Warm up/cooldown for strength training

mandyrene21

I'm starting SL 5x5 next week and it's been many years since I did any free weight training. What do you all do for warm up and cooldown? Since I'm just starting out I'll be using the bar only so I can't do that for my warm up.

jemhh

I would use dumbbells. There are dumbbell versions of every exercise in SL5x5.

On my weight training days, I walk for 10 minutes on the treadmill (unless I was doing something somewhat active before starting to exercise), stretch a bit, and then do warm up sets (generally 40%/60%/80% of the weight I'll be lifting.)

rileysowner

I do a bodyweight warm-up. Squats, Mountain climbers, jumping jacks, leg swings, lunges about 10 reps of each except the jumping jacks and leg swings which I do 20 of each. I rest 30 seconds, repeat it, then lift.

RoseTheWarrior

I started SL 5x5 about a month ago, so my weights are still fairly low. Accordingly, I just do 5 mins on the elliptical, so I get everything moving and warmed up. As I go higher for weights, I will be doing a set or two with just the bar. If you watch Mehdi do the workouts, you can see he only warms up for the first 2 lifts, and not the 3rd. He states by then you're already warm so don't need it.

I highly recommend you read the entire article about the program and watch all the videos. They're very informative!

http://stronglifts.com/5x5/

tillerstouch

Do a bit of cardio get your body out of a resting state and then do some body weight exercises push ups body squats, if you have access to a rower that's a grwat way to warm up your back. Then I do a quick stretch.

Cooldown all I do is stretch and roll out.

cwolfman13

if i'm already pretty warm from other activities during the day i just do some lighter weight warmup reps on my first compound lower body movement and first upper body compound movement. if i'm coming in pretty cold i do about 5 minutes on the stationary bike.

i do a nice slow spin on the stationary bike to cool down and flush my legs. i don't know that it's necessary, but it feels good.

fivethreeone

Depends on how warm I am already and how taxing the workout was. I usually warm up with a few minutes of bodyweight movements in the sauna as a general warmup (with a little extra focusing on the areas I know are my sticky points), then barbell only before each lift I'm going to do before doing my actual workout.

Afterward I'll do some rowing to cool down if upper body day. On a rough leg day I'll walk at a really (REALLY) slow speed for 5-10 minutes. Slow like, people should be wondering if you're handicapped slow. If I'm in a rush, sauna for a few minutes and then I'm out.