Acute physiological responses to steady-state arm cycling ergometry with and without blood flow restriction

Purpose To compare heart rate (HR), oxygen consumption (VO2), blood lactate (BL), and ratings of perceived exertion (RPE) during arm cycling with and without a blood flow restriction (BFR). Methods Twelve healthy males (age: 23.9 +/- 3.75 years) completed four, randomized, 15-min arm cycling conditions: high-workload (HW: 60% maximal power output), low-workload (LW: 30% maximal power output), low-workload with BFR (LW-BFR), and BFR with no exercise (BFR-only). In the BFR conditions, cuff pressure to the proximal biceps brachii was set to 70% of occlusion pressure. HR, VO2, and RPE were recorded throughout the exercise, and BL was measured before, immediately after, and five minutes post-exercise. Within-subject repeated-measures ANOVA was used to evaluate condition-by-time interactions. Results HW elicited the greatest responses in HR ( 91% of peak; 163.3 +/- 15.8 bpm), VO2 (71% of peak; 24.0 +/- 3.7 ml kg(-1) min(-1)), BL ( 7.7 +/- 2.5 mmol L-1), and RPE (14 +/- 1.7) and was significantly different from the other conditions (p < 0.01). The LW and LW-BFR conditions did not differ from each other in HR, VO2, BL, and RPE mean of conditions: similar to 68%, 41%, 3.5 +/- 1.6 mmol L-1, 10.4 +/- 1.6, respectively; p > 0.05). During the BFR-only condition, HR increased from baseline by similar to 15% (on average) (p < 0.01) without any changes in VO2, BL, and RPE ( p > 0.05). Conclusions HW arm cycling elicited the largest and most persistent physiological responses compared to LW arm cycling with and without a BFR. As such, practitioners who prescribe arm cycling for their clients should be advised to augment the demands of exercise via increases in exercise intensity (i.e., power output), rather than by adding BFR.

Automated summary

This study compared the effects of arm cycling with and without blood flow restriction on heart rate, oxygen consumption, blood lactate, and ratings of perceived exertion. The results showed that high workload arm cycling elicited the greatest physiological responses, while low workload and blood flow restriction conditions did not differ significantly. Therefore, practitioners prescribing arm cycling should focus on increasing exercise intensity rather than adding blood flow restriction.