Anyone lose their pump on cycle?

[Nickwols091]

Currently on cruise beginning of 250mg test, and 5IU GH. My pumps only last about 30 minutes in the gym no matter how hard or high pace i go. Seems after an hour my
Body kinda begins to give out. Never had that problem
Before...anyone experience this before ? Maybe its just my body going from 800-250mg a week

 

[halfwit]

Change your diet any? I can't maintain a crazy pump on low carb days myself. Cialis helps a ton, but without that glycogen, I have a hard time keeping that blood going.

 

[Nickwols091]

Change your diet any? I can't maintain a crazy pump on low carb days myself. Cialis helps a ton, but without that glycogen, I have a hard time keeping that blood going.

Yeah im recently on a new diet medium carbs with medium fats. But even today i cheated with big carb breakfast, and still lost pump rather soon....got that "small feeling" LOL

 

[halfwit]

Yeah im recently on a new diet medium carbs with medium fats. But even today i cheated with big carb breakfast, and still lost pump rather soon....got that "small feeling" LOL

I'd hop on over to the diet thread and pick 3J's brain. This smells like a diet issue to me (most problems are), which I'm sure he can more than help with.

 

[Southernfish]

A pump is blood being forced into the muscle. If you are getting a pump and then losing it you are either resting too long between sets or overtraining. You DO NOT want to workout to the point you lose your pump, that is overtraining. You want to pump that muscle full of blood, activate in and then stop. Theres no need to workout for more than an hour for most muscle groups, if you are, you arent training hard enough and the intensity isnt high enough to induce hypertrophy.

Gear or no gear you must find the sweet spot of where your pump is the greatest and then stop, you dont want to go past this post, it become counter productive if you want to build muscle.

 

[Nickwols091]

A pump is blood being forced into the muscle. If you are getting a pump and then losing it you are either resting too long between sets or overtraining. You DO NOT want to workout to the point you lose your pump, that is overtraining. You want to pump that muscle full of blood, activate in and then stop. Theres no need to workout for more than an hour for most muscle groups, if you are, you arent training hard enough and the intensity isnt high enough to induce hypertrophy.

Gear or no gear you must find the sweet spot of where your pump is the greatest and then stop, you dont want to go past this post, it become counter productive if you want to build muscle.

Yeah man thats exactly what im thinking...probably my body telling me i need a few days rest. My intensity is def up there! Maybe from starting a new labor job + lifting 6 days a week finally took a toll on me :/

 

[xplicid]

A pump is blood being forced into the muscle. If you are getting a pump and then losing it you are either resting too long between sets or overtraining. You DO NOT want to workout to the point you lose your pump, that is overtraining. You want to pump that muscle full of blood, activate in and then stop. Theres no need to workout for more than an hour for most muscle groups, if you are, you arent training hard enough and the intensity isnt high enough to induce hypertrophy.

Gear or no gear you must find the sweet spot of where your pump is the greatest and then stop, you dont want to go past this post, it become counter productive if you want to build muscle.

I don't agree, calorie intake, more specifically carb intake, has such an huge bearing on how big/long your pump is. On days with no carbs, pumps are short and weak. Also, pumps can be achieved holding groceries, I highly doubt your achieving hypertrophy with a light weight short lived static hold. pre-workout also can help lengthen and make pumps more intense but many believe are unneeded.

Even getting pumped up for a contest people use light weight high rep. I don't think there is any association with pump and anabolism... I think if you are achieving a pump your mind to muscle connection is there, which well lead to more muscle growth

 

[Forged by Failure]

You don't have to get a pump to induce hypertrophy, I believe a good program will have you leaving the gym with a pump though, just not through the whole workout that's impossible for me. Like the others have said, diet... Carbs plays a huge role for me and I believe sodium can affect your pumps. On the other hand maybe you just got used to the crazy ass pumps you were getting when you were blasting and now there just not as intense

 

[Mrrippedzilla]

The pump is COMPLETELY irrelevant to muscle growth.
The only benefit is purely psychological in that it makes people feel good while working out & makes it easier to establish the mind-muscle connection to ensure your working the targeted muscle.
I should note that you don't need the pump to actually work the muscle, especially if your form & time under tension is appropriate, it simply helps some people in this aspect.

If its really an issue for you then here are a few causes & possible solutions:

The pump can be reduced if your carb intake is too low but more importantly if your in a caloric deficit - if your cuttingat the moment its inevitable your pump will be low.
Fat intake as an isolated macro does nothing for blood flow during resistance training so that's not the issue.
We cant rule out overtraining, although I'm skeptical of this unless its high activity + low calories type of thing.

A diet solution would be to increase your carb intake slightly preworkout - a fast acting carb (think sugars, a few cookies, honey, etc) 20 mins before lifting will do the trick.

A training solution would be a combination of reducing the frequency/volume of your sessions & increasing the time under tension.
For frequency, lift no more than 3-4x week.
For volume, it depends on what your doing now but something like 4-5 exercises/2-3 sets per move/8-15 reps per move.
Time under tension is key for a pump - you want to take 3 secs to contract the muscle, 6 secs on the eccentric portion. This will rapidly increase blood flow & give you the pump your looking for but I warn you that it makes workouts & recovery alot more difficult so its essential to keep frequency/volume low.

Just a few things to consider

 

[Nickwols091]

The pump is COMPLETELY irrelevant to muscle growth.
The only benefit is purely psychological in that it makes people feel good while working out & makes it easier to establish the mind-muscle connection to ensure your working the targeted muscle.
I should note that you don't need the pump to actually work the muscle, especially if your form & time under tension is appropriate, it simply helps some people in this aspect.

If its really an issue for you then here are a few causes & possible solutions:

The pump can be reduced if your carb intake is too low but more importantly if your in a caloric deficit - if your cuttingat the moment its inevitable your pump will be low.
Fat intake as an isolated macro does nothing for blood flow during resistance training so that's not the issue.
We cant rule out overtraining, although I'm skeptical of this unless its high activity + low calories type of thing.

A diet solution would be to increase your carb intake slightly preworkout - a fast acting carb (think sugars, a few cookies, honey, etc) 20 mins before lifting will do the trick.

A training solution would be a combination of reducing the frequency/volume of your sessions & increasing the time under tension.
For frequency, lift no more than 3-4x week.
For volume, it depends on what your doing now but something like 4-5 exercises/2-3 sets per move/8-15 reps per move.
Time under tension is key for a pump - you want to take 3 secs to contract the muscle, 6 secs on the eccentric portion. This will rapidly increase blood flow & give you the pump your looking for but I warn you that it makes workouts & recovery alot more difficult so its essential to keep frequency/volume low.

Just a few things to consider

Very solid answer man! Yeah seems like it could
Be a psycological thing, i def. Know my food intake isnt low, i will try what you said about the sugary carbs prior to lifting along with 3,6 sec contractions.
Along with giving my bodys a few days off of lifting while intaking more cals in those days.

Its not that i cant get a pump, the first 20min in the pump is great! Then it slowly dies out which disconnects my mind to the lift

 

[Mrrippedzilla]

Very solid answer man! Yeah seems like it could
Be a psycological thing, i def. Know my food intake isnt low, i will try what you said about the sugary carbs prior to lifting along with 3,6 sec contractions.
Along with giving my bodys a few days off of lifting while intaking more cals in those days.

Its not that i cant get a pump, the first 20min in the pump is great! Then it slowly dies out which disconnects my mind to the lift

The fast acting carbs should solve your problem, you could also try some carbs intra-workout such as a gatorade drink but I don't think its necessary unless your workouts are quite long (2hrs rather than 45mins).

 

[STAUNCHED427]

A pump is blood being forced into the muscle. If you are getting a pump and then losing it you are either resting too long between sets or overtraining. You DO NOT want to workout to the point you lose your pump, that is overtraining. You want to pump that muscle full of blood, activate in and then stop. Theres no need to workout for more than an hour for most muscle groups, if you are, you arent training hard enough and the intensity isnt high enough to induce hypertrophy.

Gear or no gear you must find the sweet spot of where your pump is the greatest and then stop, you dont want to go past this post, it become counter productive if you want to build muscle.

This. I also find carbohydrate and sodium intake plays a big role in muscle pumps.

 

[arm wrestler]

Personally would rate mind to muscle link the highest ,rest comes after that..

 

[Harnold]

Change your diet any? I can't maintain a crazy pump on low carb days myself. Cialis helps a ton, but without that glycogen, I have a hard time keeping that blood going.

a lot of guys are using cialis as a pre-workout these days around here. I'm with halfwit on this one and suspect it is your carb reduction. should get leaner but fatigue is common.

 

[appleton111]

What exactly are you eating and drinking and at what times?

 

[Harnold]

A pump is blood being forced into the muscle. If you are getting a pump and then losing it you are either resting too long between sets or overtraining. You DO NOT want to workout to the point you lose your pump, that is overtraining. You want to pump that muscle full of blood, activate in and then stop. Theres no need to workout for more than an hour for most muscle groups, if you are, you arent training hard enough and the intensity isnt high enough to induce hypertrophy.

Gear or no gear you must find the sweet spot of where your pump is the greatest and then stop, you dont want to go past this post, it become counter productive if you want to build muscle.

good post brother.

 

[Harnold]

The fast acting carbs should solve your problem, you could also try some carbs intra-workout such as a gatorade drink but I don't think its necessary unless your workouts are quite long (2hrs rather than 45mins).

good point Zilla and Gatorade is high in sodium which should help.

 

[Duke30]

Over-training it is

Take 2 days out of the week to recover.I found when I worked out less,it was a nice day to get pumped up! and not lose it.Losing the pump could be a sign of lactic acid building up or breathing too hard that the lungs needs the blood rather then the muscles you're working on.