Vascularity is the visibility of the veins underneath the skin. I’m sure you’ve all seen pictures of Arnold and the huge veins which ran down his biceps and such like. I find it’s either something people are impressed by, or they’re completely repulsed. I love it, and believe a degree of vascularity only adds to the interest and uniqueness of a physique. It’s a signature of sorts – no two designs are the same.
Like most things on bodybuilding, vascularity is mostly down to genetics. Some people are naturally more ‘veiny’ than others. But, this is bodybuilding – and there is always ways to improve whatever we lack by nature.
Several ways to increase vascularity:
1: Lower your body fat. This is the most obvious way to increase vascularity. You’d be surprised at just how vascular you can look just by having less fat on you. Try lowering your body fat by just a few percentages and you’ll likely start seeing veins coming through. Lower it further and you’ll really see them. Hell, you may well by the most vascular person in the world and it’s all covered up just by a relatively thin layer of fat… you won’t know until you lose it.
2: Eliminate subcutaneous water. This is what bodybuilders do before competition to give them that extra ripped look. In order to eliminate water, you’d think the correct thing to do is to not drink. But that doesn’t work – the body then begins to hold onto water. Instead, what you need to do is drink much more water. You’ll be urinating like a horse, but, by suddenly cutting down on the water you drink after a few days of increased intake, you’ll actually urinate more water out than your body retains in the subcutaneous flesh, so you veins will show through more.
3: Supersets, drop sets, and higher reps for bigger pumps. Pumps are nothing more than an increased blood pressure in the muscles. And, by taking advantage of the fact your muscles and veins are already much more full than normal by trying to get an even bigger pump, you can really make your veins enlarge and show through much more clearly.
There are also products which may help, such as creatine, but really, the most important things are listed above – so I suggest you stick with them first.