Aerobic exercise with blood flow restriction: Energy expenditure, excess postexercise oxygen consumption, and respiratory exchange ratio

We compared the effects of aerobic exercise with and without blood flow restriction (BFR) to high-intensity aerobic exercise on energy expenditure (EE), excess Postexercise oxygen consumption (EPOC), and respiratory exchange ratio (RER) during and after exercise. Twenty-two recreationally active males randomly completed the following experimental conditions: AE-aerobic exercise without BFR, AE + BFR-aerobic exercise with BFR, HIAE-high-intensity aerobic exercise, CON-non-exercise control condition. EE was significantly (p < 0.05) greater during exercise for HIAE compared to all conditions, and for AE + BFR compared to AE and CON during and postexercise exercise. There were no significant (p > 0.05) differences in EPOC between HIAE and AE + BFR at any time point, however, both conditions were significantly (p < 0.05) greater than the AE (d = 1.50 and d = 1.03, respectively) and CON at the first 10 min postexercise. RER during exercise for HIAE was significantly (p < 0.05) greater than AE + BFR at the first 6 min of exercise (p = 0.003, d = 0.88), however, no significant differences were observed from 9 min up to the end of the exercise. HIAE was also significantly (p < 0.05) greater than AE and CON at all time points during exercise, whereas, AE + BFR was significantly (p < 0.05) greater than CON at all time points but not significantly (p < 0.05) different than AE (p < 0.05); although the overall session RER was significantly (p < 0.05) greater during AE + BFR than AE. Altogether, continuous AE + BFR results in greater EE compared to volume matched AE, as well as a similar EPOC compared to HIAE.