin currently works in China working with their High Performance Surfing program. We have a great discussion around coaching philosophies, challenges coaching in a foreign country as well as a few different examples of some interesting adaptions for BFR.

He has an online coaching program so please give him a visit at the following:

Website: www.gcpfitness.com.au

Instagram: @gcpfitness

Twitter: @gcpfit

Facebook: GCPfitness.online

Youtube: GCP Fitness

Ep. 2 Optimising your BFR response - cuff width and pressure considerations

The pressure applied during BFR training is a important consideration to ensure optimal response as well as safety to the user.  Literature has higlighted several different ways to calculate pressure all with different outcomes.  Therefore understanding factors which affect optimal BFR pressure for the user are important.  Episode 2 discusses these factors reviewing two papers that encompass this:

1. Blood flow restriction pressure recommendations: a tale of two cuffs (Loenneke et al - 2013)

2. Blood flow restriction in the upper and lower limb is predicted by limb circumfernce and systolic blood pressure (Loenneke et al 2015)

"How you do BFR" interviews Jo Danaher from JD Sports Performance.  He explains how he incorporates it into his S&C business.  Some interesting exercise adaptions and solid rep/set schemes.  He is located in Brisbane.

Please give him a visit at the following:

Instagram - @jdsportperformance

Website - www.jdsportsperformance.com 

Ep. 1 Three weeks of BFR training can improve strength and power in trained athletes.

This podcast discuses the article, "3 weeks of BFR training can improve strength and power in trained athletes." It examines the effects of moderate-load exercise with & without BFR on strength, power & repeated-sprint ability.

I also interview Olympian (2000, 2004 - 100m) and sprints coach Paul DiBella. He coaches junior sprinter Jake Doran who recently broke the U20 National 100m record (10.15s @ 17yrs old!) and I discuss with him about how he uses BFR.