Effect of 4 weeks rock climbing with blood flow restriction on athletic performance and some muscle damage indictors in elite rock climbers

: Exercise training with blood flow restriction (BFR)is a modern method of training that has been developed in two recent decades and has been used for improvement of performance. Therefore, this study was conducted to identify the effect of 4 weeks rock climbing with blood flow restriction on athletic performance and some muscle damage indictors  in elite rock climbers. : In a semi experimental research method, 12 male and 12 female elite rock climbers with at least 4 years rock climbing experience and age range of 23 to 27 years and a fat percentage of 10 to 20 percent purposefully selected among the climbers, and allocated in two equal BFR and none-BFR groups. Both groups performed 4-week rock climbing training program consisting three sessions per week and each session was 90 minutes, severity of each session was 60 to 80% of climbing grades. Blood samples were obtained in baseline and after four weeks of climbing training to determine the amount of lactate dehydrogenase (LDH), creatine kinase (CK) and lactate. Also, hand grip, explosive anaerobic power, body fat percent, adduction strength in upper body and degree of climbing was measured. For data analysis, independent T test was used at α ≤ 0.05. After 4 weeks of climbing with and without limitation of blood flow, the index of muscular damage of LDH, CK did not show significant difference in response to climbing exercise. But lactate level was lower in BFR rather than NBFR. There are not any difference in Hand Crip strength, explosive anaerobic power, body fat percent, adduction strength in upper body between BFR and NBFR groups. But in degree of climbing, the result showed the better performance in BFR than NBFR (P <0.05). According to the results of this study, rock climbing training with or without BFR, do not increase muscular damage. and it could influence on performance.