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 By: Marc McDougal
When the time comes to prepare the body for a weight-training workout, most trainees have some sort of inherent inclination that the muscles need a warm up. Unfortunately, due to the laypersons limited understanding of physiology most people take one or two steps back during their warm up by working against the body. A warm up can undoubtedly be advantageous if done properly, and in accordance to your desired training effect. Let's dig in and find out where you've been going wrong; you may be surprised! Training effect can be broken up into four basic categories, focus on the one you are currently involved in (if you don't know, that may explain some stagnation in your workouts and you may want to decide that first!). Training Effect Categories:
For those of you saying "But I lift weights to tone up and I don't see that anywhere!", please do the world a tremendous favor and never use the word "tone" again unless you are talking about music. Whether people realize it or not, the word "toning" is used to describe a combination of fat loss and muscle gain. Why is fat loss not a category? Fat loss can actually happen in any one of those categories, provided the proper loading parameters and nutritional intake. Too many people get caught up in the "high reps are for toning" charade and propagate synonymity (is that a word) between endurance and fat loss. That's not to say that high rep workouts can't promote fat loss. High rep workouts sure can if loading parameters and nutrition are dialed in, but high reps alone cause an increase in muscular endurance and metabolic byproduct clearance rate, both of which can be seen under the microscope, not in the mirror. With these distinctions out of the way, on with the warm ups!
This is a tricky one, because it can be highly sport specific and covering all of the popular sports is definitely beyond the scope of this article. So I will stick to something in the strength-coaching field known as General Physical Preparedness or GPP. The following can be applied to any sport, pre-workout to serve as a general systemic warm up. Some may seem a bit off kilter, but believe me they are tried and true methods of some of the most successful strength coaches on the planet. These are a few of my favorites:
First off maximal strength is a product of the size and number of Type IIB muscle fibers, and the ability of your nervous system to activate them. These are the most sensitive of all of your fibers and are referred to as "high threshold". Think of them as that significant other you used to have that would cry and slam doors every time you said something wrong. Treat these fibers wrong, even for a second and they'll surely slam the door in your face causing you to lose strength.
Mistake #2: Low Set Warm Ups - Knock out 10 reps with the bar, 10 reps with plates on each side, and hit it, right? Wrong! Let your nervous system know what's coming for God's sake! Don't send a soldier into battle with pepper spray! The closer you are working to your one rep max during your real sets, the more warm up sets you need. I recommend about 3-5 warm up sets, each with progressively heavier weight, but never excessively fatiguing yourself for your real sets. Instructions: Enter the amount of weight you lifted and the number of reps you lifted it for (the number of reps must be between 1 and 10 in order for the calculation to work). Your One Rep Max will appear at the top and all your percentages will appear below it.
Don't get me wrong, stretching is great, just not before you are going to call upon a muscle to perform at peak output levels. So save your stretching for after your workout, or better yet - stretch the antagonist (opposite) to the muscle you are going to use. Benching heavy - stretch the lats! Squatting heavy-stretch the hip flexors! You will find that this can enhance the effects of the stretch shortening cycle (that's a very good thing) and make your bench press/squat stronger! Exceptions do exist, however; if the muscle you are about to train is chronically tight, by all means stretch it first, because it is probably at a suboptimal contraction length at the other end of the spectrum. I am not going to discuss specifics, but for those of you familiar with PNF stretching, studies have shown it to cause short-term gains in strength, so feel free to give it a try pre-workout. Mistake #4: General Warm Ups - The nervous system picks up patterns, and running on the treadmill, or pedal pushing for 5-10min to "get the blood flowing" or whatever rationale you use does nothing to prepare the C.N.S. for a highly specific task like benching, squatting, rows or any other exercise for that matter (other than running or biking). So do your body a favor and don't waste your glycogen (stored energy) on something that isn't going to help your body complete the task at hand. If you're going to squat, warm up by squatting, stay away from the treadmill. In fact, walk a wide path around it as I've seen those things leach glycogen from people's livers osmoticaly from three feet away. You wouldn't warm up your car for a trip to the grocery store by hopping on the highway would you? Example Warm Up Routines:
Planned Work Sets - 4 sets of 6 reps @ 225lbs Warm up set 1: 50% 6RM = 110lbs x 6 reps Warm up set 2: 70% 6RM = 160lbs x 4 reps Warm up set 3: 90% 6RM = 205lbs x 2 reps
4 > 3 > 2 > 1:
If your goal is muscle size, your warm up will be similar to a strength warm up. Depending on training age (years working out) your work sets (after the warm up) should involve a rep range of about 6-12 reps. You still want to avoid excessive lactic acid release because of some partial Type IIb contribution, so again keep warm up reps at six or below. Sets should be less since the body will be performing at a lower intensity (% of 1 rep max, not how loud you scream) therefore needing less preparation. Tempo should be about the same as for strength. Again, stretching would be counter-productive unless injury/chronic tightness exists, in which case PNF would be the most effective pre workout modality, followed by the warm up. A general warm up is still not necessary, like strength training go right to the 1st exercise of your workout and commence the specific warm up. Example Warm Up Routine:
Warm up set 1: 50% 10RM = 95lbs x 6 reps Warm up set 2: 80% 10RM = 150lbs x 4 reps
This is called a neural pre-load and can be applied to your weight training routine for immediate gains in strength in tern leading to new muscle growth. Neural pre-loading acts like a light switch for your Type IIB fibers, turning them on so they can assist your other fibers during your hypertrophy sets. Example Neural Pre-Load Warm Up:
Warm up set 1: 60% 10RM = 110lbs x 6 reps Warm up set 2: 90% 10RM = 165lbs x 3 reps Warm up set 3: 130% 10RM = 240lbs x 1 rep Warming Up For Endurance (12+ reps): Individual response will determine the best warm up for endurance weight training - at least more so than the other categories. More often than not, I recommend only one set for a specific endurance warm up. If you are performing an exercise unfamiliar to you, more warm up sets can be beneficial, and the less comfortable you are at performing the movement, the more reps you should use in the warm up set(s). While physiologically it is arguable whether a warm up set is even necessary at all for endurance, it does serve as a nice transition from your daily routine to help you get focused on the workout, while also providing an opportunity to assess any possible injuries and get an idea for how strong you feel. Higher reps are fine, no need to worry about excessive lactic acid since that will be unavoidable (and possibly beneficial) in an endurance workout. General warm ups are optional, if 5 minutes on a treadmill helps you to have a better work out, by all means do it. Just don't feel like it's necessary if you see no benefit. Stretching is optional as well; your muscles are contracting with a relatively low force output, so no harm will be done. Again, only stretch first if you feel it contributes to enhanced performance - try one workout stretching first, and the next stretching after and assess performance differences. Example Warm Up Routine:
Specific: Planned Work Sets - 2 sets of 15 reps @ 100lbs Warm up set: 60% of 15RM = 60lbs x 10 reps Whether this article has reinforced your old warm-up habits or offered you some new warm-up strategies, I suggest you make full use of them. Applying these techniques to your workouts will offer the benefits of better workouts, faster progress, and fewer injuries. About The Author Marc McDougal is the founder/fitness director of Evolution Training Concepts... a company that takes cutting edge training and nutrition practices into the corporate environment. Marc studied exercise and sports science in college, and has been working in the training/strength coaching field for the last 8 years. He is an experienced fitness writer, with many published articles in the area of strength training, nutrition, and performance enhancement.
Marc can be reached at: Marc McDougal Recommend this article to a friend by e-mail here! Visitor Reviews Of This Article!
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When referring to strength I choose the traditional definition of absolute strength meaning to move the most weight possible, regardless of time or any other factor. Wanna bench press 350lbs? Pay Attention! Wanna do a pull-up with a Buick strapped to your waist? Listen up! I see this one screwed up every time I go to the gym. A bit of physiology is necessary to understand the implications of a proper (or improper) strength warm up.
Advanced Technique Trick: Take a look in the on-deck circle at a 
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