We all know this feeling. You’ve had your pre-workout drink, walked into the gym, and are ready to start crushing your workout immediately.
It’s tempting to speed through your warm-up or skip it altogether so you can get to the meat of the workout sooner. But in reality, your warm-up sets are some of the most important ones you’ll perform during the entire training session.
Warming up properly will help you stay safe and see better results from your workouts. Here’s why…
The Benefits of Warm-Up Sets
Warm-up sets are lighter sets that you perform before getting to your working sets — the sets written in your program.
During your warm-up sets, many vital changes happen mentally and physiologically. Here are some of the top reasons why a thorough warm-up matters:
Practice Proper Technique
As a powerlifter, you know how vital it is to practice proper technique when lifting heavy weights.
During your warm-up, you work with lighter weights, making it easier to nail the staple movements. Rehearsing good form with light weights allows you to maintain good form when progressing to heavier ones.
If you practice good form throughout your warm-up sets — and as you move into your working sets — you’ll be less likely to get hurt.
Improve Blood Flow and Joint Health
Warm-up sets naturally increase your core body temperature. You’re less likely to injure warm muscles compared to cold ones.
These sets also increase safety during powerlifting workouts by improving blood flow throughout the body and lubricating the joints. Better blood flow and joint lubrication help to protect the body as you work up to your working set weights.
Become More Mindful and Focused
Along with the physiological benefits of warm-up sets, this part of your workout also allows you to get in the zone and feel more focused moving into the working sets.
You’re generally safer when you’re mindful and focused while lifting weights. It also improves the mind-muscle connection, which allows you to get more out of your lifts overall.
How to Warm Up Properly for Powerlifting
Maybe you’re new to powerlifting, or perhaps you’ve gotten away so far with skipping your warm-up. Either way, you might have questions about how to warm up properly for powerlifting.
The following guidelines will help you warm up safely and effectively:
Components of a Powerlifting Warm-Up
Generally, an effective powerlifting warm-up includes the following elements:
General Warm-up
The first part of an effective warm-up is the general warm-up.
This phase focuses on increasing the body temperature. For example, you might walk on the treadmill or cycle on a stationary bike for 5-10 minutes.
You don’t have to spend a lot of time on the general warm-up or move at a high intensity. The goal is just to help you get your blood flowing.
Mobility Exercises
After your general warm-up, it’s time to move on to some mobility exercises.
Mobility exercises help you improve blood flow to specific body parts — the ones you’ll be training during your workout.
For example, say your training session focuses on bench pressing. In that case, you might focus on mobility exercises that target the chest, shoulders, and upper back.
Pick 3-5 exercises for this part of the warm-up, and perform 1-3 sets of 8 reps (this is a general guideline; you might do more or less depending on how you’re feeling that day).
Warm-Up Sets
When you’ve completed your mobility exercises, you can progress to the warm-up sets.
Most people start their warm-up sets with an empty bar. Then, they gradually increase weight using percentages.
- Warm-up set 1: Empty bar for 5 reps
- Warm-up set 2: 40-50 per cent of the first working set weight for 5 reps
- Warm-up set 3: 60-65 per cent of the first working set weight for 3-5 reps
- Warm-up set 4: 70-80 per cent of the first working set weight for 3 reps
- Warm-up set 5: 85-90 per cent of the first working set weight for 1-3 reps
- Warm-up set 6: 90-95 per cent of the first working set weight for 1-3 reps
It might seem like a lot, but you don’t need to rest much between sets since you’re working with lighter weights, so it’ll go by quickly.
How to Personalise Your Warm-Up
You might need to spend more time on your warm-up sets if you’re still not feeling quite ready to tackle your working sets. There’s no harm in a slightly longer warm-up — just don’t spend so much time that you tire yourself out and can’t finish your primary workout.
Sample Warm-Up Routine
Say you’re working up to squatting 100 kilograms. Your warm-up sets might look like this:
- Warm-up set 1: Empty bar for 5 reps
- Warm-up set 2: 40-50 kilograms for 5 reps
- Warm-up set 3: 60-65 kilograms for 3-5 reps
- Warm-up set 4: 70-80 kilograms for 3 reps
- Warm-up set 5: 85-90 kilograms for 1-3 reps
- Warm-up set 6: 90-95 kilograms for 1-3 reps
After this sequence, you’ll likely be ready to move into your working sets!
The Role of Warm-Up Sets in Maximising Your Lifts
When you take your warm-up sets seriously, you set yourself up to perform better during your working sets. Better performance during your working sets, in turn, leads to faster progress toward your goals.
Warm-up sets allow you to gradually increase your training intensity and safely prepare your body to lift heavier loads.
Are you curious about how quickly you should increase weight during your warm-up sets? A good rule of thumb is to increase by about 20 kilograms at a time.
Avoid doing too many reps during each warm-up set, too. Overdoing the reps will cause you to tire out before you get into your working sets, meaning you won’t have as much energy left for your actual workout.
Conclusion
A proper warm-up is critical to your performance and safety when powerlifting — especially as you start progressing in your training and lifting heavier weights.
Follow the above guidelines to warm up properly and see the best results from your workouts.
Are you ready to take your powerlifting performance to the next level? It’s time to experience the best training environment that Melbourne has to offer.
Join us at In2 Performance, we’re open 24/7 so you can always train, no matter your schedule. Discover our flexible membership options and start your fitness journey with us today!
