Is Producing A Muscle Pump or Burn During Weight Lifting Workouts Essential For Muscle Growth?
|
By :
Francesco Castano
|
Many weight lifters who wish to build significant levels of muscle mass aim to produce a muscle burn or pump during their weight training workout sessions, with the feeling that such a sensation is indicative of muscle fatigue and breakdown, therefore enhancing the chances for muscle gain. Bodybuilders will even specifically seek out the muscle burn or pump by modifying certain weight training workout principles in order to encourage such a feeling, and often tell other weight lifters how their workout session was extremely potent or describe a certain weight training exercise as feeling superior specifically due to the muscle burn or pump that is part of each set.
But, is there a serious flaw with this bodybuilding concept? Certainly, any weight lifter is well aware of the muscle pump and burn fascination, as bodybuilders often refer to this phenomena, but how exactly is the muscle burn or pump achieved, and are the techniques that foster such a sensation actually helpful towards muscle gain?
The muscle pump and burn are a function of high rep ranges, where a bodybuilder uses lower weight in order to fail using a much higher number of repetitions, which causes the muscles to fatigue in a much different way than with lower reps and higher weight. Because a muscle is able to sustain effort longer during a weight training set when using higher reps, there is a muscle pump and burn that accompanies the latter segment of a high rep range, as the muscle approaches failure, but by virtue of using lower weight in order to sustain the muscle pump and burn rep range, muscle building is impacted adversely, and although the workout session may actually seem more effective due to the muscle pump and burn, the type of fatigue, which is more endurance related than muscle building in nature, is not the most effective for those who wish to produce the greatest level of muscle mass.
When using a lower rep range and higher weight, the workout set will usually not lead to anywhere near the level of muscle burn or pump as compared with higher rep, lower weight workout sessions, but because the weight used is greater, the muscle receives a more substantial level of overload and shock, therefore causing superior overall bodybuilding progress in most muscle groups. Therefore, although the muscle pump and burn is far less in heavier weight training sessions, since muscle gains are superior, there is no legitimate reason for a bodybuilder to aim for a muscle burn or pump during workout sessions that has muscle gain as its primary focus.
Lower weight and higher rep workouts are helpful for overtraining prevention, joint recuperation, and muscle recovery, but are far less effective at muscle gains in most areas as compared with heavier weight training workout sessions that do not offer any substantial muscle burn or pump. There are also particular exercises that result in a greater sense of muscle burn or pump, especially those that stretch the muscle significantly, but they also as just described, in that the muscle pump and burn will increase greatly with lower weight and higher reps, but, the most important point to always keep in mind is that the greatest level of muscle growth will not occur by aiming for a muscle pump or burn, but rather through structuring weight training workout sessions within a lower rep range where greater weight will be used to produce a much higher workload level.
If you wish to experience a muscle burn or pump, then you may perform one set at the conclusion of every weight training workout exercise that is comprised of higher reps and lower weight (a burn out set), as this will not interfere with muscle building assuming that all prior workout sets are organized using heavier weight and a lower rep range, which is helpful for maximum muscle gain. The goal is not to feel as if a muscle has gained size during the actual weight training workout session, but rather to produce weekly measurable muscle gains, so do not make the mistake of believing a muscle burn or pump during a workout will promote any additional sustainable muscle growth unless you have planned your weight training session with heavier, lower rep workouts for sufficient muscle stimulation.
|
Author Resource:-
Francesco Castano authors MuscleNOW.com, a workout routine for gaining muscle mass without supplements or drugs. He also owns IncrediBody.com, an online fitness superstore selling weight lifting equipment at guaranteed lowest prices.
|
Article From article monkeys article directory
Submitted
2009-08-04 01:36:53
|
 Printer ready view |
Want this article for your site? -  HTML ready view
Article source - http://www.articlemonkeys.com/Is-Producing-A-Muscle-Pump-or-Burn-During-Weight-Lifting-Workouts-Essential-For-Muscle-Growth-8311.html
|
![[Valid RSS feed]](http://www.articlemonkeys.com/images/icon_Rss.png "XML Feed For RSS") Rss Feed for Category - http://www.articlemonkeys.com/rss.php?rss=164
|
|
|
|
.jpg "Free Traffic System - Increase Targeted Website Traffic with Free
Unlimited One Way Links")
