Doing a mix of heavy lifting and light lifting with restricted blood flow—switching between them each week—might help your muscles recover faster and grow bigger, especially the powerful ones used in sports.

Doing heavy weights followed by light weights with restricted blood flow might help power athletes build more muscle by keeping muscle growth signals turned on longer.

For most people, lifting light weights with blood flow restriction builds muscle just as well as lifting heavy weights — making it a great option if you can't lift heavy.

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 make your muscles grow bigger by lifting very light weights if you restrict blood flow to your arm or leg — it tricks your body into thinking you’re lifting heavy.

People who already lift weights regularly get stronger and build more muscle from low-weight exercises with blood flow restriction than from heavy lifting, making BFR-RT a powerful tool for advanced athletes.