Pompaggio Muscolare
Quando si parla di pompaggio muscolare, definito più comunemente “pump”, intendiamo quella piacevole sensazione che ognuno di noi ha provato almeno una volta in palestra durante la sessione con i pesi.
Questa sensazione viene provocata durante un allenamento con i pesi nel momento in cui i muscoli in contrazione richiamando più sangue di quanto le arterie ne riescano a far affluire, creano una situazione di momentanea ipossia (insufficiente presenza di ossigeno).
Questo determina un’apparente aumento del volume e della vascolarizzazione istantanea. Il dubbio che sorge nell’argomentare questo genere di oggetto risiede nel capire se effettivamente il ricreare questa sensazione apporti benefici o meno al nostro organismo.
Benefici
A livello psicologico sicuramente appaga notevolmente notare una tale vascolarizzazione e un aumento del volume momentaneo. Sicuramente ricrea in noi l’idea di esserci allenati alla grande.
It is necessary to highlight the fact that with the passage of time, regaining consistently a good muscle pump, causes the creation of new capillaries dedicated to the transport of oxygen and nutrients in the muscles. Precisely for this reason, specific pumping exercises are performed on recall days or on certain deficient muscle groups, in order to increase the blood supply.
Pump And Hypertrophy
Surely for powerlifters , whose workouts involve high loads with low repetitions, whose goal is to increase muscle strength, pumping is certainly not of significant importance. The discourse, on the other hand, is reversed when we talk about bodybuilding.
The latter, as everyone knows, has as its main objective, the increase in volumes. Nowadays it is well known that there are three elements that promote muscle growth:- Mechanical tension
- Metabolic stress
- Muscle damage
As far as mechanical tension is concerned, nothing new. From the very first workout, we are shown how (progressive) overload is a fundamental key for growth . However, studies and research have found that this is not the only existing method.
So here we are talking about metabolic stress . In this context we refer to certain training techniques such as super sets, super series, giant sets or drop sets. These variants create a noticeable pumping, ensuring an increase in intracellular hydration, widening the fibers.
This perceived sensation certainly helps in muscle building but as this is a temporary circumstance it is not identified as useful for muscle hypertrophy in the true sense of the word.
The easiest way to get a good muscle pump is definitely to increase the number of repetitions to 15/20 . Obviously, overloading should not be overlooked. In fact, low loads with high repetitions do not lead to any useful results.
Furthermore, it is also possible to favor this circumstance by maintaining a number of medium-low repetitions such as 8/10 but shortening the recovery times between the series to 30 "/ 45". Another tip is to implement our training with cable exercises .
These guarantee a prolonged and constant tension and contraction within the ROM (range of movement). Therefore, inserting target exercises such as pre-pumping / fatigue can only be of help especially when we want to concentrate a greater focus on a hypothetically deficient target muscle.We can also mention another particular technique that you can experiment with. Let's talk about isometric contractions.They consist in keeping a certain muscle in maximum contraction for 20, 30 or 45 seconds . This is done in order to be able to further increase the flow of fluids immediately after the series you have just performed.
The number of possibilities to promote muscle pumping is truly vast. Suffice it to mention the pyramid rest-pauses, but also some simple forced repetitions.
Conclusions
Having said that, surely recreating the pump situation can give benefits in terms of muscle growth or support in the search for hypertrophy. However, it should be emphasized that it is certainly not the determining factor in order to achieve the aforementioned objective. What absolutely must not be forgotten are the three fundamental elements for muscle growth.We conclude by saying that yes the pump can support the achievement of your goal, but it too, as such, must be programmed with mind. Impossible not to mention the one who spoke of pumping as something extremely sublime.
