BFR, Isometrics and lifting light weights for performance - is it time for a paradigm shift?

BFR Radio

Hi there and welcome to this month's episode.

The last 12 weeks I've been exploring a strength training concept that incorporates "at-home" Isometrics whilst using a combination of light loads and Blood Flow Restriction. This training block has coincided with the COVID gym shutdown period and so I thought it was the best time to trial my concept. In particular the lockdown period has seen limited access to proper gym facilities. Perhaps one of the best "at-home" training concepts that would give an athletic performance benefit is Isometric training. There is a lot of good information about Isometric training at present and if you are looking for good presentations, you can't go past anything from leading from S&C coach Alex Natera (https://www.instagram.com/alex.natera/). I also suggest reading the book Special Strength Training Manual for Coaches by author and coach Yuri Verkhoshansky. His section on Isometric training is another great resource. In particular he advocated the addition of Isometric training with the high external loads. However for those who have limited access to this (especially during the gym shutdown period) is problematic. And this is where I see Blood Flow Restriction playing it part as a proxy for high external loads. Therefore I want to put my theory to the test by creating a progressive training program that could be done at home with limited weight which incorporated both Isometrics and Blood Flow Restriction. As an overview I trained with a maximum of 40kg weight. I added external training stress through the addition of lifting bands and BFR. I also used plyometrics as a superset and progressed these exercises across the 12-week training period. I've quite an extensive battery of tests to monitor my progress and the results are quite surprising. This month's podcast therefore goes through my concept from the training framework, structure, session examples through to the results. If you want to see some videos you can watch a similar presentation on my Youtube channel (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2bxg98pzkbM) or alternatively my Instagram has a lot of training video examples (https://www.instagram.com/chrisgaviglio/) If you know of someone who can benefit from this please share and if you want to know more remember to check out my full length video. To order your own set of BFR cuffs please visit my website https://sportsrehab.com.au Thanks for listening and see you next month.