Post: #1

Kinda dumb question, but anyway...

Im down to a low enought bodyfat where I see blue veins from my shoulder, across my bicep, and branching out to several on my forearm. They are complelely flush under the skin however. Is maming these veins more prominent simply a matter of body fat or will lifting pump them up and bring them out? Prob a dumb question because the answer is "both".

Anyway I hope visible veins down the arm is indicative of decent bf levels.

Post: #2

Well you need a good amount of muscle mass, low enough BF% and genetics to have great vascularity.

Post: #3

Low body fat and high volume training should help you get the vascular look that you're after. Google '70's bodybuilders' and you'll see how flared and vascular their muscles look.

Post: #4

Supposedly, high rep training on your off days with lower weights will give you some extra vascularity.

That's just from some of the broscience I've heard, I don't really know.

Post: #5

No easy way other than to lose fat and build muscle. lol

Post: #6

Post: #7

I only got one blue vein that shows!

Post: #8

Take glycerol. I took it when I was thinking about doing a bodybuilding contest to bring out more vascularity. It's cheap. It doesn't taste bad, but it always gave me the willies when taking a sip of it.

Post: #9

Not an expert by any means, but two things come to mind...

If you take creatine, stop taking it for however long you want to look vascular, keeping in mind that it takes your body about four weeks to get rid of it. Creatine volumizes your muscles, but in doing so it also tends to make them look a bit soft and puffy.
So if you're trying to look hard/vascular/veiny before a competition or before beach season starts or whatever, quit taking it a month in advance of that.

If you want bigger veins and more of them, another thing to try if you're not already doing it, would be to start working some serious HIIT into your routine. I read somewhere that strenuous anaerobic exercise of that sort is known to cause "sprouting angiogenesis", which is basically your body trying to adapt to consistent increased bloodflow needs by making your veins and arteries bigger, and sprouting new branches of them.
Nothing demands bloodflow like HIIT!

Post: #10

Ziltoid is definately on to something. Vascularity is the result of training hard, low bodyfat levels and not storing to much water. While vascularity do look really cool, it is not something you should aim for - it comes as a result of other circumstances. Let me explain a bit.

If you have been training really hard and have really low bodyfat levels, then one of the most effective methods to get really vascular is drinking all night. Alcohol will expand your veins, and next morning you will most likely be rather dehydrated, those two together will give you a very vascular look. BUT as you might have guessed this is not a very good solution - but it does show that one of the important factors of vascularity is dehydration, which by all means is not something you want to promote unless you are on your way to a competition.

Dehydrated muscles are not as flexible or strong, and are much more prone to injury. Enjoy whatever vascularity you are able to obtain without dehydrating yourself, but do not keep the vascularity it self as a goal. Even keeping the same bodyfat levels your vascularity will come and go. Some times of the day you can look really vascular and other times of the day, you are alomost not even able to spot a vein on your body - do not worry too much about it.

Post: #11

(02-11-2013 01:54 AM)FitAsFuck Wrote:  Ziltoid is definately on to something. Vascularity is the result of training hard, low bodyfat levels and not storing to much water. While vascularity do look really cool, it is not something you should aim for - it comes as a result of other circumstances. Let me explain a bit.

If you have been training really hard and have really low bodyfat levels, then one of the most effective methods to get really vascular is drinking all night. Alcohol will expand your veins, and next morning you will most likely be rather dehydrated, those two together will give you a very vascular look. BUT as you might have guessed this is not a very good solution - but it does show that one of the important factors of vascularity is dehydration, which by all means is not something you want to promote unless you are on your way to a competition.

Dehydrated muscles are not as flexible or strong, and are much more prone to injury. Enjoy whatever vascularity you are able to obtain without dehydrating yourself, but do not keep the vascularity it self as a goal. Even keeping the same bodyfat levels your vascularity will come and go. Some times of the day you can look really vascular and other times of the day, you are alomost not even able to spot a vein on your body - do not worry too much about it.

Post: #12

(02-10-2013 08:37 PM)Hotwheels Wrote:  

Damn it HotWheels I was gonna post that... that was the first thing i thought of when I read the thread title