[serbmarko]

Muscle Pump and Strength

In the last chapter we looked at how a muscle pump (active or exercise induced
hyperaemia) aids in muscle growth. In this chapter, we are going to look at how a muscle
pump can contribute to strength and strength development. Just like the last chapter we
will take a scientific approach to the task at hand, because understanding these concepts
gives you knowledge, and knowledge is power. Information you can use when thinking
about your workout strategies etc.
And just like last chapter we backtracked and looked at the structure of a muscle before
proceeding. In this chapter I need to back track and tackle the concept of strength for you
to have a proper understanding of what strength really is.
Contrary to most people think who will read this article, strength is not how much
someone can lift. Strength is also not a measure of some percentage of the same 1RM
(one rep max). Such definitions of strength are trite and totally inaccurate. Strength and
Conditioning coaches out there who are designing “strength training programs” by
demanding sets of certain percentages of 1RM, do not know and understand much about
strength, conceptually or in an applied sense. So what is strength then?
Well strength is defined by numerous experts numerous ways, but a working definition
for me has always been that conceptually strength is equal to force output capacity. That
encapsulates strength as a concept. See strength exists all along the aerobic/anaerobic
metabolic continuum. Aerobic performance is still quantifiably about strength albeit
aerobic strength. A marathon runner who wins the marathon is the winner because
footfall for footfall he was stronger than the other athletes behind him. The same can be
said of a sprinter. Therefore even though the demands of the sport are different they both
involve strength and the stronger athlete wins. So speed and endurance therefore are
encompassed within the realm of strength. So conceptually I define strength as force
output capacity, and also allow that under metabolic conditions of different sports or
tasks strength is a relative concept and has little to do with how much one can lift one
time. However in measuring and quantifying strength especially for readers of this book,
strength can be defined as a measure of when force output meets a force decrement. This
is easy to measure. Along the line of the aerobic/anaerobic metabolic continuum there
exists what is called the anaerobic threshold. This is the point where muscles can no
longer use oxygen to fuel activity by must start using other substrates. One of the
metabolic by products at this point is lactate. So one can start measuring strength for our
purposes at this juncture along the metabolic continuum. Form here then one can
measure things like absolute or limit strength as a one repitition maximum lift, if so
desired.
Now it’s also important to know and understand the kinds of strength. Although there are
many types of strength, contractually there are only three kinds of strength to a muscle.
They are concentric strength, eccentric strength and static strength. Static strength is
contracting a muscle in a fixed spot and holding the contraction, or contracting against an

immoveable force, so long as the muscle is not lengthening or shortening. Eccentric
strength is strength measured when a muscle is stretched with resistance as in lowering a
weight from a contracted position. Finally concentric strength is what we all commonly
think of when we think of strength. It is a muscle contracting or shortening with
resistance, as in the curling part of a biceps curl. A lot has been made of these different
kinds of strength and a lot of faulty conclusions drawn because of the research on
strength. Concentric strength is considered the weakest kind of applied strength while
static strength is 20% greater than concentric strength and eccentric strength is 40%
greater than concentric strength. These research facts have led to some very faulty
conclusions about program design for strength training. I will get to that later. So now
we know definitively what strength is, both conceptually and applied. We need to know
also that like muscle growth strength is also closely co-related to the cross sectional area
of the muscle, for our purposes the myofibrils mostly. Make no mistake that strength
also has to do with factors such as biomechanical and structural leverage advantages, as
well, as tendon thickness and length etc. But there is no point in discussing these because
we can’t do anything to alter them for greater strength. We have these other factors from
nature. But creating a more dense cross section of a muscle is something we can control,
and this is what most strength training protocols are designed to accomplish.
One of the ways of increasing cross sectional area of a muscle you will recall from last
chapter is by creating protein synthesis within the cell. This can only be accomplished
and accomplished well by keeping a cell well hydrated. I said in the last chapter there
were two factors that contributed to growth, the pump, and cell hydration. I explained the
pump because a good pump is conducive to better hydration of muscle tissue and we
went through all of that last chapter. The important thing to remember here is that all
metabolic processes conducive to anabolism and therefore strength as well, takes place in
a hydrophilic environment. That just means water loving. Therefore the more hydrated a
cell; the more likely anabolic activity can take place. This is one reason that creatine, the
most popular supplement in the world works so well. It hydrates cells. Cellular
hydration may be a signal for protein synthesis and as we noted last chapter this can
increase the cross sectional area of a muscle and therefore increase strength. Since I
already explained last chapter why active hyperaemia (the pump) would contribute to this
activity there is no need to explain it again, except to say that once more it seems the
pump has uses for gaining strength as well as growth through its indirect effect on
cellular hydration. In order to understand the importance of hydration, one need only
look at the results of dehydration by comparison. Studies have shown the deleterious
effects of dehydration. Dehydration has negative effects on strength. Other studies have
shown that re-hydration, over just a couple of hours can alleviate the negative effects of
dehydration. This goes to show how important cell hydration is to strength gain and
performance and yet another reason to associate a pump (active hyperaemia), with
positive biofeedback. No we can take a closer look at how the pump can increase
strength. As in dehydration or other poorly monitored or poorly functioning osmotic
states, a decreased plasma volume is associated with decrease lactate threshold. So not
only does strength suffer as shown above but the muscle tires quicker and quits faster.
Proper oxygenation, the feeding of muscles if you will is essential for these functions to

be adequate, but as athletes we dont just want adequate to reverse negative states we want
and demand the best situation possible for strength and mass gains.
Because muscles require oxygen for energy, factors that limit oxygen transport to the
muscle cause greater stress on phosphocreatine stores and anaerobic glycolysis when
exercising. The reverse is also true. Improved oxygen transport to muscles should cause
decreased depletion of phosphocreatine concentrations and a decrease in muscle and
blood lactate concentrations, part of what I call fatigue toxins. Active hyperaemia, a
pump, would facilitate oxygen delivery to the muscles which would obviously then be
conducive to max force output. Remember one of the effects of NO2 (we will discuss
more about NO2 below) is the vasodilatory effect. This leads to increased blood flow
and increased blood flow can enhance the exchange of nutrients and gases. Recall also
the NO2 is only released and increased in an exercise induced state or hyperaemia, the
pump. So this is yet another reason that the pump is conducive to strength gains. It’s no
surprise with all of this information that muscles represent the largest vascular beds in the
body. Increased blood flow leads to improved oxygenation in muscle which aids
recovery between sets. (and even between workouts).
As stated, depletion of phosphocreatine levels and increased blood and muscle lactate
concentrations are associated with greater muscle fatigue and decreased contractility.
This negative desired effect is not only caused by low blood volume but by the presence
of free radicals. (The other fatigue toxins) One of the by products of hard working
muscles are reactive metabolites from which free radicals are formed. Free radicals are
oxygen scavengers and they also can damage cells. You’ve probably all read about
cancer caused by free radical damage in specific areas of the body. We aren’t talking
about cancer here, but about decreased exercise performance and recovery. This reactive
situation is associated with muscle damage, fatigue, and decreased contractility. Once
again, a better pump, because of things like vasodilatory effects, and increased blood
flow helps insure more prompt removal of fatigue toxins. Not only that but under this
metabolic condition of active hyperaemia, there is better nutrient delivery to the muscles
as well. We’ve all been made aware of the benefits of anti-oxidants for fighting free
radicals. One of the important anti-oxidants for our purposes here is glutathione. Well
improved nutrient delivery to the working and recovering muscles also means improved
delivery of these anti-oxidants which can minimize the extent of free radical damage. It
is no surprise then that research shows anti-oxidants to speed recovery between sets and
between workouts. The pump as you can see becomes important on numerous levels for
optimal growth and strength training. But then there is also the hormonal effect of the
pump, and namely that is the NO2 factor.

NO2
You will recall that when blood flow starts to increase in working muscles NO2 is
released. NO2 then has a pronounced effect not only in increasing the pump but
maintaining it. So important is the pump for exercise metabolism it has its own hormonal
system. NO2 helps the pump but also helps the muscle’s ability to maintain force as well
by maintaining the pump. And remember the more the pump is increased the more NO2
is increased as well.

No2 has the following direct effects on strength.

1) No2 increases contraction velocity of muscles. Muscle contracts faster and can
therefore generate more force.

2) Because of the above effect NO2 also increases both types of speed strength,
starting strength, which is defined as maximum instantaneous fiber recruitment,
and explosive strength, which is define as being able to use recruited fibers till
they are no longer needed.

3) As already noted, NO2 increases glucose uptake which provides more nutrients to
working muscles. Research shows this effect is even more pronounced in trained
individuals, a chronic long term adaptation if you will.
Now since NO2 is only released and increased in the state of active hyperaemia, the
pump by conclusion is necessary for generating strength gains.
While so far we have examined the physiological effects of the pump its necessary to
note the psychological effects of the pump as well, which feeds into keeping a pump and
working toward it, which further generates all the above positive physiological effects. A
pump helps to develop a keen sense of mind/body awareness which becomes really
important for being a high level athlete. For everyone, a pump always increases
motivation and desire and sense of well being while training making it easier to maintain
enthusiasm for the course of a grueling workout. But you all know this. This is just the
real world psychological effects of higher blood volume. The Pump.

Maximizing the Pump
Now that you all really understand how imperative it is to seek and maintain a pump
during training in order to make real world strength and growth gains, let me give you
some tips and do’s and don’ts for doing this wisely.
If you follow the Innervation Training System I developed some time ago then you are
well on your way to achieving this properly.

1) choose the most compound movements and do them explosively

2) develop thoroughly the mind/muscle connection by target training only the
muscle intended, not throwing weights around for egos sake

3) use intensity techniques, like weight constant multiple sets when doing compound
movements, or strip sets, drop sets, and extended sets at least once per training
cycle for a given body part. These techniques recruit the higher threshold motor
units, the most stubborn fibers if you will, which are the ones which create the
most growth stimulus.

4) Do NOT ever use forced reps or negatives. Since these techniques mean you have
already performed a set to failure, by going beyond failure you only risk non
removal of built up fatigue toxins and an increased elevation of free radical
presence and cell damage. Why do you think so many people complain they lose
their pump after doing forced reps? The above techniques are much more
efficient.

5) Use proper exercise selection. The difference between a good athlete and a great
one especially in bodybuilding is having a program where the sequence of
exercises within a workout makes sense for recruitment, stimulus, and recovery
both locally and systemically. This is one of the core secrets of Innervation
Training.

6) Use a high volume approach to training, 20+ sets per body part, once you are in
good enough condition to handle increased Workload Capacity. Remember high
volume training equals high blood volume, and sustained high blood volume, both
conditions conducive to growth and strength

7) Never do maximum singles or doubles in a training situation. (Unless you are a
power lifter in the weeks closing in on a show. But that is not for strength or
growth but for maximum performance.
These are merely a few of the training prescription protocols I would recommend
employing to insure optimum growth and strength gains for the athlete training in the real
world. All the above just happen also to force and maintain a higher blood volume
(exercise induced hyperaemia, THE PUMP) so imperative to results. It should be more
than clear now, scientifically and in terms of common sense just how important it is to
strive to achieve and maintain a pump in a training situation.

[jornT]

I'm not the one with most knowledge about bodybuilding, but doing 20+ sets per bodypart? Is that really a good idea?
And about negatives, are they really bad?

[Blond Bomber]

I do 20+ sets for the big parts and like 10-15 for the small ones, and it works great for me. And negatives works real good for my strenth inproovements, all is personal man, experiment.

Real good article sebmarko, not that ive read the hole thing yet, im saving this for a rainy day.
=)

[serbmarko]

well the trainer that uses these techniques always gets his clients in spot on condition.. and he is well known for that.. I know sometimes it just sounds like it wouldnt work.. but all the guys he has trained have shown up in their best condition, mass ever..