Getting a good 'pump'

It’s called the “pump” in bodybuilding argot and is used to describe the state your body is in shortly after a good, intensive workout. Your muscles appear expanded and bigger than their normal dimensions and you feel a general sense of elation. A pump can last for hours after a workout, provided you do your workout well.

Besides making you look good, a pump pushes muscles to their limits and can kick-start them into becoming bigger and stronger. Anyone can incorporate a simple technique into their weight training regimen to get a good pump that can last long after the workout is done and help muscle growth.

But, first a bit more about muscles. They are made up of two kinds of fibres—slow twitch and fast twitch. Slow twitch muscle fibres contract slowly but keep going for a long time and are good for endurance activities like long-distance running or cycling; they also contain a lot of blood vessels as they use oxygenated blood to produce the energy for contraction.

Fast twitch muscle fibres, on the other hand, contract quickly but also get exhausted quicker; they don’t use too much oxygen to make energy.

To get the most out of your workout and to get into the “pump” zone, you need to stimulate both types of muscle fibre. Here’s a routine that does just that. Let’s suppose you are working out your chest on a particular day and plan to do sets of bench presses, dumb-bell flys and inclined bench dumb-bell presses. You’d normally do three sets of each, where in every subsequent set you’d add weights. For instance, you’d start with bench pressing, say, 50 lbs in a set of 12 repetitions, followed by 60 lbs in a set of 10 repetitions, then 70 lbs in a third set of eight repetitions and, finally, 80 lbs for six repetitions.

Pumped biceps: It’s all about fibres

That would be your four sets of bench presses followed by similarly configured four-set workouts for flys and dumb-bell presses. Such sets, in ascending weights, typically build size and muscularity by stimulating fast twitch fibres. To also stimulate your slow twitch fibres, you could add another set to each of your exercises. This could be with light weights but higher repetitions. Thus, after your four sets of bench presses, you could do another set of the same exercise, this time with much less weight—say, just 20 lbs— and do 20 repetitions. This would create a good pump by increasing the flow of blood to the slow twitch fibres in your muscles.

Remember, the key to getting a good pump is to stimulate both types of muscle fibres, something that adding the fifth set does, but it will work if you do all the sets quickly without resting for more than a minute or so between each.

-Muscles Mani
write to musclesmani@intoday.com

Five tips for a healthier liver

The liver is the primary organ for detoxifying chemicals in the body, and it has to work doubly hard during the festive season when many of us binge on unhealthy food and alcohol. Here are some tips on keeping your liver healthy.

Balance the pH: Says Dr Sunita Saigal, Senior Consultant, Rockland Hospital, New Delhi: “To promote optimal liver health, your body should maintain a proper pH level of 7.0. A reading of 6.5 indicates acidic and a reading below 6.0 indicates very acidic.” Calcium helps maintain the pH balance by neutralising the acids and toxins in the body. Eat foods like spinach, yogurt, peas and almonds that are rich in calcium.

Beat the Booze: Go easy on alcohol. Says Dr Atul Luthra, Senior Consultant, Fortis Hospital, New Delhi: “Alcohol reduces the liver’s ability to filter out toxins.” Antioxidants, found in citrus fruits, guava, pepper, pineapple, potatoes, and strawberries help fight the cellular damage caused by alcohol.

Go Green: Says Dr Saigal: “Start your day with green foods. There is no better way to flood your cells with nutrition.” Eat plenty of fruits and vegetables, like broccoli, cabbage, onion, cauliflower, grapes and papaya, wholegrain breads and cereals, and low-fat sources of protein, such as lean meats.”

Call the Doc: Says Dr Luthra: “Always consult your physician before adding vitamin or mineral supplements to your diet as they can be dangerous for the liver when used in improper amounts.”

Work Out: Exercise releases toxins through sweat, burns toxin-storing body fat, and reduces the workload of your liver. Says Dr Luthra: “Do 40 minutes of moderate aerobic exercise 5-6 days every week.”

Manu Kaushik