KAATSU Training: Gain Muscle and Strength Without Heavy Weights?

Gaining muscle strength and size has never been an easy task. It requires an extensive amount of heavy resistance training, consistency with a high protein diet, and multiple hours in the gym.

But could there be a smarter way to workout that won’t require access to heavy weights, minimal time spent working out, and see positive increases in hormonal function?

Welcome to the world of KAATSU training.

In Japan during the late 1960s, professor Yoshiaki Soto discovered a new training regimen that occluded venous blood flow back to the heart using tubing and other pneumatic instruments. This had a profound effect on muscle size and strength. By occluding the appendages, this allowed for the capillaries to expand and fill with blood that surrounded the working muscle. When fatiguing a muscle with very light resistance (ie bands, light dumbbells, or bodyweight) for high reps, this allows for a maximum amount of blood to pool in the area. After the bands are released, multiple studies have observed physiological increases in growth hormone, insulin growth-factor, and nitric oxide production. All of which have a positive…