How Important is the Pump?

i definitely feel like my workout was better if my targeted muscle groups are swollen and pumped.

i think getting a pump is also good for getting blood into the muscle, probably also helps to create more vascularity i would assume.

besides, we aren’t robots. not everything we do needs some deep purpose in order for us to find reason to do it. sometimes ‘it feels good’ or ‘i like it’ is all the reason you need.

getting a pump certainly won’t hurt your workouts, so dont sweat it.

BBB hits on the topic of the pump and fascial stretching a bit on the last page of this thread. Just food for thought.

I trained chest yesterday and the day before I trained back/bis, after yesterdays lift I stretched hard and got super pumped in my back bis and chest just from the stretching, I dont know what that means but I dont think guaging your work done on your pump alone is gonna tell you much.

Some guys lift to get sore some lift to get pumped, I lift to get bigger and move more weight.If I get pumped and sore great if I dont whatever.For the record I ussualy get both but noth always and thats fine.

I think it’s just walking that fine line. Getting that nice pump and progessing in reps/weights . I know matt kroc will mention getting massive pumps in his log. He’s a freakin’ strong powerlifter, but loves the pump also it’s obviously is helping him coupled with his heavy ass training.

I mean I use the warm up sets to stimulate, get that nice pump going and get the joint/tendons warmed up and prepped for that last heavy heavy set. well what’s heavy for me currently lol.

Personal opinion, but DOMS provides me with a way to know I hit the muscle effectively. If I get a great workout in I’ll be really sore and if not I’m not too sore.

Now the pump, I think it’s a good way to guage that you are hitting the target muscle. You should get a pump when lifting otherwise you’re not going har enough. If I do 10-15 sets or more per muscle group, the target muscle will be pumped whether I like it or not.

The pump is important to get a strong blood flow through your muscles. If you look back to Thibs’ HSS-100, you will remember the purpose of the “100” set: a pump. Thibs wrote that it was a great way to finish your workouts by flooding important nutrients into your muscles. For anyone worreid about getting a pump I might recommend doing exactly as thibs recomends and adding a high rep set at the end of your workout. It feels great.

BTW cromwell, I’m happy you mentioned Arnold’s comments on it. Never gets old.

[quote]Foenix wrote:
The pump is important to get a strong blood flow through your muscles. If you look back to Thibs’ HSS-100, you will remember the purpose of the “100” set: a pump. Thibs wrote that it was a great way to finish your workouts by flooding important nutrients into your muscles. For anyone worreid about getting a pump I might recommend doing exactly as thibs recomends and adding a high rep set at the end of your workout. It feels great.

BTW cromwell, I’m happy you mentioned Arnold’s comments on it. Never gets old.[/quote]

Yes, I have just recently reread those HSS100 articles. Very good insight on the physiological responses to ‘the pump’.