I first encountered KAATSU while I was working towards my Specialist training degree and I was amazed at just how widely this procedure can be used. KAATSU has been scientifically proven to be extremely effective at encouraging muscle hypertrophy (increase in the intersection/diameter of the muscles) and facilitating muscle rehabilitation and recreation. After trying out and testing KAATSU myself, I can confidently say that It has proven to be one of the most effective methods a trainer and trainee can utilize during training.
Dr. Yoshiaki Satodeveloped this amazing tool more than 50 years ago but it only made its way to Europe in 2015. Interesting fact is that in japan he is the only person to have received the “Dr.” attribute without graduating from any medical university.This has only been made possible because of his enormous contribution through KAATSU and therefore, he was made an honorary doctor. As KAATSU is only relevant in Europe since 2015, we may very well call it a revolutionary tool. After making its way to other countries as well, its use and popularity skyrocketed, especially in professional sports and body-building thanks to its amazingly positive effects on the body’s regeneration. Only in Japan, more than 300.000 trainings utilize KAATSU on a daily basis! Much of this is done in hospitals to help severly injured people get back on the road.
But what is KAATSU exactly? The meaning ofKAATSU consists of 2 parts. “KA”, as in ’added’ and “ATSU”, as in ’pressure’. Putting them together results in ’added pressure’. By putting the tool’s straps on a trainee’s or patient’s limbs, KAATSU exerts pressure (carefully specified by a specialist) on said limbs, just as a blood pressure meter’s cuffs would. This pressure causes a moderation of the bloodflow on said limb. More specifically, It slows down the bloodflow in the veins in the treated limb (KAATSU doesnt stop the flow however! Only temporarily limits it). Training with this method (with professional supervision) has a great impact on many areas of life, which I will be detailing below:
Unfortunately, fewer and fewer personal trainers take the time to deal with and help the elderly and other people in need of special rehabilitation and recreation. This is somewhat understandable, as the utilized methods here require much more attention and knowledge. During my studies I was always pushing myself, raising the bar higher and higher. Therefore, I decided to ’venture into’ the field of rehabilitation and recreation as well to gain as much knowledge as possible.
Before and after performing surgery on lower and upper limbs, excellent pre and post reconditioning is possible by utilizing the KAATSU tool. This way, It is possible to greatly reduce the risk (at least by half or even completely!) of atrophy in hospital patients and patients with lying plaster or other types of plaster. In the case of trainees and professional athletesthis is a no-brainer but average people are also encouraged to utilize KAATSU since it’s not all the same or negligiblehow much a patient will suffer during rehabilitation before being completely mobile again.
By using KAATSU, many new disorders and the resurfacing of old disorders can be successfully prevented after a patient has undergone a certain critical type of surgery in which case they aren’t allowed to lift heavy objects thereafter for a while. A good example for this would be during the recovery time after a stroke.
KAATSU is extremely efficient at treating fractured limbs, bones. The length of the rehabilitation of the injured limbs may be halved by treating the healthy limbs with the KAATSU tool!
The effectiveness of the rehabilitation of tendon and ligament related injuries has been significantly increased thanks to the KAATSU tool! It’s actually a form of medical post-surgery training!
KAATSU has been tested on chronically ill patientssuffering from Sclerosis Multiplex, spinal hernia, etc and the results have been amazing! Some of these disorders result in severe articular, ligamental, muscular and bone degradation which all was effectively halted with KAATSU!
KAATSU has also proven effective in the prevention of vasoconstriction, stroke and heart disease. It has also improved the lives of people suffering from dementia, diabetes and rheumatism.
By working closely together with doctors, physiotherapists and nutrition experts I firmly believe that my methods shall prove very useful for patients suffering from musculoskeletal disorders. (within the borders of one’s competence of course!)
You can read more about this topic HERE.
Elderly people usually can’t be subjected to high intensity, high-resistance training due to frequent articular problems and simply because of health issues that inevitably come with age. KAATSU however poses a very real and achievable solution to this problem. Training with the KAATSU tool enables a type of low-resistance training which has a great positive impact on the body and is ideal for elderly people.
What are these positive effects? Studies have proven that following KAATSU training, in contrast to traiditional wight training, natural growth hormone levels multiply by at least 9 times more, although professionals have measured a value of 290 (!!!) as well.
This hormone stimulates and encourages lipolysis and ossification which may lead to the prevention of obesity and osteoporosis. (Beekley and associates, 2005).
KAATSU also stimulates the liver to produce more insulin-like growth factor (IGF-1) (Ave et al., 2005a), which enhances the activity of endothelial cells and increases insulin sensitivity (especially important for people with diabetes).
To summarise, we can safely say that KAATSU is incredibly effective at moderating and decreasing issues associated with old age. This, accompanied by frequent training sessions and proper eating can eliminate a lot of long-term and serious health problems that risk elderly people.
You can read more about the tool HERE.
Certain men and women (businessman and businesswomen for example) have the problem of not being able to designate time for training 60/90 minutes 3 or more times a week due to their busy schedules. I can’t blame them since exhaustion from changing timezones frequently and working 10-12 hours a day would really get to me as well.
However, for those with such lifestyle, KAATSU is an excellent choice! By training only for about 30 minutes 2 times a week with KAATSU one can achieve almost the same results as he/she would with weight training for 60 minutes 3 times a week. Moreover, KAATSU exerts less load on the body joints and ligaments since the trainee only works with 20% of their maximus resistance. After KAATSU training, one will feel a comfortable tiredness and a good sense of accomplishment.
Stress is not news for anyone these days. KAATSU provides an excellent method for effectively countering every day stress and encouraging a relaxing, deep sleep. It’s ideal for training between working hoursor after work.
To summarise, training for 30 minutes twice a week with KAATSU you can save more than 2 hours of extra training and the time of travel needed for these extra sessions! Research has proved that KAATSU training can be just as effective as weight training. Of course, the ideal solution is to get the best of both worlds but this requires more time from the trainee and a lot of people only aim to have an ’okay’ body, for which KAATSU is perfect!
You can read more about the tool HERE.
Does a safe way of training with weights exist for children? Yes indeed! Just by enlisting a specialist’s supervision, the child is already safe to train thanks to KAATSU! Remember, KAATSU limits the bloodflow in certain limbs so the child can train under the least amount of pressure. This is going to lead to the most optimal improvement and maximum potential during the later years.
How is this possible? When children undergo training with KAATSU tools the sessions only utilize very small weights (about 20% of the actual weight a child can do 1 rep with).For example, an average child around the age of 8-10 cando 1 curl (biceps training) with a weight of 5 kg.When we train with KAATSU he or she will only use 1 kg weights! This way, the joints and ligaments receive so little pressure that they can’t suffer damage.
How effective is this? With KAATSU training every kind of goal is within reach, even for kids! Let it be muscle mass appropriate for age, reducing body fat, fitness or better stamina, KAATSU can make everything possible that would otherwise motivate a child for weight training (which may not be appropriate at a given age). What makes KAATSU training special is the fact that every type of concern or injury that’s associated with weight training CAN BE AVOIDED!. The appropriate low resistance KAATSU training results in no muscle tears, ligament tears or other injuries associated with weight training.
I’m not convinced. Won’t the child’s growth come to a halt?
I get this question quite often. The answer is simply no. To elaborate: Studies have shown that KAATSU training actually boosts the growth hormone levels in the body by at least 9 times more than a traditional weight training session would. Even in the case of children! This hormone stimulates and encourages lipolysis and ossification which may lead to the prevention of obesity and osteoporosis. (Beekley and associates, 2005).
KAATSU also stimulates the liver to produce more insulin-like growth factor (IGF-1) (Ave et al., 2005a), which enhances the activity of endothelial cells and increases insulin sensitivity (especially important for people with diabetes).
Bring your children for a free trial session! I will show you how effective KAATSU training is and that no harm shall come to the child!
Now why would I think KAATSU can help disabled patients? Unfortunately, lifting and moving around weights is rather difficult for disabled people. For them this is also a safety concern, therefore I don’t encourage anyone with serious mobility issues to attempt heavy weight training.
Now, following the traidional principles of body-building, for one to reach muscle-hypertrophy (the increase of muscle cross-section), one has to lift heavy weights.
With KAATSUhowever, this is not the case.
When training with KAATSU, we only utilize 20% of our maximum resistance (1RM). What does this mean? If you were able to do 1 curl with a 10 kg weight (biceps training), then during KAATSU training you would only have to use 2kg weights. The surprising fact is that the development will be almost identical. Moreover, one can even achieve greater results with KAATSU than with traditional weight training.
For training with KAATSU, having 1 intact limb is sufficient. By training that 1 intact limb, we train and affect the whole body! KAATSU training has a lot of positive effects this way on the body.
What are these positive effects? Studies have proven that following KAATSU training, in contrast to traiditional wight training, natural growth hormone levels multiply by at least 9 times more, although professionals have measured a value of 290 (!!!) as well.
This hormone stimulates and encourages lipolysis and ossification which may lead to the prevention of obesity and osteoporosis. (Beekley and associates, 2005).
KAATSU also stimulates the liver to produce more insulin-like growth factor (IGF-1) (Ave et al., 2005a), which enhances the activity of endothelial cells and increases insulin sensitivity (especially important for people with diabetes).
“Get an advantage legally with no drugs or doping!”
Yes, this is not your typical marketing “bullshit”(excuse my language). Rather a proven fact that the implementation of KAATSU into different sports training can grant athletes many advantages over others that don’t use the tool!
A lot of knowledge and experience has cumulated over the 50 years of development of KAATSU and thanks to this, a great deal of new training principles have been introduced into the world. Some principles are specifically designed to assist the improvement of professional athletes.
For a professional, the most important factor in their training is proper and quick regeneration. It has been proven that KAATSU is able to speed up the regeneration process, which is essential for athletes who train 2-3 times per day(!). Using KAATSU is needed in order to increase the effectiveness of training sessions and avoid overtraining. For athletes who need a higher than average stamina for their sport, KAATSU is very useful for strengthening muscle stamina and strength. KAATSU is greatly effective with natural body-builders since it can net you unbelievable muscle cross-section increase!
For all intents and purposes, let me share my own achievements with you. I mixed traditional weight training with KAATSU training for 3 months. Here are the results:
(FYI: during this time period I was on a strict calorie-deficit diet)
Date of measurement: | 2016.04.21 | 2016.07.21 | |
---|---|---|---|
Measured from highest to lowest point of the tensed muscles in cm | Difference | ||
Right upper arm | 41 | 42 | +1cm |
Left upper arm | 41 | 43 | +2cm |
Right forearm | 30 | 31.5 | +1.5cm |
Left forearm | 30.5 | 31 | +0.5cm |
Chest | 117 | 117 | 0cm |
Waist | 89 | 88 | -1cm |
Right thigh | 56 | 60.5 | +4.5cm |
Left thigh | 58 | 62 | +4cm |
Right shin | 41 | 41 | 0 |
Left shin | 40.5 | 42 | +1.5cm |
The following video demonstrates how american football player incorporate KAATSU into their every day training sessions:
KAATSU élsportolóknak (angol) from Eddzvelem.hu on Vimeo.
KAATSU is legally WADA compatible. By utilizing the KAATSU tool, every professional athlete can create a training programme that grants them improvement and achievement of maximum potential.
- A quick preliminary assessment of the trainee
- Orientation on the basics of KAATSU and the structure of the training session.
- Continuous monitoring of pulse with EKG-level precision.
- Includes warmup + KAATSU training + post workout routine.
- If you choose to go with a 1 month personal training with me, I deduct the cost of this session from the cost of the personal training.
- cost = 12.490 Ft
*Only in a gym selected by me and only by purchasing a monthly pass to the selected gym
Personal training with the addition of the KAATSU tool:
- A quick preliminary assessment of the trainee (usually about 1.5 hour length). Costs 20.000 HUF (free if the trainee chooses to go for the package)
- Preliminary 1.5-hour assessment of your capabilities (costs 20.000 HUF or free if you’ve pre-ordered the package)
- Establishment of a personal diet and continuous inspection
- Establishment of a personal training plan and continuous inspection.
- Establishment of a personal Supplements Package recommendation and continuous inspection.
- Continuous monitoring of pule with methods of EKG precision.
- Weekly/monthly/quarterly assessments of body weight, blood pressure, blood oxygen levels, fitness, etc.
- 2 training sessions per week for 1 month with complete supervision provided by me.
= 99.990 HUF/month
*Only in a gym selected by me and only by purchasing a monthly pass to the selected gym
- A quick preliminary assessment of the trainee (usually about 1.5 hour length). Costs 30.000 HUF (free if the trainee chooses to go for the package)
- Preliminary 1.5-hour assessment of your capabilities (costs 20.000 HUF or free if you’ve pre-ordered the package)
- Establishment of a personal diet and continuous inspection
- Establishment of a personal training plan and continuous inspection.
- Establishment of a personal Supplements Package recommendation and continuous inspection.
- Continuous monitoring of pule with methods of EKG precision.
- Weekly/monthly/quarterly assessments of body weight, blood pressure, blood oxygen levels, fitness, etc.
- 2 training sessions per week for 1 month with complete supervision provided by me*.
= 199.990 Ft / hó
* Only in certain districts of Budapest which depends on the time a session starts and the accessibility of the agreed training spot/place (I have to account for morning traffic and traffic jams)