Not too many years ago, an innovative training modality called kaatsu training or occlusive training came from Japan.
The name explicitly refers to the principle behind this system: l "momentary occlusion of muscle blood vessels, resulting in an increase in internal pressure. In fact, the Japanese term Kaatsu means "increase in pressure".
The original idea is due to a university student, Yoshiaki Sato, who through the research center for physical health and the science of exercise in Tokyo began studies on training in oxygen deficiency and circulatory deficit in order to apply them above all to exercise in microgravity conditions for astronauts.
Soon in the Rising Sun this new way of training, based on the occlusion of the blood vessels, began to find a wider use, involving the practices of musculation, weight loss and rehabilitation.
Another important supporter of kaatsu training is the eminent sports physiologist Masahiko Tanaka, convinced that this training allows greater gains in strength and hypertrophy than traditional non-occlusive training.
, but thanks to what mechanisms?
Muscle hypoxia and fiber recruitment
The first is that of muscle recruitment. This may seem somewhat strange, given that in such training the loads used are not high, but the explanation is instead simple: a prolonged lack of oxygen (hypoxia) during an effort quickly depletes the type 1 fibers, forcing the neuromuscular system to recruit type 2b and 2a fibers.
Muscle hypoxia and angiogenesis
Furthermore, hypoxia creates a strong stimulus to the angiogenesis process, that is the generation of new blood vessels; this plays a decisive role in improving vascularization, which is a useful element in bodybuilding - lacking in subjects who train at very high intensity with few repetitions (rep).
Muscle hypoxia and GH synthesis
Muscle hypoxia also has a positive effect on the secretion of GH or somatotropin, a hormonal mediator with an anabolic effect. This occurs thanks to the high production of lactic acid by the muscles which, in an oxygen-poor environment, rapidly increase anaerobic metabolism lactacid.
Lactic acid binds to some hypothalamic receptors which, thanks to the release of GHRH, target the pituitary causing it to stimulate the secretion of GH.
Muscle hypoxia and myostatin inhibition
The fourth and last concerns the activation of an inhibitory mechanism of myostatin, a protein that slows down muscle anabolism.
