WARMING UP–YES IT IS ESSENTIAL!

I know what you’re thinking. Warming up is for sissies, and
wimps. You wouldn’t be caught dead on a treadmill or exercise
bike. You’re here for one reason– to move big iron and get
massive. Well what if I told you that warming up could help you
lift heavier, which in turn could help you get bigger if you are
not over training, eating enough protein and getting enough
rest. And I’m convinced it will help prevent injuries, provided
you don’t do something stupid after you warm up like trying to
squat 300 when you can barely get ten reps with 100. How will
warming up help me lift heavier? Lets take barbell curls for
example. If you start off with your heaviest weight which let’s
say is 100 pounds. You, for one thing, will have to spend some
of your energy just getting into the groove. I’m sure other
people will have different opinions of what that means, but to
me it means getting mentally into the lift and deciding what
tempo I’m going to use. Am I going to do slower reps emphasizing
the negative portion of the lift or am I going to do my reps a
little more explosively. (Hint: All this should/could be decided
during the warm up based on how strong you’re feeling on that
particular day or on how mentally you are into your training on
that day.) But if you start out with an empty bar and do say
two sets of 10-20 reps and then move up from there in whatever
increments you choose you may find that you are feeling strong
on that day so you’re going to try and do 102.5 pounds for 8
solid reps. You may only get 6, but that’s how you build a big,
strong body, by slowly, (I can’t emphasize SLOWLY enough)
increasing the weight and/or reps on the basic exercises. How
does warming up help to prevent injuries? Ever see a glass
blower? When the glass is hot they can bend and shape it into
any design they want. Of course we all know what happens to
glass when it cools. Think of your body in the same way. When
you lift weights without warming up your muscles and tendons are
like cooled glass. However when you warm up before hitting the
heavy stuff your muscles and tendons are like the hot glass. Now
don’t misunderstand me you can still get injured even if you
warm up thoroughly, but are a lot less likely too. THE ROUTINE:
Before I get started on the exercises that comprise the warm-up
I would like to explain why you won’t find any descriptions of
how the exercises are supposed to be done. I’ve left them out
for two reasons. One is because I think that most of the people
reading this will have at least a couple of years (if not a lot
more) of training under their belts and will already know how to
do the exercises. Secondly, if you are new to bodybuilding I
would suggest you hire a competent personal trainer to teach you
the basics. Please take your time, ask around, and find a good
competent, trainer. Don’t be fooled if they tell you they are
certified, that doesn’t mean they know what they are doing. The
best thing you can do for yourself, in my opinion, is to learn
how to do the exercises correctly in the beginning. This way you
won’t have to break an old habit and then learn a new one. Not
to mention the fact that you will be a lot less likely to get
hurt if you learn the proper way of performing the exercises in
the beginning! After years of working out this is the warm up
routine I’ve found that works for me. 10-15 minutes of some sort
of movement, my favorite is the treadmill. The idea here is to
get your body to the point where it feels warm. You don’t need
to be sweating profusely. Next we move dumbbell laterals. I do
them standing, but you can do them seated on a bench. I do two
sets, I don’t count reps, I just go until I feel I’ve done
enough. Do them slowly and in complete control. Two sets of
10-20 should be enough. Don’t be afraid to go really light on
these. I’ve hurt my shoulders a lot over the years, so I use one
pound dumbbells. I can hear a lot of you laughing, saying to
yourself I’d never be caught dead using one pound dumbbells.
Maybe, not now, but trust me if you ever hurt your shoulders
they’ll be your best friends-in the gym that is. Remember you
can never start too light, but you can always start too heavy.
Next up are shrugs. Yep you guessed it, it’s two sets of shrugs,
with the 1 pound dumbbells. Again I don’t count reps, but two
sets of 10-20 reps will probably be sufficient. Remember this is
a warm up, so do them slow and in control. From the shrugs we
move to good mornings. I have an old hollow EZ curl bar that I
use for these. Again it’s two sets, this time shoot for 20 reps
on both sets. Do them slow and don’t bounce at the bottom. Next
we move on to the abs. I like two sets of swill ball crunches.
If you train at home and don’t have one, or your gym doesn’t, do
two sets of 20 reps of whatever you like–sit-ups (if they don’t
aggravate your lower-back), leg raises, etc. VARIOUS POINTS:
That’s the warm-up. As far as I’m concerned, your abs,
shoulders, lower back, and traps, are involved in some degree in
everything you do in the gym, so they need to be treated as
such. Some of you might be shouting hey what about the
hip/glute/leg area. Good point. But I feel that the 10-15
minutes of light jogging or walking or biking that starts this
routine is sufficient enough to warm-up that area. This is just
a basic warm-up. If you feel two sets of an exercise isn’t
enough add another. Everyone is different. As I alluded to in
the previous paragraph, for me that’s enough warm-up for my
lower body, but if it is not enough for you add two sets of
bodyweight only squats to the routine. Even though you went
through the routine above,you should still start light and
pyramid the weight up on any exercise. Just to give you an
example even though they are relatively warm, I still start my
dumbbell shoulder presses with the one pound dumbbells and move
up from there. CONCLUSION: Don’t let your ego prevent you from
warming-up. Once your hurt a part of your body, it never feels
perfect again. So if you’re not hurt, warm up so you’ll stay
that way! And if you are hurt give this routine a try. Don’t be
afraid to put your own individual spin on it. You won’t regret
it. Keep Training!

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