Showing posts with label KAATSU Fitness. Show all posts
Showing posts with label KAATSU Fitness. Show all posts

Friday, February 5, 2021

KAATSU Fitness, Another Day At The Beach

For who? White collar employees, mothers
For what? Fitness, wellness, functional movement, stress relief



For those users who have totally integrated KAATSU into their lifestyle are likely to "workout" while doing things they either like doing (e.g., flying a kite or spinning at home) or things they do on a regular basis (e.g., folding clothes or blow drying your hair).

KAATSU Fitness presents a radically different exercise and recovery paradigm for teenagers and young adults as well as for working parents, busy executives, and aging Baby Boomers. KAATSU enables anyone to exercise and rehabilitation anywhere anytime, especially important these times during a pandemic with lockdowns, stay-at-home mandates and quarantines.

Copyright © 2014 - 2021 by KAATSU Global

Thursday, February 4, 2021

KAATSU Fitness: Feeling Strong And Having Fun

For who? Working adults
For what? Fitness, wellness, stress relief, recovery



When BFR (Blood Flow Restriction) is viewed online, the images show many very fit, very strong, rather young people looking ripped. But a vast majority of KAATSU the Original BFR users are older people, including a majority of aging Baby Boomers who are not necessarily ripped, but interested in becoming more fit and reducing the pains and discomfort of their joints, back, neck and hips.

So while High Intensity Interval Training and resistance training (weightlifting) can be done with KAATSU equipment, it is much more highly recommended to simply move.

KAATSU Fitness spans all kinds of outdoor activities:
* Walk on the beach
* walk with your dog
* have fun with your friends
* do yoga
* fly a kite
* wash your car

With KAATSU Air Bands on in the KAATSU Cycle mode, a simple activity like walking or playing around will generate the metabolic equivalent of a moderate or higher intensity workout.

The easy to moderate movements with KAATSU equipment in the KAATSU Cycle mode will help overall fitness while being convenient to use and much more sustainable over a lifetime instead of intermittedly doing high intensity periods of training - and then quitting over time.

Copyright © 2014 - 2021 by KAATSU Global

KAATSU Fitness, Fun In The Sun

For who? Working adults, Baby Boomers
For what? Recovery, stress relief

KAATSU equipment can be incorporated in your movements while you are having fun on the beach, in a park, up in the mountains, on a playground or on the driving range. You can be playing miniature golf, gardening, doing arts & crafts, fishing, painting, sewing, or playing cards, there isn't an activity that does not have a potential for integrating KAATSU Fitness.

Ideally, you can use the KAATSU Cycle mode, but you can also use the KAATSU Constant mode to enjoy yourself while simultaneously getting in a great workout.




























































































































































































































































































































































































Copyright © 2014 - 2021 by KAATSU Global

KAATSU Fitness Walking, Increasing Strength and Stamina

For who? Working adults, mothers, retirees
For what? Strength, stamina, functional movement, balance, KAATSU Walking



The most common use of KAATSU equipment is during simple walking. KAATSU users put on their leg bands and simply do KAATSU Walking after a meal, while walking around the neighborhood or walking the dog. Either the KAATSU Cycle mode or the KAATSU Constant mode can be used, but you can walk longer in the KAATSU Cycle mode while the KAATSU Constant mode should be limited to 20 minutes.

Over 10 years ago, academic researchers from Japan confirmed what KAATSU Specialists have long known: that low-intensity exercise with KAATSU Air Bands leads to muscle growth and strength gains.*

Many researchers between 2000 - 2005 tested KAATSU Walking with MRI-measured muscle size and strength (maximum dynamic or one repetition maximum) and isometric strength along with blood hormonal parameters. Testing was done on both control groups and experimental groups of subjects ranging from young men to older women.

The testing was done using 20-minute bouts of treadmill speed of 50 meters per minute. The researchers found a multitude of benefits and changes among the experimental KAATSU users while there was no change in muscle size and dynamic and isometric strength in the control group..

1. Serum growth hormone was elevated after KAATSU Walking with the experimental group, but not with the non-KAATSU control group.
2. MRI-measured thigh muscle cross-sectional area and muscle volume increased by 4 - 7%.
3. One repetition maximum and maximum isometric strength increased between 8 - 10%

Furthermore, indicators of muscle damage (creatine kinase and myoglobin) and resting anabolic hormones did not change with both groups. The researchers concluded that KAATSU Walking induces muscle hypertrophy and strength gain despite the minimum level of exercise intensity after 3 weeks, and that KAATSU Walking may be a potentially useful method for promoting muscle hypertrophy for a wide range of the population including the frail and elderly.

While these benefits have long been known in Japan, there have been many other applications that have since been developed and researched that address age-related skeletal muscle loss (sarcopenia) that inhibits mobility and increases the risk of developing several diseases such as diabetes, osteoporosis and heart disease.

As the implications of KAATSU protocols began to be appreciated by the United States military, researchers like Dr. William Ursprung at Texas A&M University studied the effects of KAATSU Walking to improve aerobic capacity. Dr. Ursprung evaluated the effects of KAATSU Walking on VO2max, 1.5 mile run times, and muscular size at low training volumes and intensities with airman from the U.S. Air Force 350th Special Operations and Tactics Training Squadron.






























After three weeks of KAATSU Walking, the test found significant improvements in VO2max, significant decreases in 1.5-mile run time, and significant increases in thigh muscle cross sectional area and the researchers concluded that KAATSU Walking represents a methodology for improving aerobic capacity, endurance and muscular size at low training volumes and intensities.

This conclusion mirrored the applications for KAATSU that many far forward-thinking coaches and trainers have known and used. For military personnel and athletes who are looking for concurrent improvements in strength and endurance, they do not always have to move, run, swim, cycle or row at maximum intensity if they strategically use KAATSU equipment.

While movement or exercises with KAATSU equipment performed with intensity will result in significant physiological and athletic improvement, it is always unnecessary.

"As long as their technique and athletic form is correct, athletes and military personnel can realize benefits with KAATSU by moving more slowly (i.e., walking versus running or swimming at a moderate pace versus swimming at maximum speed) rather than always going all-out," explains Steven Munatones. "Perhaps this lowered intensity is appropriate after injuries or immediately after a competition or during a taper phase of training. Perhaps this slower pace or raw speed is simply more appropriate during different parts of any specific workout when an athlete is working on their technique or form."

This phenomena means that the implications and applications of KAATSU usage expands significantly. When benefits and improvements can be achieved at any speed, pace or level of intensity, coaches and athletes can be much more flexible and creative in their training decisions.

For example, instead of only going all-out sprints with KAATSU, runners, cyclists, swimmers, rowers and skiers can practice at more moderate pace - which means that KAATSU can be done more frequently and with less resultant fatigue.

* Muscle size and strength are increased following walk training with restricted venous blood flow from the leg muscle, Kaatsu-walk training by Professor Abe and Professor Kearns of Tokyo Metropolitan University and Professor Sato of the University of Tokyo.

** The Effects of Blood Flow Restriction Training on VO2Max and 1.5 Mile Run Performance by William Ursprung, published in the International Journal of Exercise Science.

Copyright © 2014 - 2021 by KAATSU Global

Thursday, December 17, 2020

When Snow Falls, KAATSU To Stay Warm

For who? Working adults
For what? Strength, exercise





























KAATSU Master Specialist Chris Morgan has been using his KAATSU equipment for his rehabilitation of his broken ribs and broken heel as well as training his competitive swimmers and adult swimmers - both in their daily workouts and during competitions.

Over the years, Coach Morgan has really appreciated the effects of KAATSU, the original BFR. But this winter, especially after heavy snowfalls, he has appreciated his KAATSU equipment even more.

The Boston area experienced a heavy snowfall last night and this morning.

Before KAATSU, Morgan used to shovel snow in the mornings and his hands would get cold. No more.

At first, he used to shovel snow and then do a KAATSU Fitness session when he came into his home. "With more than a foot of snow on the ground, I always had a lot of snow to shovel. My hands would get borderline frostbite. I would do about 6 sets on the Pro Low pressure setting and my hands were as warm as ever.

But nowadays, I just wear the KAATSU Cycle 2.0 while I shovel. It is a tremendous workout that solves the immediate problem of removing snow from my driveway and porch and around the house, but my hands always stay warm. At first, I started wearing the KAATSU Air Bands over my jacket, but then I realized that the effects and warmth were so much better when the bands were over my shirt, but underneath my jacket. For someone with cold feet, putting bands on their legs would be great
."

Copyright © 2014 - 2020 by KAATSU Global

Thursday, December 10, 2020

Dr. Cory On What Experienced Athletes Can Do With KAATSU

For who? Competitive athletes, student-athletes, masters athletes
For what? Strength, functional movement, mobility, flexibility, warm-up, balance, wellness



Cory Keirn DPT, a veteran trainer and physical therapist from the World Wrestling Entertainment and Philadelphia Phillies, demonstrates different exercises that can be done with the KAATSU Cycle 2.0 and KAATSU Air Bands as part of any athletic performance regimen with KAATSU Fitness, the original BFR.

Copyright © 2014 - 2020 by KAATSU Global

Thursday, September 17, 2020

Berra On The Background And Benefits Of KAATSU, The Original BFR

For who? Competitive athletes
For what? Strength, functional movement, mobility

Yoga Berra is one of the greatest catchers in American baseball history and a popular Hall of Famer. He once said, "Baseball is 90% mental. The other half is physical."

Something similar can be said of KAATSU because KAATSU is a catalyst for many beneficial biochemical reactions that occur in the brain while enabling the physicality of the body (muscle, bones, ligaments, tendons) to improve.

Berra's granddaughter is Lindsay Berra, a former Major League Baseball reporter and ESPN Magazine writer who specializes in fitness.

She wrote about the background and benefits of KAATSU Fitness in the October 2020 issue of Men's Health Magazine (US edition see Blood Rush article here).

In her article, Berra writes about the origins of KAATSU the original BFR. "Yoshiaki Sato, Ph.D., M.D., a Japanese bodybuilder, sat in an hours-long Buddhist ceremony in the Seiza posture, thighs folded onto his calves. When he stood, he felt his calves throbbing. He theorized that this was due to restricted blood flow and spent the next 20 years working to re-create the feeling by wrapping his muscles with bike-tire tubes, ropes and judo belts (with uneven success)."

To be precise, Dr. Sato worked relentlessly and experimented constantly between 1966 and 1995, developing the KAATSU protocols Then in the mid-1990's, he began collaborating with Professor Ishii at the University of Tokyo, and then later with cardiologists Dr. Nakajima and Dr. Morita at the University of Tokyo Hospital.

Ultimately, Dr. Sato and his collaborators tested KAATSU on over 7,000 cardiac rehab patients, developing the safe protocols that are used today.

Berra continued, "Only when Dr. Sato attached pneumatic bands to a digital control system did he find he could consistently and safely restrict blood flow. He dubbed his machine the Kaatsu (Japanese for “additional pressure”), and it remains one of a handful of tools that deliver proper and precise pressure to restrict blood flow. These tools cost serious coin. (The Kaatsu runs $900, and the units used by NFL teams are as much as $5,000.) But that hasn’t stopped Mark Wahlberg, Lakes center Dwight Howard, and many others from turning to BFR for an edge."

The KAATSU equipment that she refers to is the KAATSU Cycle 2.0 device [shown above with 72-year-old Dr. Sato]. The device that costs more is the Delfi Portable Tournique System for Blood Flow Restriction.

"KAATSU and Delfi are very different systems," explains Steven Munatones, CEO of KAATSU Global. "When the wide bands of the Delfi unit are used, you can see how the device is a modified tourniquet that is designed to occlude blood flow.

In contrast, nothing about KAATSU is about restricting blood flow, especially arterial flow into your arms or legs. The narrow elastic, stretchable bands of the KAATSU equipment allows freedom of movement so athletes can throw balls, musicians can play instruments, businesspeople can type emails, and others can easily do everything from household chores to physical therapy.

With the wider tourniquet bands, the increased girth of the arms pushes hard against the unforgiving cuffs that serve to occlude arterial flow which is why a Doppler device is required. You do not want to occlude too much which is why the occlusion rate is always monitored. In contrast, when occlusion is not a part of the equation, like with KAATSU, this risk is eliminated. This was one of the outcomes of the decade-long study of KAATSU at the University of Tokyo Hospital by cardiologists
."

Berra described the benefits in her article, "The promise is enticing, and BFR’s mechanism is based in sound physiology.

Lifting heavy weights forces your muscles to contract so tightly that they briefly trap blood, causing the sought-after pump.

That natural blood flow restriction also causes lactic-acid build-up, triggering the release of muscle-building proteins and hormones, like HGH and insulin-like growth factor. BFR mimics the effect of heavy weights, causing the body to release the same proteins and hormones. When done properly, with a device that monitors the pressure in your arteries, it can increase muscular strength and growth, according to 2019 research published in Frontiers in Physiology.


Berra understands the need to be safe. She writes, "Message boards claim you can DIY bands and skip precise tracking, but experts disagree. At worst, you’ll tighten the bands too much, risking nerve and vascular damage. Leave them too loose and BFR won’t work, says Adam Anz, M.D. of the Andrews Institute for Orthopaedics & Sports Medicine in Gulf Breeze, Florida. To achieve the effects of BFR, you must completely compress your surface veins, he says, trapping that blood in your muscles. That’s difficult to do without equipment and constant monitoring."

"With KAATSU Fitness or KAATSU Therapy, however, you do not have to completely compress your surface veins - not even close," explains Munatones. "The arterial blood flow continues uninterrupted and the venous return is only slightly modified [see image below]."

"While occlusion training advocates recommend fully occluding blood flow, KAATSU Specialists would never do that.

And we work with people with all kinds of stages of health in several dozens of countries up to the age of 104
," says Munatones.

As Berra explains about antiaging, "BFR may help combat sarcopenia, the age-related loss of muscle mass.

According to a 2019 Sports Medicine review, older adults utilizing BFR achieved more muscle hypertrophy than those doing classic resistance training
."

That is certainly true, as described is this post about the oldest client of KAATSU Fitness, doing the original BFR:



Copyright © 2014 - 2020 by KAATSU Global