Lifting warm up

I just follow my rep scheme of my working sets of the lift/day. Empty barbell to working sets. If the weather is a bit cold, I might do a few extra at the lower intensity.

I'm lifter over 50 with a progressive joint disease so I have to warm up a bit more than a younger version of me to be able to perform the lift properly at depth. So keep that in mind. It's just an example.

My squats on a cold day of winter or cold wetdamp day in the fall would look something like...

Barbell × 8-10 reps × 2-5 sets
135.× 5 × 3
225 × 5 × 2
315 × 5
405 × 5 (belted)
430 × 1
450 × 1
475 × 1
405 × 5 × 5

There isn't any evidence that form of itself causes injury.

1. Not being warming up could.
2. Not using proper load management could.

Put the proper weight on the barbell and practice proper load management and things will be fine.

Warm up sets for me and then I progressively increase the weight until I get to my working sets.
My reps tend to decrease as the weight goes up but depends on the training goal that day and also depends on which exercises I'm doing that session.

I used to sometimes do 2k on an indoor rower or 10 mins on an arms & legs elliptical / cross trainer as a general warm up but as I've got older movement specific warmup seems to work better for me for avoidance of injury.

"I’m constantly trying to improve my form" - that sounds a little strange if you don't mind me saying. I'm wondering if you are adopting unnatural movement patterns in the pursuit of perfect form? If you have pre-existing injuries you normally work out fairly quickly what movements and loads aggravate things.

e.g. Over 200kg leg press one knee goes bone on bone (and squeaks!). Over 100kg vertical compression = lower back nerve impingement, incline bench press upsets the AC joint I injured last year but regular bench press doesn't.....

spraytanninghelens wrote: »

I also lose reps on a heavier weight and typically warm up with about 75% of my heavy.

I'm warming up starting with 20 - 25% of my heavy lifts. Look where @Chiefrgb is starting.
Warmup is more movement than lifting. Suggest you try much lighter warmup sets - they don't add much time as there's no real need for muscle recovery between sets.

To start, I am not a crazy heavy lifter as I almost never go for PRs, and hardly do less than 8 reps per set. I always warm up, with about 10 min or so on the eliptical to loosen up. Then about 15-20 reps with low weight with what ever I am doing.