General Warm Ups

[jwood]

I just want to know how many of you guys out there use a general warm up??

I know some people do a few minutes on the bike or treadmill, but I also think a lot of people just hop in and start lifting with light sets.

I have been using a general warm up on my lower body days, and try to do it on the upper days too. I use the warm up that is explained in the juggernaut book, but a little abbreviated.

I do:
50 jumping jacks, 20 BW squats, some lunges
Roll Out just enough on my back, hamstrings, quads, hips, glutes (this is very limited just enough to get blood flowing in the muscles)
Hip Mobility drills, including hip stretching
Maybe some leg swings as I start my light sets.

I think this has made a significant difference in my performance on my lower body days.

What do you guys do to prepare for a workout?

[Soldier]

I take warming up very seriously on lower body days. I used to jog a little, but found it didn't help much. I do plenty of mobility stuff and bodyweight lunges to loosen up my hips, which have been giving me issues lately. I don't spend a lot of time on it, but I still take it seriously.

As for upper body stuff its more just some arm circles to get the blood flowing.

[Abaddon]

The heavier I go, the more I've had to embrace warmup sets for certain exercises. But I don't 'warmup' - I just go.

[Pull14]

For the lower body I'll do about a dozen bw squats with a pause at the bottom. In the pause I'll bounce around a little, twist/pivot around for a bit before going up. What exactly I do will depend on whats feeling tight/off at that point. Gets my knees and hips warmed up and gives the quads a decent stretch. I'll also do some paused lunges and some light hamstring stretches. If my ankles or quads aren't feeling the best I'll get in the bottom of a squat and put a barbell on the top of my knees/lower quad and push down on the bar. This is an ankle mobility thing but gets my quads feeling good too.

Upper body will just be some empty bar slowwww-muscle snatches and @ top let bar pull arms/shoulders back to stretch the anterior delts. Past that, a handful of chins.

Used to do some rolls but I've found I just felt off afterward. When I do roll, I keep it after training.

[Spartigus]

I normally warmup with the bar and light weights, but I am wanting to add some mobility exercises to my warmup. What sort of hip mobility stuff does everyone do for the warmup?

[BendtheBar]

I focus on a lot of time under bar (standing with the bar on my back) and pausing in the hole. At my age I feel these are superior for me. The pause in the hole for me is a world better than any stretch. Even if I stretch, and I sued to religiously, my body is a lot tighter than it used to be.

Most days I feel strong but rusty, and once I kick the rust out with some warmup reps, I feel ready to go.

[Trevor Lane]

Barbell swings, some rotations w/2.5 lb plates, and lunge walking are my go to warmups.

[MikeM]

Originally Posted by Spartigus

I normally warmup with the bar and light weights, but I am wanting to add some mobility exercises to my warmup. What sort of hip mobility stuff does everyone do for the warmup?

I'm with you, Spart. I do bar empty bar stuff and light weights of things I'm doing that day. But I also do kind of a pre-warmup that really seems to help as I'm older and perhaps less warm in general. I'll post it here as it works for me, but I don't know if it's good for others. As for hip mobility, I do lunge and reach backs, reach back both hands opposite of leg lunging, that and empty bar cleans and snatches, hope that helps your hips, Spart.

Typical upper body warmup:
Diesel Crew shoulder workout, I-R Y,L,W, Scarecrows, etc. Also, hanging from bar w/ 5-8 scapular retractions, wood bar dislocationsx 15, and some OH squats, finally some active hamstring stretches as that is a weakness for me. Then before I lift, I do empty bar stuff related to the lifts I'm doing for the day.

Typical lower body warmup:
Active Hamstring stretch, jumping mtn climbers, leg swings fwd and sideways, hypers or ghetto GHRs, I also do squat jumps or speed deads with very light weights for fast twitch activation.

Not an expert, that's just what I do.

[Fazc]

I used to do 50 Hyperextensions and 50 Sit Ups before each workout. It was something I picked up from reading a Reg Park article. Worked nicely, gave my back a good stretch as well.

[Kuytrider]

I used to do the old treadmill warm up but don't use it anymore. I just warm up with the bar, one or two light sets and I am good to go. I do a small bit of stretching after a work set or two when I am warm. Works like a charm.