The question of whether all muscles need to have explicit strength training or whether training the big muscles has knock on effects for the smaller ones is interesting.
I’m hoping for the latter, because training all of those 600 muscles seems difficult. I can imagine that part of the cause of sarcopenia is actually a whole body effect, as in a combination of hormones & other molecules that travel in the bloodstream have an effect on all muscles.
Does anyone know what the cause of sarcopenia is at a tissue/cellular/biochemical level? Or does anyone know of a plausible seeming theory?
Thanks, Beth
I watched part of the videos, which mainly said, this seems to work & a bit on how to do it.
Has there been any work on why it might help? Attia (?) seemed to suggest it has to do with growing the capillary bed, which suggests that muscles may detect they aren’t getting enough blood and so grow new capillaries to distribute the blood they do get.
MAC
#23
Seems like exercise hackers have already addressed this issue, you can judge re “difficulty”:
You could hit all muscle groups with only 4 exercises.
Re causes of sarcopenia, aside from aging, seems multi factorial. Senescence in muscle cells is highly implicated. Building muscle mass and strength in advance of the aging decline is a critical intervention. That’s my focus at 57.
Exercise is a whole body intervention bathing every cell in endogenous nootropics and other anti-aging signalling metabolites. I think of the mitochondria as cellular level muscles, and exercise building their efficiency/reserve and blunting their senescence.
Sarcopenia in older adults - PMC.
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Hahaha Joseph… He is…the most interesting man in the world. 
Not qute all on that sound tape… but a few years ago I did write a thriller nonfiction book that was turned into a #1Hollywood Box Office hit at the theaters in the USA and international. Hahaha. Subsequent films have been #1 hits in India… so Bollywood too.
Used some of the royalties for medical care of kids at Be Tho Orphanage in Saigon Vietnam. The rest on roadsters.
I have hobnobbed with Hollywood Stars and walked the red carpet at my movie’s premiere.
So… meh! Maybe…
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Yes, I regularly employ it in my resistance training. It is quite effective and well-suited to older population. BFR causes mechanical tension & metabolic stress signaling which induces a number of mechanisms for muscle growth… the relatively contributions of each mechanism remain largely unknown. There is a large and growing literature on BFR.
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Jim Stray-Gundersen is a leading authority on BFR about which there is much confusion. Currently, the best systems in my view are BStrong and Kaatsu.
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CTStan
#27
I only use BFR for exercising muscles distal to the band. I think more serious athletes should go for the inflatable cuff and be more diligent than I am about it. I like using high reps (30) at 30-40% of max and working to failure regardless of whether I’m using bands, followed by 3 sets of 15 reps with about 20 second rests. I can adjust the rest periods as well as the number of reps in order to achieve 4 sets to failure. This works for me and is time efficient.
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You may want to check these Triple Stick Straps sold on Thomas Michaud’s ‘Locomotion’ website
NOTE: You can also download an article on this page that he has written on the benefits of their use
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I do it and seems effective. I use a cheap pair purchased on amazon. I recall reading it works best in combination…some sets BFR, some sets no BFR.
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Another muscle growth / maintenance approach, has anyone tried it?
EMS is the practice of delivering small currents of electricity to muscles that are under strain and working out. After literally spraying the trainee with water (a great conductor of electricity) and having them wear a suit with built-in electrodes targeting and stimulating specific muscles during the workout, the trainer controls individual intensities in the main muscle groups: quads, calves, glutes, lower back, lats, upper back, abs, pecs, biceps, and triceps. Just a 20-minute workout of high intensity and lots of incoming tiny currents are enough to replace a normal 90-minute workout of sweating your fat off in the gym, EMS advocates say.
Too good to be true?
After 10 weeks of training, Patten reports he went from about 247 pounds to underneath 220 pounds (he is 6 feet 3 inches tall). He went on his skiing trip where he says he skied “further and longer and in a more dynamic way” than ever before. He has since continued training via EMS, to which he credits his ability to ride his bike around London easier. It also makes mowing the grass in his garden more effortless, he says. “I’m getting a lot out of EMS in a shorter time,” he says. “And sort of intellectually, I feel stronger in myself,” he continues. “As you get older, working out is harder and puts stresses and strains on your back and joints.
Related Research Paper:
Effects of whole-body electromyostimulation on health indicators of older people: Systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized trials
Conclusions
This review provides further evidence for significant, moderate to large effect sizes of WB-EMS on sarcopenia, muscle mass and strength parameters, but not on waist circumference and triglycerides.
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Twenty-five years of blood flow restriction training: What we know, what we don’t, and where to next?
Blood flow restriction is a technique that involves inflating a cuff at the proximal portion of the limb with the goal of reducing arterial inflow into the muscle and venous outflow from the muscle. Low-load or low-intensity exercise in combination with blood flow restriction has been consistently shown to augment adaptations over the same/similar exercise without restriction, with changes in muscle size and strength being two of the most commonly measured adaptations. The purpose of this manuscript is to provide an updated narrative review on blood flow restriction. Blood flow restriction’s history, methodology, safety, and efficacy are highlighted. We discuss the effects of blood flow restriction on changes in muscle size and strength, and also review work completed on other variables (e.g. bone, resting blood flow, tendon, pain sensitivity, cognition, orthostatic intolerance). We finish by highlighting six possible areas for future research: 1) identifying mechanisms for growth and strength; 2) sex differences in the effects of blood flow restriction; 3) individual responses to blood flow restriction; 4) influence of pressure versus amount of blood flow restricted; 5) application of blood flow restriction with higher-loads; and 6) what considerations should be made to test the effects of blood flow restriction.
Paywalled paper:
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/02640414.2025.2474329
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Paul
#33
I bought some kaatsu bands in December. I’ve made much more improvement in strength than I ever did going to a gym. For example, was stuck at 10 pullups for years and now can do 16
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Neo
#34
How easy is it to set up/put on/use and get the optimal degree of pressure?
There are over 200 studies on this and was developed in Japan, where it’s called Kaatsu.
Do not use the elastic or cinch type bands as you won’t be able to monitor the pressure.
It’s not too difficult with the right bands.
This is a basic type band. You need ones that are inflatable with the same type of pump used for blood pressure and with a gauge. With the muscle relaxed you can pump it up to about 50mm of pressure. The capillary closure pressure in healthy people is approximately 32mm.
The objective is to restrict venous pressure (supply, higher pressure) while allowing arterial flow out of the muscle.
I have ones like these
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Tim
#36
I’ve been surprised by how effective isometrics are for a full-body workout. I have a preference for both vertical and horizontal planks, which work everything from the thorax to the thighs. At 77, I’m stronger than I’ve ever been.
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Paul
#37
very easy. You can customize it or use their low/med/high settings for pressure. I really like the pressure/ relaxation cycle - 30 seconds of pressure than 5 seconds of no pressure. Seems much better than constant pressure bands.
Neo
#38
Thanks Steve. Looked into it a while back when Peter Attia covered it (and swore by it) and it does seem interesting.
Do you feel it primarily helps with strength or with hypertrophy results?
Did you look into the safety profile, are there any risks to consider?
Re the setup, is that a 2 min process or a 10 min process?
(I experimented with the Katalyst suit and still use it sometimes when I travel, but the set-up time is a bit to much hassle to do it more frequently)
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Neo
#39
Nice. I’m going to look into this a bit more.
Was Kaatsu the clear winner or were there other brands you considered?
Neo
#40
Do you know that this means:
- Unlike other BFR equipment, KAATSU does not occlude arterial blood flow which significantly increases its safety profile.
