Skip to main content
  1. Home
  2. Health & Fitness
  3. News

Can These Blood Flow Restriction Cuffs Improve Your Workouts?

Controlling the SAGA Fitness blood flow restriction cuff from a SMART phone.
Image used with permission by copyright holder

We all work hard. With myriad obligations, sometimes there aren’t enough hours in the day to get in a nice long workout. Heck, sometimes there’s not even enough time to eat. 

In response, blood flow restriction cuffs are popular training tools among professionals. BFR reduces blood flow to the arm or leg using a cuff or strap wrapped tightly around limbs. Developed over the last two decades by medical professionals aiming for quicker athletic rehabilitation, and eventually by celebrities looking for more efficient workouts, BFR cuffs are now mainstream for busy achievers. 

Recommended Videos

SAGA Fitness is taking that concept to the next level with the world’s first wireless, automated training cuffs. 

Aligned to smartphones, SAGA BFR cuffs easily add exact restrictions to any workout allowing you to do shorter workouts with better results via automatic Bluetooth calibration and occlusion (blockage) adjustment on SAGA’s mobile app.

Related Guides

Muscles grow when a person challenges the tissue to deal with higher levels of resistance or weight. This process is known as muscle hypertrophy, which occurs when muscle fibers sustain damage or injury. The body repairs these damaged fibers by fusing them, increasing muscle mass and size. Certain hormones, including testosterone, human growth hormone, and insulin growth factor, play major roles in hypertrophic repair.

From a hormonal standpoint, these growth hormones increase with high load, high-volume multi-joint exercises, which are all activated during normal high-load training. In other words, we need high-intensity workouts to get strong. The benefit of BFR training is that it allows for lower load exercises with high-load benefits. 

By limiting the amount of blood flow, BFR allows individuals to work out at a similar intensity with less stress or resistance limbs while still achieving muscle growth. Medical studies have shown BFR training to help attenuate muscle atrophy, enhance hypertrophy, increase strength, and improve aerobic capacity, all in a low-load environment.

Of course, with any workout, safety needs to be a consideration. BFR training has not, to date, resulted in serious adverse events for people without prior medical conditions. Studies did reveal common but short-lived BFR side effects like numbness, discomfort, abrasions, and delayed onset muscle soreness. Using SAGA’s innovative tech, however, helps to reduce these effects with high-quality, comfortable materials aligned online to user settings and goals. 

SAGA BFR cuffs are now available for $309 at Buy Now . Along with your two, paired bracelets, each featuring a mobile module attached to a Velcro loop, SAGA includes care and use instructions. Cuffs can be charged with an enclosed USB-C dual charging cable and carried in a stylish mesh bag travel case.

Read More: The DASH Diet for Men

Matthew Denis
Former Digital Trends Contributor
Marshmello wants you to firm up with Burn Boot Camp
Marshmello joins Kevin Hart as another ambassador in new partnership
People, Person, Clothing

I have always been a guy who likes to get into the zone when I go to the gym. Headphones in, hood up, and if I could close my eyes, I would. There is something about music that makes it the perfect workout companion. It touches the heart of your motivation and gets you pumped to pump. No matter what kind of music you like when you are doing other things, when you are working out, most of us love a good beat. That is why it seems like a perfect marriage between Burn Boot Camp and legendary American DJ, Marshmello.

The brand announced global music producer and artist Marshmello as Equity Partner, Franchise Partner, and Executive Partner for Creative & Music, meaning your favorite workout is about to get a new sound, exclusive to the workouts. The artist joins another massive name in entertainment, Kevin Hart, as partners with Burn Boot Camp, propelling it into one of the biggest workout brands on the market.

Read more
Generational fitness: A father’s story for passing health to his children
David and Shaya Charvet talk fitness and working together as father and son
Adult, Female, Person

Father's Day is a holiday that is sometimes overlooked, sometimes celebrated, and sometimes divisive. There are those of us who have great relationships with our fathers, there are some who have strained relationships with our fathers, and then there are many of us who are in between. I was lucky enough to have the perfect father, split between three different men. My biological father taught me how to fail. Mostly, he taught me what not to be as a father by failing hard and often. There are lessons there. My step-father was the provider and the disciplinarian, something I didn't openly acknowledge even to myself until later in life. And my grandfather was the hero, the man I always looked up to and wanted to be. All three were vital to my upbringing and teaching me how to be a man, and some people have them in one person. Shaya Charvet grew up with a father who was first a rising star in Hollywood, who then stepped away at the height of his career to be a present father. He decided to be all three of the men I listed, and then taught lessons through fitness. David Charvet and his son have launched BUILD, a new kind of gym with a focus on all the things you would want out of staying in shape, with the background of a father and son learning together.

My dad brought me to the gym from a very young age. They always told me if you can take care of your body and be disciplined there, you can be disciplined in all other parts of life. - Shaya Charvet, Co-Founder BUILD

Read more
Reinvent yourself in the summer of 2026 with advice from the man who makes it happen
James McMillian, President of Tone House, gives us a peek into the lifestyle we all crave.
City, Blazer, Clothing

Living in New York City offers a slew of opportunities to meet new people. As a matter of fact, even when you want to be alone, you're likely going to meet six or seven. There are new people everywhere. And more of them, like myself, show up every day. So I tend to relish meeting as many as possible. But when I met James McMillian, it was different. He is striking. Sure, he is handsome, built like a steam engine, and dresses like he just left the red carpet. But it is more than that with him. The room gravitated towards him. And, simultaneously, split for him as if he were parting the Red Sea. What is it about him? Confidence. Appearance. Aura. He struck me as a man who has it all. So, I wanted to find out how he did it. We spoke at length about his life, profession, discipline, and mindset. And, as the president of Tone House, a premier athletic training facility in New York City, he proved to have a lifestyle most of us crave. So, how did he do it?

Progress over perfection. Take your time. The small wins are the most important because longevity is key. Give yourself grace and become a life athlete. - James McMillian, Tone House President

Read more