Light-load training without a cuff can be uncomfortable due to metabolic acidosis and prolonged 'burn' (70-90 seconds per set), whereas BFR training reduces this discomfort by shortening set duration.

“Well, light-load training, I should've mentioned this, and you've done it, you say, it's not fun for a lot of people because you get metabolic acidosis. Again, you have to train hard and you get this burn. And when you're doing it over 30 repetitions, let's say, and it's a 3-second rep, that's a 90-second set. Let's see...70, 80, 90 seconds is a long period of time where you're experiencing that burn, quote unquote. Whereas, if you're doing, let's say, a leg extension or a biceps curl, with blood-flow restriction, you're cutting the time, you're still using the lighter loads, meaning that you're not putting as much joint stress on, but you're cutting the time of that set and, thus, somewhat reducing the discomfort.”