Fat Loss 4 Idiots Opinion

Saturday, December 20, 2008

Having a Pump Does Not Mean You Will Gain Muscle

By Ricardo d Argence

Picture this scenario: you've been working in the gym for half an hour and after a really hard set of your routine on the bench your chest feels tight and engorged with blood. It feels great, healthy, powerful. "Pump", is how they call that feeling. If you have ever had the feeling, then you know great it feels. Arnold said it's like having sex (i'm not really sure if it's good in THAT level, but yes, it's an amazing feeling).

So, what's exactly a pump? It's nothing but the tight, blood-congested feeling in a muscle after it has been intensely trained. Is the feeling that you get as blood becomes trapped inside your muscle. And it's a great, great feeling. But you don't go to the gym and perform all that effort for hours just for that feeling. And that feeling does not guarantee you'll achieve your gain muscle goal.

There is certainly nothing wrong with achieving a pump in the gym, and it is simply a natural result of intense weight training. However, contrary to what the majority of weightlifters may think, a pump is in no way indicative of a successful workout. Anyone who uses the intensity of their pump as a gauge for the effectiveness of their workout is making a costly error.

Which is better, the pump or the feeling of totally exhausting your muscles to the point of failure when it is nearly impossible to pick up a pencil? Good question because I can promise that one is asked a lot. People love the feeling of being pumped and the blood flowing thru their muscles. "Dude, this will give you a crazy pump!", a guy in the gym tells to another one in the gym, thinking there's no better way to make their muscles grow.

A pump is just the blood flowing to the area. You can get a good pump without working all that hard. Giving your body no reason to grow. But you can get the greatest pump, and it does'nt mean your muscles will grow the most. If muscle pumps meant muscle growth, then super light weight, ultra high rep programs would be the most effective way to grow. And i think you'll agree with me when i say that will never work. So, how can i know if i'm in the right way? It's nothing complex.

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.

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. I hope this article cleared up your confusion on the issue of "muscle pumps". - 17269

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