Doing light workouts with restricted blood flow might be just as good as heavy lifting for building strength — but easier on your joints and muscles, especially if you're recovering or not very strong.

If you can't lift heavy weights because of an injury or illness, doing light weight exercises while squeezing your limbs tight might still help you get stronger — and that could be a good option for people in rehab.

You can build muscle just as well by lifting light weights with your blood partially squeezed off, as you can by lifting heavy weights—so maybe it’s not the weight itself that matters most, but how much your muscles burn and swell up.

When you do heavy lifting while restricting blood flow to your muscles, your muscles feel more burned and stressed during the workout than when you lift heavy without restricting blood flow.

When you do heavy lifting while restricting blood flow, your muscles work harder and get more 'burned out' during the workout than when you lift heavy without restricting blood flow.

If young women do light weightlifting while wearing special bands that squeeze their arms or legs, they can get stronger and their muscles can grow bigger in just four weeks—without lifting heavy weights at all.