How does muscle congestion work?

Work on your muscle gain

Are you an athlete or simply a bodybuilding enthusiast who wants to work on your muscles? To achieve muscle anabolism and gain muscle, it is essential to understand the mechanism of muscle congestion and to hypertrophy of the muscle. In other words, understanding how muscles are formed.

What is muscle congestion?

In bodybuilding, anabolism is the stage of muscle building. Through weight training, as well as sufficient intake of nutrients and essential amino acids. This is the goal when you enter the weight room. During a workout, blood flows into the muscles, which swell and become voluminous: this is congestion. Muscle congestion is a natural phenomenon favoured by muscular exercises composed of long series, with short breaks, accompanied by more or less light loads.

Why do bodybuilders seek congestion?

There is a very pleasant sensation associated with the congestion of the muscles. But more than this sensation, this phenomenon helps to create the right conditions for muscle anabolism. During congestion, the muscles receive the oxygen and nutrients they need from the blood flow. Muscle development achieves hypertrophy, through the application of proper weight training exercises. When there is hypertrophy, there is muscle gain.

Muscular hypertrophy: muscle gain through appropriate training

There are two types of hypertrophy: sarcoplasmic and myofibrillar muscle hypertrophy. Sarcoplasmic hypertrophy increases the volume of sarcoplasm contained in the muscle fibers. The type of training to obtain such hypertrophy does not work on strength and gains in muscle mass are not sustainable.

Myofibrillar hypertrophy, on the other hand, deploys muscle fibres. These muscle fibres are composed of myofibrils that contract during muscular effort. During myofibrillar muscle hypertrophy, the number and density of myofibrils increase through the stimulator of overload. The muscle then becomes more voluminous. By respecting a muscular program based on progressive overload and adequate muscular recovery, the body achieves a consistent muscle gain and congests more easily. However, congestion and muscle gain are not the same thing: the former will fade after a certain time, whereas muscle mass is stable, if the training is regular and the programme adequate.

Maintain the congestion phenomenon through intensification techniques

Here are some intensification techniques for rapid congestion:

• The superset This exercise consists in carrying out two consecutive exercises without time of pause by mobilizing two opposite or antagonistic muscles. For example, you can work the biceps and triceps, the pectoral and back muscles, or the abdominal and lumbar muscles. The superset is an intensive program, which can work both endurance, muscle mass and strength depending on the number of repetitions performed.
• The degressive technique: the technique of degressive series consists in continuing a bodybuilding exercise after having touched the threshold of muscular failure, but by gradually decreasing the load. In this way, the strength training exercise continues, soliciting all the muscle fibres. The degressive series is recommended to develop muscles and endurance and to pass a milestone when you are stagnating.
• Rest-Pause: This technique consists of performing a series of exercises with a heavy load, interspersed with short breaks of a few seconds. In this way, additional repetitions are gained without decreasing the weight, after reaching muscular failure. The rest-pause technique is not ideal for increasing strength but rather for increasing muscle mass and promoting muscle congestion.

How do I gain lean muscle?

We talk more about gaining muscle than dry muscle. It is a matter of gradually increasing caloric intake in order to gain muscle mass while limiting fat mass gain as much as possible. Thus, the musculature becomes more athletic and the muscle definition, clearer. This objective requires a rigorous diet: more calories and more proteins, carbohydrates and lipids according to what the body needs. Indeed, if the calorie intake is insufficient, the body will be unable to develop muscle mass. On the contrary, if the calories are too high, the fat mass will also increase. Knowing that a dry muscle gain at 100% is impossible, it is advisable to eat slightly more than one's caloric needs in order to balance muscle gain and fat gain.

Tips for a good workout and better congestion

Strength training is measured in the progression of performance and muscle growth. Strength and muscle size are the fruits of intensified training. To train well in the weight room, start your program with a proper warm-up and finish with stretching to avoid aches and pains. Make sure you stay well hydrated during training and throughout the day: this helps the body maintain a good blood volume that will facilitate the build-up. Secondly, eat a proper sports diet, with sufficient carbohydrates, as glycogen, a source of energy, helps the body to have better endurance during training and boosts muscle congestion. To ensure that your efforts bring lasting results in terms of muscle definition, optimize all exercises by ensuring that the movements are correctly executed and that the course of the workout respects all the stages: muscle contractions, long sets, short breaks and muscle recoveries.

Develop your muscles with a booster

To develop your muscles efficiently, a booster or pre-workout (containing arginine, beta alanine, creatine, etc...) helps the body to sustain its performance during training. The muscle will congestate more easily thanks to nitric oxide. Indeed, under the effect of nitric oxide, the blood vessels dilate to better convey the nutrients that will feed the muscle cells. Then, the substance stimulates the muscles for a fast assimilation of proteins. Thanks to the action of creatine, the muscles gain in strength and muscle volume and recover better. This stimulator (food supplement) is particularly appreciated in weight rooms because it also allows a good muscle recovery after all exercises. For more info on the Big Shot click here

Beginners? Some ideas to remember to train well

In beginners, whose muscles are not yet well defined, there may be a lack of congestion. Indeed, the more the muscles grow in volume, the better they congest. After a few workouts in the gym, the first sensations will gradually come. However, other factors must be taken into account if you are thinking of training intensively. Be vigilant about your diet to avoid any deficiency in nutrients that are essential for building muscle. Sports nutrition rich in essential amino acids and a pre-workout provide the energy needed during an intense workout. Finally, to maximize muscle mass gain, be sure to adopt a proper weight training program. And lastly, consider the importance of recovery.

Here is a test video in which I explain muscle congestion.

+3CM OF ARM CIRCUMFERENCE IN 30 MINUTES! HOW TO IMPROVE YOUR CONGESTION ?

How to gain arms quickly? Get congested biceps and triceps in 30 minutes with supersets. Here is my arm training program with my training techniques to increase muscle volume quickly thanks to muscle congestion.

My best triceps and biceps superset exercises for big arms and good congestion. Details of my bodybuilding workout:

• First exercise in superset : (both exercises are performed without recovery time). Standing curl with the straight bar for the biceps Tight bench press with the guided bar for the triceps. Four sets of 12 to 15 repetitions are performed for each exercise with 1 minute of rest between each set (1 set = 1 superset). The last series being carried out in series of 21 (7 partial low + 7 partial high + 7 complete)
• Second superset exercise: Seated dumbbell curl (12 reps) Triceps rope extension (15 reps) 1 minute rest between each superset.
• Third superset exercise: Low pulley one arm curl with elbow resting on an inclined bench (15 reps) High pulley one arm extension (15 reps) 1 min rest between each superset.
• Last superset: Standing low pulley curl (10 + 10 + 10 reps in dropset) Tight push-ups or diamond push-ups (max reps + kneeling push-ups)

Do you want a complete bodybuilding program to follow?

Conclusion:

Congestion helps to gain muscle mass thanks to improved performance and recovery due to a better supply of nutrients to the muscles. However, it is important to remember that all the training parameters must be met for optimal mass gain, i.e. intensity, volume and sufficient loads.

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