Research
Mixed
For upper limb exercises, High-Load Resistance Training (HL-RT) produces significantly greater muscle hypertrophy than Low-Load Resistance Training with Blood Flow Restriction (LL-RT with BFR).
When training upper body muscles (arms, shoulders), heavy lifting (HL-RT) may be slightly more effective for muscle growth than BFR training. However, BFR is still a viable option, especially if heavy lifting is not possible.
ModerateQualifiesMEDIUM confidence
On the other hand, analyses involving studies that evaluated upper limb muscles identified statistical differences favoring HL-RT (SMD = 0.2313[95%CI: 0.138, 0.324]; p = 0.005; I2 = 0%).
Why this rating
Based on a smaller number of studies (n=4, 10 comparisons) with low quality of evidence (downgraded due to <5 studies).
Source
Hypertrophic effects of low-load blood flow restriction training with different repetition schemes: A systematic review and meta-analysis
Victor Sabino de Queirós et al. · Research Square · 2023
DOI 10.21203/rs.3.rs-3419589/v1
Meta-analysis · 23 studies
Read the paper DOI resolved against Crossref · corpus check 2026-06-10
More from this paper
- Low-load resistance training with blood flow restriction (LL-RT with BFR) produces muscle hypertrophy equivalent to high-load resistance training (HL-RT) across various repetition schemes, including sets to failure, 15-rep sets, and 75-rep segmented sets.Good
- The specific repetition scheme used in Low-Load Resistance Training with Blood Flow Restriction (LL-RT with BFR) does not significantly affect muscle hypertrophy outcomes when compared to High-Load Resistance Training.Good
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