THE PUMP

THE PUMP

Ever see the movie "Pumping Iron" with Arnold?  He talks about "The Pump" in the movie.  So what is it?

When you use a muscle over and over and over again without rest, the muscle builds up a level of lactate that exceeds your bodies ability to flush it out at the rate it accumulates.   Also, as you use that muscle group, it's fills with blood and your cells increase in water content.  

The combination of these factors increases the overall size of the muscle and gives you that "pumped up" feeling.  It can feel like you cannot relax your muscles and that they might pop.  

The "cure" for this condition is just rest, as your body will naturally clear the lactate and excess fluid.

So do we need the pump if we are trying to get bigger and stronger?  Not really.  It's a signal that we are causing muscle damage (which is required for growth), but it's not the most important factor.

The thing we always need to remember when pursuing strength and muscle size gains is to follow a structured program that progressively overloads the muscles, causing them to grow and get stronger.  

It can be fun to get a huge pump though, so feel free to use it as a way to get extra volume in on things like quads, biceps, shoulders, chest and triceps. 

Any other questions? Send us a message!