Comments on: How To Warm Up

By: jason

jason — Wed, 20 Apr 2011 17:26:03 +0000

thanks mark, i agree and it’s all common sense. its amazing how some people just dont listen. i was giving this young guy advice today on THT training and i know he didnt listen because some guy bigger than me started telling him stuff that would make you laugh and the young dude even started making notes. soooooo frustrating!! but anyways, we all learn by trial and error.
ps.. he told the young skinny dude to do 20 sets to failure on squats..LOL!!

By: Steve

Steve — Wed, 20 Apr 2011 14:19:47 +0000

Awesome I’ll start doing this today!

By: Matt

Matt — Wed, 20 Apr 2011 08:45:56 +0000

Thanks again for the advice, something I never really knew how to do properly

By: Mark C

Mark C — Wed, 20 Apr 2011 08:05:27 +0000

Thanks Mark did this yesterday 🙂
@John A Davis, I put my back out a few years back, its been weak ever since and prone to going, my job doesnt help lots of heavy lifting and moving. Chiropractor is helping, but these workouts are definitely helping the most, its strengthening it so that it takes a lot more to make it ‘pop’ 🙂 Will definitely have to try doing more core training though cheers

By: John A Davis

John A Davis — Wed, 20 Apr 2011 00:16:00 +0000

@Mark C
I had that sort of “popping” thing and it was totally solved by several core exercises the PT gave me.

By: John A Davis

John A Davis — Wed, 20 Apr 2011 00:12:39 +0000

Well, I did a warmup this morning with 110 lbs for leg presses. Seems to have helped, surprised myself with amount I could lift after waiting 3 minutes. Dang, I hate spending more time at the gym. Oh well.

By: Muscle Maker Heath Now

Muscle Maker Heath Now — Tue, 19 Apr 2011 22:26:22 +0000

I always warm up before i do weightlifting or any cardio. I have found that it loosens me up some so i am ready to take on the exercise at hand.

It does get my pulse up some and my joints become more flexible. I like your idea of actually starting off with your heaviest weight first.

Thank you for providing a good routine for how to get this started.

By: Ben W

Ben W — Tue, 19 Apr 2011 19:54:42 +0000

Thanks Mark, I figured it would be different based on the weight/reps.

By: Mark McManus

Mark McManus — Tue, 19 Apr 2011 18:26:34 +0000

@Justin. Scott has it right. You only warm up a body part once at the beginning. You definitely shouldn’t be doing this before every different exercise. THT workouts will take less than 60 minutes and are reverse-pyramid in design. Warm-up sets contribute nothing to growth stimulation. These light sets get you primed for your first working set at the HEAVIEST load you can lift in your given rep range.
@Scott. Correct. And I would only do 1 or 2 warm-up sets prior to the triceps if you had hit your chest previously. The triceps will be as warm as they’re gonna get after bench pressing. Warm-up sets here would just get your nervous system accustomed to the movement and load before your first working tricep set.

By: Mark McManus

Mark McManus — Tue, 19 Apr 2011 18:19:54 +0000

@Mike Huber. Thanks!
@Philip. Yes I didn’t include an actual warm-up routine in previous versions of the THT book. But I did stress that you should warm up with at least one lighter set though. All bodybuilding workouts require a warm-up in such a fashion. To avoid any confusion I will include this in future editions of the book.
@Jo. Thank! Much appreciated.

By: Mark McManus

Mark McManus — Tue, 19 Apr 2011 18:16:37 +0000

@Ben W. For low weight, high reps you don’t need such a warm-up. Even 1 set at anywhere from 50-70% of your first set for around 12 reps or so is fine. Why? The low intensity nature of such sets means that the first reps of those sets ARE your warm-up. If you were doing a set of 20 reps to failure, the first ten reps are ridiculously easy. As you progress in the set more and more fibers are recruited. So I would still recommend 1 warm-up set for such workouts, but that’s all your gonna need. Intermediate and low reps require 2-3 sets; 3 sets for heavier lifts.

By: Scott Mcilwraith

Scott Mcilwraith — Tue, 19 Apr 2011 08:22:16 +0000

@Justin you dont warm up on every exercise mate do it every bodypart so some days might have 1 or 2 warmups. Example one warmup before bench press and then do full chest workout then warmup before triceps and do full tricep workout.

Well thats how i read it

Also on people saying it adds time etc not really i was doing 3 mins on trainer warm-up never stretched anyways but if warming up with lighters sets is just as good im seeing no real time differece maybe a minute or two more which aint the end of the world.

By: Justin

Justin — Tue, 19 Apr 2011 00:10:13 +0000

I’m trying to consider the time it would take to do this before EVERY different exercise. It seems like it would add a good bit of time to my workouts, and I have little to no physical “warm-up”. I generally NEVER go for more than 90 minutes, and try to keep it under an hour. Also this does sound a bit like “Pyramid” training, but I think the point isn’t to work up to your “max” but to get your muscles ready for the actual work load. That sounding correct?

By: Jo

Jo — Mon, 18 Apr 2011 23:37:31 +0000

@Mike – OMFG agreed! What I’ve learned and used from Mark has worked better (and cost less) than everything else I’ve ever done, ever, in my whole course of existence on earth. The man is a God-send. Though, he did say stretching at other times is ok… thinking I’ll visit my good buddy the precor stretcher after the weights instead of before, and chuck my current pre-weights ritual for this one. 🙂

@Philip – None of the routines do. If I understand correctly, you’d tack this on at the beginning, before you do the workout itself, and in place of whatever warm-up routine you do currently.

By: Philip

Philip — Mon, 18 Apr 2011 23:29:15 +0000

Hi Mark! I`m a bit confused… I`m doing THT 3.1. routine now… which doesn`t contain pre-sets (ligther sets)…

By: Mike Huber

Mike Huber — Mon, 18 Apr 2011 23:00:47 +0000

Like Jo, I’ve been stretching to much. Old school mentality i guess. Will definetly use your warm-up Mark. I know it will work Cause YOU NEVER LET US DOWN!!! Thanks A Bunch Mark!!
Mike Huber

By: Ben W

Ben W — Mon, 18 Apr 2011 22:38:24 +0000

Thanks Mark! Been wondering if I was performing my warm-up sets correctly or not. Almost had it right, was doing the right number of sets but not reps.

Question: are these warm-ups good for both high weight – low reps, and low weight – high reps?

By: Jo

Jo — Mon, 18 Apr 2011 22:20:22 +0000

Ok, makes some degree of sense. I think I’ll convince myself it’s an experiment and try it next week. Thx, Mark, much appreciated. 🙂

By: Mark McManus

Mark McManus — Mon, 18 Apr 2011 22:01:40 +0000

@an00bis. Thanks, man. Glad you blasted that plateau!

By: Mark McManus

Mark McManus — Mon, 18 Apr 2011 22:00:46 +0000

@Jo. A bodybuilding workout doesn’t require stretching. But it does require an adequate warm-up as recommended. If you want to stretch at any time between workouts, feel free.
@Rob. There are 3 warm up sets for heavy working sets as recommended in the article.
@Mark C. Definitely do the routine above and drop the pre-workout stretching.

By: an00bis

an00bis — Mon, 18 Apr 2011 21:57:54 +0000

Totally worked for me today. I read this just before doing shoulders, and I broke through a two week plateau by getting several reps more!

I’ve definitely read tons of articles suggesting the massive decrease in strength just after stretching, so I never do it and I’ve never injured myself. Apparently a warm-up set is all I need.

Excellent article.

By: Mark C

Mark C — Mon, 18 Apr 2011 21:40:07 +0000

Ive always stretched before a workout namely as my lower back keeps ‘popping’ if i dont stretch it regularly, im hobbling for weeks. but have never done warm up sets just fully stretched the target muscle group, so keen to try this.
@rob, might i ask what your warm up routine is? would like to try marks one week and say yours the next see what suits me better

By: Rob

Rob — Mon, 18 Apr 2011 21:17:31 +0000

So I would do 150 lbs for ten then 270 for 2 before my set with 300 ? I don’t think so!!!! I’ve been in the game for 26 years and tried it all so please be careful if you warm up this way. Although, it’s most likely sufficient for beginners.

By: Jo

Jo — Mon, 18 Apr 2011 20:13:37 +0000

No stretching? This has got to be the only thing you’ve ever advised that I just can’t get my head around. In the past, every time I’ve insufficiently stretched or rushed it, I’ve noticed I actually feel weaker, and most of the times I’ve injured myself have been days like that. I’ve also noticed I lose a huge amount of flexibility over time if I don’t stretch regularly. Am I to understand that you’re saying if I follow these instructions, then those things won’t happen? Does it really make that much of a difference that I should just bite the bullet and make the change? Yes, I know, probably a little over cautious on my part, but avoiding injury is generally pretty high on my priority list haha… 😉

By: Mark McManus

Mark McManus — Mon, 18 Apr 2011 19:29:55 +0000

@Jimmy @Zipper. Thanks! Much appreciated. 😀 @Zipper, just go as close as you can go if the weights aren’t adjustable to small increments.