Talk to me about warmup sets

sedosher

I just started New Rules of Lifting for Women yesterday...and am COMPLETELY new the the lifting world. I have much expereince gaining and losing weight but not the proper way nor in conjuction with lifting.

NROLW is very light on the topic of warmup sets, pretty much all he says is to ALWAYS do one or two warmup sets for your first exercise in the workout. But if you do warmups for subsequent exercises is up to you...well I'm new and have no gauge for what I should do.

He says in his own workouts he will do a warmup set with the first exercise and then a warmup set for subsequent exercises if they involve a different muscle not already used in the workout.

He does a great job of explaining there is no real scientific research to back up warmup sets for subsequent exercises and that they can actually have a negative effect if they sap energy you need to finish the workout.

So opinions on the "correct" way to complete warmup sets please. Thanks!

helened

The description is good. Try starting with a weight that is 25 -30% less than what you would lift on that first exercise. Make sure you keep track of the weights you are using for the next time. I know for myself at this point in time I usually go about 20-25% less. I usually do one set for the same number of reps as what comes next with the same time interval as between the regular sets.

sedosher

Thanks! So do you do warmup sets for only the exercises that include a muscle you haven't used in the workout yet? Or do you do them for all exercises? Thanks again.

helened

To tell you the truth, I usually don't do them for any small muscle groups and I don't do them if the exercise is designed for 10 reps or more since the weight is usually a bit lower . I usually do them before a large muscle if it is the first exercise in the routine.

Sometimes I can warm up the muscle groups enough during a good warmup session. For example doing air squats to warm up the legs. But if you go really heavy, it is a good idea to do a warmup set, I find it also allows me to judge how I am feeling that day. Some days, I just don't have the energy that I have on others.

Also, when you do multiple body parts, you will find (unless you use machine that really isolate the muscles) that other muscles in your body are used for stabilization and such purposes. So frequently, I find I don't need to do a warm up set when moving to the next body part.

This is what has worked for me. I hope that I am not too far off.

ANewLucia

Helened you heped me right here!

sedosher

Thank you, very helpful!