You just finished a set of bicep curls and your muscles feel like they’re about to explode out of your arms. You look in the mirror and admire your suddenly huge biceps. Congrats — you’ve achieved the coveted muscle pump.
The science behind the pump
What you know as the “muscle pump” is actually called “transient hypertrophy.” Don’t let that super-sciency-sounding word scare you. Hypertrophy is the term for building muscle, and transient means it only lasts a short time — if you’ve ever gotten a muscle pump, you know just how fleeting it is.
Muscle pumps occur largely because of fluid buildup that accumulates in your muscles when you work out. When you lift weights, blood rushes to your working muscles, and lactic acid begins to build up and draw water into your muscle fibers. Together, these two triggers — increased blood flow and lactic acid buildup — cause individual muscle cells to swell, ultimately making your muscles look bigger while you’re working out.
If you’ve had a muscle pump before, you’re probably familiar with the feeling of fullness or heaviness you get in your muscles after an intense set. That’s all the fluid building up in your hard-working muscles.
Does a muscle pump help you build muscle?
Getting a muscle pump certainly makes you feel fitter, stronger, and bigger — but those results aren’t necessarily long-lasting. It’s called “transient” hypertrophy for a reason. Muscle pumps disappear about as fast as they come on, because once you finish working out, your body has no reason to hold onto all that blood in non-working muscles. As for the lactic acid, your body wants to flush that out as fast as possible.
Getting a muscle pump is a good sign you got in a good workout, but don’t count on your muscles looking pumped when you wake up the next morning. It is worth noting that getting a pump typically means you worked your muscles hard enough to induce adaptation (growth), although evidence is inconclusive.
How to get a muscle pump
The most efficient way to get a muscle pump is to lift weights, specifically at high volumes (more reps at moderate loads). The repeated contractions and extensions of your muscle fibers during weightlifting makes it easy for fluids to enter your muscle cells.
To maximize your muscle pump, try these tips:
- Do high-volume weightlifting instead of high-load weightlifting. More muscle contraction means more reason for your body to send blood to those muscles. Plus, science says high-volume weightlifting is the best way to build muscle overall.
- Hydrate before and during lifting weights. Getting a pump is all about fluids, and if you’re dehydrated, your body has less water to pump your muscles with.
- Eat carbs before you work out. Carbohydrates hold onto water in your body, which might contribute to a better pump.
- Utilize supersets and tri-sets. Like mentioned before, getting a pump is all about volume. Implementing supersets (two exercises back-to-back) and tri-sets (three exercises) is a simple way to increase your overall volume and decrease overall rest time, which should increase your chances of getting a muscle pump.
Want to learn more about getting a mad muscle pump? Talk to a World Gym personal trainer about individual training plans to maximize muscle growth.
FAQs
While you may not see results right away, even a single strength training session can help promote muscle growth.
Can you just do one exercise for a muscle? ›
That depends on the muscle. Some muscles, like your biceps, can probably be trained optimally with only a single exercise. Others, like your pecs or quads, require several exercises in order for you to stimulate all muscle fibers.
Can you build muscle with only one set? ›
Remarkably, newbie lifters can make gains with as little as one set of six to 15 reps per week—on average, at least. But average results don't tell the full story. Some people will gain more than average; others will gain less.
Can muscles get bigger after one workout? ›
Depending on your workout, muscle cells can grow back bigger and stronger anywhere from one to seven days later. While they grow back, you should work on different muscle groups to stay on a consistent schedule.
How to gain muscle fast? ›
Compound exercises like squats, deadlifts, presses, and pull-ups will help you gain muscle more efficiently and increase your strength. You'll also maximize your time in the gym by working several muscles at a time. Make compound exercises the core of your workout, and add some isolation training when you can.
Is 2 sets too little? ›
The National Strength and Conditioning Association (NSCA) will break this down, suggesting the following set ranges: 2-3 will help build muscular endurance (12 to 20+ reps) 3-6 build muscular hypertrophy (6 to 12 reps) 3-5 build muscular power (3 to 5 reps)
Is single muscle workout effective? ›
By dedicating an entire day to one muscle group, such as your chest, you can fully fatigue the muscles and target them from a variety of angles, ensuring you develop a muscle to its full extent. The problem is, split plans lose effectiveness if you don't have five or six days to work out each week.
Do single reps build muscle? ›
Whether you're looking to build strength or increase mass or both, single-rep training can work to your benefit.
Is 3 sets of 10 enough to build muscle? ›
Are 3 sets of exercises enough for building muscle? Building muscle, or hypertrophy, requires a greater training volume than just three sets. If you have some training experience and you are looking to build muscle, you would do 3 to 6 sets of each exercise and you would aim for two exercises per body part.
How many sets until failure? ›
Training to failure for one set per exercise elicits twice the strength gains as not training to failure. Increasing the number of sets taken to failure from one set to two, three or four provides no more benefit than doing just one set to failure.
Typically, the triceps are the bigger of the upper arm muscles. The biceps and triceps are each unique in their makeup and function. One consists of two heads and is responsible for arm flexion, and the other consists of three heads and is responsible for arm extension.
Do no repeat workouts work? ›
Often Little Muscle Tearing – You're usually going to only get one chance to work a major muscle group. So if you're trying to increase muscle mass by burning a muscle group out, this style of workout might not tackle that goal.
At what age do muscles grow the most? ›
Most likely around your later teenage years, probably around 15 to 19, as well as up to your 20s and around mid to late 30s. After the age of 40, your physical condition will decrease over time but as long as you continue some exercises, you'll be able to maintain your physical condition.
How quickly do muscles grow? ›
In general, muscle growth takes weeks to months to produce noticeable changes. Many factors influence muscle growth, such as training methods, diet, hormones, and quality of sleep.
How many exercise is enough for a muscle? ›
When training a muscle on a given training day, you want to think about doing 2-4 different movements, each allowing for 2-5 hard work sets, depending on your level and phase of training you are in. This allows you to accumulate roughly 8-15 total sets per muscle group per session.
Is working out once a week enough to Build muscle? ›
You can build muscle in as few as one or two workouts a week, according to a conditioning expert and the latest exercise science. By focusing on compound movements, efficient workout sets, and enough rest, you can max out your gains with minimal effort.
Is 1 rep enough to Build muscle? ›
Anything between about 5–40 reps per set (between about 40–85% of 1RM) has been shown to be effective to build muscle. More or fewer reps than that and the muscle-building effect per set decreases somewhat.
How many workouts until you see muscle growth? ›
Here's what the research says: According to one review: “at least 6-7 weeks of regular resistive training at reasonably high intensity” is required to produce significant changes in muscle mass.
