What is pumping. Interesting Facts

Posted: 28. 06. 2023 | Author: | Category: Fitness

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Today, all professional bodybuilders, without exception, include pumping in their training program, as well as most amateur athletes who build and maintain the shape of their new body in gyms. Willingly or involuntarily, but almost everyone refused strength work in favor of pumping , even those who have no idea about pumping. What it is and why it is needed is the topic of our conversation.

What is pumping

Pumping is a bodybuilding training technique characterized as high volume but light weights. After it, the muscles become visually larger due to their “overflow” with blood. Schwarzenegger claimed to have enjoyed sexually similar pleasure from “pumping the muscles with air.” In fact, the pumping effect occurs due to the following processes:

intense contraction of muscle fibers leads to partial blockade of the veins and difficulty in the outflow of blood;
an increase in the concentration of sarcoplasm inside the contracting muscle allows it to continue filling with arterial blood;
plasma “runs” between the capillaries and the interstitial space, which causes reactive cellular edema – pumping .
Alas, pumping training strongly acidifies all types of muscle fibers, connective tissues, and nerves with lactic acid, which can disrupt the recovery and muscle growth processes.

In addition, muscle pumping is not a comfortable workout with small weights. Pumping is painful and exhausting, as it requires a large number of repetitions in a set and a large number of sets themselves per muscle group.

What is pumping for?

Pumping training is an opportunity to visually increase the volume of skeletal muscles for a while. At the same time, the pumping effect can be obtained on any muscle groups, but it is best achieved and visible on the muscles of the arms, chest, quadriceps and calf muscles.

Today, the following types of pumping are distinguished :

  1. Cosmetic . Performed before the competition, photo or video shooting. Increases volume by 10–20% in the short term.
  2. Productive or training .
  3. Sportpitovsky . The most effective sports nutrition supplements that help to quickly achieve a pumping effect in addition to performing special exercises are:
    • arginine ;
    • creatine ;
    • pre-workout complexes , which contain arginine and creatine;
    • vasodilating fat burners – thermogenics or lipotropic – CLA (KLA), L-carnitine, inositol, choline, betaine.
  4. For weight loss. Pumping for women is one of the best ways to get rid of excess fat reserves in the gym. Of course, pumping cannot replace cardio workouts for weight loss by 100%. But it is pumping training for weight loss that will help not only dry the body, but also give relief to the muscles and maintain skin tone, protecting it from sagging. The only condition that must be observed when pumping weight loss is to provide the body with vitamins and minerals. Sports vitamin complexes for women do an excellent job with this task.

  5. Can Pumping Accelerate Muscle Growth?

    There is no single answer. But pumping absolutely does not contribute to the acceleration of muscle growth in athletes who have been building the body for more than a year, and the pumping technique, in the vast majority of cases, is used by them exclusively for cosmetic purposes.

    For those new to the gym at first, pumping can help stimulate muscle growth. It has not been proven, but it is believed that lactic acid, which is produced in excess during pump training, stimulates muscle growth and testosterone production. In addition, it is believed that pumping increases the rate of muscle growth in such ways as:

    • increased protein synthesis, as a protective reaction in response to increased pressure on the cytoskeleton of muscle fibers;
    • an increase in the volume of muscle fibers activates the transformation of stem cells into myoblasts, which restore micro-injured areas;
    • an increase in the elasticity of the connective tissue and additional capillarization of the muscle tissue in response to increased blood circulation.

    But a large number of repetitions of exercises in a set and a large number of sets per muscle group do not have a stimulating effect on muscle growth. To do this, muscle fibers must be loaded with large weights.

  6. What training methods are used for pumping

    For beginners, in order to achieve a pumping effect, it is recommended:

    1. Choose a lightweight and a suitable number of repetitions of the exercise to ensure constant tension of a certain muscle group. This:
      • or 15-20 repetitions, in 2-3 sets, rest between sets – 1 min;
      • or 8-12 repetitions, in 5-10 sets, rest between sets -30 sec.
    2. Choose such exercises, during which the pumped muscle group does not fall into the relaxation phase, but is under constant load. Here are some examples:
      • for quadriceps and calf muscles – burns and forced reps (exercises with preliminary fatigue);
      • for biceps – bending the arms with dumbbells, in the starting position: sitting on an incline bench;
      • for triceps – an extension of the arms with dumbbells “hummer”.
    3. Make a workout plan so that it does not consist only of pumping exercises. Be sure to alternate pumping sets with heavy weight sets for 6-12 reps of heavy multi-joint exercises with high muscle stress. “Long sets of pumping” perform at the end of the session.
    4. Familiarize yourself in detail, and choose the best p amping technique for yourself or periodically alternate them:
      • drop sets;
      • super sets;
      • forced repetitions;
      • partial repetitions;
      • peak contractions;
      • incineration;
      • negatives;
      • preliminary fatigue;
      • isometric static.

    For those who have been pumping for more than a month, the CCT training method (Sarcoplasmic Stimulation Training) is recommended. There are 2 subspecies of the technique – contractile CCT and CCT with different rest times. For women who want to lose weight with the help of a pumping effect, we recommend that you familiarize yourself with the Body Pump method, which is a type of intense barbell training, or Fullbody draining workout in the styles of Low Volume Training, Emptying Workout, Short Timer Workout.

  7. What else is important for pumping

    Pumping experts also recommend:

    1. Be sure to drink enough water:
      • 0.5 l 120 minutes and 200 ml 15 minutes before training;
      • during training – from 200 to 300 ml of a sweet drink , every 10-20 minutes;
      • after training – 0.5 liters of isotonic for every 0.5 kg of body weight lost.
    2. If the goal of pumping is not to lose weight, then include carbohydrates in the daily diet at the rate of 4-7 g / kg of body weight. Carbohydrates will not only provide the necessary energy. They replenish muscle glycogen stores. And this makes the pumping effect more pronounced since glycogen binds water molecules, which makes muscle fibers more full and voluminous.
    3. Method for increasing the performance of training pumps with creatine :
      • within 3-6 days – 5 g, 4 times a day;
      • further, from 4-7 days – 2-3 g, 1 time per day.

    In addition, medications will help intensify the p amping processes. For this purpose, professional bodybuilders usually drink actovegin, pentoxifylline, papaverine, sildenafil, androgens, anabolics.

 

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