Tuesday, April 29, 2008

Is A Pump Needed To Build Muscle?

There are no studies that show this to be true, but real world evidence shows that there is something to getting a good pump. First of all, the ability to easily obtain a good pump is a sign that your body is in an anabolic state and ready to train. Is it really that important?

Some people emphatically state that getting a good pump is necessary if you want to build muscle. Those are days that you probably shouldn't even be training. For more great muscle building information, please visit http://www.musclegainingsecrets.com/ Your body is telling you something, and that something is that you are not in an anabolic state, probably not fully recovered, and you are not ready to train.

Who could ever forget that famous line from Pumping Iron where Arnold said that getting a good pump was better than sex?

We all laughed, although some of us harder than others, because deep down w! e agreed with what he said. He is also the head training adviser for Men's Fitness Magazine where he also has his own monthly column dedicated to muscle building. This is the kind of hypertrophy which is lost very quickly when you stop training. It shows us that the body and the cells are well hydrated and ready to grow.

Some days, you go to the gym and can't get a pump no matter what you do. However, after you have done the bulk of your workout you can always finish with a backoff set, a rest/pause set or even an occasional drop set to maximize your pump and thus maximize your body's muscle building potential.

For example, on your chest workout you could do a couple heavy sets on the bench press for 5-6 reps and then finish with one higher rep set of 8-12 on dips to get a great pump. In other words you will not be building muscle on that day.

As far as the pump having an anabolic effect, this is debatable, but most bodybuilders swear that there is so! mething to it. Having said that, I definitely wouldn't make i! t the fo cus of your workout. He has trained thousands of clients during his 14 years as a professional fitness coach, including more than 500 athletes from over 20 different sports. That way you get the best of both worlds.

Remember, it isn't necessary and should never be the focus of your workouts (heavy training should) but getting a good pump tells you that you're ready to build muscle and can even maximize your potential to do so.

Jason Ferruggia is a world famous fitness expert who is renowned for his ability to help people build muscle as fast as humanly possible. However, sarcoplasmic and mitochondrial hypertrophy is necessary if you want to be as big as humanly possible.

So, while it isn't proven by science, there is probably something to gain from getting a good pump. Just mindlessly pursuing a pump will get you nowhere and may even cause losses in size and strength. It is completely different from myofibrillar hypertrophy, which comes from heavy trai! ning and lasts much longer. But after all these years, the question still remains- is a good pump a defining component of a productive muscle building workout. Jason has written hundreds of articles for numerous top rated training magazines and websites and has authored four fitness books. When you get a good pump, you are delivering tons of nutrient-rich blood to the muscles that will greatly increase amino-acid uptake. If you do this you hit a variety of muscle fibers and target both types of hypertrophy. Theoretically, this should result in a greater anabolic effect.

The kind of training that stimulates a good pump causes sarcoplasmic and mitochondrial hypertrophy. Chasing the pump and disregarding all of the principles of effective training is one of the biggest mistakes you can make and will do nothing to help you build lean muscle.

You can get a great pump from doing 50 pushups but everyone knows that's not going to build muscle.

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