Best warm-ups for preventing injuries??

[inssane]

The main problems I have is rotator cuffs, and pain in traps on occaision. I know its because I am not warming up properly.
Please offer stretching, body warm-ups, and/or, individual muscle group warm-ups if you could.
It just seems that when I am into it and lifting big, a pinch,pain, or pop keeps me from giving it my all. I just do not want to hurt myself. And FYI I am big into good form, so I am not a sloppy lifting gym rat, before you ask...
Please school me on this.
Nick

 

[putin]

The main problems I have is rotator cuffs, and pain in traps on occaision. I know its because I am not warming up properly.
Please offer stretching, body warm-ups, and/or, individual muscle group warm-ups if you could.
It just seems that when I am into it and lifting big, a pinch,pain, or pop keeps me from giving it my all. I just do not want to hurt myself. And FYI I am big into good form, so I am not a sloppy lifting gym rat, before you ask...
Please school me on this.
Nick

Do less weight and more reps. Slower motion with proper form and you wont have to use a ton of weight. Now days I try and play safe, do 2 warm up sets on upper body and 3 for legs before upping for bigger weights.

 

[DADAWG]

The main problems I have is rotator cuffs, and pain in traps on occaision. I know its because I am not warming up properly.
Please offer stretching, body warm-ups, and/or, individual muscle group warm-ups if you could.
It just seems that when I am into it and lifting big, a pinch,pain, or pop keeps me from giving it my all. I just do not want to hurt myself. And FYI I am big into good form, so I am not a sloppy lifting gym rat, before you ask...
Please school me on this.
Nick

give me an example of your reps and sets leading up to your heaviest work set in squats/deads/bench

 

[pullinbig]

Do less weight and more reps. Slower motion with proper form and you wont have to use a ton of weight. Now days I try and play safe, do 2 warm up sets on upper body and 3 for legs before upping for bigger weights.

what if he wants to get stronger for low reps?

 

[DADAWG]

what if he wants to get stronger for low reps?

now theres a concept

 

[pullinbig]

 

[inssane]

Squats
2x12
1x8
2x4-6

Deads
2x10
2x6
1x3

Bench
2x12
1x8
2x6

Obviously low with higher reps and higher weight with lower reps.
Nick

 

[hornedfrogs07]

Squats
2x12
1x8
2x4-6

Deads
2x10
2x6
1x3

Bench
2x12
1x8
2x6

Obviously low with higher reps and higher weight with lower reps.
Nick

First off, do as I say and not as I do. Most importantly, you need a full body warm up to get the blood flowing and body temp up (fact: warm muscles are less likely to be injured than cold, and a full body activity increases overall, as well as core, temperature, which radiates out into the extremities) such as jogging for 5-10 minutes or until you break a decent sweat.

Then, do specific warm up exercises for the bodypart you're targeting that day. i.e. if you're doing chest (bench) or other work that hits the shoulders pretty hard, you need to do rotator cuff exercises to loosen up those muscles and the tendons/ligaments around the GH joint. (google "rotator cuff exercises" and "rotator cuff rehab" and you'll get a good idea what I'm talking about). If you're doing legs and your hips are giving you problems, google stuff for hips, etc. I really don't feel like going into specific exercises and explanations because it's hard as hell to do without pictures, plus I don't want to spend all night on this reply.

THEN, go into your normal routine and see what happens. If you still get the same pinching/binding after doing this a couple times, then you might wanna go see an ortho because that COULD mean that you've got something more going on in there than simple tightness and lack of warmup. The 4 muscles of the rotator cuff are all located posteriorly to the GH capsule, with most of the attachments posteriorly too (best I can remember), therefore if you're getting popping inside the joint capsule itself or anteriorly, then it's likely not in the SITS, although it is possible.

 

[inssane]

Good info thank you.
DADAWG??- want to expand on the info I gave you

 

[DADAWG]

Good info thank you.
DADAWG??- want to expand on the info I gave you

you didnt list weight so its hard to expand but heres a example of what a workout partner does , he benches a little over 300 at 160 pounds and 40 years old and natural , he would do at least 2 sets of 10 with the bar , if theres any tightness he wouldnt hesitate to just add a 25 per side for his next set otherwise he goes to 135 for 2-3 sets of 6-8 roughly then 185 for 5-6 and either 205 or 225 for a few reps then a single at 250-265 depending on how he feels followed by dropping to 225 for his worksets . this is just a example of one of his workouts when he switches to conventional benching instead of bands/chains/etc. it isnt something he would do every week , to many people jump up in weight too fast in their workout , its more "manly" to just jump up to big weight fast but i will tell you its not manly when you fry those shoulders lol

 

[thetopdog]

Warm up your rotator cuffs before you bench, and bring the bar down to where your lower chest meets your upper abs, no higher