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