Monday, December 22, 2008

Having a Pump Does Not Mean You Will Gain Muscle

By Ricardo d Argence

If you've been working out for a while, i'm sure you will understand what i will talk about. It sometimes happens that, after some really heavy sets of your routine, you start to have a really amazing feeling. Your muscles feels tight and engorged with blood. And when you look in the mirror they look full and vascular. What you get is nothing but a "pump". And as i told you, if you have ever had one, you'll agree with me it's really, really great (or maybe you agree with Arnold who said it's like having an orgasm).

Let's face it, a pump feels incredible. For those of you who aren't quite sure what I'm talking about, a pump is the feeling that you get as blood becomes trapped inside your muscle tissue as a result of resistance training. The muscles will swell up and increase in size, vascularity and tightness.

Don't worry if you achieve a pump during your workout, it's not a bad thing. It's nothing but the natural result of intense weight training. Its blood running trough your veins, that's all. But, if you go to the gym to get that feeling instead of focus on gain muscle, well, if you think that's the right way to get the look you desire, let me tell you one thing: you are wasting your time (and money), and you are completely wrong...

On countless occasions I've heard lifters raving about the massive pumps they get in the gym as they share methods for achieving the best pump possible. "Dude, this will give you a crazy pump!" If you have already been working out for a decent amount of time then you know exactly what I'm talking about. While a pump does feel extremely satisfying, just remember that it means very little in terms of muscle stimulation and growth.

A pump is simply the result of extra blood within the muscle tissue. Think of it this way: if I took a pair of 10 pound dumbbells and performed 300 reps of a bench press movement, I would achieve an incredible pump. If muscle pumps meant muscle growth, then super light weight, ultra high rep programs would be the most effective way to grow. Any serious lifter with half a brain knows that this simply is not the case.

Take your workout records (in terms of weight and reps) from the previous week and compare it to the current week. Did you improve? Were you able to either increase the resistance slightly on each exercise, or perform an extra rep or two? If so, you had a successful workout, regardless of how much blood you were able to pump into your muscle tissue.

Building muscle mass and strength is all about training with 100% intensity on every given set and then striving to improve from week to week. If you are able to consistently achieve this, your muscle size and strength will increase faster than you ever thought possible, with or without a pump. - 16887

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