Pumping (from the English verb to pump - “to pump up”) is a training method aimed at maximizing blood circulation in muscles and maximizing their volume during training. Pumping workouts are practiced primarily by bodybuilders, but athletes from other strength sports will also find certain advantages in them. We will tell you which ones in this article.
What is pumping?
Pumping, that is, pumping blood into muscles, gives an unforgettable experience - this is the most obvious plus of the described technique. It's nice to look at your enlarged muscles, seeing the effect here and now.
How to achieve pumping?
How is this achieved? What is the essence of pumping training?
- In the pumping style, as a rule, no more than two muscle groups are worked out in one workout.
- Exercises are mainly selected isolating, that is, those in which one muscle group works. Give preference to those movements in which you feel this small muscle group as well as possible.
- The weight is selected in such a way that in one approach you get at least 15 "clean" reps, preferably more, up to 20-25. “Cleanliness” is extremely important - the technique must be perfect, the feeling of work must be only in the target muscle group! Accordingly, each repetition is performed in a controlled manner.
- At the end of each set, you should feel a pronounced burning sensation in the target muscle. The maximum burning sensation will be the limiting factor towards the next rep. To fulfill this condition, avoid in the exercise "extreme point" - complete relaxation of the muscle (for example, do not extend the arms to the end in the press or when flexing for the biceps), which should be constantly in good shape.
- In the peak contraction, it is not necessary to fix the muscle, although it is quite possible, thereby achieving even greater difficulty in the outflow of blood from the working muscle and, accordingly, an even greater pump effect.
- In addition to the simplest version of performing an exercise for 15-25 repetitions, there are several more complex schemes that help to achieve the same blood circulation in the muscles: supersets, drop sets, concentration on the negative phase of the movement, etc. The best option would be to include several patterns or alternating them to give your muscles new stress with every workout.
The benefits of pumping
The point of all these actions is to maximize the blood flow to the muscle, while simultaneously reducing the outflow. This leads to oxygen debt and acidosis - acidification of muscle fibers. Acidification is due to the fact that when the outflow of blood is disturbed, the flow also slows down, which means that oxygen does not have time to flow to the working muscle in the proper amount.
To provide a working fiber with energy, cells switch to an anaerobic, that is, anoxic pathway of oxidative phosphorylation or energy production - ATP. In the course of the oxygen-free way of energy production, metabolic by-products are formed - hydrogen ions. They are the ones who change the environment inside the cell. From a biological point of view, this damages the quaternary structure of the cell nucleus protein, which facilitates the access of anabolic hormones to it. It is thanks to the action of hormones at the cellular level that our muscles grow and regenerate faster.
However, do not forget that when pumping, a small working weight will be used (otherwise you will not be able to complete the specified number of repetitions), which will be a much less stimulus for muscle growth than with classical training. A slight increase in the flow of hormones to muscle fibers is not a sufficient factor for successful mass gain.
Pumping rules
An additional condition for pumping training is a shortened rest time between sets (no more than a minute, ideally 30-40 seconds)... This increases the motor density of the muscles and leads to increased energy expenditure.
A high intensity pumping workout results in increased energy expenditure. Accordingly, the energy resources of the cell are quickly depleted. In the process of systematic training in the described style, the ability of muscle cells to store glycogen increases. Your muscles will have large volumes due to this phenomenon.
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Training recommendations
If you use only pumping in training, the progress in muscle growth will be noticeably inferior to the classical and strength training approaches. This is especially true for straight athletes. Nevertheless, you do not need to throw out this scheme at all - you only need to cycle the loads correctly... For example, for the first week, perform exercises in the classic mode - for 10-12 repetitions, for the second week, use pumping and work for 15-25 repetitions, on the third, return to the classics, and so on.
Another working scheme for such cycling is as follows:
- First week - powerlifting strength training. Only heavy basic free weight exercises are used, the number of repetitions is from 3 to 8-10.
- Second and third weeks. Classic bodybuilding approach - 8-12 reps. The base is the base, some insulation is added.
- The fourth week is pumping. 15-25 reps, you can use supersets, drop sets, pre-fatigue and other similar techniques. The exercises are mostly isolating.
Finally, a recommendation based on the works of V.N.Seluyanov. When performing a training plan within the framework of one pumping workout, the load on the same muscle group will be excessive. Acidification can be so strong that instead of spurring anabolic processes in muscle fiber, it stimulates pronounced catabolism, and instead of building new muscle volumes, you will take a long and tedious time to restore what you had before training.
To avoid this unpleasant phenomenon, the best option for building a pumping workout would be to alternate exercises for anatomically separated muscle groups from each other.
For example, you are pumping your biceps. Between sets of curls, you do squats to flush some of the free radicals from the muscle fiber. Of course, with this approach, the pumping effect is more difficult to achieve, but on the other hand, you will be sure that you did not work out in the negative. Again, this approach will further increase the endurance of the muscle groups being worked out - this will occur due to the growth of mitochondrial mass. Namely, mitochondria are responsible for the utilization of oxygen and the production of energy by muscle fibers.
Pumping workout program
We bring to your attention one of the variants of the complex, in which the first week is classic strength work, and the second - pumping. The split in the first week is designed for four days, on some days the shoulders, legs, chest with triceps and back with biceps are pumped. In the second week, there are three workouts, and the combination is somewhat different: chest with back, arms, legs with shoulders. The combinations are selected in this way because of the above recommendations for pumping training.
If the exercises listed in the table do not suit you for any reason, select alternative exercises in the exercises section.
First week with classic workouts:
| Monday (shoulders) | ||
| Bench press standing | 4x10 |  |
| Seated Dumbbell Press | 3x12 |  © Makatserchyk - stock.adobe.com |
| Wide grip barbell pull | 4x12 |  © Makatserchyk - stock.adobe.com |
| Swing dumbbells to the sides while standing | 3x12 |  © Makatserchyk - stock.adobe.com |
| Leads to the back delta in the simulator | 4x12 |  © fizkes - stock.adobe.com |
| Swing in a crossover in a slope | 3x12 |  © Makatserchyk - stock.adobe.com |
| Tuesday (legs) | ||
| Barbell Shoulder Squats | 4x12,10,8,6 |  © Vitaly Sova - stock.adobe.com |
| Leg press in the simulator | 3x12 |  |
| Deadlift on straight legs with a barbell | 4x10 |  |
| Dumbbell lunges | 3x10 |  © Makatserchyk - stock.adobe.com |
| Standing Calf Raises | 4x12 |  © Makatserchyk - stock.adobe.com |
| Thursday (chest + triceps) | ||
| Bench press | 4x12,10,8,6 |  |
| Incline Dumbbell Press | 3x10 |  © Makatserchyk - stock.adobe.com |
| Dips on the uneven bars | 3x10-12 |  |
| Bench press with a narrow grip | 3x10 |  |
| French bench press | 3x12 |  |
| Twisting in the simulator | 4x12 |  |
| Friday (back + biceps) | ||
| Wide grip pull-ups | 4x10-12 |  |
| Pull of the bar to the belt | 4x10 |  © Makatserchyk - stock.adobe.com |
| Narrow Reverse Grip Row | 3x10 |  © Makatserchyk - stock.adobe.com |
| T-bar deadlift | 3x10 |  |
| Hyperextension | 4x12 |  © Makatserchyk - stock.adobe.com |
| Standing barbell curls | 3x10 |  © Makatserchyk - stock.adobe.com |
| Dumbbell curls sitting on an incline bench | 3x10 |  © Makatserchyk - stock.adobe.com |
| Hanging leg raises on the horizontal bar | 4x10-12 |  |
Second week with pumping workouts:
| Monday (legs + shoulders) | ||
| Smith Squats | 4x15-20 |  © Artem - stock.adobe.com |
| Bench press sitting or standing | 4x15-20 |  © lunamarina - stock.adobe.com |
| Leg press in the simulator | 3x20-25 | |
| Seated Shoulder Press | 3x20-25 |  © Makatserchyk - stock.adobe.com |
| Deadlift on straight legs with a barbell | 4x15-20 | |
| Wide grip barbell pull | 4x20-25 | © Makatserchyk - stock.adobe.com |
| Superset: leg extensions + curls in simulators | 4x20 + 20 |  © Makatserchyk - stock.adobe.com  © Makatserchyk - stock.adobe.com |
| Drop set: swing dumbbells to the sides while standing | 3x maximum, two weight loss | © Makatserchyk - stock.adobe.com |
| Drop set: bent over dumbbell swings | 3x maximum, two weight loss |  © Makatserchyk - stock.adobe.com |
| Wednesday (hands) | ||
| French bench press | 4x15-20 | |
| Barbell curls for biceps | 4x15-20 | © Makatserchyk - stock.adobe.com |
| Rope pull from behind the head forward in a crossover | 3x20-25 |  © tankist276 - stock.adobe.com |
| Curls of arms with dumbbells for biceps sitting on an incline bench | 3x15-20 | © Makatserchyk - stock.adobe.com |
| Drop set: dumbbell extension from behind the head | 3x maximum, two weight loss |  © Vitaly Sova - stock.adobe.com |
| Drop set: lower block or crossover curls | 3x maximum, two weight loss |  © antondotsenko - stock.adobe.com |
| Superset: Rope Handle Triceps Row + Reverse Grip Bicep Curls | 3x20 + 20 |  © _italo_ - stock.adobe.com  |
| Friday (chest + back) | ||
| Bench press | 4x15-20 | |
| Wide grip pull of the upper block to the chest | 4x15-20 |  © Makatserchyk - stock.adobe.com |
| Press in Smith on an incline bench | 3x15-20 |  © Odua Images - stock.adobe.com |
| Horizontal thrust on the lower block | 3x15-20 |  © tankist276 - stock.adobe.com |
| Hand information in the Butterfly simulator | 3x20-25 |  © Makatserchyk - stock.adobe.com |
| Row of the bar to the belt lying on an incline bench | 3x15-20 |  © Makatserchyk - stock.adobe.com |
| Superset: crossover information + dumbbell pullover | 3x20 + 20 |  © Makatserchyk - stock.adobe.com  © Nicholas Piccillo - stock.adobe.com |
Do not forget that when pumping workouts, you do not need to fully unbend your legs in all squats, leg presses, and also unbend your arms in any presses and curls for biceps.
