Lifting heavy weights and doing lighter exercises with restricted blood flow both make your muscles grow bigger about the same amount, even though they work in slightly different ways inside the...

For people new to strength training, lifting light weights with restricted blood flow works just as well as lifting heavy weights for building muscle size over 6 weeks.

When adults do light weight training with restricted blood flow, their slow-twitch muscles grow as much or more than their fast-twitch muscles, which is different from heavy weight training where fast-twitch muscles usually grow more.

For people who exercise casually but aren’t trained, doing light weightlifting with blood flow restriction helps grow fast-twitch muscle fibers almost as much as lifting heavy weights — and after 6 weeks, the difference between the two isn’t big enough to matter.

Some people grow more muscle with regular heavy lifting, others grow just as much or more with heavy lifting plus blood flow restriction — there’s no one-size-fits-all answer.

Both light weights with restricted blood flow and heavy weights help build strength pretty well in healthy adults — the numbers show clear benefits for both.