Tryna add some off-program warmups to strengthen my back and prevent injury.
If I want to use a reverse hyper just to warm up, what do you recommend as far as rep range? I’m planning do 50-90lbs just to get some blood flowing, and might do these daily just to really build some frequency/weak point training.
What about Jefferson Curl? I did Jefferson Curls at the end of my session yesterday, and I called it good at 2x5 with 5lbs dumbbells because working through the spinal articulation was so slow and I was already tired from the session
Also been tacking these on for fun:
https://www.instagram.com/p/B53fyX9BYzB/
For warm-ups with light weights, High Reps. Mix up the sets/reps to avoid accommodation. Like 2 sets of 20-30 with lighter weights vs 4 sets of 12-15 with heavier weight.
Here’s a list from Westside.
https://www.instagram.com/p/B6ECaZxl3k7/
You can also play around with your legs, knees slightly bent (hamstring)vs knees straight (low back) vs knees out “frog style” for more glute action. Or 1 leg at a time if you get bored.
No idea about those Jefferson Curls.
High rep band pushdowns are cool. I also like to turn around and get some overhead extensions against the band
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Alright I like this idea. Gonna start doing these in the new block
Reverse hypers can actually cause back injury in a lot of people, and using them for a warm up could increase the risk of getting injured on squats or deadlifts done after. Aside from the loaded spinal flexion, they rehydrate the intervertebral discs which can theoretically be a good thing for recovery but fully hydrated discs are actually more likely to herniate. Your discs naturally rehydrate when you sleep or lay down for a long time and then after standing or sitting for a while they dehydrate again. I really can’t see a good reason to warm up with reverse hypers, better regular hypers/back raises with a neutral spine.
Band pushdowns are good to warm up your elbows and triceps, I do a couple sets before benching. They are also good for helping to heal tricep tendinitis. If you don’t have any issues with sore elbows then they probably aren’t much use, unless you use more resistance and do it as a hypertrophy exercise. As for increasing tendon strength, that probably isn’t something worth worrying about unless you take steroids (because they inhibit connective tissue growth).
Yeah, looking at the protocol that @FlatsFarmer posted, it seems better to tack that onto the end, and then I can sleep and rest up after.
I won’t be taking steroids for a while (and when I do, it’ll be TRT) so might not be a bad for preventative care to get it up now. I def get sore elbows during meet prep, so hopefully addressing it in the off-season will be good.
It’s hard to follow on that chart (like all westside info) but that’s 4 separate, different workouts.
If you’re after frequency and blood flow you could hit the reverse hypers during warm ups before upper body days. Restorative pump without the danger of squattting with inflated disks.
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Yeah that’s not a bad idea. Like next day feeder sets.
And I can probably do the banded tricep work on lower body days haha
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I second what @chris_ottawa said about timing of RHs. They are best left for decompression at the end of a session.
I have one in my garage that I use frequently. When I first got it, I tried incorporating it into a superset with squats and my lower back felt very unstable. It was difficult to maintain rigidity in my core. I decided that I would leave RH for either the end of lifting sessions or as a standalone exercise. They feel awesome.
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Yeah, that sounds like a recipe for disaster.