Best Squat Warmup?

I was just wondering what you all did here to warm up before you squat? Ive been using a westside template for around 3 months, and have just recieved my strength and conditioning program for UofR where Ill be playing next year. They have a very interesting program as it is westside, kinda. There are the dynamic days, but instead of ME days, used is western periodization so for example today I did squat sets of 12,10,8,6. My hips were real sore all while I was squatting and then seemed to loosen after I was done, which I want to avoid.

So, what are the best things to do before squatting so that I am properly warmed up for this uber important part of the workout?

  1. Do something to get your overall body temperature elevated. Stationary biking, fast walking, jump rope, jumping jacks-in most cases, it should cause you to break a mild sweat

  2. Get the legs and especially the hips warmed up. I do this in a couple of ways

a. Ride a stationary bike with the outer part of my feet on the pedals with my knees out wide-it looks stupid, but who cares.

b. I set up some pins in the power rack and do a variety of step over movements where I step over the ins backwards and forwards, then side step back and forth over the pins in a lateral fashion
(pins are mid-thigh height) and then raise the pins and do some “duck unders” kind of a lateral motion side stepping back and forth underneath the bar while lunging sideways.

c. I do a set of 8 with 135, 2 reps with 225, 1 rep with 275, 1 rep with 315 and then do my first real set.

Hope that helps

I also find that squatting takes it’s toll on my hip flexors… but static streching beforehand really helps. Try getting down on the floor and into a “butterfly” (or whatever you want to call it)with the soles of the feet together. Then place a 25lb. plate on each knee. Focus on keeping your feet close to your body and your torso upright, and let the plates pull your knees to the floor. It’s best to do some bodyweight squats or something similar to get the hip flexors a bit warm first, maybe some lunges. I got this trick here on T-Nation, though I can’t remember from who (maybe Don Alessi?). This isn’t really a full warmup, but a nice trick.

In addition, I usually do some dumbell swings and GHRs to loosen up my hammys, and I go up slowly with the loading. If you squat on a box, you can start with the box 2-4" higher than you use for your working sets, and lower it as your hips get loose. Hope this helps…

To warmup for squat, I squat. In between my warmup sets I do dynamic and static stretching. A sample warmup would be.

weight reps
45 8
135 5
225 3
275 1
295 1
315 2 sets of 5 (work sets)

beef