Strength training, especially with high load intensity, allows increasing muscle strength and trophism, but it is also associated with exercise-induced muscle damage (EIMD). A new training modality, a combination of loading with the partial restriction blood flow (PRBF) around the muscle, being promising in the development of strength and muscular trophism. The aim of the study was to compare the maximum strength (MS) performance of quadriceps and hamstrings (MS-Q and MS-I) and muscle damage biomarkers (Creatine Kinase, CK) and systemic inflammation (high sensitivity – CRP, hs-CRP) between a low intensity load training with PRBF, versus one high and another low load intensity without PRBF in physically active youngsters during four weeks of training. Twenty-three participants measured MS- Q and MS-I and the intervention term. In addition, before the start of the first session, before and after the end of the last session, CK and hsCRP were measured. In the three types of training the equivalent benefits in MS are produced, an exception of the MS-Q of low intensity training without PRBF. Only in the training with PRBF, the CK and hs- CPR are modified at the end of the intervention, and even though the myocellular stress seems to be higher than in the other types of training, it would not indicate muscle damage.

KEY WORDS: Kaatsu training; Muscle strength; Exercise induced muscle damage.