Fig. 3

Overview of the chronic effects (aerobic, anaerobic, and muscular adaptations) of implementing blood flow restriction into high-intensity interval training (BFR + HIIT) vs HIIT (CON) based on present evidence. The terms ‘maximal’ and ‘submaximal’ relate to exercise intensities based on the level of exertion/effort. The symbol ‘ ’ signifies significantly greater improvements vs CON, ‘ ’ signifies some evidence of greater improvements vs CON, while ‘—' signifies no/insufficient evidence to provide a conclusion. BFR + sprint protocols, including sprint interval training (SIT) and repeated sprint training (RST) improve maximal aerobic capacity (\(\dot{\mathrm{V}}{\mathrm{O}}_{2\mathrm{max}}\)). BFR + submaximal effort SIT improves running sprint speed, muscular strength, power, and hypertrophy. There are greater improvements in strength and power after BFR + RST. For BFR + small-sided games (SSG), there are greater improvements in exercise economy, mean power output (MPO), muscular strength, power, and activation, as well as some evidence of greater improvements in \(\dot{\mathrm{V}}{\mathrm{O}}_{2\mathrm{max}}\), maximal aerobic function and peak power output (PPO). BFR can also be paired with submaximal effort HIIT methods like short intervals (ST) and long intervals (LT). For BFR + ST, there is some evidence of a greater improvement for \(\dot{\mathrm{V}}{\mathrm{O}}_{2\mathrm{max}}\), maximal aerobic function and exercise economy. For BFR + LT, muscular parameters of strength, power and endurance are significantly improved