Stimulating Muscle Growth: Does The "pump" Help?

By Author: Sean Nalewanyj
Total Articles: 53
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Your back's pressed tight against the bench as you wrap your hands around the heavy, steel bar. Your training partner helps you un-rack the weight as you power the bar up and down, squeezing your chest and triceps on each grueling rep. You complete your 6 repetitions, re-rack the bar, and stand up.

Engorged with blood, your chest muscles feel firm and tight. The fullness and vascularity of your chest is impressive as you glance in the mirror. With new-found pride in your health and appearance, it's easy to find the motivation to rock your remaining workout, thanks to your fresh "pump."

Getting a great pump is an incredible feeling.

For those of you who aren't quite sure what I'm talking about, a pump is the feeling that you get as blood becomes trapped inside your muscle tissue as a result of resistance training. Yes, you're muscles become bigger, tighter, and more vascular, but is it any good in stimulating muscle growth?

When you get a pump at the gym, it's not a bad thing, just a natural boost from intense weight training. However, keep in mind that the myth that a pump indicates a successful ...
... workout and helps in stimulating muscle growth is absolutely baseless.

Anyone who uses the intensity of their pump as a gauge for the effectiveness of their workout is making a costly error.

In the gym, it is very common to hear lifters talk about their best pump and how to obtain an even better one. "If you want a crazy pump, you've got to do this!"

If you're a regular at the gym, you've probably heard this before. When you achieve a satisfying pump it does not mean that you are stimulating muscle growth.

See, if muscle pumps did equate to muscle growth, the key for stimulating muscle growth would be super light weight and totally high rep programs. It doesn't take a lot of intellect or bodybuilding knowledge to know that this simply isn't true.

So how do you know if your workout is stimulating muscle growth? Here it is

Compare last week's reps and weights with those of this week.

Did you improve?

Did you change up anything by adding more weights or increasing the number of reps? Stimulating muscle growth happens as a result of an increase in these areas, not from getting blood pumped into your muscle tissue.

If you want to build muscle mass and strength, you need to give 100% to every rep on every set and constantly progress from week to week. If you are able to consistently achieve this, you will be successful in stimulating muscle growth, with or without a pump.

I hope this article cleared up your confusion on the issue of "muscle pumps" and stimulating muscle growth. These days, finding a reliable online source for muscle-building information has become quite a challenge.
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