As I have been reading a lot of other logs every one is talking about ramping sets and warm up sets, I have never done warm up sets, I just go in and lift, am I doing damage to myself, am I retarding my gains? Any thoughts would be appreciated, Im not opposed to doing warm ups it’s just something I have never done.
If you are young you can “get away” without doing warm ups. You aren’t risking your ‘gains’ because warm ups are not really part of your work, they are to prepare your body for the work sets. You do risk injury which will in effect prevent you from coming into the gym the next day.
Example of how to warm up. Today I squatted 3 sets of 5 at 275. To warm up I did
5x45
5x95
5x135
3x185
2x225
1x255
Then
5x275 for 3 sets.
Like I said these sets are easy, they are to warm up the specific muscles and ROM needed for that exercise. It is worth the extra time to warm up to prevent spending time out of training due to an injury. If you don’t have the time to warm up properly, you really don’t have time to train.
I don’t know what you consider young, I’m 31, I do stretch before I lift though, The only real injury I have had was a torn ACL which was totally not lifting related so I guess I’ve “gotten away” with it so far.
I hurt my knee when I went right into a heavy workset without warming up. I couldn’t squat for two weeks. It still nags me months after.
I warmup similar to anoddparadigm.
Stretching is not a good pre-exercise warm up. You want to do active warm ups that go through the same range of motion as the actual lift.
I think this is only really important for the heavy compoud lifts like the squat, presses, deadlift, etc.
It seems any time I don’t do a proper warm-up it feels like my body is going to fall apart afterwards.
I only do specific warmups ie. Deadlifts for Deadlifts.
I usually do three warmup sets, where I take my first workset weight divide by 3 then do the first for 6 reps, second set for 4, then last for 2 reps. Though I usually low ball my first work set so it’s almost a warmup.
EDIT:
However, if I had like a 600lb squat or deadlift I would do more warmup sets at 1-2 reps.
I find I can lift more after I warm up. I usually do ramped sets at 60, 70, 80, 90 and 100% of my final set. I find that set 3 is almost as hard as set 5.
Bullocks! I’m 19 and not warming up is just as bad as killing a panda in my world. I believe that when you warm up you prepare the target muscle, joints, the whole enchilada for the assault that you will unleash on them. I simply don’t feel as crisp if I don’t warm up. Specially come leg day. I couldn’t bring that shit to the grass my friends without warming up.
[quote]RyanBrown0311 wrote:
As I have been reading a lot of other logs every one is talking about ramping sets and warm up sets, I have never done warm up sets, I just go in and lift, am I doing damage to myself, am I retarding my gains? Any thoughts would be appreciated, Im not opposed to doing warm ups it’s just something I have never done.[/quote]
Personally I feel that warming up is a good thing. Some people do not need to warm up as much as others, I feel that you should do at least 1 or 2 warm up sets depending on how heavy you are planning to go that day. I feel that it is better to be safe than sorry.
Ok I did 'em, I don’t feel like it affected my lifting either way, I got a little better sweat going but other than that not much difference.
I did:
Front Squat Warm Ups: 1X5 @ 45, 1X5 @ 95, 1X3 @ 135, 1X2 @ 185
Front Squats: 3X5 @ 210
Standing Press Warm Ups: 1X5 @ 45, 1X5 @ 75, 1X5 @ 105
Standing Press: 3X5 @ 125
Power Clean: 1X5 @ 45, 1X5 @ 75, 1X5 @ 95, 1X2 @ 115
Power Clean: 3X5 @ 140
my warm up is 50 percent of my first lift so if im going to bench 100 ill warm up with 50 and do 15 or so reps, thats it.
You don’t need to warm up for each exercise just each muscle group for example if its chest day and you are doing incline and decline presses and you just completed your 3 or 100 sets for decline you don’t need to warm up for incline or the remainder of your chest work out.
If you do triceps on the same day you wont need to warm them up either because you have been using them in your chest work outs.
I hope this helped.
[quote]RyanBrown0311 wrote:
Ok I did 'em, I don’t feel like it affected my lifting either way, I got a little better sweat going but other than that not much difference.
I did:
Front Squat Warm Ups: 1X5 @ 45, 1X5 @ 95, 1X3 @ 135, 1X2 @ 185
Front Squats: 3X5 @ 210
Standing Press Warm Ups: 1X5 @ 45, 1X5 @ 75, 1X5 @ 105
Standing Press: 3X5 @ 125
Power Clean: 1X5 @ 45, 1X5 @ 75, 1X5 @ 95, 1X2 @ 115
Power Clean: 3X5 @ 140 [/quote]
It isn’t about affecting your lifting. When done right, the warm ups shouldn’t impact your lifts. It is more about preparing the muscles used in that specific lift to prevent injury.
[quote]anoddparadigm wrote:
RyanBrown0311 wrote:
Ok I did 'em, I don’t feel like it affected my lifting either way, I got a little better sweat going but other than that not much difference.
I did:
Front Squat Warm Ups: 1X5 @ 45, 1X5 @ 95, 1X3 @ 135, 1X2 @ 185
Front Squats: 3X5 @ 210
Standing Press Warm Ups: 1X5 @ 45, 1X5 @ 75, 1X5 @ 105
Standing Press: 3X5 @ 125
Power Clean: 1X5 @ 45, 1X5 @ 75, 1X5 @ 95, 1X2 @ 115
Power Clean: 3X5 @ 140
It isn’t about affecting your lifting. When done right, the warm ups shouldn’t impact your lifts. It is more about preparing the muscles used in that specific lift to prevent injury. [/quote]
Good advice, anoddparadigm.
To the OP, 31 is still pretty young, but let me tell you, with every passing year, warming up and a little mobility work become ever more important. A lot of injuries just don’t happen, they build up silently over time and then one day, pop.
You warm up your first (and usually biggest) lift, and then you’re good to go.
Do two or three sets with the same rep range as your work sets (doing 3x5 @ 210? Do 1x5 @ 135, then 1x5 @ 185). Warm ups are important specifically when squatting to full depth, because it warms up ROM you don’t usually have (dropping ‘in the hole’ is easier once it’s been ‘warmed up’).
You don’t need to do five warm-up sets for three work sets.
You don’t need to warm up muscles that are already warm (power cleans after front squats).
Especially when doing low reps, warm-ups prime your motorneurons to move big weight. It grooves good form so you don’t have to think (as much) about form while lifting. Often, they help you lift more too.
So to Beat a “Dead Horse”, tomorrow I do Squat @ 295, Bench @ 170 and Deads @ 325
I should do something in the order of 1X5-10 @ 135-145 and 1X5-10 @ 70-80 and nothing for Deads?
I would recommend doing this:
Squat: 1x5 @205, 1x5 @255, work sets.
Bench: 1x5 @115, 1x5 @145, work sets.
Deadlift: work sets
And right, no warm-up for deads (your legs will already be warmed up by the squats).
You want to prime your system to lift. In my experience, repping out with low weights just tires me out. Using the same rep scheme as my work sets primes my mind to focus on a specific time frame, and lifting at ~60 and ~80% of my work sets primes my muscles for heavy work.
I realize you’re getting a bunch of conflicting advice. Probably the take-home point is that, while no two people all warm up the same way, we pretty much all warm up. Find what works for you.
Thanks for all the Advice, I will use a little of everybody’s and see what works best for me.
Thanks Again for all of the comments.
Ryan you might also look into Dynamic stretches before lifting not static…then also do warm up sets.
I do 1-2 warm up sets on big lifts but my coach would love for me to do more similar to some of the above. I just run out of time to do 4 warm ups plus my 4 normal.
Warming up is pretty essential to preventing injury. By warming up the target muscle group that you are about to work out, you allow them to heat up and become more “flexible” while also providing an increase in blood flow and oxygen which will be required when lifting the heavier weights. Personally, I HAVE to warm up on big compound lifts such as DL, Squat and Bench or else I feel weaker, and my muscles will actually ache. But don’t over-complicate warming up. I normally do 3-4 warm up sets for each compound movement.
What I do:
**Squat
135x10
185x10
225x5
275x3
Work sets at 315
**Deadlift
225x8
275x5
315x5
365x5
Work Sets at 405
**Bench(depends on what my working set weights are)
135x10
185x5
225x3
Work sets varying from 275-300. Higher weight work sets I’ll normally just do 225x5 instead of 3
Do NOT stretch before working out, especially on cold muscles. Stretching cold muscles can cause injuries such as tears. Not only can it injure you, but I’m ALMOST 100% sure stretching prior to lifting actually takes away some of your power during the lift itself, therefore causing you to use less weight, and in turn, weaker.