When talking about warming up to lift weights there are as many different opinions as there are coaches. Today I will give you my opinion in Old Man Conjugate: How to Warm Up. Hint: it might surprise you.
Over the years I’ve changed my mind about how to warm up many times. And I’ve done any things with myself and my clients/athletes. Like many coaches, I settled on the warm up to lift weights by lifting lighter weights opinion. Makes sense right?
If you’re a Powerlifter, Weightlifter or Strongman (Strength Athlete) it seems pretty reasonable that you need to lift lighter weights to prepare for heavier weights.
But what if you are no longer a Strength Athlete?
I’m certainly not, but my warmup no longer reflected that.
A few days ago my friend Paul Leonard sent me a video on the Instagrams. You may remember Paul from the Powerlifting USA days. If not, check out his upcoming Table Talk with Dave, it’s gonna be great.
But I digress.
The video Paul sent was of an obnoxiously jacked dude Leg Day warmup. He did a ton of flexibility/mobility/movement prep and more in a very athletic way. The bonus is it took about 10 minutes. And it reminded me of ways we used to warm up when I was at my strongest and most athletic. (That’s not very much of either BTW).
My usual warmup for a few years has been to do RPR Wake Up Drills and then lift weights pyramiding up in weight. Or I will walk on the treadmill while doing RPR. Sure, this works good. I don’t want good. I want best.
On Monday I decided to do something similar to what the jacked dude was doing. I’m glad I did.
I did the following and it took less than 10 minutes before I was at the bar.
- Hill Profile on Treadmill while doing RPR Wake Up Drills
- Agility Ladder
- Dynamic Stretching
- Jumps/Hops/Bounds
Once I got the bar for my Max Effort Deadlift session I had a nice lather going on and felt AMAZING. Almost like an athlete. #moist
I did warmup sets on the Deadlift ranging from 5 reps down to singles. At 135, 185 and 225 I did more agility ladder and dynamic stretching between sets. This was done as Active Rest. I stopped once I got to single reps on the warm up.
I have to tell you, I am not longer a Strength Athlete and I currently feel that this is how to warm up. At least for me and my current goals.
I had less stiffness, more elasticity/pliability in my muscles and moved better FASTER than before. I’ll continue this today and for a few weeks and see how it works.
Am I saying that you need to do this Old Man Conjugate: How to Warm Up routine?
Maybe.
The Old Man Conjugate: How to Warm Up concepts expressed here are ideal for those who have similar goals as me, and also for General Population fitness types who are in shape enough to handle the jumps, hops and bounds.
Would I use it in a meet prep cycle for a multi ply lifter?
I don’t think so.
For now, this will be my New School (but Old School because we used to do this all the time years ago) warm up.
Thanks Paul.
Did you miss last week’s log?
Read it here.
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Vincere vel mori
C.J. Murphy
October 9, 2024