The term “occlusion” refers to the complete stoppage of blood flow into and out of a limb. There are few times in one’s life where occluding blood flow would be considered a good thing. One would be during surgery. Another would be if you had suffered a significant wound and were in danger of bleeding to death. One more is when you take your blood pressure, but that lasts for only a few seconds. Those are about the only times occluding blood flow for any length of time would be a good thing.
Occlusion training is based on stopping blood flow into a limb. This is a completely different approach to KAATSU. With KAATSU the flow of blood into a limb is not stopped. Using KAATSU properly means you are reducing (but not stopping) the flow of blood back to the heart from the limb. This results in the limb becoming engorged with blood. This is almost the exact opposite of occlusion.
KAATSU is not occlusion training, and occlusion training is not KAATSU.
I hope this answers the question of whether KAATSU is the same as occlusion training. If you would like more clarification, please read through the other FAQs about KAATSU, or leave a question in the comment box below.