Effects of Acute Blood Flow Restriction Exercise on Metabolic Function in Untrained Individuals

RE decreases the symptoms of metabolic disorders due to its ability to increase glucose disposal and uptake by myofibrils, thus, RT resulting in hypertrophy is beneficial for disease management. BFR can be a beneficial addition to an exercise protocol as it can induce hypertrophic gains with lower exercise loads and chronically can improve glucose uptake. An acute bout of RE with BFR in untrained individuals may have the ability to improve insulinogenic and glycemic regulation. PURPOSE: The purpose of this study is to determine the systemic effects of blood flow restriction exercise in untrained individuals on glucose uptake and utility, and insulinogenic response compared to a non-BFR session. METHODS: 11 non-resistance trained individuals participated in three laboratory visits in a randomized, crossover, repeated measures experimental design. After the first familiarization session, the proceeding exercise sessions included 4x15 body-weight air squats with control and BFR conditions. BFR was inflated to 60% LOP during exercise. Blood lactate (mmol/L), glucose (mg/L), and insulin (mU/L) concentrations were taken before and after exercise. RPE and perceived pain were collected at the end of each set. Data analysis was done in SPSS with a significance level of 0.05. RESULTS: There was a significant effect of time for blood lactate (p < 0.001), but no significant effect of condition. There was an effect of condition on the change in lactate (p < 0.05). There was no significance for any other variable. There was a significant effect of time (p < 0.001) and condition (p = 0.049) for RPE, but no significant interaction of time x condition. There was a significant effect for time (p < 0.001), condition (p = 0.002), and time x condition (p = 0.017) for pain. CONCLUSION: Lactate significantly increased in both conditions between resting levels and immediately post-exercise, and decreased post-exercise. Glucose and insulin had no significant changes over time or differences between conditions. These results indicate that a light-intensity RE with BFR, while fasted, produces similar metabolic outcomes as a session without BFR and does not produce any extreme glycemic or insulinemic changes while fasted in a healthy untrained population.