How do You warm up?

MGarcia0504

I'm switching to a new lifting plan that is more intense than my old one and was wondering what everyone here does to warm up. With my previous one I would walk the treadmill at moderate pace and then whatever my first exercise was for the day, I would do 2 sets of 10 before starting my actual program. Also do you stretch before you lift? Thanks!

JustMissTracy

I'm really bad for this; I rarely warm up, or cool down for that matter....I do usually walk/jog/run for a good 10 minutes before I start lifting tho....

Mycophilia

I do 2 sets of 5 with only the bar and then do a couple of reps with +20kg every set until I reach my working weight.

jemhh

I walk on the treadmill for 10 minutes. Then I stretch for 5-10 minutes. Then I do a few warmup sets for the first couple of exercises that I do.

McCloud33

Ride my bike 3.5 miles on hills from my apartment to the gym...usually pretty warmed up by the time I get there.

HamsterManV2

Warm up routine is essential to prevent very avoidable injuries. You can do any combination of:

-5 minutes on the rower (full body warm up), or stationary bike, or treadmill (I usually do this in morning workouts when I need extra warm up)
-A Dynamic Stretch routine. Important if your lifting has squats, bench, overhead press, deadlift. I do things like arm circlesx10 , mountain climbers x10 per side , 30s plank, push upsx15, glute bridge x10 rep, bodyweight squat x 10 with a jump at the top, etc. The main idea is to warm up and loosen the body part which will be involved in your main movement. Key is DYNAMIC STRETCH, meaning movement, as opposed to static stretch, which means to hold in position (unless it is a very tight spot like ankles or glutes).
-2 to 3 sets of 5 reps with just the bar / low weight. This is to warm up your motor patterns and make sure everything is ready before the weight gets heavy.

Cheers!

nordlead2005

My warm up routine typically is a minute of jumping jacks, followed by a few short dynamic movements to get my legs moving, and then straight into 10 body weight squats, followed by 10 empty bar squats, and then continually adding weights while reducing the number of reps. I typically increase the weight by 50lb at a time to start, and then taper off to land within 10lb of my goal weight for a single rep. (my weight increase is dictated by laziness and what weights I own)

When I move onto the next exercise I warm up with an empty bar and progresively add weight. If I felt stiff (which I never do), I would throw in some dynamic movements to get the joints loosened up.