Your back’s pressed tight against the bench as you wrap your hands around the heavy, steel bar.
With assistance from your training partner, you un-rack the weight, push the bar into motion, squeezing your triceps and chest with each taxing move.
After you push through your 6 reps, you re-rack the bar, and get to your feet.
Engorged with blood, your chest muscles feel firm and tight.
As you look in the mirror, you get a rush out of how full and vascular your pecs look now.
The “pump” you’re now sporting makes you feel strong, healthy, and powerful; it also motivates you to tear through your remaining workout.
There’s no better feeling than a great pump.
For those who are still new to this, a pump happens when blood gets trapped in your muscle tissue during resistance training.
Whether or not this does a lot for stimulating muscle growth is open to debate, regardless of how powerful a pump can help make you feel.
When you get a pump at the gym, it’s not a bad thing, just a natural boost from intense weight training.
However, if you get a pump while working out, you are not stimulating muscle growth or even guaranteeing that you have achieved a better workout.
Don’t try and waste your time gauging a pump as a marker for a great workout.
I’ve heard countless lifters share stories on their massive pumps and offer advice on how to get the best one possible.
“Man, this will give you a sweet pump! ”
I’m sure that those who have been working out for some time now can relate.
When you achieve a satisfying pump it does not mean that you are stimulating muscle growth.
When you get a pump, it just means that you’ve trapped extra blood in your muscle tissue.
Check this out: If I used 10 pound dumbbells and did 300 reps of a bench press, I would totally achieve a killer pump.
Look, if muscle pumps really meant something, the trick for stimulating muscle growth would be light weights and high reps.
If you’re even remotely serious about your bodybuilding program, you’ll know that this is simply not true.
So how do you know if your workout is stimulating muscle growth?
It’s not that hard….
Compare last week’s reps and weights with those of this week.
Is there any progression?
Were you able to increase the amount of weights your use or perform some extra reps?
If the answer is yes, you’ve been successful in stimulating muscle growth, even if you never got pumped.
Every week, your job is to give 100% on every given set and always work to constant improvement, if you want to build strength and muscle mass.
If you can push yourself to achieve this week after week, you will be stimulating muscle growth regardless of whether or not you feel the pump.
I hope all your doubts on stimulating muscle growth and the effectiveness of the pump have been cleared up.
These days, finding a reliable online source for muscle-building information has become quite a challenge.
If you want to learn the truth behind 14 other common, counterproductive “myths”, visit www.MuscleGainTruth.com.
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