My Kaatsu Training Experiment

Or… Can you strangle your way to bigger, stronger muscles?

The latest and greatest training technique coming out of Japan promises big results and huge gains if you’re willing to try something a little unusual.

It’s called Kaatsu Training.

Oh, and there’s one catch:

Kaatsu training could work on every muscle group – except your neck.

Because Kaatsu training involves cutting off the circulation and blood flow to your muscles while you train. Yes, you read that right.

The original Kaatsu training experiments were done on subjects using a seated calf raise machine. The volunteers would train one leg normally. But for the other leg, researchers would cut-off circulation above the knee before the training.

Surprisingly, scientists found that cutting off the blood flow to the muscles during training sessions actually seemed to increase not only strength levels but also growth hormone levels!

Needless to say, that made me curious.

So I decided to perform my own “at-home” version of a Kaatsu Training Experiment to see if this latest training craze really delivered the goods – or if it was just another system that sounds great in theory but falls short in real life.

Here’s what I did:

I tested my grip strength using a Captains of Crush Gripper.

Previous to this test, I had not done any grip training in a while so I was starting from a true baseline.

Using my right hand and going to failure, I was able to get 15 complete and full reps. Then I tested my left hand and I was able to get 10 full reps.

I then performed three training sets with each hand. Each set was taken to failure and only full reps were counted.

Here’s the major point of the experiment:

All training sets with the right hand were done normally, but I cut off the circulation on my left arm above the elbow so all training sets with the left hand were done with the circulation cut off.

Using the method above, I trained grip strength 3 times per week.

Each time, the right hand was trained normally while the left hand was trained with the circulation cut-off, Kaatsu style.

In total, there were six training sessions performed over two weeks. The final test day was performed 72 hours after the final training session.

Here are the results:

After two weeks of training – the right arm being trained normally and the left-arm trained in the Kaatsu style.

Right Arm – Trained Normally.
Starting level of strength: 15 reps.
Final level of strength: 21 reps.
Strength increase of 40%.

Left Arm – Trained In Kaatsu style.
Starting level of strength: 10 reps.
Final level of strength: 12 reps.
Strength increase of 20%.

Final Verdict:

This experiment showed that regular, hard training over a two-week period showed a greater strength increase than Kaatsu training.

Final Thoughts:

Admittedly, my experiment was less than perfect. It was done using a single subject (myself) and the fact that my right arm was already stronger than the left may have affected the outcome.

However, I personally feel the entire reason my right arm grew stronger at a faster rate than my left is because I was able to train my right arm harder. (Cutting off the circulation on my left arm fatigued my muscles faster and I was not able to complete nearly as many reps on my left hand during training sessions.)

I still feel that Kaatsu training could have some limited applications, especially for rehab patients who are unable to push themselves to train hard.

But for the rest of us, if the goal is to increase strength and muscle, regular, hard-training seems to provide the fastest results.

While I’m always open to new ideas, it seems the old-school methods for building strength and muscle seem to win out time and time again.

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