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How important is "the pump"?

1longdong

1longdong

New member
Is getting a good pump important at all? If I go to the gym, hit it hard lift heavy with just a few reps, I get home and don't feel like I did shit! But if I do a ton of sets/ reps I get a good pump.

I read years ago that Arnold would leave the gym as soon as he got a good pump, but I read today that if you want to get large and strong, lift heavy, with a few reps.

I'm 6'2"
210
35 yrs young
 
With me it depends on the training style; if I'm training heavy and in the 6 rep range (which pretty much never happens)I don't really feel a pump...if I train lighter with supersets and higher reps = pump...

~EZ
 
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I dont always get a good pump and you dont have to get a good pump to have a great workout, however, I feel more confident and better about my workouts when I get a nice pump
 
I find that with volume training, I always get a pump, but when I lift heavy, I just get sore...no pump
 
a pump is important. it is the jump start of a good recovery. if you are not getting a good pump every time you work out you are doing something wrong. creatine pre w/o is good along with proper nutrition.

in a nut shell a pumped up muscle is a muscle that is absorbing a high rate of nutrients. this is where the famous dbol pumps come from. dbol is an extremely anabolic compound.

you dont need anything other than a good diet to get the pumps but taking sups makes it easy. 2 needto slin, 10g creatine mono, 30g whey iso, 1 cup oats 1h pre w/o should do it even on a half assed diet.
 
I personally feel pump has little to nothing to do with real muscle development nowadays.

There are myriad lifter's that get "the pump" every workout and yet don't progress or pass beginner/intermediate level.

Causing microtrauma to your muscles through intensity and workload as far as I know are the only 110% scientifically known factors in progressive overloading and super compensation.
 
I have a hard time when I squat. Be it that I can only do box squats now(abdomen tear) and leg sled. I cant seem to get a pump in my quads. But if I ride the recumbant bike with resistance for 5 min my quads feel like balloons.
When I do stiff leg deads, my hamstrings pump up like crazy.
Also have a very hard time feeling any sort of back pump. I can see it in the mirror, but I cannot feel it.
Chest, bi, tri, delts all pump no matter how I train.
 
joe d said:
a pump is important. it is the jump start of a good recovery. if you are not getting a good pump every time you work out you are doing something wrong. creatine pre w/o is good along with proper nutrition.

in a nut shell a pumped up muscle is a muscle that is absorbing a high rate of nutrients. this is where the famous dbol pumps come from. dbol is an extremely anabolic compound.

you dont need anything other than a good diet to get the pumps but taking sups makes it easy. 2 needto slin, 10g creatine mono, 30g whey iso, 1 cup oats 1h pre w/o should do it even on a half assed diet.
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That is not true at all. Do you think powerlifters get a pump all the time? No. I find the more volume you do, the easiet to get a pump....because more blood and nutrients are rushing into the muscle. However if you're doing power training, you're not necessarily getting a pump.
 
The pump is when the muscle is engorged with blood. So we've got a situation where more blood is flowing into the muscle than blood is flowing out. Resulting in an increase of pressure and volume of the tissue.

Typically the pump is achieved best by trapping the blood within the muscle by using many reps and a rep range that doesn't allow the muscle to relax. This means that the outflow of blood is blocked. We are trapping deoxygenated blood, as well as anaerobic byproducts, ie. acid in our muscles. This explains why the pump burns. Extra nutrients too? interesting, the blood involved in the pump is the same blood that was flowing through the muscle anyways, since it already entered the muscle. We are disturbing the rate of blood flow. This will increase the contact time of the blood/nutrients with the cells. More time means more reaction, more absorption. However as the pump increases, we are slowing the rate of inflow, which means less new blood going through.


The inflow of blood, is about pressure. If the pressure of the inflow of blood is greater than the internal pressure of the "pumped" muscle more blood will enter the muscle, increasing the pump. Once the pressure become equal, blood will no longer be entering the muscle. Do people actually reach this point? I have no idea.

Is this a good thing or a bad thing? I don't think anyone really knows. There are just too many variable to consider. The quality of the pump you achieve isn't going to make or break your progress or results. Get the diet right and train hard, consistently, focusing on progression and everything else falls into place.

The time we're holding the contraction, vs the time the blood is normally flowing throughout the muscle in a day makes it seem inconsequential.


The biggest benefit of the pump is the psychological benefits. You actually see your muscles bigger. This is instantaneous results. You feel good about it. It's like walking around with a hard on for everyone to see. That's why arnold would sprint out of the gym towards the beach. This is reason alone to work the pump.

Cable Curls superset with Cable Overhead tri extension. High rep drop sets. 8,8,8,8, 4x - seems to work best for me. But maintaining contraction and an ass load of reps is what matters.
 
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if you put your muscles in a state of need and the correct nutrients are there your muscles will fill up (pump). it really is that simple. no its not required but it sure is helpful so why not use it. this blood theory does not apply. its different. forcing a pump will lead to more nutrient retention which will boost recovery period. the nutrients have to be there.

i also have no lactic acid burning me while im pumped. none at all. when im pumped my muscles are swollen full and still functional to complete a good w/o.
 
also the pump is something that happend during the warm up. what happens at the end of the w/o when you start swelling and burning is damage.
 
joe d said:
also the pump is something that happend during the warm up. what happens at the end of the w/o when you start swelling and burning is damage.
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your referring to the style of working out that you and I have discussed in the past called breaking the pump arent you?
 
im talking about every workout all the time no matter what program you are following. the purpose of a warm up is to get the pump. your muscles start to fill up and become ready to work explosively. if your not getting a pump then your body is lacking proper pre w/o nourishment. im not saying the workout would be a complete waste but its clearly not going to be 100%.
 
joe d said:
im talking about every workout all the time no matter what program you are following. the purpose of a warm up is to get the pump. your muscles start to fill up and become ready to work explosively. if your not getting a pump then your body is lacking proper pre w/o nourishment. im not saying the workout would be a complete waste but its clearly not going to be 100%.
Click to expand...

Are you talking about the sleeve bursting type pump? There's no way you can get that from warmups. Your muscles get some blood in them but that's it. For strength there is no need for a pump, in fact if you are getting a pump you're probably doing something wrong
 
joe d said:
im talking about every workout all the time no matter what program you are following. The purpose of a warm up is to get the pump. Your muscles start to fill up and become ready to work explosively. If your not getting a pump then your body is lacking proper pre w/o nourishment. Im not saying the workout would be a complete waste but its clearly not going to be 100%.
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yes
 
You can claim the pump is important, but I routinely get bigger and stronger while getting little pump during a workout.

There may be some supplemental effect of getting a pump in a workout, but the real deal is fiber microtrauma from percentage of 1 rep max and total workload.

Seen a million guys get great pumps, but not get bigger and stronger.

There are a couple national level powerlifters at my gym that are fucking yoked that compete natural and they rarely go over 5 reps and take lots of rest between sets. They joke about how if they break a sweat they're doing it wrong lol. These guys hardly ever get a pump and are big and strong as hell. They are bigger than 99% of the bodybuilder type guys in the gym and they look damn good when they are nearing competition and have dropped their bodyfat down abit.
 
Luckily, I get my pump pretty easily. I could do 50 push ups and my upper body pumps up like a balloon. I also know that it does nothing for my strength increase. I try to do both each time I work out. I start with the heavy lifting, 3 to 4 sets of heavy weight, low reps on whatever muscle groups I am doing that day, then I do my lighter weights allowing for 10 to 15 reps per set. Unfortunately I can feel the strain on my joints from the excessive lifting.
 
Burnthiscorpse said:
I have a hard time when I squat. Be it that I can only do box squats now(abdomen tear) and leg sled. I cant seem to get a pump in my quads.


But if I ride the recumbant bike with resistance for 5 min my quads feel like balloons.
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Wow, well according to some people then you should just stick to 5 minute recumbant bike rides with added resistance. You should get abso-fucking-lutely huge from that since you get such a great pump from it. Pump being so important and all.

Obviously squats, box squats and leg sled are just a waste of time for you bro. Since those exercises provide no pump for you, they are obviously not adding to your musculature. I would drop them from leg days immediately! The added benefit to that is that they are so much harder and more taxing than that 5 minute bike ride, so your workouts will be shorter AND easier...and your legs will blow the fuck UP!

FTMFW!
 
ghettostudmuffin said:
You can claim the pump is important, but I routinely get bigger and stronger while getting little pump during a workout.

There may be some supplemental effect of getting a pump in a workout, but the real deal is fiber microtrauma from percentage of 1 rep max and total workload.

Seen a million guys get great pumps, but not get bigger and stronger.

There are a couple national level powerlifters at my gym that are fucking yoked that compete natural and they rarely go over 5 reps and take lots of rest between sets. They joke about how if they break a sweat they're doing it wrong lol. These guys hardly ever get a pump and are big and strong as hell. They are bigger than 99% of the bodybuilder type guys in the gym and they look damn good when they are nearing competition and have dropped their bodyfat down abit.
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so these guys dont warm up and look a little more swole after warming up than they did when they first walked in the door?
 
joe d said:
so these guys dont warm up and look a little more swole after warming up than they did when they first walked in the door?
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I can't imagine a national level PLer not warming up. I'm sure that's not the case.
 
Maybe your definition of pump is different than mine.

When I think of pump I imagine it in the classic Arnold Schwarzenegger sense. Fully engorging the muscle with blood until it's really tight. Like it feels pumped full of air.

A general warming up of the muscles and "some" pump as an after effect from the lifting itself is not what I would define as "the pump".

I can guarantee the pl'ers would laugh at you if you said that to them.

Of course they warm up. I warm up. But, I don't get any particular pump per say from it. The muscles get blood flow and they warm up, but I don't feel pumped.

Lately I've been doing linear 5x5 and the only time I feel any "real" pump is my 3rd workout where I finish off squat, bench and row with 1 set of 8 or so reps.

I do not get much "pump" to speak of from sets of 5 or less.
 
ghettostudmuffin said:
Maybe your definition of pump is different than mine.

When I think of pump I imagine it in the classic Arnold Schwarzenegger sense. Fully engorging the muscle with blood until it's really tight. Like it feels pumped full of air.

A general warming up of the muscles and "some" pump as an after effect from the lifting itself is not what I would define as "the pump".
Click to expand...

this.

Most people define "the pump" this way. The Aahhnuld way. Muscles so filled with blood from such high volume (25 sets of 10-12 reps per bodypart), they feel like they're going to explode.

Which is in no way indicative of actual gains.

progression is the key.

joe knows this.
 
surely u can't compare a warm up pump to the pump u get after a high volume workout, get the fug out of u must be a ratard, personally i like to stay with heavy weights low reps/sets and don't get nearly that pump i did when i tried super sets and high volume but my strength is way better and the gains are much better too... pumps are way overrated especially if you're trainin natural, maybe if you're juiced to the max it doesn't matter but i dont see people that train natural puttin on a lot of size or gettin crazy strength from doin high volume workouts, not gonna happen, im sure they get great pumps tho... my last point would be that i get a max leg pump everytime i stay on the bike over 10 mins and im pretty sure that's not doin shit for my leg size or strength

great question though OP i doubt anybody could prove it one way or the other, from my experience i say huge pumps are not related to strength and/or gains
 
the pump is the pump. weather it is slight after a warmup or it is extreme through the w/o it is the same pump that started at your warmup. if you are carbed up, have 10g creatine in you, using shuttling agents, on aas, your pumps are going to be big. if you go to the gym tired, after not eating for several hours, and your mind is somewhere else, or you have certain medical issues you wont get anything.

what the pump does in short is simple. it gets your muscles ready to work, and it gets them ready to start recovery. to an extent the more you have the better.

im not saying that a pler should change what he does to make sure he gets a big pump. but he is in fact getting one.
 
joe d said:
the pump is the pump. weather it is slight after a warmup or it is extreme through the w/o it is the same pump that started at your warmup. if you are carbed up, have 10g creatine in you, using shuttling agents, on aas, your pumps are going to be big. if you go to the gym tired, after not eating for several hours, and your mind is somewhere else, or you have certain medical issues you wont get anything.

what the pump does in short is simple. it gets your muscles ready to work, and it gets them ready to start recovery. to an extent the more you have the better.

im not saying that a pler should change what he does to make sure he gets a big pump. but he is in fact getting one.
Click to expand...

So when Arnold finished his 2.5 hour workouts of 25-40 sets, and had that killer "pump" he always talked about, with muscles so full of blood he could barely scratch his nose with a two hand assisted effort (say he was working arms)...he was just getting his muscles ready to work?????

I don't think the more you have the better either. And I don't believe the more pump you have the better your recovery will be. It takes longer to recover from a high volume workout (which will give you the greater "pump" than a lower volume higher intensity workout.

I think we may just be comparing apples to oranges here though from what it sounds like you think of "the pump".
 
ceo said:
So when Arnold finished his 2.5 hour workouts of 25-40 sets, and had that killer "pump" he always talked about, with muscles so full of blood he could barely scratch his nose with a two hand assisted effort (say he was working arms)...he was just getting his muscles ready to work?????
Click to expand...

No, he had a big pump because he had finished his workout and done all the 25+ sets and whatever. I think joe d meant even though he may finish with this pump, the pump would have/should have started with his warmup and just progressively got more pumped throughout the workout. Thats what I got from the post anyway.
 
ExtraMile said:
No, he had a big pump because he had finished his workout and done all the 25+ sets and whatever. I think joe d meant even though he may finish with this pump, the pump would have/should have started with his warmup and just progressively got more pumped throughout the workout. Thats what I got from the post anyway.
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Thus the last sentence of my post about comparing apples to oranges. :)
 
arnold preserved his pump with light weight high rep. thats why it lasted through his entire work out. when you go low volume and heavy you break the pump earlier. i never responded as well to high volume as i did low volume so i usually broke my pump within the first few sets but always before i was done training.

im not comparing different pumps because its all the same pump. but i still stand with my original point (that i probable didnt write out well) that the pump is important. if you warmed up and didnt get any kind of muscle pump you will not get as much out of your workout.
 
ceo said:
i agree that warming up is very important. But, again, i don't think that is what 99% of people would consider "the pump".
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well you 99% sob's are wrong damnit!!!!! :)
 
Thanks for posting this thread. i feel like shit everytime when i not get pump. and some times do i feel like i am doing something wrong. and i want to just finish my work out and go home. i push my self hard but sometimes i get no pump. or i get pump but the pump goes down. strange things anyway. but now after reading all them posts. do i understand it is not that important. but i feel wery good whne i get pumped up. :D i had to stop my work out some months back. becaue all my body almost dubeled in size whne i was training. this is no joke. i thought that i was going to blow up. and i had to sit down relax. have anyone been experienced that before ??
 
Progression, not pump, is the indicator to a good workout. If you did more this time than you did last time, congrats. Beat the logbook every time and you'll get bigger and stronger.
 
Yup, progression is the name of the game. Consistently get stronger and do enough volume for decent micro fiber damage and you will get bigger and stronger over time as long as you eat adequately.
 
ghettostudmuffin said:
Yup, progression is the name of the game. Consistently get stronger and do enough volume for decent micro fiber damage and you will get bigger and stronger over time as long as you eat adequately.
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yeah seriously fuck the pump if it doesnt get ya strong what is the point? :D
 
from my experience. strength training, the pump isnt so important. for size, very important. i think that getting a huge pump actually causes stretching and expansion in the muscle which is needed to grow
 
So basically the Pump means everything and all the enlightened fellows agree :)

good! j/k

I will say this as a fact based on what I know:

Muscle that dont respond in you will NEVER respond unless you get a pump and work that angle of growth.
 
I define a good pump as "veins popping, muscles full and puffed up.."I know some guys take NOx2 before a workout because they like the look, the feel...

Did you know that viagra was being called an enhancing drug when the olympics were in session? the drug brought more blood to the muscles, therefore giving the person an advantage..a better workout. Doing your reps with the weight you want & with good form will get you results...having more blood in the muscles when you train would give you better results faster.
 
Most people that train don't even understand the most basic concepts are far as building muscle and strength goes. There probably are some beneficial effects to getting a pump, but the name of the game is progression.

People that consistently focus on getting stronger and do adequate volume of work to incur enough muscle fiber damage routinely get bigger and stronger.

Every gym in america has a bagillion guys focused on angle of the dangle and getting "the pump" and get nowhere.

I do believe a pump is beneficial for the muscle because of the increased blood flow and I'm talking about a sleeve bursting pump. That said as I have mentioned before I know plenty of jacked powerlifters that pretty much never get any more than a very small amount of pump just from warming up muscle and getting a little extra blood flow in them.

I guess my real point is that progression should be the focus. Pump is a secondary consideration imo.
 
ghettostudmuffin said:
Most people that train don't even understand the most basic concepts are far as building muscle and strength goes. There probably are some beneficial effects to getting a pump, but the name of the game is progression.

People that consistently focus on getting stronger and do adequate volume of work to incur enough muscle fiber damage routinely get bigger and stronger.

Every gym in america has a bagillion guys focused on angle of the dangle and getting "the pump" and get nowhere.

I do believe a pump is beneficial for the muscle because of the increased blood flow and I'm talking about a sleeve bursting pump. That said as I have mentioned before I know plenty of jacked powerlifters that pretty much never get any more than a very small amount of pump just from warming up muscle and getting a little extra blood flow in them.

I guess my real point is that progression should be the focus. Pump is a secondary consideration imo.
Click to expand...


absolutely. well put.
 
1longdong said:
Is getting a good pump important at all? If I go to the gym, hit it hard lift heavy with just a few reps, I get home and don't feel like I did shit! But if I do a ton of sets/ reps I get a good pump.

I read years ago that Arnold would leave the gym as soon as he got a good pump, but I read today that if you want to get large and strong, lift heavy, with a few reps.

I'm 6'2"
210
35 yrs young
Click to expand...

if you like to look at yourself in the mirrors at your gym then the pump is essential(but even fattys look good in those mirrors lol)
But if you wanna get big its not really essential
 
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