Is Achieving A Muscle Pump or Burn During Weight Lifting Workouts Necessary For Muscle Growth?

Many bodybuilders who wish to build substantial levels of muscle mass aim to produce a muscle pump or burn during their weight training workouts, with the feeling that such a sensation is a sign of muscle fatigue and breakdown, therefore enhancing the opportunity for muscle growth. Bodybuilders will even specifically search for the muscle pump or burn by modifying certain weight training workout factors in order to encourage such a feeling, and often tell other bodybuilders how their workout session was extremely potent or describe a specific weight lifting exercise as feeling superior specifically due to the muscle pump or burn that is part of each set.

But, is there a serious drawback to this bodybuilding concept? Certainly, any weight lifter is well aware of the muscle burn and pump fascination, as bodybuilders often refer to this concept, but how exactly is the muscle pump or burn achieved, and are the methods that generate such a sensation actually helpful towards muscle growth?

The muscle burn and pump are a function of high rep ranges, where a bodybuilder uses less weight in order to fail using a much greater number of repetitions, which causes the muscles to fatigue in a much different way than with lower reps and higher weight. Because a muscle is capable of functioning longer during a weight lifting set when using higher reps, there is a muscle burn and pump that begins during the latter segment of a high rep range, as the muscle approaches failure, but by virtue of utilizing less weight in order to achieve the muscle burn and pump rep range, muscle building is adversely impacted, and although the workout session may actually feel more intense due to the muscle burn and pump, the class of fatigue, which is focused upon endurance, is not the most effective for those who wish to produce the largest amount of muscle gain.

When using a lower rep range and higher weight, the workout set will usually not produce anywhere near the level of muscle pump or burn as compared with lower weight, higher rep workouts, but because the weight used is greater, the muscle receives a larger level of overload, therefore causing superior overall bodybuilding progress in most muscle groups. Therefore, although the muscle pump and burn is far less in heavier weight lifting sessions, since muscle growth is superior, there is no legitimate reason for a bodybuilder to aim for a muscle pump or burn during workout sessions that has as its primary focus muscle building.

Higher rep and lower weight workouts are helpful for overtraining prevention, joint recuperation, and muscle recovery, but are far less effective at building muscle mass in most areas as compared with heavier weight lifting workouts that do not offer any noticeable muscle pump or burn. There are also particular exercises that tend to cause a greater sense of muscle pump or burn, especially those that stretch the muscle significantly, but they also function in the same method just described, in that the muscle burn and pump will increase substantially with higher reps and lower weight, but, the most important point to always keep in mind is that the largest level of muscle growth will not occur by searching for a muscle pump or burn, but rather through organizing weight lifting workouts to function within a lower rep range where greater weight will be used to produce a much higher workload level.

If you wish to experience a muscle pump or burn, then you can always perform one set at the conclusion of every weight lifting workout exercise that is composed of a higher rep range and lower weight (a burn out set), as this will not reduce muscle gains assuming that all prior workout sets are constructed using heavier weight and a lower rep range, which is conducive towards maximum muscle growth. The goal is not to feel as if a muscle has gained size during the actual weight lifting workout session, but rather to produce weekly measurable muscle gains, so do not make the mistake of believing a muscle pump or burn during a workout will translate into any extra sustainable muscle growth unless you have planned your weight lifting session with heavier, lower rep workouts for sufficient muscle stimulation.