6 ms·

Do you really only use one warmup weight when lifting heavy? Let's say I'm squatting 325lb / 140kg. I'll usually do 5/reps empty bar, 5 reps 135lb, 5 reps 225,

Do you really only use one warmup weight when lifting heavy? Let's say I'm squatting 325lb / 140kg. I'll usually do 5/reps empty bar, 5 reps 135lb, 5 reps 225, 5 reps 275, then 3-5 "working" sets of 325 (3x5 or 5x5). Do you think all those intermediate warmup reps are a waste of time?

n4r9 3y ago
That tickled me too. It's like saying that walking is a warmup for sprinting.
- xupybd 3y ago
  Walking on the spot is a warmup for sprinting. https://athleticsweekly.com/performance/sprinting-warm-cool-1538/#:~:text=Simple%20exercises%20to%20begin%20the,on%20the%20spot%20are%20useful.&text=Once%20you%20have%20gently%20stretched,speed%2C%20progressing%20to%20jogging%20speed https://athleticsweekly.com/performance/sprinting-warm-cool-....
  - n4r9 3y ago
    Not on its own.
x86x87 3y ago
Yes. At least right now. For me the goal of the warmup is to practice/remember the correct movement under load. Also remember the 2 preconditions i mentioned one of which was optimizing for time (there is nothing wrong in doing it progressively like you do, but again remember we are "efficient" and optimizing for time). Somehow I doubt that if you are squatting 3 plates you can do this exercises continuously without breaks between sets. My squat right now is at 280. I load 1 plate (135) and warm up with that. After that I go to 280 and do 5x5.
SoftTalker 3y ago
There is a balance of warming up your muscles and getting your body accustomed to the feel of the weight, and exhausting yourself with too much warmup. For squats I warm up with some body-weight reps, then do one set with empty bar, then ramp up adding 45lb plates until I reach my working weight. I'll do 3 to 5 warmup reps at each weight, with an intense focus on proper form.
ndriscoll 3y ago
I think when you're still doing light-ish weight (like too light to be adding ~1 plate per warmup set I guess), it's easy to do too many warm-ups. Like on deadlifts, I was doing something like 155x5, 225x5, 255x5, then 285x5, and got stuck because my grip would be too tired by the time I had the working weight on. Switching to 155x5, 245-265x3 as a warmup made it easy again to continue up to 310 still doing double overhand. OHP also seems to suffer a lot from warmup fatigue. I found that 45,95,135 works better than adding an extra warmup at 110-115, for example. I do x3-4 on all my final warmup sets now since I'm really just using it to get my body ready to expect the weight, so the extra fatigue from x5 seems pointless. Regarding OP though, I think it makes sense to just adjust your warmup sets to make loading plates easy. Like I was planning to bench 205 today, so I did 115,165,205 because I could load 35, 25, 2x10 to make that easy. Maybe it'd be better to do 170 instead of 165, but I don't think warm-ups need to be an exact value. You're just getting used to feeling the weight for the day.

n4r9 3y ago

That tickled me too. It's like saying that walking is a warmup for sprinting.

xupybd 3y ago
Walking on the spot is a warmup for sprinting. https://athleticsweekly.com/performance/sprinting-warm-cool-1538/#:~:text=Simple%20exercises%20to%20begin%20the,on%20the%20spot%20are%20useful.&text=Once%20you%20have%20gently%20stretched,speed%2C%20progressing%20to%20jogging%20speed https://athleticsweekly.com/performance/sprinting-warm-cool-....
- n4r9 3y ago
  Not on its own.

x86x87 3y ago

Yes. At least right now. For me the goal of the warmup is to practice/remember the correct movement under load. Also remember the 2 preconditions i mentioned one of which was optimizing for time (there is nothing wrong in doing it progressively like you do, but again remember we are "efficient" and optimizing for time). Somehow I doubt that if you are squatting 3 plates you can do this exercises continuously without breaks between sets. My squat right now is at 280. I load 1 plate (135) and warm up with that. After that I go to 280 and do 5x5.

SoftTalker 3y ago

There is a balance of warming up your muscles and getting your body accustomed to the feel of the weight, and exhausting yourself with too much warmup. For squats I warm up with some body-weight reps, then do one set with empty bar, then ramp up adding 45lb plates until I reach my working weight. I'll do 3 to 5 warmup reps at each weight, with an intense focus on proper form.

ndriscoll 3y ago

I think when you're still doing light-ish weight (like too light to be adding ~1 plate per warmup set I guess), it's easy to do too many warm-ups. Like on deadlifts, I was doing something like 155x5, 225x5, 255x5, then 285x5, and got stuck because my grip would be too tired by the time I had the working weight on. Switching to 155x5, 245-265x3 as a warmup made it easy again to continue up to 310 still doing double overhand. OHP also seems to suffer a lot from warmup fatigue. I found that 45,95,135 works better than adding an extra warmup at 110-115, for example. I do x3-4 on all my final warmup sets now since I'm really just using it to get my body ready to expect the weight, so the extra fatigue from x5 seems pointless. Regarding OP though, I think it makes sense to just adjust your warmup sets to make loading plates easy. Like I was planning to bench 205 today, so I did 115,165,205 because I could load 35, 25, 2x10 to make that easy. Maybe it'd be better to do 170 instead of 165, but I don't think warm-ups need to be an exact value. You're just getting used to feeling the weight for the day.