KAATSU Review: #1 BFR Machine Used By Pros, Military, Olympians & High-Achievers?

Benefits of KAATSU Training

Virtually all of the research conducted on BFR training has used KAATSU systems.

So far, I managed to find 173 studies performed on KAATSU specifically.

No other BFR machine comes close.

The health and performance benefits of KAATSU are pleiotropic and include:

• Cardiovascular health
• Cognitive health
• Muscle & strength building
• Bodybuild & hypertrophy
• Anti-frailty
• Biomarker improvement
• Injury rehab
• Workout recovery
• Longevity & healthspan
• Hormonal optimization

It even seems to reduce jet lag and facilitate adaptation to new time zones.

Now, let’s dig into some of the specific benefits.

Muscle & strength

Skeletal muscle is a major determinant of metabolism, brain function, circulation, healthspan, and quality of life. It also makes up approximately half of body mass. First and foremost, KAATSU is well-documented to increase muscle size and strength.

Both as a standalone treatment, or when incorporated into a resistance training program. Just walking with KAATSU works great (as we’ll cover next).

Lots of research has confirmed KAATSU’s beneficial effects on strength (emphasis mine),

Current evidence suggests that the addition of BFR to dynamic exercise training is effective for augmenting changes in both muscle strength and size. This effect was consistent for both resistance training and aerobically-based exercise, although the effect sizes varied. The magnitude of observed changes are noteworthy, particularly considering the relatively short duration of the average intervention.

In addition to the little time required to build muscle using KAATSU, it’s also more pleasant than many forms of training. Scientists note users experience only “moderate exertion ratings and low-pressure sensations”, making it a solid option for individuals without substantial training backgrounds.

Another group analyzing 19 papers on BFRT concluded that the lack of standardization between gear and protocols is a problem in the industry. They also addressed the issue of local vs systemic muscle growth. Can BFR applied to the arms and legs benefit other unbanded parts of the body? Here’s what they said,

“Some of the musculature in the upper body cannot be directly restricted by the application of BFR. Despite this, increases in muscle size and strength were observed in muscles placed under direct and indirect BFR.

A plethora of other research has shown that KAATSU improves muscle & strength in the healthy, sick, old, and young alike. It’s especially useful when unable to train conventionally, while traveling, or to actually build muscle just from walking.

Super walking

Constant low-level movement is a major factor shared by virtually every longevity hotspot worldwide.

Walking is among the easiest and most accessible movements and it requires zero training or specialized knowledge.

Even just simply slowly walking with KAATSU works, as implied by this paper titled Muscle size and strength are increased following walk training with restricted venous blood flow from the leg muscle, Kaatsu-walk training. Note that the normal walking control group did not experience these benefits.

This paper is especially fascinating, because it showed potent endocrine effects from only about ~15 minutes of walking with KAATSU, six days per week for three weeks.

Compared to the normal walk control, KAATSU hardly increased stress hormones while profoundly spiking the healthy and anabolic growth hormone.

All this just from a few minutes of walking. No gym or grueling exercise required. There’s literally no downside.

Park a few minutes farther from the office, and walk there with KAATSU. Benefits like a gym session but easier and taking no extra time.

Cardiovascular health & endurance

Cardiovascular conditioning is another factor correlated with quality of life and a better-functioning body. Long, steady-state endurance activities, however, trash the body with heavy levels of aging oxidative stress.

Most of us don’t recover adequately, which is one reason endurance exercise can be dangerous.

KAATSU lets us build aerobic endurance capacity without over-taxing the body.

A study of older adults found that this style of training reduced arterial stiffness.

Another 2021 study said this about KAATSU,

“We suggest that this has the potential to induce enhanced physiological adaptations, including increases in capillary supply and mitochondrial function, which can contribute to an improvement in performance of endurance exercise.”

KAATSU also improves various biomarkers associated with cardiometabolic health.

I found this study of young and healthy women especially interesting. Compared to the control group, the KAATSU users experienced greater blood flow and circulation to the forehead.

Since BFR only occludes the arms and legs, this shows that KAATSU sessions improve systemic, full-body circulation.

I personally notice that my heart rate stays elevated during KAATSU workouts. During these sessions, I hover between 130-165 BPM, which mirrors my heart rate while running.

Altogether, making KAATSU an excellent tool to build cardiovascular health without grueling, long, and unnecessary steady-state exercise.

Bodybuilding & hypertrophy

KAATSU is well suited to bodybuilding and increasing muscle size (hypertrophy). Indeed, I found a Bodybuilding.com program around 2015 that implemented BFR training.

Most KAATSU protocols recommend low weight, high reps, and several sets. This closely matches traditional bodybuilding approaches, but also simultaneously activates both Type IIA & Type IIB muscle fibers.

Bodybuilders even use KAATSU at the end of their workout to add additional metabolic stress and thus greater adaptation.

Emerging research supports KAATSU for bodybuilding and growing larger muscles.

One of the ways KAATSU is hypothesized to work is by inhibiting a protein called myostatin. Myostatin is what limits muscle growth, so by inhibiting it, muscle growth should increase. An extreme example of disabling myostatin…

Injury recovery

Over time, most competitive athletes get injured. In fact, there’s a well-known axiom of long-term progress.

Avoid injury and the accompanying weeks or months of the resulting downtime.

KAATSU has two-pronged benefits for injury.

First, the minimal weight lifted makes injury easier to prevent.

Second, advanced rehab specialists are using this technology to help patients recover quickly. Not only speed, but the quality of every day leading up to full recovery,

“Compared with standard quadriceps strengthening, low load with BFR produced greater reduction in pain with daily living at 8 weeks in people with PFP. Improvements were similar between groups in worst pain and Kujala score. The subgroup with painful resisted knee extension had larger improvements in quadriceps strength from BFR.”

Meta-analyses also find that KAATSU benefits injury rehab. One concluded, “Compared with low-load training, low-load BFR training is more effective, tolerable and therefore a potential clinical rehabilitation tool.”.

Real-world experience with Olympians and professional athletes confirms that KAATSU does accelerate and enhance recovery from injury.

Speed & power output

Power, the measure of force generation over time, is another main biomotor ability required by many athletes.

Research into the effects of KAATSU on power output is certainly not exhaustive. Preliminary findings, however, suggest some benefits.

This 2020 paper remarked,

“After training, only LL-BFR improved the average power output throughout the midportion of a voluntary muscle endurance task. Specifically, LL-BFR training sustained an 18% greater power output from baseline and resulted in a greater change from baseline than LL-RE (19 ± 3 vs. 3 ± 4 W, P = 0.008)”

Increasing power output by 18 percent over baseline is quite impressive!

Another trial of occlusion training in semiprofessional rugby athletes found significant improvements in max sprint time and leg power.

Still, KAATSU is not the best tool to improve athletic power output.

Hormone optimization

Hormones are the chemical dictators of your life. These tiny messages have profound impacts on every facet of our electromagnetobiochemistry and ultimately our quality of life.

One of the key benefits of exercise is the re-regulation of the endocrine system. Shifting from break down into a more life-building.

Most of us live in a chronic sympathetic “fight-or-flight”, high-cortisol state. Over time, degrading and destroying tissues while also increasing inflammation and senescent cell burden.

To top it off, we’re in an era of low testosterone which is correlated with all kinds of disease and reduced vitality.

Growth hormone is considered a “fountain of youth” and is often prescribed by longevity doctors. Yet the higher stress goes, the less growth hormone we have available.

KAATSU helps with each.

Compared to traditional training, KAATSU improves the endocrine system by minimizing stress hormones (ie cortisol), while also boosting the post-exercise anabolic response of hormones like IGF-1, growth hormone, and even testosterone.

Rather than relying on expensive and side-effect-prone exogenous hormone therapy, why not improve your body’s ability to create and use these anti-aging & peak performance hormones naturally using KAATSU?

Longevity & healthspan

Longevity science has grown exponentially in the last few years. Consumers are no longer interested in just extending lifespan, but the quality of those final years too (healthspan).

While modern research is focused on the latest designer longevity molecules, many of these scientists are missing some of the highest-impact therapies.

“Exercise is likely the most powerful anti-aging strategy available” — Dr. Mercola

Not all exercise is equal either. Resistance training is especially important. Particularly because it’s difficult to maintain muscle mass with age. A phenomenon called anabolic resistance. It’s hypothesized to occur mainly because muscles receive less blood flow and thus less nutrient exchange with age.

Yet around 75% of older folks (age 65+) don’t regularly exercise (in any form) enough to stay healthy.

Is it too much time? The Inconvenience of going to the gym? Expense? Discomfort? Lack of knowledge? Prior injury?

Over time, most people exercising regularly will develop injuries. Injuries that either slow their progress or debilitate them entirely.

KAATSU is incredibly potent because it’s accessible and highly effective for adults entering the latter stages of life.

One meta-analysis concluded,

“Available evidence suggests BFR may demonstrate utility in aiding rehabilitation efforts in adults older than 50 years of age, especially for inducing muscle hypertrophy, combating muscle atrophy, increasing muscle strength, and improving muscle function.”

KAATSU also has impressive anti-frailty benefits and rat studies show that it enhances mTOR signaling pathways in skeletal muscle, diminishing age-related muscle breakdown (atrophy).

It also improves muscular size, strength, and “functional ability of active older men and women”.

Finally, a longevity benefit I rarely see discussed. BFR naturally increases NAD+ levels by activating the rate-limiting enzyme called NAMPT.

Blood sugar control

Controlling blood sugar spikes (glycemic variability) along with reducing consumption of inflammatory foods (especially industrial seed oils) are considered two of the most important dietary principles for overall health.

Both of these are vital not only for health but also performance. One company that makes the best continuous glucose monitor for athletes has repeatedly shown that controlling blood sugar is key to athletic excellence. In fact, that’s the entire business of the company.

For longevity, blood sugar matters too. Instead of popping blood sugar medications like metformin, smart BFR usage can yield far better results. In fact, my personal testing with the Nutrisense CGM showed that even just a walk improved post-meal blood sugar better than any molecule.

Yet the primary way the body disposes of blood sugar is through muscle. As much as 80 percent of the glucose we consume gets shuttled into skeletal muscle tissue. Sarcopenia, or the loss of muscle tissue, is also one of the core causes of insulin resistance.

A quick BFR walk or workout can help the muscles pull sugar out of the blood and prevent the glycemic roller coaster throughout the day. Reducing the spikes and troughs of energy and then brain fog.

As well as protecting the brain.

Brain health

I am a huge advocate of safe and effective brain supplements (called nootropics). These can artificially build willpower, motivation, and all the desired effects of high performance until they become engrained as second-nature habits.

Exercise is also one of the best-documented strategies to improve mental health and cognitive performance. As anyone that’s taken a quick 30-second micro-workout break can attest.

KAATSU also has cognitive and mental health effects. While exercise scientists considered lactic acid (lactate) an inevitable metabolic “waste” generated by exercise, it’s also profoundly beneficial for the brain and body. Lactate is responsible for many of the adaptations and growth caused by exercise.

Although it’s produced in muscle tissue, lactate diffuses into the bloodstream and eventually crosses through the blood-brain barrier into the brain.

It’s a super fuel for the brain, supplying up to 60 percent of the brain’s energetic needs (along with ketones).

BFR stimulates neurogenesis (BDNF) and puts the brain into a hyper-learning (neurogenic) state.

Combined with the increased systemic blood flow (better nutrient delivery), and increased oxygenation, the brain has everything it needs to thrive.

Metabolic health

No discussion of exercise is complete without addressing metabolic health.

The metabolism is the body’s system used to convert substrates (foods, drinks, etc) into cellular energy. Ideally, with the least cellular “exhaust” waste products.

Metabolic issues underlie virtually all diseases.

As previously discussed, KAATSU improves blood sugar, leading to less oxidative stress.

This study showed improvements to all kinds of measures of metabolic health in the majority of participants:

• Systolic blood pressure dropped from an average of 166 mmHg to 146 mmHg and diastolic blood pressure also dropped from an average of 96 mmHg to 86 mmHg
• HbA1c dropped from an average of 6.8% to 6.12%
• LDL-c decreased from an average of 158 mg/dl to 136 mg/dl
• Reduction in weight from an average of 67 kg to 59 kg

Another paper mentioned how KAATSU improves the function of mitochondrial and capillaries, both important to overall metabolism.

Strategic BFR use can dramatically help improve metabolic health and boost mitochondrial function.

Portability & versatility

Most of the top fitness tools are prohibitively heavy or large. I’m often asked about my favorite portable fitness gear for travel, and BFR certainly makes the list.

All the BFR systems I’ve tried easily fit into even the smallest of carry-on bags, and weigh very little.

Although the newer KAATSU models are slightly larger and bulkier than cheap pairs of Amazon BFR Bands, they’re even more versatile.

You can use KAATSU to amplify just about any activity (or even lack thereof).

From getting a cardiovascular workout while just watching TV to boosting the gains made from a tough traditional strength training session to building muscle from a simple walk.

I even managed to find an article explaining how Olympians use KAATSU to overcome jet lag.

This is as close as it gets to an all-in-one physical health tool. Improve recovery, rehab injuries, build strength, boost healthy hormone levels, and stay fit anywhere.