Why muscles puff up after lifting with tight bands
The influence of biological sex and cuff width on muscle swelling, echo intensity, and the fatigue response to blood flow restricted exercise
Not medical advice. For informational purposes only. Always consult a healthcare professional. Terms
Surprising Findings
Percentage muscle swelling was nearly identical between men and women (14% vs. 15%) despite large differences in absolute swelling.
Most assume men’s larger muscles mean they get more ‘stimulus’ from swelling—but this shows the relative response is the same, suggesting sex-based adaptation differences may not come from swelling alone.
Practical Takeaways
Use either narrow or wide cuffs—both produce similar relative swelling, so choose based on comfort, not supposed effectiveness.
Not medical advice. For informational purposes only. Always consult a healthcare professional. Terms
Surprising Findings
Percentage muscle swelling was nearly identical between men and women (14% vs. 15%) despite large differences in absolute swelling.
Most assume men’s larger muscles mean they get more ‘stimulus’ from swelling—but this shows the relative response is the same, suggesting sex-based adaptation differences may not come from swelling alone.
Practical Takeaways
Use either narrow or wide cuffs—both produce similar relative swelling, so choose based on comfort, not supposed effectiveness.
Publication
Journal
Journal of Sports Sciences
Year
2019
Authors
Vickie Wong, T. Abe, Raksha N. Chatakondi, Z. Bell, Robert W. Spitz, S. Dankel, J. Loenneke
Related Content
Claims (6)
Acute muscle swelling responses following a single resistance training session are not representative of swelling responses observed after prolonged, repeated training programs.
When people do exercise with their blood flow partly restricted, men’s muscles tend to swell more in absolute size than women’s, but when you look at how much they swell relative to their starting size, men and women are about the same.
When using a thinner cuff to restrict blood flow during exercise, muscles swell more in absolute size than with a thicker cuff, but when you account for how big the muscle was to start with, both cuffs cause about the same amount of swelling.
When doing blood flow-restricted exercise, women can do more reps than men before getting too tired, especially in the second, third, and fourth sets of exercise.
Even though men and women, or different cuff sizes, cause different amounts of muscle swelling in absolute terms, when you adjust for how big the muscle was to start with, everyone swells about the same — so if swelling is what triggers muscle growth, these differences might not matter.