Constant Tension / training for pump

Transformer · May 11, 2014

I was wondering what peoples views are on this, In my experience, my best gains have come with progressive lifts, adequate rest and a lot of food, the best way i found to grow, is using and utilizing dc training, BUT i know a lot of guys start out this way and then change to more pump and volume, my question is, the initial size gain came from the heaving lifting, food etc.. why change it up? i understand injuries etc, but i was wondering some of more experienced guys opinions, here is a link of jason huh ( who im a big fan off ) when he explains his theories...

[ame="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rxhFgRB_dbI"]Jason Huh Interview - 2012 Arnold Classic. - YouTube[/ame]

Cerberus777 · May 12, 2014

You will probably get a bunch of different opinions. Coming from DC myself. After s while I pushed the volume and frequency to were I can still recover. So if I want to play with something like constant tension, I'll do my rest pause first...than drop the weight and do a set like that as well.

tri-terror · May 12, 2014

I like to lift heavy and progressive but there is also something to be gained by doing some more reps. I think the muscles take on a better "look" when they get trained in some higher reps.
I like to do reverse pyramids when I train. So after warmups I will start heavy going to failure, and then lighten the load each set after. That gets me a heavy set and then usually a med and a light set. Depending on how I feel I may do one extra exercise or set with the goal being 15-20 reps.

Kizzlen · May 12, 2014

Full range of motion and an exacerbated muscle contraction created in the isometric part of the movement and held throughout the eccentric will create 15x (number I'm making up, but lots) more tension than bouncing a weight back and forth at the bottom of a movement. Obviously partials have their place and can really take a muscle beyond failure, but this is ridiculous, an entire workout of partials?!

Goody · May 12, 2014

Kizzlen said:
Full range of motion and an exacerbated muscle contraction created in the isometric part of the movement and held throughout the eccentric will create 15x (number I'm making up, but lots) more tension than bouncing a weight back and forth at the bottom of a movement. Obviously partials have their place and can really take a muscle beyond failure, but this is ridiculous, an entire workout of partials?!

Can't argue with the results! Only thing I know is that there are no rules in this game.

AshopRep · May 12, 2014

I can't imagine JH training like this all the time.

brutus69 · May 12, 2014

there's a 65 yr old guy at my gym who does ONLY partials and he's got bigger, rounder muscles than 99 percent of everyone here. and he's veiny as hell.
I wish I had a pic, cuz I doubt anyone would believe he's 65 if I showed u a pic!

BigDM · May 12, 2014

There's a handful guys I've seen at my gym who only do partials. One guy supposedly competes in strongman comps and he's a decent size guy, but he hasn't put on any new size in the last couple years that I've seen him there. Never squats or deadlifts either, but to each his own. I also occasionally do partials, but it's either during my warm-up (ex: leg curls prior to squats) or near the end of a bicep/tricep routine for the pump effect.

I'm a believer of TUT (time under tension) and also getting a good pump with high-volume routines now and then. But I also now incorporate more low-volume work since I started powerlifting. Mixing things up has given me good results

Goody · May 12, 2014

Anyone notice the tshirt on the toolbag interviewing him in that clip? Mayb not the best shirt to wear when interviewing Jason...whadda douche

biglizard225 · May 12, 2014

Goody said:
Anyone notice the tshirt on the toolbag interviewing him in that clip? Mayb not the best shirt to wear when interviewing Jason...whadda douche

Definetly a douche.

Chode Logan · May 12, 2014

You have to keep in mind Jason trains "for the pump" with constant tension while using absurd weights. Neither way works forever...I grow fast when I focus on strength but get hurt and beat up, and it slows down, then I switch to higher volume pump stuff and grow again, but than ends.

Generally speaking I feel strength is important and the pump is also important....I am starting to find that what works well for me is to push strength for 2-3 months and jump up a plateau scale wise and strength wise, then try to solidify those gains and relax the joints a bit by staying in that range while upping volume and possibly leaning out a bit, then when you're ready make another jump.

If you had to break it down to simplest form though, I find low volume strength progressive obsession helps the ectomorphic guys, while fatter people like myself benefit from higher volume stuff more, as it's very hard to lose muscle or over train.

tren_plz · May 12, 2014

You aren't going to get big biceps by constantly doing 25lb concentration curls..

GS · May 12, 2014

The way i do my training is heavy low volume for a few months ,moderate reps and volume for a few months and high volume with moderately high repetitions.
It isn't set in stone and i might switch the order of my exercises every couple of weeks .
I came from a powerlifting background where we changed things up every two-three weeks so when i went to bodybuilding i still try to change things up .
I try not to change to much unless it isn't working as well as i wanted but if my training is going well i will ride it out as long as i can............

Rainmanisback · May 13, 2014

We are all in search for the perfect formula, the secret... but I think that is wise to keep our body guessing... I agree with some of the comments in this thread... low volume progressive heavy lifting has give me the best results... but variation is what gives me the best results over all... when I go for the pump... I still lift as heavy as possible and try to do as many reps as possible...

I don;t think that any bbr can keep going progressively heavier forever, you need to apply different Technics, pyramids, reverse pyramids, drop sets, super sets, giant sets, etc... if not, pros who have been hitting the iron for 20+ years will have to use ridiculous heavy weights time after time... some of them did like Ronnie, but not everyone is Ronnie and they are the less... and we see many high ranking pros going heavy yes, but still focusing on the "pump"

Besides... JH definitely knows his shit... so my respect to what he is willing to share with us mortals...

Just MHO

Transformer · May 13, 2014

a lot of good feedback. . and opinions would be good to have some vets chime in....
one thing im not sure about is the pump (chasing the bigest pump) makes u grow? if that was soley ttruely the case it means I coud do tons of pressups for pump and my chest would grow?
lol I think there's more to it.

PitbullTank · May 13, 2014

Dennis James does a Q&A thing on his facebook, check out 3:00-5:00

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=10154186813435121&set=vb.348707180120&type=2&theater

PitbullTank · May 13, 2014

this interviewer is a complete fuckin dork too... says ummm every 3 seconds, so annoying...

Kizzlen · May 13, 2014

Transformer said:
a lot of good feedback. . and opinions would be good to have some vets chime in....
one thing im not sure about is the pump (chasing the bigest pump) makes u grow? if that was soley ttruely the case it means I coud do tons of pressups for pump and my chest would grow?
lol I think there's more to it.

Brad Schoenfeld is an authority on this subject. He has been featured on several podcasts including "Blue Collar" and "B-pak's" Basically the pump can cause hypertrophy through cell hydration "swelling the cell" can cause a stretch on the exterior portion of the fiber itself. Cell hydration can lead to:
increase protein synthesis
decrease protein degradation

Brad suggests the following to increase Cell Hydration:
Creatine
BFR training
Dropsetting or basically taking the muscle past failure.

I'd suggest reading about swelling the cell or "Cell hydration" to anybody looking to achieve gains through this particular form of anabolism. Datbtrue has a very unique approach to it and has tons of info on the subject as a caveat I'll say that I don't prefer his approach, but I do like his breakdown of Cell hydration. Meadow's website has an article on "Swelling the Cell" that has some similar advocacy to Datbtrue's articles.

Here is the major Caveat:
Cell Hydration is not the only means of muscle acquisition via training. Obviously things like Tension itself (which typically comes from more resistance ie: lifting heavy weight in good form), Intra workout supplementation, Lactic acid, and well fuck I could go on for days.

If your "Training for the pump" exclusively from a scientific perspective you're leaving key components on the table that could lead to more hypertrophy. It's bro science to say "Bodybuilders should only train for the pump", however we now have scientific evidence that "the pump" can lead to hypertrophy, however it's not the only thing you should be looking to do to acquire skeletal muscle.

Kizzlen · May 13, 2014

PitbullTank said:
Dennis James does a Q&A thing on his facebook, check out 3:00-5:00

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=10154186813435121&set=vb.348707180120&type=2&theater

I'm going to open up a can of worms here... Dennis doesn't site any scientific evidence for his reasoning, actually the majority of the studies out there and just basic 101 Strength and conditioning contradicts everything he says in the 3-5 minute segment.

Heavy weight performed correctly shouldn't result in injuries, the concept of programming in general is how you avoid training injuries.

There are guys like Meadows out there that are basing programs on actual research and I think guys like Dennis that have been in the trenches all their lives are invaluable resources, however be careful when they start pushing their own brand, they have a business and of course they want you as the consumer to believe that their "form of training" is superior.

There is a lesson in here:
Listen to the guy that sites studies, not the guy that speaks in absolutes based off of "personal" experience.