Weight Training Tips: How To Warmup
By Sean Nalewanyj
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Sean Nalewanyj is a natural bodybuilding expert and best-selling fitness author committed to providing effective, research-based advice for building muscle, burning fat and gaining strength. Sean is the creator of the "No Fail System" bodybuilding program and president of EliteImpact Labs.
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A huge mistake I see in the gym every week is that many lifters don’t recognize the importance of a proper warm-up. Don’t take these weight training tips lightly. I’ve seen lifters opt for 1 set of 20 reps using the weight of the bar or do nothing altogether, and these are both terrible options.
You need a good warm-up for both short and long term benefits because...
1) A good warm-up helps increase how much weight you can lift during your actual workout, thereby maximizing your muscle growth.
2) Warming up decreases your odds of injury.
That alone justifies a simple 15–20 minutes of warm-up before every workout, doesn’t it?
Do these weight training tips sound good to you? This is what a proper warm-up should look like...
First, you will need 5 minutes of light cardiovascular activity. Use any simple piece of cardio equipment such as a recumbent bike, rowing machine, or treadmill to start out. A simple cardio warm-up will up your body’s core temperature, help in stimulating your heart and lungs, and lubricate your joints by increasing the secretion of synovial fluid.
When you are doing this 5-minute cardio warm-up, picture what your full workout will look like. If you can mentally prepare yourself for the battle ahead, you are in a great position to give a 100% on your workout. Remember, your mental attitude plays a vital role in your success, so it’s important to prepare both your mind as well as your body.
Once 5 minutes are over, it’s time to move on to the final part of your warm-up routine. For this, get ready to perform 5 warm-up sets from the first major compound exercise of your workout. In other words, if leg training through squats is on your agenda for today, perform 5 sets of squats as a part of your warm-up routine.
Begin with high repetitions and very light weights, and slowly progress to low repetitions with heavier weights.
For these 5 warm-up sets, keep in mind:.
DO NOT FATIGUE YOUR MUSCLES AT ALL!
You should only be focused on increasing blood flow to the muscles and surrounding connective tissue when you warm-up. It is also a way of increasing the amount of weight you will be able to lift on your muscle-building sets by getting your mind and body ready for the heavy weights to come.
Don’t fatigue your muscles during these sets; it completely destroys the purpose behind a warm-up. Use this formula to calculate how much weight and how many reps you need for warm-ups. These are percentage values of the weight you will use for the actual muscle-building set.
To give you an idea, if you were aiming at squatting with 200 pounds, the first warm-up set will consist of 10 reps with 100 pounds.
Set 1: 50% x 10 reps
Set 2: 60% x 6 reps
Set 3: 70% x 4 reps
Set 4: 80% x 3 reps
Set 5: 90% x 1 rep
Complete these basic sets before moving into your workout. These are essential weight training tips; please do not underestimate the importance of the warm-up process! Use these weight training tips to stay injury-free and prep for grueling workouts. Using these 15–20 minutes wisely will give you major rewards.
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