Effect of blood flow restricted warming on some physiological performance criteria

Blood flow restriction (BFR) is an application that has a positive effect on exercise performance with its various effects on muscle physiology. For this reason, its different applications are still widely used, and the unknown aspects of the effects of BFR application on exercise are being investigated. The aim of this thesis study is to investigate the effect of blood flow restriction (BFR) on cardiopulmonary exercise test results, when applied during warm-up. Thirty-eight (38) participants (age 21.13 ± 1.91 years, height 176.61 ± 6.28 cm, body weight 71.75 ± 10.50 kg., body mass index (BMI) 23.14 ± 3.02 kg/m2, body fat percentage 12.57 ± 5.13%) were included. Pre-testing was performed with cardiopulmonary exercise testing (CPET) after a warm-up of 10 min of running at 50%-60% of maximum heart rate (HR) followed by a series of activation and dynamic stretching exercises without BFR. The post-test was conducted with a similar protocol. Participants ran for 10 minutes at 50%-60% of max. HR. After the run BFR was applied to both thighs at 60% of arterial occlusion pressure (AOP) and warm-up was completed with same activation and dynamic stretching exercises with BFR. CPET was performed after the warm-up. Pre-test and post-test CPET data were analyzed and compared. In our study, respiratory threshold time (SE) (Pre-test: 2:08 ± 0:43, post-test: 2:17 ± 0:41; min:sec.), maximal oxygen consumption (VO2 max.) (Pre-test: 46.96 ± 4.58, post-test: 47.41 ± 5.03 ml./kg./min.), oxygen consumption at SE (VO2) (Pre-test: 35.36 ± 3.80, post-test: 35.04 ± 3.75 ml./kg./min.), VO2 /VO2 max. at SE (Pre-test: 75.42 ± 5.16 %, post-test: 74.11 ± 5.63 %), heart rate/min. at SE (Pre-test: 164.66 ± 9.52, post-test: 164.08 ± 9.90), maximal heart rate/min. (197.42 ± 7.01, post-test: 196.32 ± 7.74), exercise duration after SE (Pre-test: 5:18 ± 1:17, post-test: 5:13 ± 1:05; min.:sec.), exhaustion time (Pre-test: 7:29 ± 1:34, post-test: 7:31 ± 1:20; min.:sec.), running speed at SE (Pre-test: 10.00 (median), post-test: 9.00 (median); km/h.), running speed at exhaustion (Pre-test: 15.16 ± 1.603, post-test: 14.92 ± 1.1421; km/h.), RER (CO2/O2) in SE [Pre-test: 0.93 (median), post-test: 0.885 (median)], maximal RER (CO2/O2) (Pre-test: 1.21 (median), post-test: 1.22 (median)) values were examined and no significant difference was found between the two warm-up protocols. We have concluded was concluded that BFR applied warm-up before aerobic performance does neither have an acute positive or negative effect on performance, that BFR can be applied during warm-up, and its long-term use during warm-up should be investigated.