BFR for Hockey Players
I hear BFR and I my mind pictures Chris Duffin walking around a safety squat bar wearing a tourniquet around his legs. It feels like a real life cartoon, and makes it hard for me to imagine NHL players ever using using it.
It would be a miss however, for a strength coach at the elite level to leave tools like BFR on the shelf. It´s worth stopping to take a look at what we know - blood flow restriction (BFR) gets results. The literature tells a story that can be summed up in a few bullet points, like this:
Foreward..... myotatic local muscular occlusion (the burn you get during your set) is a form of local muscular hypoxia - e.g. blood flow restriction. It does not, however, last into the rest period. Know that this is a very useful form of BFR, but not the kind referred to by the acronym.
lightly occluded training works better than none at all
moderately occluded training works better still
fully blood flow restricted training works best of all
How does BFR Work within the muscle to improve training? Take a look at this schematic from Alexander Törpel.
Let us dive into what this is trying to communicate then. When we read the research, "it works" is measured in a few labratory and/or field tests. Be careful with these. Biomarkers like mean power (cycling), citrate synthase activity (several modes), peak oxgen uptake (cycling, running) average power (lifting, dynamometer), are all MASTERY MITIGATED MEANS OF TESTING. Any untrained person will get better at new tasks.This means that just because the research showed a change (in their test group of athletes), does not validate that means of training in YOUR ecology of sport. Pause there - look at that phrase. Love that one.
Nate Brookreson uses this phrase, ECOLOGY OF SPORT. I never heard it used until I worked with him. It speaks to the nature of the environment where training is being done. The following elements are present:
- Daily schedule
- Competition schedule
- Coaching and expert athlete support
- Nutritional support
- Physiological demands of sport
- Training history (on average)
- Weather
- Team dynamics and culture in the sport / organization
Putting it all together now. Using air cuffs, bands, or straps during weight training to achieve limb blood flow restriction helps improve adaptation. It increases the magnitude of the workout you do, without requiring higher intensity (heavy weights). With lighter intensity, you are able to train more frequently and with less impact on joints. Now, it works but it is cumbersome to some extent. Athletes will need to suit up the bands, you will be needing to sell the 30 minutes of pain to your athletes. How you do that is really not a scientific endeavor.
In my experience, BFR finds its home most frequently in the NHL with athletes returning from injury. This takes the form of long duration isometrics. Jim Snyder at Wisconsin has done some great presentations on this, a wealth of knowledge. Cuffs on the arms and legs are used as well, both in lower and upper body training. This allows me as a coach to drive local muscular structural changes, while working around the athletes injury. I have used the VALD BFR product or a knee wrap to achieve the local hypoxic state. Marching against a loaded sled for lower body resistance works great with BFR. High resistance bike rides are good as well. For upper body, the sky is the limit. I like using Center Mass Bells for a variety of exercises here.
For resources on what equipment to use, how to apply it, cost etc. I like this article by Mike Reinold. Also, Squat university did a tutorial on it. John Meadows has a video as well, a legend in his own right. Hopefully this serves as a decent jumping off point for starting BFR, and doing it effectively with hockey players.
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