Join date: Sep 2008
Location: British Columbia, CAN
Posts: 203
Basically what the title says what do you feel gets you most amped and feeling ready to lift the most weights. What is the most important part of warmup for you and cooldown and why is it?
This would help me greatly learning from others experiences and I'm sure others could benefit aswell.
For me I stick with dynamic stretching nothing static before I lift wieghts and after go to static stretches.
ie. Legs day
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Before workout
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Legs wide and touch the ground 10x
Sumo squats wide legged 10x (guys who have tight hip flexors this is great for you)
5x lunges each leg
palm tree stretch -- holding both arms straight up and togethers and legs played shoulder width apart sway like a palm tree feels very good in terms of stretching.
Some shoulder stretches not to emphasized because its leg day.
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Cool down Stretches
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Touch your toes hold for 90 seconds
Holding knee up behind your back ( dont know the proper name its the stretch everyone knows )
Hold the calves at an angle against the wall
Hang stretch on any chinup/pullup bar
Thats the kind of warmup prior and post to a leg day workout I would do.
Post your favourite warmup cooldowns and if you have experience and what works well please mention.
Join date: Mar 2008
Location: Michigan, USA
Posts: 3870
I'm probably in the minority, because people seem to be into all sorts of crazy warm-ups around here.
I show up. I use three ramp sets on my 'big' lift starting out... (135 x 8, 225 x 5, 315 x 2-3) and then lift my working weight. That's the only warm-up I do.
Afterwards, I try to static stretch, but if not, I'll get it later in the day. Whatever.
Join date: Sep 2008
Location: British Columbia, CAN
Posts: 203
SSC wrote:
I'm probably in the minority, because people seem to be into all sorts of crazy warm-ups around here.
I show up. I use three ramp sets on my 'big' lift starting out... (135 x 8, 225 x 5, 315 x 2-3) and then lift my working weight. That's the only warm-up I do.
Afterwards, I try to static stretch, but if not, I'll get it later in the day. Whatever.
Yeah exactly im in the minority too im wondering what great things must people be doing here I basically ramp up like you but im concerned about the warming up before actual weights like stretches and getting you less likely to have an injury or something.
This is a link to Lou Schuler's and Alwyn Cosgrove's 'New Rules of Lifting' book. It should take you straight to page 66, 'Warm, Not Fuzzy': http://books.google.com/...lt&resnum=1
I warm up by running on a treadmill for 1/4 mile...I start out at 4 mph and turn it up a mile every 30 seconds. This means I finish the 1/4 mile in about 2 and a half minutes.
I then foam roll for about 5-6 minutes and then get straight to my first exercise and warm-up per Lou's book on roughly page 67.
Join date: Dec 2003
Location: Texas, USA
Posts: 1095
For lower body I do Defranco's Agile 8 http://www.defrancostraining.c... then extra work for stuff I would probably skip (abs, rear delts). Upper body I do the Diesel Crew 2 minute shoulder warmup and again extra stuff (pushups, chins).
Join date: Dec 2003
Location: Texas, USA
Posts: 1095
You young guys that just work up, you might be careful with that. I used to just work up too, and have already had one shoulder surgery and still need the other shoulder fixed. If I would have taken the extra 15 minutes to properly warm things up, I wouldn't be as beat up as I am now.
Join date: May 2004
Location: Wisconsin, USA
Posts: 4899
Matt wrote:
You young guys that just work up, you might be careful with that. I used to just work up too, and have already had one shoulder surgery and still need the other shoulder fixed. If I would have taken the extra 15 minutes to properly warm things up, I wouldn't be as beat up as I am now.
Just my 2cc
Yeah, I can't just ramp up anymore with squats or deadlifts. And I definitely need to do some warming up before training events.
I used to do very minimal warming up for fear of tiring myself out, but now I've found I perform better with a more thorough warm up.
Mostly I do some hip mobility stuff to loosen up, some hip flexor stretching. Then something like jumping rope, jumping/clapping jacks, or foot drills. And right before moving into the real stuff, I'll usually do a couple not-so-high box jumps.
Maybe I'm missing out on something but I never do any cool down stuff, unless you count putting away the weights and equipment.
malonetd wrote:
Maybe I'm missing out on something but I never do any cool down stuff, unless you count putting away the weights and equipment.
I cool down with static stretching. It takes about 15 mintues and helps quite a bit. There's an article on here somewhere titled something like 'stretching for lazy bastards.' That's what got me started.
Join date: Feb 2008
Location: Ontario, CAN
Posts: 4508
At the gym I do 5 minutes on the elliptical then 10-15 minutes or so dynamic stretching mostly focusing on my hips and lower body. I pulled a ton of great stuff from Eric Cressey's Maximum strength.
I used to just ramp up too but I was getting issues; not injuries...yet.
Since I changed to wide stance squats my hips need a ton of work before squatting. Most of my training centres around squats so I have to look after my hips. I find I can move heavier weight and higher volume when I do mobility work first.
Join date: Feb 2006
Location: New York, USA
Posts: 599
I'm young and I don't think just warming up on the first exercise is enough. I started lifting with the mentality that I don't want to be one of the older guys regretting not doing enough warm-ups when they were younger out of stubbornness or feeling of invincibility. It's nice to start early and even nicer to lift with confidence knowing I'm prepared for whatever weight I feel like taking on. Not once have I had an issue related to not warming up enough.
Thinking you don't need to warm up properly because you are young and can handle it = stupid . . . especially if you plan on enjoying a long and successful lifting career.
I use most of what this article has to offer (as well as a few things I came up with) for warm-ups and I have a separate ~10 min warm-up for upper body and lower body: http://www.tmuscle.com/...mobility_drills
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