Does squeezing your arm after lifting make it bigger?
Post-exercise blood flow restriction attenuates muscle hypertrophy
Not medical advice. For informational purposes only. Always consult a healthcare professional. Terms
Surprising Findings
Post-exercise BFR reduced muscle growth at the 60% site by -0.1 cm, despite identical workout volume.
Most research shows BFR increases growth when applied DURING low-load training. Applying it AFTER high-load training—when muscles are already stressed—should theoretically help, but it did the opposite.
Practical Takeaways
Stop using blood flow restriction bands immediately after heavy lifting—especially if you’re female.
Not medical advice. For informational purposes only. Always consult a healthcare professional. Terms
Surprising Findings
Post-exercise BFR reduced muscle growth at the 60% site by -0.1 cm, despite identical workout volume.
Most research shows BFR increases growth when applied DURING low-load training. Applying it AFTER high-load training—when muscles are already stressed—should theoretically help, but it did the opposite.
Practical Takeaways
Stop using blood flow restriction bands immediately after heavy lifting—especially if you’re female.
Publication
Journal
European Journal of Applied Physiology
Year
2016
Authors
S. Dankel, Samuel, L. Buckner, M. Jessee, Kevin, T. Mattocks, J Grant Mouser, Brittany R. Counts, G. Laurentino, Takashi, Abe, J. Loenneke
Related Content
Claims (5)
When people do exercise with bands that squeeze their muscles afterward, some people’s muscles grow a lot, others barely grow at all—even though on average, the whole group doesn’t show much change. It’s like everyone reacts differently to the same workout trick.
If you're new to lifting weights and do bicep curls with heavy weights, then wrap your arm tightly after exercising, you might end up with slightly less muscle growth in your upper arm compared to not wrapping it at all.
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.
If you're new to lifting weights, adding blood flow restriction after your workout won't make your muscles grow any more than just lifting weights by itself—even if you do the same amount of work.
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.