Teodoro, CL, Gáspari, AF, Berton, R, Barbieri, JF, Silva, M, Castaño, LAA, Guimarães, P, and Moraes, AC. Familiarization with airflow-restriction mask during resistance exercise: Effect on tolerance and total volume. J Strength Cond Res 33(7): 1762–1765, 2019—This study investigated whether familiarization with the airflow-restriction mask (AIRfr) increases tolerance and avoids negative effects on performance of resistance exercise (RE). Ten resistance-trained male subjects performed a familiarization session (FAM), followed by 2 testing sessions, with the AIRfr and without airflow restriction (SHAM) in a counterbalanced and randomized cross-over design. The FAM was performed with the same number of sets, load, and level of airflow-restriction as the AIRfr experimental session. Each session consisted of 4 sets of the leg press exercise with 70% 1 repetition maximum until voluntary failure and a 90-second rest interval between sets. During the FAM, 4 of the 10 subjects expressed some intolerance to the use of airflow restriction. Total volume was lower in the FAM than in the AIRfr (p = 0.01) and the SHAM (p = 0.02), whereas no differences were observed between the AIRfr and the SHAM (p = 0.90). The first use of the AIRfr may not be well tolerated by all subjects. However, a familiarization session with the AIRfr avoids negative interferences in the total volume during RE.

The present study examined the prophylactic effects of far-infrared-emitting fabric (FIR) on exercise-induced muscle damage and investigated its influence on neuromuscular parameters during eccentric exercise. FIR and placebo garments were worn for 1 h prior to and throughout a knee extension eccentric exercise protocol consisting of 10 sets of 15 maximal contractions performed at 210°·s⁻¹, using a randomized, counterbalanced, double-blind, placebo-controlled crossover design. Twenty-one physically active individuals (age: 24 ± 1 years; body mass: 69.7 ± 2.3 kg; height: 1.73 ± 0.02 m) participated in this two-phase study. In the first phase (FIR effects on muscle damage; n = 9), eccentric peak torque (EPT) and total work (TW) were assessed during exercise, while maximal voluntary isometric contraction (MVIC) and creatine kinase (CK) were measured before and 24, 48, and 96 h after the protocol. No fabric × time interaction was observed for MVIC or CK. However, FIR use suggested an increased EPT and TW during exercise. To further investigate this effect and explore potential neuromuscular mechanisms, a second phase was conducted (FIR effects on eccentric exercise; n = 12) using the same exercise protocol. EPT, TW, and electromyographic root mean square (EMG-RMS) activity of the vastus lateralis (VL) and vastus medialis (VM) were assessed. Combined results from both phases (n = 21) demonstrated significant increases of 11% in mean EPT and 18.6% in mean TW, along with greater VL and VM EMG-RMS activity (n = 12), under FIR compared with placebo conditions. These findings indicate that FIR use enhances neuromuscular performance during eccentric exercise.