Warmup sets - a necessary evil!

This topic has been covered before, not only on this blog, but by authors smarter, stronger, and more profane than myself, but I've seen a few worrisome things on the gym floor lately and would like to address them for safety's sake.

A proper warmup on a strength exercise, especially one performed at a relatively high percentage of ones one rep max, and/or performed first in a training session requires consideration and some patience. I've seen of late a few different gym goers do something close to the following as they begin their first lift of the day:

1) Walk into gym and do a half hearted foam roll or stretching session for 3-5 minutes.

2) load bar to full work weight 

3) scare the hell out of me

This is not ideal for building muscle or strength, and far from a safe way to warm up to a heavy set. Heavy training is to be viewed as relative here. For a 300 lb powerlifter, 95 lbs on a deadlift may be an almost insignificant percentage. But for a 115 lb novice trainee, that might be 95% of their max. This is neither good nor bad, it simply needs to be taken into consideration when planning and executing warmup sets. You wouldn't see that hypothetical big guy walking into the gym and slapping close to a thousand pounds onto a squat bar without working his way there! That may be more than our mortal maxes, but remember this is relative to the individual.

A proper warmup to a high percentage lift (let's call that 80% or above for the general population) should consist of numerous (3 or more at the least) sets building from the bar up in relatively small increments, treating each sequential weight with all the respect and focus of a max attempt. Form should be consistent and focus should be on proper setup, bar speed and execution. These do not need to be high repetition sets, as energy should be saved for the main work sets called for by ones program. Sets of 3-5, and sometimes even fewer (depending on goals, ones absolute max, etc) are appropriate as these serve to not only warm the muscle tissue up, but also slowly acclimate the Central Nervous System to progressively heavier weights.

This means no more wandering into the weight room and haphazardly slapping plates onto a barbell or machine then hoping for the best. That route may work for a time, it may APPEAR to work for the healthy 20-something lifting a few racks down, but is simply not safe nor effective in the pursuit of a stronger, healthier body. Trust me, I used to do that myself and you need only experience the joys of my patellar tendons on a cold day to know that it wasn't too bright, even in my early 20s!

If you are in need of specifics or have more questions on the subject, feel free to ask any of our staff members for clarification! We are here to help!