How Long Does A Pump Last?
Reading Time: 11 minutes If you lift weights when working out, you’ll know that one of the best parts of training is getting a ‘pump.’
A muscle pump may not offer any benefits in terms of athletic performance, but it certainly looks pretty damned cool, and it will help give you a real psychological lift during and after training.
It will also help you to look even more jacked when you snap a post-workout selfie for Instagram.
Bodybuilders and gym lovers alike will no doubt have heard of the drama/documentary ‘Pumping Iron’ which starred an up-and-coming Austrian bodybuilder by the name of Arnold Schwarzenegger.
In the movie, one of Arnie’s most famous quotes went something along the lines of A pump is more satisfying to me than having sex with a woman and coming.
While Arnie later admitted that he had deliberately exaggerated that statement, it’s clear that he was, and is, a big fan of the pump.
A pump in the gym will leave your muscles looking bigger, harder, and fuller, but sadly it will go far too quickly.
But how long does a pump last and what can you do to maintain and prolong a muscle pump? Keep reading for the answer.
What Is A Muscle Pump?
‘The greatest feeling you can get in the gym, or the most satisfying feeling you can get in the gym is the pump.’ – 6 x Mr Olympia winner Arnold Schwarzenegger.
A muscle pump, sometimes simply called a pump, is a temporary increase in the size and hardness of your muscles when you exercise and train them.
During a workout, your muscles will gradually become bigger and harder the more you train them.
Also called ‘transient hypertrophy’ you’ll find that, as the muscles you train are worked harder, blood will rush into them and cause them to swell and expand. It is not uncommon for a muscle to increase in size by more than 2 inches with an intense muscle pump.
As awesome as a muscle pump is, the more pumped you are the more limited your range of motion will be.
Not only that, but an intense muscle pump could even be painful. Generally speaking, however, the more pumped you are the bigger and more jacked you will look. The main issue with a pump is the fact that it is temporary and doesn’t last very long.
As soon as the blood that was forced into the muscles while training begins to recede, your muscles will reduce in size and go back to the puny size they were before you experienced the mighty pump.
What Causes A Muscle Pump?
First, though, we need to take a look at what causes a muscle pump in the first place.
A muscle pump is caused when oxygenated blood is forced into the muscles when you perform the exercise and train them. With each muscle contraction, blood is forced into the muscles.
The harder you train and the more the muscle contracts, the more blood will be forced into the muscles.
The more the muscles contract the more pressure builds up which helps to force more blood around the body via the veins and blood vessels.
Arteries which pump blood back to the heart however, are not placed under this extreme pressure so blood is transported back to the muscles which veins are unable to carry back to the heart in equal measure. This causes an increase in blood flow to that specific part of the body which allows for greater muscle pumps.
Not only does blood cause the muscles to look and feel bigger and fuller, but so too do extra fluids.
People who take creatine supplements with or without working out often find that they are retaining more fluids in their muscles, which again causes them to look and feel larger, harder, and fuller as a result.
Also, it depends on your body and how long it takes for creatine to work.
How Long Does A Pump Last?
When most people lift weights, they train with aesthetics in mind, or at the very least, with aesthetics at the back of their minds.
Lifting weights helps to increase lean muscle mass and size, which in turn can improve your physique. The bigger you look, the better you’ll feel.
The great thing about a muscle pump when training is the fact that the pump will make your muscles look and feel much larger than usual.
If you’re training your biceps for example, towards the end of your workout, after you’ve performed a series of bicep exercises, your biceps will be flooded with blood and will look and feel much bigger.
The sleeves on your shirt will feel tighter and if you measure your arms, you’ll see that they’ve increased in size by as much as an inch or two.
Muscle pumps will help boost your confidence and this improvement in confidence will likely help you when training.
While it would be amazing if a muscle pump lasted indefinitely, the sad reality is that muscle pumps gradually wear off the second you stop training and your muscles relax.
Well, it depends on you as a person, your genetics, and how hard you trained. Some people will stay pumped for several hours after a workout whereas others will lose their pump in less than an hour.
Generally speaking, however, a muscle pump usually lasts around 2 – 3 hours after you finish training. You may still have a slight pump for longer than this, but the effects of a pump are most obvious as soon as you finish your workout and stop training.
A muscle pump is not permanent, nor is it an indication of muscle growth. You must remember that, although your muscles look bigger, fuller, and harder, you have not increased their size. It is impossible to increase muscle size that quickly, though it would be amazing if it wasn’t.
As soon as you cease training and let your muscles relax, blood slowly leaves the muscles and travels back to the organs around your body.
You can, however, prolong how long your pump lasts, but you can’t fight biology. Eventually, and sooner rather than later, your muscles are going to return to the size they were before you stepped foot in the gym.
It is worth noting that a muscle pump is not an indication of a good workout. You could choose one exercise and perform hundreds of reps with a very lightweight, which would cause very little damage to the muscle fibers at all.
The goal of muscle growth is to break down muscle tissue so the body rebuilds it even bigger and stronger than it was previously.
To do so, you must work the muscle hard. Performing many reps with a light weight would cause an impressive muscle pump, but ultimately wouldn’t help you to build any noticeable muscle.
How To Improve And Prolong Your Muscle Pumps?
Despite muscle pumps offering very little in terms of actual muscle growth, they do provide a psychological boost which can help to boost your motivational levels and help you to train harder. Not only that, but they’ll also help you to take some pretty epic gym selfies too.
The main downside to muscle pumps is the fact that they don’t last very long. Here’s a look at how to improve and prolong your muscle pumps.
Flex After Sets
This may sound bizarre, and you may get some funny looks in the gym, but who cares, it works.
One of the simplest and most effective ways of getting a better muscle pump, and one which lasts for a much longer period, is to flex your muscles after each working set you perform while working out.
Say, for example, you’re training chest and are bench pressing. As soon as you set the bar back on the rack, focus on squeezing your pectoral muscles and imagine you’re trying to force as much blood into them as you possibly can.
By flexing your muscles, you are mimicking a muscle contraction when exercising, which is what forces blood into the muscles in the first place.
As you flex your muscles, you’ll force more blood in there which will help them to look bigger and more pumped than ever before.
Stay Well Hydrated
When exercising, it is essential that you stay well hydrated for health reasons, as well as to ensure you perform more efficiently whilst working out.
It turns out, though, that drinking plenty of water and staying well-hydrated can also be beneficial for getting a muscle pump.
Staying well hydrated and drinking plenty of water means that you are helping to keep your fluids balanced which means that your muscles can function properly and retain more water.
As the cells in the muscles become saturated with water, this will help the muscles to look bigger and fuller.
When training, make sure to stay well hydrated before, during, and after your workouts. This will not only help you to perform more efficiently, but it also means that you’ll get a better muscle pump as well.
Increase Your Carbohydrate Intakes
As far as muscle growth and repair is concerned, carbohydrates are essential in terms of muscle function.
During and after your workout, consuming carbohydrates is a great way of increasing your muscle pumps.
By consuming carbohydrates you’re helping to create an insulin spike. Insulin is a hormone secreted by the pancreas that is responsible for shutting glucose and nutrients out of the bloodstream and into your muscle cells.
The glucose from the carbs reaches the muscle cells and helps to replenish glycogen stores. This helps the muscles to look and feel bigger, harder, and stronger.
Not only will carbs help with a muscle pump, but they’ll also help to speed up repair and recovery following a workout as they’ll help to shuttle more nutrients into the muscles and facilitate protein synthesis.
Immediately after you train consume a protein shake mixed with dextrose powder, or perhaps consider sipping on a maltodextrin supplement as you train.
Increase Your Training Volume
Another great way of boosting your muscle pumps and leaving the muscles looking and feeling much bigger and harder than they were beforehand is to increase your training volume.
When you lift weights, more volume is very conducive in terms of a muscle pump. The more sets and reps you perform the more blood you will force into your muscles and the harder they will feel.
Not only will this method of training result in greater muscle contractions, but it will also increase your heart rate which will help to pump more blood around the body which means that more will be able to enter the muscles and improve your muscle pumps.
Try To Reduce Your Stress Levels
Stress is known as the ‘silent killer’ and while we can’t avoid stress all of the time if it is possible to de-stress and relax, we really should, for numerous reasons.
Not only can stress lead to heart attacks, strokes, hypertension (high blood pressure), and countless other health issues, but it can also negatively impact your gains and your muscle pumps.
If you experience unusually large amounts of stress you’ll find that your body produces a stress hormone known as cortisol.
Cortisol drains your energy levels, suppresses your immune system, suppresses your metabolism, and can kill your muscle pumps.
The more cortisol you have in your body, the less impressive your muscle pumps will be.
Supplement With Nitric Oxide Supplements
Nitric Oxide (NO) supplements are hugely beneficial when it comes to muscle performance and muscle pumps.
Nitric Oxide is a vasodilator. This means that it causes the blood vessels in your body to dilate and expand in size.
The bigger they are, the more blood they can carry around the body. By using a NO supplement, you can boost blood flow and force more blood into the muscles.
The more blood that’s pumped into them, the more pumped they will look.
Try To Stay Warm
Another very useful tip for anybody who wants to enjoy a bigger, more noticeable muscle pump is to try and stay warm while training.
The heat helps the blood vessels to dilate and relax, which allows more blood to be transported around the body. If you stay warm and active after you finish training you can help to keep blood in the muscles and keep them feeling and looking more pumped, for longer.
Try to avoid getting too cold after you finish training, as this will restrict your blood vessels, causing them to contract, which in turn will restrict blood flow and yield far less impressive muscle pumps.
Try Blood Flow Restriction Training
If you want your muscle pump to last considerably longer, it’s worth adopting blood flow restriction training.
While the health and fitness world is rife with all manner of fads and trends, some of these things turn out to be the real deal. Blood flow restriction training is indeed the real deal.
With blood flow restriction training you wrap cuffs around your arms and inflate them to various pressures which are designed to trap oxygenated blood in the area of the muscles that you are training.
As blood is restricted elsewhere, it stays trapped in the target muscles for longer and can provide some pretty insane muscle pumps. Not only is the muscle pumps more noticeable, but they also last much longer as well.
Don’t Take An Ice Bath If You Want A Muscle Pump
Whereas there are all manner of health benefits associated with ice baths, both physically and mentally, they’re not the best in terms of muscle pumps.
Ice baths after training can help to speed up and improve muscle recovery, but they will do nothing for your muscle pumps. When you’re cold, your blood vessels contract which means that they’ll allow less blood to flow through them.
The less blood that can be squeezed into the muscles, the less impressive the muscle pump will be.
If you are looking to speed up recovery, and perhaps even enjoy mental health benefits in the process, ice baths are ideal. For gym pumps, though, you should give the ice bath a miss, or at least get in after you’ve snapped your post-workout selfie with a pump.
Final Thoughts
So, how long does a pump last?
Well, while results can vary from person to person, generally you will only enjoy a noticeable muscle pump for around 1 – 3 hours after you finish training.
A muscle pump may not offer any advantages in terms of how effective your workouts are, but it will certainly help you to look better and feel more confident in the process.
If you are looking to prolong the effects of a muscle pump, try the tips listed above and you’ll almost certainly look jacked for longer.
