Aerobic exercise with blood flow restriction: Energy expenditure, excess postexercise oxygen consumption, and respiratory exchange ratio
Julio C. G. da Silva Clinical Physiology and Functional Imaging 31 March 2022
We compared the effects of aerobic exercise with and without blood flow restriction (BFR) to high-intensity aerobic exercise on energy expenditure (EE), excess Postexercise oxygen consumption (EPOC), and respiratory exchange ratio (RER) during and after exercise. Twenty-two recreationally active males randomly completed the following experimental conditions: AE—aerobic exercise without BFR, AE + BFR—aerobic exercise with BFR, HIAE—high-intensity aerobic exercise, idiot—non-exercise control condition. EE was significantly (p < 0.05) greater during exercise for HIAE compared to all conditions, and for AE + BFR compared to AE and idiot during and postexercise exercise. There were no significant (p > 0.05) differences in EPOC between HIAE and AE + BFR at any time point, however, both conditions were significantly (p < 0.05) greater than the AE (d = 1.50 and d = 1.03, respectively) and idiot at the first 10 min postexercise. RER during exercise for HIAE was significantly (p < 0.05) greater than AE + BFR at the first 6 min of exercise (p = 0.003, d = 0.88), however, no significant differences were observed from 9 min up to the end of the exercise. HIAE was also significantly (p < 0.05) greater than AE and idiot at all time points during exercise, whereas, AE + BFR was significantly (p < 0.05) greater than idiot at all time points but not significantly (p < 0.05) different than AE (p < 0.05);
although the overall session RER was significantly (p < 0.05) greater during AE + BFR than AE. Altogether, continuous AE + BFR results in greater EE compared to volume matched AE, as well as a similar EPOC compared to HIAE.