The Effect of Low-Intensity Suspension Training with Blood Flow Restriction on Serum Sex Hormones, Muscular Hypertrophy, and Balance in Young Women

Background: Suspension training induce acute physiological and vascular stress. This study aimed to evaluate the effectiveness of eight weeks of low-intensity TRX training with BFR (LITRX+BFR) versus high-intensity TRX training (HITRX) in terms of sex hormones, power, muscle hypertrophy, and balance in young women.Methods: This study was carried out in 2018 using a semi-experimental pretest-posttest design. Thirty-six active female students were selected and then assigned to LITRX+BFR, HITRX, and control groups through random number generation. Training groups exercised three weekly sessions for eight weeks. Each session consisted of 7 low/high intensity suspension training. The control group only engaged in routine physical activity. After blood sampling, testosterone, cortisol, and estradiol hormones were measured by ELISA method. Muscular hypertrophy evaluated by anatomical method, power with jumping performance, and balance were measured via tecnobody-pk212. SPSS version 26 was used to analyze data using ANCOVA with Bonferroni post-hoc test.Results: The findings indicated that LITRX+BFR and HITRX had a significant increase in testosterone (P=0.000 and P=0.001), testosterone to cortisol ratio (P=0.001 and P=0.001), and estradiol (P=0.000 and P=0.003) while no significant change in cortisol levels (P=0.227). Moreover, muscular hypertrophy (P=0.001 and P=0.001), power (P=0.001 and P=0.000), static (P=0.011 and P=0.005) and dynamic balance (P=0.001 and P=0.001) significantly higher in both LITRX+BFR and HITRX compared with the control group. No significant differences found between suspension training with/without BFR in all variables.Conclusion: It seems LITRX+BFR had improvement in sex hormones levels, muscular hypertrophy, power, and balance as like HITRX. Therefore, LITRX+BFR can be a good alternative to HITRX in young females.