Getting that pump
 

I want to hear everyone's opinion about this. I keep reading in BB magazines and supplement labels (ads) about getting a pump. And how important it is. Many of the top bodybuilders talk about it. After warming up and doing their heavy compound lifts, they will go do some light isolation exercise and burn out or do a lot of reps to get a pump. And the explanation is always so that they can flush more blood/nutrients into the area/muscle they are targeting. How important is this? After doing my heavy compound lifts, I normally don't do shit. I suppose that might be the idea behind widow makers...which I read about in the shoutbox last night. :) Does anyone consistently bother with doing this?

Personally, I do not give a shit about a pump. About the only thing it is good for is stroking the ego IMHO. It is much more important, for me, to progress on the major compounds in some way such as weight, reps, etc.

You can get a hell of a pump off of curling a 20lb dumbbell 20-30 times :WEIGHT~13: and not grow at all whereas you can concentrate on the compound movements, ignore the isolations and add inches to your arm (as an example).

The pump is a horrible way to determine the effectiveness of any particular routine. Off my soapbox. :squat2:

^^^ :biglaugh: That's also my general sentiment.

I'm just curious about whether getting that 'pump' will actually push more blood/nutrients into the muscle. It's not to replace the heavy compound lifts and progression, but to supplement it. I just hear about so many of the pros doing it that it piqued my curiosity.

I always thought that getting the "pump" is what some people honestly need to feel their muscles working, even though fatigue, soreness, etc. is not really much of a sign that you have worked out enough.

I like the pump. But I don't go into the gym with the specific goal of getting it.

Why would you want to flood your biceps with blood and nutrients AFTER you are finished with the compound lifts?

I agree. I like the pump. It makes me feel tough for a little while.

But then again, so does pulling 350 pounds off the floor.

Recovery/growth.

A pump is a matter of how much glycogen is in the muscle. It has nothing to do with actual training. Right now I have absolutely NO pump in the gym and am pretty flat.. But that's because I don't eat carbs during the week.

That said, I think it obviously going to increase your recovery and keep DOMS down. Trust me because over the past two weeks, I've NEVER been this sore.. Ever! Personally, I don't care for preworkout carbs or massive dextrose postworkout neither. As long as you're getting an adequate supply of carbs in your day, then you'll be good to go.

I think I'm a very good test subject since I'm moving from one extreme to the other.

Basic DC includes a loaded stretch at the end of each muscle group being worked. When I finish, I get the pump of my life (excluding my time on the AD diet). So IMO, if someone's working out in the 3-5 rep range, I think it's very beneficial to get the blood flushed through those muscles. Something as simple as a hard stretch when you finish your exercise, and afterwards flexing hard for a good 10 seconds will provide you with what you need to help recovery.

A pump is BLOOD coming into the muscles and lactic acid buildup. If your muscles are "filled" with blood than this logically indicates that the blood is going IN faster than it can come OUT. So nothing is rushing through the muscles quickly or there would not be a pump. I.E. blood would move out as quickly as it moved in. If blood is not going out as quickly than the pump cannot cause things to move in more quickly. Most all your body's processes have to do with getting good stuff in and bad stuff out. So by that stanpoint revcovery could only be increased by relaxing the pump...which happens anyway in a quick enough fashion so as not to make any long term differences in recovery. It's all just a bunch of dwelling on phsiological details.

Stretching will do the opposite of a pump. Experiment with a light weight high rep pump producing workout and then do some light stretching and you will find that it makes the pump go away faster.

Unless you stretch so hard you are causing your muscles to contract violently against it...which is dangerous and ill founded to say the least. And a good way to end up dropping your power down the toilet. A light stretch, I think though does aid in recovery and keeping certain muscles from shortening/tightening up, etc..

If a pump has any value in terms of recovery then it would have to be a long term value based on it's affects in increasing cappilary density, etc. But that would not have to have anything to do with some little thing you did after a workout and could just as well take the form of some kind of GPP or high rep workouts that was done in place of "cardio" or what have you.

My philosophy is NOT to dwell on muscle chemistry but to worry about how my body moves and functions as a whole. So the things I do before and after a workout have that in mind. Gaining mass is easy compared to continuing to move injury free and get stronger for years on end. All these little recovery details are all of the same bag whether you dwell on post workout nutrition or some other standpoint where people go off the deep end focusing on details and imo there are better ways to spend you time. For instance, instead of random high rep stuff just to get a pump, how about high rep stuff specifically picked for a purpose, such as "prehab" or what have you. And then you might get a pump anyway, lol.

Admittedly I'm not much for the bodybuilding mindset...I don't want to work so hard for temporary gains (at least more temporary). I wouldn't quibble about the pump except to say don't over concern yourself with it.

If you want to read the science on whether the muscle pump actually ELEVATES blood flow then you can go to JAP (journal of applied physiology) and get some very entertaining reading :biglaugh:. It's debated but most say clearly not. I fell asleep after the first rebuttal though so don't ask me.