Monday, December 28, 2015

KAATSU ... After My Knee Popped

"My knee popped," recalled Josh Saunders, then a Goal Keeper with US Major League Soccer team, Real Salt Lake. "When I came down, I knew the injury was bad, but I had no idea what was to come." Saunders fears were confirmed - a torn left ACL, a bad, common football injury. However, Saunders injury became more than the typical case - it became life threatening. Two weeks after surgery, Saunders not only contracted a serious bone infection, caused by the bacterium streptococcus, but also a candida fungus.

"It was no longer about my return to football," Saunders said. "It was about surviving."

Now, the New York City FC goalkeeper says he is lucky to be alive and to still have his leg. Saunders credits his complete recovery to US Olympic Ski Team doctor and Sport Scientist, Dr. James Stray-Gundersen, and his cutting edge recovery, fitness, and strength protocols - the Anti Gravity Treadmill and KAATSU BFR Training.

Saunders was looking for anything to get him back in the goal. He had lost significant weight, and more importantly, muscle mass. Saunders met Dr. Stray-Gundersen who elevated his fitness and built his strength with KAATSU, very quickly.

"I had never heard of KAATSU or BFR before, but Stray-Gundersen showed me results from his top skiers, and I was all for it. He applied 30 minute KAATSU sessions, 5 days per week and in a matter of a few sessions, I had significant increases in strength, and my quad size increased," said Saunders. "I got that same fatigue feeling in my muscles, with no heavy weights. It was amazing."

KAATSU was invented by Dr. Yoshiaki Sato in 1966. He experimented for 7 years before he formalised his protocols and built up a following. He was recognized by the Japanese Olympic Committee in 1992 and has since started to work with the Chinese.

But Dr. Sato does not speak English and never traveled overseas so KAATSU remained hidden within Japan.

"I heard about KAATSU from Harvard researchers who had visited Japan," recalls Dr. Stray-Gundersen. "But we never looked into KAATSU until one of our medalists went down with a severe injury a month before the 20114 Olympics.

We rehabilitated him using KAATSU the original BFR exclusively, and he raced in 28 days, and we became believers,
" emphasized Stray-Gundersen.

MLS Defender, Kuami Watson-Siriboe, another ACL tear victim, started the same KAATSU program. The effects were shockingly immediate. "I quickly recovered doing KAATSU 3-point exercises and the KAATSU Cycle," says Watson-Siriboe.

"In all applications, we always assess capillary refill and responses throughout recovery - same as Dr. Sato has done since the 1970s," said Dr. Stray-Gundersen.

"The KAATSU equipment allows me to identify the optimal pressure each time which is critical in safety and effectiveness as we fill normally unused capillaries and engage more muscle fibers - we want to achieve the 'fatigue' in the muscle so that the physiological cascade to provide GH, occurs. Simply put, you cannot get beneficial results, if you do not use proper protocols, equipment, and safety checks required with blood flow moderation training used with KAATSU. As always, the athlete safety and recovery is our first concern and KAATSU researched system sets the standard," said Dr. Stray-Gundersen.

Saunders said, "I couldn't believe the results at first, but I had faith in Dr. Stray-Gundersen and KAATSU, and I just wanted to get back on track and as fast as the skiers did. I am now stronger, faster and quicker than I was before my injury."

That he did - Josh Saunders NYFC Player of the Month May 2015.

Copyright © 2015 by KAATSU Global

Japanese Pro Golf Legend Teruo Sugihara

4 years ago today, Japanese golf professional Teruo Sugihara (Japanese: 杉原輝雄) sadly passed away at the age of 74. The KAATSU Specialist community and his family and friends remember Sugihara fondly as he was one of the first professional athletes in Japan to transform his career later in life.

Sugihara won 63 tournaments over the course of his career and played professionally even after his diagnosis of prostate cancer in 1997.

There were many valuable lessons in his career that he has shared with the younger generations of players.

In 2006, at age 68, he became the oldest player to make the cut in a top-tier Japanese tour event. His final appearance came at the 2010 Mizuno Open, the same year that he authored a book called KAATSU Golf together with KAATSU inventor Dr. Yoshiaki Sato.

Sugihara-san used KAATSU to improve his health and his game. His book, KAATSU Golf, describes how he used KAATSU to:

* strengthen his upper body
* improve his swing
* enhance his mobility during his swing
* increase his grip strength
* improve his leg strength with squats and practice swings
* enhance his overall strength and club head speed

To purchase this DVD book in its original Japanese language, visit Amazon Japan here.

Copyright © 2015 by KAATSU Global

Thursday, December 24, 2015

KAATSU In The News - Outside Magazine























For the full article in Outside Magazine by Devon Jackson ( You Should Probably Try This Japanese Blood-Flow Routine. Footballers of both kinds have caught on. Here’s what you need to know.), click here.

Copyright © 2015 by KAATSU Global

KAATSU In The News - Military Times























For the full article in the Military Times (Kaatsu training is blowing fitness researchers' minds) by Jon Anderson, click here.

Copyright © 2015 by KAATSU Global

KAATSU In The News - Wall Street Journal Japan + WSJ Video























For the full article (Kaatsu Inventor Also Sees Healing Potential) that was published in the December 22nd 2015 issue, click here.

For a video story on KAATSU by Eleanor Warnock (Could the Kaatsu Workout Be the Most Efficient Exercise?), visit here.

In Spanish: El entrenamiento Kaatsu, ¿el mas eficiente de la historia?.

Copyright © 2015 by KAATSU Global

KAATSU In The News - Wall Street Journal























For the full article (Can You Work Out Less, Get More Results? Kaatsu training is drawing more adherents with promises of more gain, less pain) by Eleanor Warnock and Rachel Backman that was published in the December 22nd 2015 issue, click here.

Copyright © 2015 by KAATSU Global

Thursday, December 17, 2015

Simultaneously Doing KAATSU With Multiple Users




























Some KAATSU Specialists lead classes or groups of KAATSU users where they must simultaneously do KAATSU among multiple users.

This is how they do it:

1. Teach athletes to put on the KAATSU Air Bands: Teach athletes to properly put KAATSU Air Bands on their own arms and legs at their proper Base SKU. This enables their coach or trainer to quickly inflate the KAATSU Air Bands to each athletes’ Optimal SKU.

  2. Require athletes to know their proper Base SKU and Optimal SKU: athletes should always know their proper Base SKU and Optimal SKU, especially how it can fluctuate from day to day. This enables the coach to quickly check their Base SKU and to inflate to their Optimal SKU.

  3. Require athletes to always check their CRT: athletes must always follow and understand KAATSU safety protocols.

4. Use a KAATSU Master: with more than 10 athletes simultaneously doing KAATSU, the use of a KAATSU Master makes the coach’s work much easier (compared to using a KAATSU Nano) and doing KAATSU among multiple users becomes more efficient because inflation time is significantly reduced.

5. Encourage athletes to purchase their own KAATSU Air Bands: if the team or clinic or organization purchases a KAATSU Master or KAATSU Nano, the athletes can purchase and manage their own KAATSU Air Bands.

  6. If KAATSU Air Bands are shared among athletes: athletes can be separated into 2 groups: those who use the KAATSU Arm Bands and those who use the KAATSU Leg Bands. Therefore, one set of Air Bands are be used simultaneously by 2 athletes.

Copyright © 2015 by KAATSU Global