Ok, today I wanna write about the Pump. Everyone who trains knows this great feeling that you get after a workout, your muscles are bigger (for a short period of time) and Arnold has even said that Pump is better than orgasm… Well… it does feel good, but it is not very useful!

Actually, the pump might be hindering your progress, my skinny brothers!!!

Ok, maybe not the pump itself, but Pump Training might do so. The Pump Training is when the guy trains with a lot of sets and a lot of repetitions. For example, 4 sets of 12 reps on biceps curl and then he walks to the closest mirror to see how freaking pumped his biceps are. This is what S. McRoberts called Pump Artists! They train in order to get the pump to satisfy their narcissistic needs or because they didn’t know any better. And most of the time it’s both. Hell, probably even I was such an idiot… I’d stand in front of the mirror to see how am doing curls… shame on me. No need for a mirror when you train seriously! Here is a good quote from book Dinosaur Training by Brook Kubik:

“Face it. Mirrors are there for two reasons. One is to allow weight trainers to piss and preen and admire their pretty reflections. The second is to allow them to ogle other gym members without making it too obvious…”

Now, don’t tell me you don’t ever take a look at the blond gym-bunny who works out near or somewhere you can see her… I did. But I wont anymore. If you have trouble focusing in the gym, get some music, preferably hard-rock or angry rap music and listen to it non-stop in the gym at high volume.

I’m so glad I read Dinosaur training because it showed different perspective to training. REAL training. SERIOUS training. It showed where I was/sometimes still make mistakes. Such as Pump Training.

Now, so how can Pump Training be hindering your gains?

First, you lifts small weights with it to get a lot of reps, do slow movements in order to feel your every muscle. I don’t care how much curls you can do with 20lb dumbells and how much your biceps pumps up, you wont gain as fast and as much as you can with such a small weight. If you really want to get bigger, switch to real exercises like squats, deadlifts, bench press, overhead press, pull up, barbell rows etc. and work up to lifting big as.s weights. If you get stronger, you WILL GET bigger.

That’s why I suggest you switch from doing a 3 or 4 day split to training 3 days a week and doing Full Body program and using 5 sets and 5 reps scheme.

Second, Pump Training, depletes your energy a lot. Lifting weights for lots of reps (more than 10 reps) depletes your glycogen stores (source of energy for your muscles) and it needs to be replenished as soon as possible and ONLY THEN focus on actual growth of muscles! This is the main reason why Pump Training might suck. Instead of using the food you eat after workout to grow your muscles, your body uses it to replenish your energy levels.

How to avoid that?

Well, switch to 5×5 training. Rep range of 3-5 reps allows guys to gain strength and lift bigger weights, which allow them to break down muscles better and uses LESS glycogen, which allows to replenish energy faster and start gaining muscle sooner.

Now, this is the most I can tell you at the moment guys. I already have a routine which I’ve shared with people who subscribed to the blog and will share it with you later on. But, I still have to learn more about this topic of rep ranges, how they influence muscle gains and which one is better for us skinny guys. From my experience it’s 5 sets and 5 reps, but I’m gonna combine my experience with scientific proof from experts and write another post about this topic this week.

I think this might be greatly beneficial for you guys! So stay tuned for the Part Two!

Cheers,
Adrian

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