Do you warm up?

[PoonRaider]

I believe that warming up is a great way to improve the many benefits of exercising/working out.

http://sportsmedicine.about.com/cs/injuryprevention/a/aa071003a.htm
"Most athletes perform some type of regular warm-up and cool down during training and racing. A proper warm up can increase the blood flow to the working muscle which results in decreased muscle stiffness, less risk of injury and improved performance. Additional benefits of warming up include physiological and psychological preparation."

I created a poll to see just how many of us at the elitefitness forums warm up, so that others could compare their methods and learn more from eachother.

 

[chewyxrage]

do you mean 1 rep/2 rep or 1 set/2 set?

 

[from zero]

Absolutely. I paid for not doing it a couple months ago, and strained a pec. Couldn't do many exercises without intense pain for about 3 or 4 weeks.

Nowadays I will warmup with 5 minutes of cardio, followed by stretching.

 

[PoonRaider]

do you mean 1 rep/2 rep or 1 set/2 set?

Lol, oops. I meant 1 set/2 sets

 

[PoonRaider]

I heard that using a rowing machine is a great full body warm up. However, since I'm weight training, I usually warm up with 1 set of the exercise I'm about to do. Is 2 sets better? Do you notice an improvement by doing 2 sets as opposed to 1 set of warming up?

 

[Tom Treutlein]

You only need as many sets as it takes you to be ready for your working weight. No more. Don't make warm-ups an exercise of their own. If it's a small muscle group, you may not even need a warmup. If you're about to do squats/deadlifts, do 2-3 warmup sets at least.

 

[super_rice]

used to never warm up... but realized my lifts all get better and i seem to recover easier

 

[Forge]

I ALWAYS warm up. A few sets of jumping jacks at the start plus some light stretching. Then for big exercises like deads, squats, bench, I'll do three "pyramid" sets at low reps just to build up to my working weight. For smaller exercises I'll do one or two warm up sets, always lower weight at lower reps.

 

[Backlash]

I do more than 2 sets for my first few compound exercises - the heavier the working weight, the more warmups I do.

 

[chewyxrage]

i really need to start warming up every day. I usually only do like 1-2 warm up sets....not really stretching at all.....stupid

I think I strained my shoulder yesterday.....damnit

 

[Tom Treutlein]

I follow the HST guideline for warmups. It's used to simply elevate your core temperature and get some enzymes/hormones activated so your CNS works more effectively. Something to that extent. It changes whether you're on the 10's or 5's week, but still, it's generall 50-70% of your working weight, 1-5 reps. At most, 3 sets.

 

[PoonRaider]

I usually only do 1 set of warming up per exercise.
Is it advisable to do more than 1 set of warming up for the following compound exercises?: Standing DB curl, DB Bench press

Btw, I read that no study has ever proven that stretching before working out reduces the risk of injury or benefits your body in any way. I don't know if it's true or not, but it's certainly a controversial topic.

I also read in The Great Dumbell Handbook by Michael Jespersen, a book I bought along with my poweblock (Which highly kicks ass) that when warming up you're only supposed to do 25%-50% of the full weight you plan to exercise with.

 

[Tom Treutlein]

The risk of energy? You mean injury, I'm guessing. Well, don't listen to studies all the time. Science is flawed man. Not all the time, but in situations like that, take it from guys who have been injured multiple times in their careers due to improper warming up/stretching. If nothing else, it makes me feel more ready to tackle big weights when my muscles are loose.

 

[PoonRaider]

The risk of energy? You mean injury, I'm guessing. Well, don't listen to studies all the time. Science is flawed man. Not all the time, but in situations like that, take it from guys who have been injured multiple times in their careers due to improper warming up/stretching. If nothing else, it makes me feel more ready to tackle big weights when my muscles are loose.

Sorry man, I'm a little bit of a stoner (Trying to quit), I make plenty of typos which is why you can see that most of my posts have been edited. Stretch if it helps you. I'm young, and stretching really doesn't do much for me at this point in my life. Perhaps when I get older.

 

[Tom Treutlein]

I'm young too, man. 17. It's good you're trying to quit, though. I've been out of it for 8 months now. Quit once I started goin' out wit' my girl. Sorry about kind of attacking you in the other post. I just don't like when people claim things like there being a lack of intellect, then make stupid mistakes themselves.

 

[PoonRaider]

Np man. I've been down to doin it about once a day now. Now I'm totally out, and don't plan to get anymore. My uncle was telling me about his friend that started smoking when he was 13, and continued through med school. I'm just afraid of having a low sperm count, or possibly becoming impotent.

 

[Tom Treutlein]

Well, it won't make you impotent, and the low-sperm count will fix itself once you stop. www.erowid.org

Marijuana isn't as bad for you as the government says. It's all propaganda.

 

[chewyxrage]

You guys wanna get high?


lol weed ain't that bad man, I smoke every day and I'm doin just fine
the key is to wait till you got your shit done. after you're homework, and job, training and whatever is over it's good to go

 

[ColdCut]

Nope i dont........maybe thats why i just had the injury of the year. I pulled my left shoulder so bad on a military press that i had to stop and go home. couldn't work biceps or forearms afterwards. still hurts ouch!

 

[PoonRaider]

That sucks man. Thats why I'd rather tone than work with huge heavy weights. I do do some hypertrophy exercises, but I prefer toning. I love looking cut.

 

[tzan]

I'm affraid to look at the poll results. There is no reason, besides STUPIDITY, that it shouldn't be 100% for people that warm up. You should always do some sort of warm up/stretching before any type of training PERIOD!!

 

[WalkingBeast]

I always warm-up. If I went straight to 370 on bench Id probabally tear something eventually.

 

[Forge]

That sucks man. Thats why I'd rather tone than work with huge heavy weights. I do do some hypertrophy exercises, but I prefer toning. I love looking cut.

Just curious, how are you lifting to tone? High reps only?

 

[needsize]

I do a whole lot of warming up, enough that the muscle is warm but not enough that it is fatigued.
here are a couple examples
bench
95 x 10
135 x 8
185 x 5
225 x 5
275 x 3
315 x 3
365 x 5(working set)

squats
45 x 10
135 x 8
225 x 5
315 x 5
405 x 10(working set)

 

[JKurz1]

You are f-ing crazy not to warm-up......no stretching, but a few lighter sets is a must........

 

[PoonRaider]

Just curious, how are you lifting to tone? High reps only?

Yeah. I'll usually warm up with about 50-60 reps for 1 set, then do about 3-4 sets of 20, sometimes 25. Thats when I'm toning.

Somedays I feel like toning, some days I feel like doing some hypertrophy.

When I'm doing hypertrophy, I'll do about 25-30 reps for 1 set, then do about 4 sets of 12.

I've mainly been working for getting toned for this summer. I want get really cut. . . I'm not really too worried about getting big, I have like 5 more years of growing to do.

 

[PoonRaider]

I do a whole lot of warming up, enough that the muscle is warm but not enough that it is fatigued.
here are a couple examples
bench
95 x 10
135 x 8
185 x 5
225 x 5
275 x 3
315 x 3
365 x 5(working set)

squats
45 x 10
135 x 8
225 x 5
315 x 5
405 x 10(working set)

Goddamn! You sound like one big mofo! This is how I warm up on the bench press using DB's: (Remember I'm 17 and am all natural )

40 lbs x 40 reps x 1 set
95 lbs x 15 reps x 4 sets

Would you suggest doing more warming up sets? I dunno if its really necessary since I'm using such 'dinky' weights
1 set seems to get me pretty warmed.

 

[needsize]

Goddamn! You sound like one big mofo! This is how I warm up on the bench press using DB's: (Remember I'm 17 and am all natural )

40 lbs x 40 reps x 1 set
95 lbs x 15 reps x 4 sets

Would you suggest doing more warming up sets? I dunno if its really necessary since I'm using such 'dinky' weights
1 set seems to get me pretty warmed.

I started at 14 years old and smaller than you, so we all start small bro. You can see from the pic in my avatar that being born small didnt mean I was meant to stay that way. Personally, I would say cut down the total # of reps, if I did 40 reps on any weight as a warmp up, it would probably cut my working weight in half. Myself, if I was doing your chest workout, I would do say 30lbs x 10, 50lbs x 8, 75lbs x 5, then your working sets. Thats enough to get the muscle warm, but not enough to fatigue it.

 

[PoonRaider]

I started at 14 years old and smaller than you, so we all start small bro. You can see from the pic in my avatar that being born small didnt mean I was meant to stay that way. Personally, I would say cut down the total # of reps, if I did 40 reps on any weight as a warmp up, it would probably cut my working weight in half. Myself, if I was doing your chest workout, I would do say 30lbs x 10, 50lbs x 8, 75lbs x 5, then your working sets. Thats enough to get the muscle warm, but not enough to fatigue it.

Hey, thats a great idea. I'm gonna try that. Thanks for the info man. I used to warm up until I felt the burn, but that kind of fatigued my muscles. I'm definately going to try it the way you suggested to.
I just had Jaw surgery on 3/11/04 to correct my bite. Before surgery I weighed 148 5'9, I havn't been weighed since, but my doctor estimated I will lose 10-15 pounds of mainly fat, since I will be on a high protein diet for at least 6 weeks to allow the bone to heal. This is actually good news, since I am trying to get cut.

 

[JKurz1]

I started at 14 years old and smaller than you, so we all start small bro. You can see from the pic in my avatar that being born small didnt mean I was meant to stay that way. Personally, I would say cut down the total # of reps, if I did 40 reps on any weight as a warmp up, it would probably cut my working weight in half. Myself, if I was doing your chest workout, I would do say 30lbs x 10, 50lbs x 8, 75lbs x 5, then your working sets. Thats enough to get the muscle warm, but not enough to fatigue it.

HOLY SHIT! LOL...I swear I thought he was just being a smart ass.......40 reps????????? I bench around 320 and I dont think I could hit the bar for 40 reps....at leasst w/o going suicidal...............geez...........

 

[Forge]

I do a whole lot of warming up, enough that the muscle is warm but not enough that it is fatigued.
here are a couple examples

squats
45 x 10
135 x 8
225 x 5
315 x 5
405 x 10(working set)

Heh, I also do the bar for 10 as a squat warmup. Seems like we have the same way of warming up overall, lots of low rep sets that slowly pyramids to your working weight. I know it works well for me.

 

[needsize]

Heh, I also do the bar for 10 as a squat warmup. Seems like we have the same way of warming up overall, lots of low rep sets that slowly pyramids to your working weight. I know it works well for me.

works great for me too, just enough to get the feel of the big stuff but not enough to get tired

 

[super_rice]

i like to put a bit on the bar for squats and do around 10 reps then pyramid up to get the feel

 

[Xero]

i warm up and stretch always before lifting

 

[big4life]

I always warm up before lifting, especially on any pressing movement. After having two shoulder surgeries you learn to take care of them.

 

[PoonRaider]

I don't stretch before I workout. . . I should, but I don't want to have to bring my book to the gym, because you're supposed to stretch after you warmup.

 

[RickO'Shea]

Without fail every workout starts with a warm-up usually consisting of Calisthenics. It usually lasts 15-20 min.

 

[guerbear]

Do you start your car in cold weather and take right off? It doesn't run as well as if you would have warmed it up. Same goes for your body.

 

[hardrock]

I can't answer the poll, cause it's fukkin retarded, but I always warm up. 5 mins on the bike or eliptical at moderate intensity. just to get a sweat going. Then I always warm up with weight. I'll do a few increasing weight sets, before doing a set to failure. then either a couple rest pause or drop sets to failure.

 

[V&M]

I always do one warm up set per bodypart. I failed to this one day and messed up my shoulder and actually stopped working out for quite some time.