warm ups

there is a question or two in a couple of threads about the right way to warm up for a workout like the 5 by 5... so i thought i would address it as best i could in a new thread.

when you are starting the workout, or starting any new exercise, its best to do the warmups with steady weight jumps and the same number of reps for each set. the body reacts well to this, and its a great teaching tool... if your not really good at something, or if its new, taking big jumps and changing too many things from one set to the next lengthens the learning curve. so take for instance someone just starting out on the workout who is going to squat 200lbs for 5 reps as his work set. he might do this.

bar for 5
95lbs for 5 (25's on a standard bar)
135lbs for 5 (45's on a standard bar)
165lbs for 5
185lbs for 5
200lbs for 5

notice that the jumps were bigger at first, then got smaller. every set should be exactly the same.

as a person gets higher in weight, you will take bigger jumps, but will also end up eventually needing MORE warmup sets to get to the top weight. because of this, you will not want to do all the reps on every warmup set to limit fatigue. you will also not need as much "practice" at lower weights in order to get the top set right. this same person 6 months later, squatting 300lbs for a set of 5 might warm up like this.

bar for 5 or 10
135 for 5
185 for 5
225 for 3
275 for 2
300 for 5

say this person is now training for 3 years and squatting 500lbs for 5, he might now warm up like this

bar for 5 or 10
135 for 5
205 for 5
275 for 3
335 for 2
385 for 1
425 for 1
465 for 1
500 for 5

as a general rule, it seems to me that most people need somewhere near 20-25 reps to warm up. some will do extra reps with bodyweight or with the bar stretching out or just general limbering up before putting weight on the bar.

people using very high weight will take bigger jumps, but even so will generally need more warmup sets and because of this will limit the reps on their final warmup sets to limit fatigue. people who train more often usually dont need as much warmup... when i was training for olympic weightlifting and doing some form of squatting just about every day it was normal for me to do some form of bodyweight limbering up, then start my squats with 150kilos (330lbs)... but on mondays, after sunday off, i always felt the need to do my first set with lower weight. im not sure why this is, but it seems widespread.

people who are more skilled at a certain exercise will generally do the bulk of their warmups with a lower percentage... 80% for 5 reps will be more fatigueing for a guy squatting 500lbs than for a guy squatting 135lbs.

hopefully this will help some of you who are wondering. there are a few mutants in the world who just plain do things differently and are fine, but for 95% of us, these are pretty good guidelines to follow.

Exactly what I do!

I read about this first in a Bill Philips artical, where it stated that doing sets of 8+ would ever so slightly affect your ability to complete the following sets, even if if with submaximal weight.

I like to precede the warmup sets with:

Get into gym
briefly flex and extend all joints
5 mins light cardio on cross trainer
Very brief stretch - no straining just comfortable
WORKOUT with weights as above
5-10mins warmdown on crosstrainer
10-15mins developmental stretching
Leave gym

THANKS GLEN great post!

Great info. here. Thanks!

Would you change much, if any, of this guideline ramping up if the top set were a 1RM attempt rather than a workset (or sets)?

i wouldnt change it that much... the whole idea of warming up is to get you ready for maximal performance during your work sets, and this isnt going to change much whether you are doing 5 reps or 1 rep.

having said that, there can be big differences between exercises on how big of jumps in weight you take. the two extremes might be something like deadlift compared to snatch... i know not many on this board do things like snatches... but just as an illistration, its a very fast and technically demanding exercise, and you can easily miss even if you are strong enough but just make a technical mistake. deadlift is the opposite, not very technical at all

a 700lb deadlifter might very easily do a couple of sets of 3 to 5 reps with light weight, then go up in 100lb jumps, last 3 warmups before 700 might be 400, 500, 600. i watched one of the guys here the other day who is a 830lb deadlifter warm up for a set with 750lbs, as i remember he did sets with 135, 225, and 315 all for several reps, then did 405 for a single, 495 for a single, 585 for a single, 675 for a single, then did the work set with 750.

a good snatcher would be totally different, because it is almost impossible to take big jumps in weight without making technical mistakes... so with smaller jumps you end up with more sets, therefore to limit fatigue you never do any sets with higher reps. i coach a guy who snatches 363lbs, which is by the way very good, the american record is only about 10lbs more than that in his weight class, hes very close to being able to make the olympic team. when he hit his max, i think his warmups were, in pounds (in olympic weightlifting we use kilos normally, so im converting here, thats why the weights are weird) 110lbs for 2 or 3 sets of 2, 154lbs for a single, 198lbs for a single, 231lbs for a single, 264lbs for a single, 286lbs for a single, 308lbs for a single, 330lbs for a single, 341lbs for a single, 352lbs for a single, 358lbs for a single, 363lbs for a single.

these are the two extremes i think, but im sure you get the idea.

I'm confused as to how to warm up for Dual Factor 5x5.

ON 5x5 days (monday) I usually do four-five warm-up sets, then do the 5 working sets of the weight. 5 sets of 5 for 225, for example.

But what about on Fridays where you work up to a max.?
Say my squat goal weight is 250 for 5 reps. Would warm-ups be included as part of working up to that final set of 250x5. Or would I do warm-ups and then begin the five sets that work up to 250?

Thanks in advance for clarification....

Great info. here. I do have a question, though. When changing the weights you do when you're warming up in an ultra-progressive program like the 5x5, is it essential that you makes sure you're total work load for the day is higher than the previous if an increase in weight is made?

For example, say, on bench press, someone has been increasing their weight 5 pounds every week on all warm-up sets until they get to this point:

100x5
115x5
130x5
145x5
160x5

The total workload is: (100x5)+(115x5)+(130x5)+(145x5)+(160x5)=3250 lbs. for the workout on bench press.

Say, the next week, they're going to make another increase by 5 lbs. but are feeling the bottom set is too close to the top set causing too much fatigue, so instead the next week their sets go:

85x5
105x5
125x5
145x5
165x5

Even though their top set was an increase, their new total workload was only 3125 lbs. which, obviously, is 125 lbs. less than the previous week's workload.

So, my question is, would this drop in total workload result in progressive overload being lost? Is it up to the training person to juggle the warm-up weights so that the total workload for each week increases along with an increase in weight on the top set?

Do your actual warmups and then ramp to the top weight. I usually discount anything less than about 50% of my target weight as being pure warmup. Anything over that I'll be happy to consider as being a working set on the 1x5 days.

During a max-effort week (week3 and week4 in the vanilla program), if the top set feels too easy then don't hold back at bumping the weight further and dismissing one of your earlier sets as pure warmup.

siamesedream - and I thought I overanalysed things

Don't worry about it. If you take a step back and look at the four week view, so long as it's going up over time you're ok.

good post. thanks.