Fig. 2

Flowchart of main acute responses when including blood flow restriction (BFR) into repeated sprint (RS) exercise. The implementation of BFR into RS exercise amplifies oxygenation responses—there is higher demand for muscle oxygen delivery and extraction which causes an increase in metabolic stresses. This leads to comparatively quicker onset of neuromuscular fatigue and thus decrease in RS performance (i.e. number of sprints, work done, and jump height). The decrease in RS performance is more evident in BFR + lower-limb than BFR + upper-limb-based RS exercise. This is due to the higher sensitivity to oxygenation and greater hyperaemic effect in upper limbs as compared to lower limbs, which allow upper limbs to react better to the increased oxygen demand caused by BFR. As such, any decrease in upper-limb RS performance is likely to be caused by increase in peripheral fatigue induced by BFR. On the other hand, the decrease in lower-limb RS performance is possibly induced by increase in central and peripheral fatigue brought about by BFR. Lastly, the increase in BFR pressure will lead to an increased severity of oxygenation responses, higher neuromuscular fatigue and thus greater decrease in performance response