If you don’t have time to warm up, then you don’t have time to train. Many people who begin strength training are unsure of how to warm up properly. Some completely overdo the warm-up process, while others neglect it almost entirely. There is a balance you should find. Let’s discuss the particulars of why you should warm up, what your two main goals in the warm-up are, and how to do warm-ups adequately if not optimally.
Once in a while, I come across a rare individual who foregoes the warm-up almost entirely. The younger you are, the more likely you are to get away with this kind of neglect. For those of us older than 16, though, we would do well to establish the habit of a thorough warm-up in order to prevent strains or perhaps a worse injury. Some people consider the short walk from their car to a fully loaded barbell as an adequate warm-up. The problem here is two-fold. The tissues of the body – primarily muscles, tendons, and ligaments – have not been adequately prepared for loaded movement, and secondly, you have not taken the opportunity to gradually increase the weight across several sets, thereby providing you the time to “rehearse” the lift you are going to do, which prepares your nervous system.
Strength Training Warm-Ups
There’s a lot going on even in the simplest of the compound barbell lifts. This is especially true when you get up to challenging weights. It’s always best to have ironed out any technical kinks over several warm-up sets. Getting under a heavy bar without first practicing with lighter weights may in fact cause you to miss or not complete the set successfully at best and may end up with injury at worst or both. By the time you get to your first “work” set, you should have your technique down to auto-pilot so the bulk of your attention can be reserved to maybe just one main form or technique issue and pushing hard against the weight.
On the other hand, there are lots of people who don’t consider themselves adequately warmed up unless they have spent 20 minutes on the treadmill, foam rolled their entire body, and then stretched for 15 minutes. This is not only unnecessary, but it is also totally counterproductive to strength training. Strength training requires a lot of energy and the ability to produce near maximal contractile force. Preceding your strength training with excessive time doing cardio is misallocating precious time and energy that you should be saving for your heavy work.
Benefits of Stretching Before Strength Training
Stretching before strength training has been shown to reduce the amount of force a person can produce by as much as 10%. This is terrible for your progress. What’s worse is stretching prior to lifting is also shown to increase your risk of injury by causing an amount of temporary laxity in the muscles, which results in less stable joints. I’m not a huge fan of static stretching at any time, since I’ve discovered better ways to increase range of motion. For what it’s worth, though, if you insist on stretching or it just makes you feel good, have at it. Just save it for after your strength training. Stretching cold muscles also comes with some risk of injury, so waiting until after the workout is the optimum time for safety sake as well as efficacy.
The optimum way to warm up is to first raise your body temperature slightly by doing 2 – 5 minutes of light cardiovascular exercise. This can be brisk walking, running, cycling, rowing, jumping rope or light calisthenics. If there is a chill in the gym, you’ll know you’ve successfully raised your body temperature when you’re ready to remove your outer layer of clothing or have begun to perspire slightly. That is unless your gym is much colder than about 40 degrees. Most people I’ve trained prefer to workout in shorts and t-shirt year-round regardless of the temperature once they get warmed up properly.
After this has been done, you are ready to begin your first exercise with the empty barbell. Always begin with the empty bar. I have been warming up with the empty barbell for over 30 years, and I have never once regretted it. Not once. You should perform 2 sets of 5 reps or one set of 10 reps with the empty bar. It’s never a problem to do more than this if you want to, but never do less. This ensures that the joints and muscles are eased into the required ranges of motion and gives the smallest and most delicate body parts involved a fair chance to get gently introduced to the task at hand.
With the empty bar work now out of the way, you are going to perform a total of about 15-20 reps divided across 5-6 “warm-up” sets as you increase the weight on the bar until you reach your “working set” weight. For example, if my working set weight for the back squat is 225 lbs., then my warm-up would be as follows: empty bar x 10 reps, 95 lbs. x 5 reps, 135 lbs. x 5 reps, 175 lbs. x 3 reps, and 205 lbs. x 2 reps. This is enough volume to prepare the tissues for the heavy work and to give you a chance to practice the lift across several ascending sets without being so much volume that it tires you out before you get to your “work” sets.
Stretching For Individuals New to Strength Training
If you are newer to performing the movement or you’re having an off day and want more practice before you get to your work sets, just do a couple more light sets of 3-5 reps. In this case, I would use 95 lbs. or 135 lbs. for the extra warm-up sets, but no heavier. During the warm-up sets, I recommend resting between 1-2 minutes and maybe up to 3 minutes before your heaviest warm-up set and before your first work set. Altogether, you should be able to do your preliminary warm-up and all warm-up sets with the barbell within 15 minutes. If sometimes it takes a bit longer, that’s ok. Some of my older trainees require extra time, or if it’s particularly cold, we all might take longer to get in the groove.
Lastly, a good warm-up gets your attitude right. Most of the time, we may not feel particularly motivated at the start of the training session. A good blood-pumping warm-up, though, should, among other things, give you a proper attitude adjustment and get you in the right frame of mind to train. If you remain “cold” or sluggish after the warm-up, it may just be that you need to make it slightly more rigorous without overdoing it.
To summarize the key points discussed above, be sure to allow enough time to warm up before you begin strength training. This prepares your body for the heavy work ahead as well as gives you a chance to practice or “rehearse” the movements with gradually heavier weights during the warm-up sets. Don’t tire yourself out by making the warm-up too long or rigorous – 12-15 minutes should be enough time. Finally, leave the static stretching for after the workout when the muscles and connective tissues are fully prepared to be stretched and the temporary elasticity achieved through stretching won’t prove counterproductive or injurious during your heavy sets.