Personal Trainer Northampton Blog

This post, as you may have guessed, is about variation. There always comes a point when your body can adjust and almost become used to what you are doing. At this point, muscle growth is harder, losing weight is tougher and the results you want to see are much harder to achieve.

This is where you need to vary things.  In weight lifting, try swapping a ‘normal’ set for one that is done slightly quicker, slower or try a something like dropping the weight. This is known as a drop set. Basically, you complete the set as far as possible and then drop the weight a few kilos and go again until you cannot lift any more, the repeat. sometimes you can end up with just a few kilos but because you are on the fifth or sixth set by now, it will feel very heavy!

Mixing it up this way keeps your body guessing, your muscles growing and you much happier.

You may have heard of “the pump” before, we have even touched upon it here in the past. I thought it a good post to bring back up though. The “Pump” is the sensation we feel when dilated blood vessels and capillaries send blood into the muscles you are working. You can often feel it in isolation exercise, such as on the bicep. It feels almost as if your arm is going to explode!

To assist with this, at the peak of your contraction, hold and squeeze for a second or two.  This forces extra blood to the muscles and “Primes the Pump,” giving you that bigger pumped feeling. A lot of Nitric Oxide supplements that some athletes use pre-workout help to widen the blood vessels and allow more blood to flow to the muscles. (Always read the label.)

So there we have it, a little more information on the pump…try it next time you workout and take your training to the next level.