The Pump

[Captain]

Hi everyone, I am a new NFPT personal trainer and I have a question I was hoping someone out there may be able to give me some additional insight on. You see the NFPT advocates avoiding the pump. Claiming that since the blood is rushing into the muscle with the pump, it prolongs the time that lactic acid remains in the muscle. This causes premature muscle failure and does not allow the muscle fiber to be worked to optimum failure. Another trainer I know who has been in the business for over two decades with NDEITA was shocked to hear this. Does anyone out there have any response or input to this?

[-TIM-]

Um, how do they suggest you avoid "the pump"? In my experience, if I lift hard, I will experience the feeling of being pumped.

[Captain]

Rest long enough between sets so that you can complete the same number of reps on each set and decrease lactic acid buildup. Also one should do a challenging weight for 4 to 6 reps or 12 to 15 reps while avoiding burnout sets. They did not go into great detail on how to avoid it rather they explained what happens when you get the pump and stressed on avoiding it.

[-TIM-]

It seems that you would have to rest quite a while to avoid a pump. Resting too long would decrease the efficiency of your workout. Now I'm all discumbobulated. Oh yeah, welcome to the forum.

[RickTheDestroyer]

I get less pumped if I do lower rep ranges, for what it's worth.

[Machher]

This relates to recent studies. Multi Set vs. Single Set .... 1 set of overloaded muscle for a good amount of reps (generally 8-12 max heavy) was found to be enough to induce as much hypertrophy as the multiple set 8 sets of 3 per say.

[Vido]

There's no way you won't get a pump doing 12-15 reps...you don't need burnout sets to be accomplishing this.

Why do you have to train to muscle failure in the first place?

[Relentless]

from exrx.net....

"Immediately following a weight training exercise the muscle may seem full and tight for 15 to 30 minutes. The muscular pump is caused by trapped plasma within the muscle. During muscular contraction the contractile elements exert a force inward upon itself; the muscle diameter increases as it shortens. During intense muscular contraction this force inward occludes the vasculature momentarily backing up blood flow through that particular muscle group. A compensatory increase of blood pressure forces plasma from the congested capillaries into the interstitial spaces of the muscle cells.

Bodybuilders commonly perform pumping up exercises before appearing on stage. For most of us there is no real benefit from achieving a pump except for boosting your ego. Although, inability to achieve a pump is one symptom of overtraining. Fluid volume in the muscle and possibly blood volume decrease when glycogen stores are low. Intense cycling or swimming can also bring about a pump."

There's also a classic Schwarzenegger interview clip (from Pumping Iron) where he extols the virtues of the pump and compares it to orgasming.

Now I'm not saying that either of these sources if the be all and end all on this topic but I know an awful lot of successful lifters that get the pump and continue to grow, and my own personal experience suggests that the sensation of a muscle pump is not related to growth; I have grown using workout styles that both enhanced and avoided pump sensations.


In any case, the statement "does not allow the muscle fiber to be worked to optimum failure" is the most dubious one IMHO. Degrees of failure reached while lifting aren't that important for getting bigger, in my experience. Progression is the only immutable law.

[ElPietro]

I thought blood rushing into the muscle body is what cleared out lactic acid. I'd at least like to see some form of statement on how pump prolongs lactic acid buildup. And how long they think resting actually benefits it's removal from the system.

I don't think that rest between sets is going to be a huge factor in this. You will still be doing more work in the next set anyway, and building up again. I think it takes a lot more than a few minutes for a pump to go away. Most people will have some form of pump from there workouts for 30+ minutes afterwards.

In the end, how much less time would there be a maximal buildup of lactic acid in the muscles pumped versus non-pumped? Is this going to lead to any significant increase in performance?

So here's what I'd like to read about. If any of this is worth delving into further.

1. Impact of lactic acid on weight training within those rep ranges.
2. Impact of blood pump on lactic acid.
3. Impact of 3-5 minutes rest on blood pump.
4. Impact of 3-5 minutes rest on lactic acid.

I just took 3-5 minutes as a guesstimate of what you meant by long rest periods. I generally wait that long for heavy sets or maximal lifts but if I had to wait that long for everything workouts could take a very long time.

I am guessing these people might not have any info regarding the above list of questions. But regardless of that, I'm also guessing, that even if it is near the truth, the impact on your weight training would be so miniscule as to not warrant any concern with "teh pump."

[SW]

I get less pumped if I do lower rep ranges, for what it's worth.

Definitley. Less motion goes on = less time blood is shoved through the muscle while flexing. I experience the same.