Squeezing the blood flow while lifting light weights seems to build just as much strength as lifting heavy weights, at least for healthy adults from their 20s to 80s.

After six weeks of light weightlifting with blood flow restriction, older adults got stronger and could do more repetitions before getting tired.

Lifting heavier weights is much better than lifting lighter weights for building muscle strength in healthy young adults, because it trains your muscles and nerves to work together more effectively for maximum power.

Lifting heavy weights (over 65% of your max) makes you stronger faster than lifting light weights while squeezing your arms or legs to cut off some blood flow—even if you change how tight the band is or how you do the workout. It’s like heavy lifting just works better for getting strong.

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.

If you lift heavy weights with a special band that cuts off some blood flow, it doesn’t make your muscles stronger or bigger than just lifting heavy weights alone—even though your muscles feel more burned.