Back to Basics: Question on Warm Up Sets...

[Future Prodigy]

Ok, so someone asked me a quesiton in the gym and the asnwer totally skiped my mind. It is very embarassing to ask this but 'no quesiton is a dumb question' right

Normally you do btw 2-3 warm up sets before hitting your big number one exercise, squat/bench/dead, right? Do you do warm up sets for all of the exercises after it or only your first big one?
-like on leg day youd probablly do 2-3 for sqaut and then one for leg press, no?

And for the warm up set how much of a working set should it be? Say you bench 225 for 5 reps what would your warm up be?

 

[Skarhead1]

each warm up is different. If you're going for a 315 x 5 on squats it's going to be a much different warm up than a 405 x 3

Some simple guidelines

- The heavier the weight - more reps you will need
- The closer you are to the work set the less reps you do


For a 225x 5 bench, I would do somethin glike this

Bar x 12-15
135 x 5
185 x 3
205 x 1

225 x 3

 

[pineapple]

I'd warm up with half the weight of your regular 10 rep max, for 3 sets of 15-20reps. I warm up for most muscle groups. But if I'm doing back, and then move to biceps, no need to warm up there. Same goes for chest and triceps. I do warmup on shoulders, even if doing chest before.

 

[Mudge]

I do what I feel I need, for legs that means progressively heavier sets - similar for deads. Currently for something like bench, it takes 2-3 warmup sets before I am good for a heavy set, although in the past due to injuries I got up to about 7 warmup sets (heavier weights to get my joints/tissues ready to accept a greater load). I would have started with something like bar/95/135/185/225/275/315 or something like that.

With really light weights I'll do some reps to warmup the joints and such, but when I get heavier I just do a 'few' to acclimate to the weight, I dont burn myself out with high reps.

 

[Mudge]

.

Here is a warm-up for a 425 lb squat or bench press:

45 x 5 x 2
95 x 3 x 2
135 x 3
185 x 3
225 x 3
275 x 1
315 x 1
365 x 1
425 x 1

WOW, that’s 10 warm-up sets, that will take forever!! Well, not really, if they are done 1.5 minutes apart it takes 15 minutes to get there. And if you want to argue with me about this, please don’t. It’s from powerlifting GURU, Dave Tate verbatim. And quite frankly, it’s an AWESOME way to get there, and way better than a normal approach of:

135 x 10
225 x 8
315 x 5
365 x 5

 

[Skarhead1]

looks similar to my warm up

 

[ManOfMuscle]

I tend to think people waste too much time and energy warming up. IMO doing 10 sets 1.5 minutes apart is stupid. There is no set formula, just start very light and progress in fairly even increments to get to the desired weight.

 

[12claws]

each warm up is different. If you're going for a 315 x 5 on squats it's going to be a much different warm up than a 405 x 3

Some simple guidelines

- The heavier the weight - more reps you will need
- The closer you are to the work set the less reps you do


For a 225x 5 bench, I would do somethin glike this

Bar x 12-15
135 x 5
185 x 3
205 x 1

225 x 3

Out of curiousity, how tall are you? I hit a plateau at about the same range and have never been able to get over it. At my height, 6' 7", it doesn't really look like I'm pulling much weight when the shorter guys are lifting the same thing and are built like bottle jacks.

 

[Skarhead1]

Im 5'8'' -- but hitting a plateu means your training is erroneous not how tall you are. Being 6'7'' you will most likely have leverage disadvantages for bench pressing (unless you're 300+ lbs). However you should have a killer deadlift and it depends on how you're built for squats.

 

[jynx]

i barely warm up at all. works fine for me

 

[12claws]

Im 5'8'' -- but hitting a plateu means your training is erroneous not how tall you are. Being 6'7'' you will most likely have leverage disadvantages for bench pressing (unless you're 300+ lbs). However you should have a killer deadlift and it depends on how you're built for squats.

Yeah, I really did get into a rut with flat bench - it was a "must do" for a couple of years. Just switched out to incline for a while to see what happens. I left competitive cycling several years ago and brought my quads along with. Unfortunately, that's the only muscle I brought and work with a true ectomorph physique. Deadlifts scare me because my knees are still good...plus I have no idea how to ask someone for a spot in German.

 

[ManOfMuscle]

Deadlifts barely put any stress on the knees.

 

[12claws]

Deadlifts barely put any stress on the knees.

Ah yes, here's why I display my lack of knowledge (on weight lifting). I'll give them a shot this week.