How To Determine Warm-Up Weight?

O.P.H

So the only warm up I was doin before my workout was a 5 min jog and stretchs, then I'd go right into my 5 x 5 full body workout doing all heavy lifts. I was talkin to the "L" about this and he adviced me to start doin warm up sets and after researchin it a little I can see he is spot on and I was doin things arse backwards before.

So I was just wonderin how people determine how many warm up sets to do and how heavy to have them. I'll lay out my routine, an A and B type program that I rotate every other day and maybe people could suggest warm up sets. Since I wont know my heavy weights just yet as I'm sure I'll have to lower my lifts a little with introducing warm up sets, maybe you could give a percentage of how heavy each warm up set should be in relation to my working set.

I aim for 5 x 5 on all exercises and the way I have been doin it before is reducin weight slightly in each set to attain 5 reps

A- (mon)
- bench press
- squat
- bent over row
- press
- bicep curl

B- (wed)
- incline bench
- deadlift
- shrugs
- tricep pulldowns

Cheers in advance for any advice.

EileenG

Typically, I'd do a set of bodyweight exercises where possible, then either with an empty bar, or half the working weight. If it's a very heavy weight, you might do another warm-up set at about 75-80% of your working weight. That kinds of grooves your muscles in so they know what they are doing.

BobbyOLeary

It depends.

Depending on the exercise you're doing the warmup sets will be different. For a set of 5 at 120kg with the deadlift I would warmup with the following:

5x20kg
5x60kg (Get those big plates on as soon as possible)
3x80kg
2x100kg
Around 1 minute rest to set myself up mentally then
5x120kg

For a set of 5 at 70kg in the bench I'd probably do the following

5x20kg
4x40kg
3x50kg
2x60kg
Around 1 minute rest to set myself up mentally then
5x70kg

I've never gone off a percentage, experience has taught me what I need to do to warm-up. Typically I'd have 4-5 warm up sets including one with the bar, take the difference between the bar and the work set weight and divide it up into equal segments and use them. It looks like a lot but the only time you should waste is on changing the plates on the bar and the 1 minute before your work set.

I've no idea how to warm up for bicep curls, shrugs, pulldowns or any of the other stuff like that. I presume its the same but I'm not sure. Also, that workout needs the power clean.

Inspector Coptoor

For bench Id typically do:
Bar - 2 x 15
40kg - 10
60kg - 5
80kg - 5
and then go into my working sets

this would be roughly the same as i would do for the incline bench

for squats
bar - 2 x 10
60kg - 10
100kg - 5
then into working sets

Deadlift
60kg - 10
80kg - 5
100kg -5
working sets


Do you do 5 x 5 for bicep curls and all the other isolation exercises?
i;ve never done that before

but say i was working up to 3 sets of hammer curls with 20kg DBs, id do one warm up set with 8kg DBs and another warm up set with 14kg DBs and then go into the working sets and if was hitting the same muscle in the next few sets, i prob wouldnt do a warm up set as the muscle would already be warmed up

experiment a bit and see what works for you but dont just go lumping the 20kg plates on before the blood is circulating and the muscles are warm

Hanley

Easiest thing to do is just tell people what weight you're expecting to lift for the 5x5's so it can be worked back from there.

Warm ups are a personal preference.

Sometimes on squats I'll happily go 60,100,140,working sets and others I'd go 60 (2 sets), 90, 120, 140, working.

Depends on a whole host of factors and the best thig for ya is to get a basic idea and refine it to your own needs.

O.P.H

Hanley wrote: »

Easiest thing to do is just tell people what weight you're expecting to lift for the 5x5's so it can be worked back from there.

Warm ups are a personal preference.

Sometimes on squats I'll happily go 60,100,140,working sets and others I'd go 60 (2 sets), 90, 120, 140, working.

Depends on a whole host of factors and the best thig for ya is to get a basic idea and refine it to your own needs.

Thanks for all the advice.

Before I give ya my lifts there is somethin else I need ta know. When doing the working sets should I be doin the same weight for all 5 sets or can I do what I have been doing and that is each set is to failure and if I need to I reduce the weight slightly to hit the rep count of the set then I do.

rubadub

Have a look in the fitness logs and you will see many people use varying amounts for warmup, many do warm up several sets. I workout at home and load up my log on the laptop to see my previous weights. If you do like to use a % of your max you can use rep calculators to get an idea, I find this one good since it estimates 1, 5, 10 & 15reps and you can input more than 10reps too.

http://www.naturalphysiques.com/tools.php?itemid=18

O.P.H

Well thats a handy little tool, cheers.

Still wanna know the deal with the working sets though. When I finish the warm up sets and start on a 5 x 5, am I suppose to use the same weight for each set as like in Starting Strength or is it ok to do what I've been doin which is lifting to failure (failure being the 5th rep) and then lowering the weight for each set to get the 5 reps.

And ya Bobby think you're right, gonna replace the shrugs for power cleans

BobbyOLeary

For sets of 5x5 I'd have awful time recovering from 5 sets across of the same weight. 5x5 of the deadlift would write me off for at least 3 days.

Personally I aim to hit a certain weight for a set of 5 and work to hit that weight on either my 3rd or 4th set. Aiming for the 5th usually means I'm too tired by then to pull it off. Sets across work for some people but unfortunately I'm not one of them.

e.g. A deadlift session where I'm aiming for 130kg for 5

Warmup

5x20
5x60
3x80
2x100

5x110
5x120
5x130
5x135 (Probably failure)
5x120

Roper

Try doing 2 sets of 8 as your preparatory sets before your 5 work sets.

As regards warming up (as distinct from preparatory sets) I would ensure I was doing a lot of mobility work before working into anything heavy and stop that yogging nonsense.

O.P.H

But I believe "yogging" is the new fad right now