Rocking And Recovery With Robert, Heading To The Tokyo Paralympics

For who? Competitive athletes, swimmers, masters swimmers, runners, rowers
For what? Strength, recovery, functional movement, mobility, flexibility, cool-down

Robert Griswold is an American Paralympic swimmer and gold medal favorite for the upcoming Tokyo Paralympics. He has cerebral palsy and does KAATSU Cycles before and after his 8-times-per-week workouts and races as part of his pre-swim warm-ups and post-swim cool-downs.

During the complete lockdown at the U.S. Olympic Training Center due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Griswold spent nearly a year of trying his best to being creative in order to maintain his speed, strength, stamina and flexibility. He also graduated from Indiana State University, began clerking at a law firm in St. Louis, Missouri, and continues to train 8 times per week in anticipation of the Paralympic Trials in Lewisville, Texas in April with the anticipation of winning medals at the Tokyo Paralympics.

When the COVID-19 pandemic hit, the administration at the U.S. Olympic Training Center shut down its facilities, but also would not let the athletes off the Training Center campus. The athletes had no way to leave the Center, but swimmers also had no way to train properly in a pool. So what did Griswold do? He looked for an AirBnB with a backyard pool and found one and negotiated an early morning training schedule with the owner.







































He and his roommate would sneak out of the Training Center campus through a side door before the sun came up. They would get to the AirBnB house with a 13-meter pool. They jury-rigged a tether unit and did creative pool workouts. He also finagled his way to get a Vasa Trainer unit and figured out a way to stay in shape with his ingenuity and KAATSU Air Bands that he used on dry land and in the pool.

Eventually, he ended up moving to St Louis where he currently trains in a 50m pool 8 times per week while working as a law clerk 25 hours per week. The United States Paralympic Trials are on April 10-12.

He explains his recovery protocol, "When I came back and competed in my first swim meet at the U.S. Open, I swam the 400m individual medley. I was about 95% of my peak physical abilities and just barely missed the world record. When I got out of the pool, I used my lactate meter and showed the USA Swimming National Team High Performance Director that his post-race lactate levels were 19.9 mmol/L. The director saw my lactate reading and said that 19.9 must be a mistake.

So I retested a few minutes later and I tested at 20.2 mmol/L. The director was surprised it was that high."

But Griswold uses his KAATSU equipment to help him recover from these high lactate levels. He swims easily (loosens down) for 600 meters until his lactate reading is between 7-8 mmol/L. Then he gets out of the water and does KAATSU Cycles until his lactate is reduced to 2.1 or lower mmol/L.

Note: Griswold, Matt Torres and Jamal Hill are among the American Paralympic athletes who will use KAATSU at the Tokyo Paralympic Games.

Copyright © 2014 - 2021 by KAATSU Global

Robert Griswold Recovers From High Lactate Levels With KAATSU

For who? Competitive athletes, swimmers, masters swimmers, runners, rowers
For what? Strength, recovery, functional movement, mobility, flexibility, cool-down







































Robert Griswold is an American Paralympic swimmer and gold medal favorite for the upcoming Tokyo Paralympics in various events. He has cerebral palsy and does KAATSU Cycles before and after his 8-times-per-week workouts and races as part of his pre-swim warm-ups and post-swim cool-downs.

During the complete lockdown at the U.S. Olympic Training Center due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Griswold spent nearly a year of trying his best to being creative in order to maintain his speed, strength, stamina and flexibility. He also graduated from Indiana State University, began clerking at a law firm in St. Louis, Missouri, and continues to train 8 times per week in anticipation of the Paralympic Trials in Lewisville, Texas in April with the anticipation of winning medals at the Tokyo Paralympics.

When the COVID-19 pandemic hit, the administration at the U.S. Olympic Training Center shut down its facilities, but also would not let the athletes off the Training Center campus. The athletes had no way to leave the Center, but swimmers also had no way to train properly in a pool. So what did Griswold do? He looked for an AirBnB with a backyard pool and found one and negotiated an early morning training schedule with the owner.

He and his roommate would sneak out of the Training Center campus through a side door before the sun came up. They would get to the AirBnB house with a 13-meter pool. They jury-rigged a tether unit and did creative pool workouts. He also finagled his way to get a Vasa Trainer unit and figured out a way to stay in shape with his ingenuity and KAATSU Air Bands that he used on dry land and in the pool.

Eventually, he ended up moving to St Louis where he currently trains in a 50m pool 8 times per week while working as a law clerk 25 hours per week. The United States Paralympic Trials are on April 10-12.

He explains his recovery protocol, "When I came back and competed in my first swim meet at the U.S. Open, I swam the 400m individual medley. I was about 95% of my peak physical abilities and just barely missed the world record. When I got out of the pool, I used my lactate meter and showed the USA Swimming National Team High Performance Director that his post-race lactate levels were 19.9 mmol/L. The director saw my lactate reading and said that 19.9 must be a mistake.

So I retested a few minutes later and I tested at 20.2 mmol/L. The director was surprised it was that high."

But Griswold uses his KAATSU equipment to help him recover from these high lactate levels. He swims easily (loosens down) for 600 meters until his lactate reading is between 7-8 mmol/L. Then he gets out of the water and does KAATSU Cycles until his lactate is reduced to 2.1 or lower mmol/L.

Copyright © 2014 - 2021 by KAATSU Global

KAATSU Cycling To Help Recover From High Lactate Levels

For who? Swimmers, student-athletes, competitive athletes, triathletes
For what? Recovery, stength, coordination, strength, flexibility, mobility, KAATSU Aqua







































Robert Griswold is an American Paralympic swimmer (a medalist) who has cerebral palsy. He is an experienced KAATSU user and does KAATSU Cycles before and after his races as part of his pre-race warm-up and post-race cool-down. He also uses KAATSU Aqua in his workouts.

Griswold’s Anaerobic output (pain tolerance) is extremely high; he averages 16.4 mmol/L after his 100-meter backstroke races and 17.9 mmol/L after his 200-meter individual medley. Those are his two signature races that he should win in next year’s Paralympic Games.

Those lactate levels are rarely reached even by other world-class athletes.

Griswold’s highest recorded post-race lactate level is 21.9 mmol/L, measured after his 200-meter individual medley race in Mexico City performed at high altitude. He had to be carried off the pool deck by the medical staff. They told Griswold that if anyone else on the American team reached those levels that they would have to take them to the hospital.

After Griswold’s races, he swims about 1500 meters in the warm down pool (taking over 24 minutes to cool down to a 2.0 mmol/L level which is deemed to be normal.

But by doing KAATSU Cycles (repeated and intermittent pressure on and pressure off of the KAATSU Air Bands, Griswold only swims 400 meters and saves significant time to get his lactate level down to 2.0 mmol/L.

He reports about the original form of BFR, “KAATSU saves me 20 minutes per race warm down and I felt a lot better. This is important because I had the 100m backstroke and the 200m individual medley A finals only 10 minutes apart in Berlin earlier this year. I did KAATSU Cycles between the races and this was the only reason that I was able to get on the starting blocks for the second race. I was at 18.8 mmol/L after the 200m individual medley.”

Copyright © 2014 - 2020 by KAATSU Global

Robert Griswold Giving Back And Inspiring Others

For who? Baby Boomers, retirees, student-athletes
For what? Strength, stamina, functional movement, mobility, flexibility, recovery

Robert Griswold has energy that is palpable. He thinks fast, he talks fast, he executes fast and he swims fast, very very fast.

The 2016 Rio Paralympic swimmer won one bronze medal at the 2016 Rio Paralympic Games, but he has been on a tear on the recent 2019 World Para Swimming World Series where he has won every event he has swum.

His specialties include the 400m freestyle, 100m backstroke and 200m individual medley in the S8, SB7 and SM8 classification. He is the world record holder in the S8 200m back in 2:22.04.

The 22-year-old from Freehold, New Jersey is currently studying at Indiana State University, training under coach Josh Christensen.

He is clearly a driven athlete, but he is even more inspirational. At the age of 16, Griswold organized a clinic to educate his community in New Jersey about the sport of adaptive swimming. He exposed and advised individuals with physical disabilities and their families to learn about and seek athletic opportunities that available to Paralympic athletes. He continues to share the opportunities with others who he meets and inspires.

Every morning before his first workout of the day, Griswold understands the value of doing repeated KAATSU Cycles to warm-up his limbs - and repeating the KAATSU Cycles after the workouts as a recovery modality.

He is shown with fellow American Paralympic swimmer and KAATSU user Jamal Hill.



Copyright © 2014-2019 by KAATSU Global