I am sure just about everyone knows they should be doing some kind of warmup before weight training. The problem is, most have no clue how to properly execute the pre workout warmup. Commonly I will see guys/gals either do way too much or not enough at all. On one end of the spectrum we have that person who does 20-30 minutes on the cardio, foam rolls and stretches for 20 minutes and then does way too many sets/reps with the barbell before their first working set. Then we have the guy who gets off of his 8 hour shift at work and walks straight to the bar, slaps 135 on and starts going. While a warmup is going to be individual, you want to make sure it follows some basic concepts. The main concepts would be increasing your heart rate and raising your core temperature without over exerting or fatiguing yourself. In reality you want to be somewhere in the middle of our two examples. Just how much you do before will again depend on your specific situation.

First we start with the dynamic warmup. This is an active, specific warmup done using a variety of exercises or drills. What we want to avoid is holding static stretches for a long duration of time (more than 30 seconds). This 2017 Study actually showed that a greater amount of volume was performed in the group that DID NOT perform static stretches. As you can see in this 2005 Study dynamic stretching had a significant impact on performance. With these dynamic movements we would like to achieve an increased heart rate and body temperature, however this should not be achieved via wasted energy. There is no need to go crazy on the cardio or get to the point where you are tired before a workout. The exercises you choose should be specific to your training that day while improving mobility in an area that you may feel needs attention. For example if you are squatting you will probably do some things such as leg swings, body weight lunges and body weight squats to warm up the hips, glutes and ankles. As you can see these exercises are active and very specific to the lifting that is to come.

Once you understand the actual concepts it is time to build your dynamic routine. It is also important to understand there is no “set” dynamic stretching approach. You may find your warmup will evolve, lengthen/shorten and change over time. This could depend on what you are doing at work/in your everyday life, if you have nagging pain/injury or if you just have less time to spend in the gym. As stated before, how you build this will be individual. As a general recommendation here is how you could structure your dynamic warmup.

5-15 Minutes.

3-6 exercises in a circuit or straight set fashion, whichever you prefer

Example: Leg swings, banded lunges, body weight squats, arm swings (remember these exercises are made up off the top of my head and not specific to YOU)

8-12 reps each exercise.

2-4 times each

From here you are ready to start your actual warmups. One thing I have noticed in the past with clients and gym goers is the lack of understanding on how to approach these warmup sets. Just like in the dynamic warmup the idea is not to overexert yourself. Essentially we are trying to make steady climbs up to our working weight while getting the muscles primed to do their job. Finding your groove with the movement while waking up the central nervous system is the idea here. A common mistake I observe is doing far too many sets and in those sets going too close to failure. For example I will routinely see guys who are squatting a top weight of 315, yet for some reason before 315 they do 275 to near failure. This is only going to compromise the total volume that can be done with 315. That is not a productive warmup. As an example a more optimal warmup for a 315 squat workout of 3×8 would look something like this:

Bar x8

135×8

185×5

235×3

285×2.

Across the board we have 50 pound increases and the last set is nowhere near failure. It is a bit closer to the working weight  (30 pounds) so we will not be shocked when feeling 315 on our back. On top of that we have saved all of our energy to get the most out of the 3 working sets. Over time this approach will allow for the most volume at the prescribed load to be performed.

On a lighter scale a warmup for a working set day of 175x3x6 may look like

bar x8

95×8

120×4

140×3

160×1-2

A warmup for a heavier weight of 435x3x5 may look like

bar x8

135×8

225×5

315×3-4

365×2

405×1

The idea is to get the body primed for peak performance with the load to be lifted on that day. Getting the body warm through a specific dynamic warmup followed by wise incremental jumps on the barbell with perfect reps far from failure will allow for this to happen. We want to do enough to be ready to attack the weights, but not so much that we go in tired or that 45 minutes have been wasted rolling around on the floor.