How Extreme Sports Athletes Can Use KAATSU
Many extreme sports athletes use KAATSU for enhanced athletic performance, injury rehabilitation, and post-workout, post-competition recovery.
These extreme athletes include cylists, marathon swimmers, mountaineers, big-wave surfers, ice swimmers, ultrarunners, triathletes, channel swimmers, motor sports athletes (car + motorcycle), acrobats, divers, and many others in a wide variety of athletic endeavors.
The athletes utilize KAATSU for the following applications:
Athletic Performance
- KAATSU can be used either as a finisher in a workout or for an entire strength-building session in the gym.
- KAATSU can be used in combination with any fitness equipment (e.g., treadmills, stationary bicycles, rowing machines, barbells, dumbbells, TRX straps, Bosu Balls, vibration plates, or resistance bands)
- Always be well hydrated before and during a KAATSU session.
- If used properly (e.g., never with heavy weights or resistance), there should be either little or no post-workout muscle soreness (DOMS) or potentially injurious strain on your musculoskeletal system.
- A pink or rosy color, or even a beefy red, with vein distention should be visible on your arms or legs during KAATSU. Always check that your Capillary Refill Time (CRT) is faster than 3 seconds (as in “one-thousand-one, one-thousand-two, one-thousand-three”).
- There should be no whiteness, grayness, or blueness in your limbs or clammy skin during KAATSU. This is an indication of occlusion where arterial blood flow is impeded – which is exactly what KAATSU is not intended to do.
Injury Rehabilitation
- With muscle tears or strains, connective tissue (ligament or tendon) tears or strains, and bone contusions, cracks, or breaks, the Progressive KAATSU Cycle modality – both single-limb KAATSU and double-limb KAATSU – is a proven means to enhance and speed up recovery from injuries.
- Ideally, 2-3 KAATSU sessions are performed daily.
- Each session should include 3-6 KAATSU Cycle sets on the arms and the legs.
- The KAATSU Cycle sets can be performed on the injured side or injured limb only (i.e., ‘single-limb’ KAATSU) or on both sides or limbs (i.e., ‘double-limb’ KAATSU).
- The first set should always be on the Low SKU pressure setting. Subsequent sets can be either Medium or High SKU pressure settings.
Post-workout or Post-competition Recovery
- In order to effectively and efficiently remove metabolic waste after a workout or competition, the Progressive KAATSU Cycle mode should be performed as soon after the workout or competition.
- Always start off the first set in the Low SKU pressure setting.
- Subsequent Cycle sets can be either Medium or High SKU pressure settings.
Additional information can be heard on the following podcasts:
