Dr. Mark and JJ Discuss and Demo the Latest Uses for BFR Training

I’ve written about and personally used BFR (“Blood Flow Restriction”) or “Occlusion” Training on and off since 2017. This modality of resistance training has been clinically proven and is increasingly popular as a way to effectively and safely “hypertrophy” muscle (i.e. increase muscle mass while lifting lighter weight at higher reps). It’s a great tool if you want to get bigger muscles (“SWOL” biceps or quads for instance). 

So when I was recently visiting my AMAZING physical therapist Dr. Mark Bautista at Renew Physical Therapy in SF’s Financial District to get my body in tip top shape for marathon training, I was surprised to see patients being treated with BFR cuffs. I asked Dr. Mark about it and I learned about the deluge of recent clinical studies that have broadened the usage of BFR to include injury-specific rehab/prehab, sports performance, endurance, strength as well as traditional hypertrophy. In this “JJ and Dr. Mark Ted Talk” video we do what movement nerds do best and geek out about all the ways this modality can help humans get stronger, pain-free and better at what they want their bodies to do (using me as a guinea pig).

Check it out and if you have questions or want to see if BFR is right for your goals, give Dr, Mark and the incredible team at Renew a call for an assessment. If you want a quick reference for how BFR works, check out this short and sweet PDF.