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

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.

Some people build more muscle with heavy weightlifting alone, while others build more muscle when they add a special band to cut off some blood flow—so everyone might need a different kind of workout to get the best results.

After doing heavy weight training, if women who’ve never trained before use a tight band around their arm afterward, their arm muscles don’t get any thicker—but men’s muscles still grow normally.

When people who don’t usually lift weights do strength training with or without tight bands around their limbs after exercising, they do the same amount of work—but still end up growing muscles differently. This means the muscle growth difference isn’t because one group worked harder.

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.