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There are a variety of ways to warm up, ranging from an
extended cardio session to almost none at all. Each has
its drawbacks and merits. Do whichever one you feel comfortable
with or gives you the best results. Beginning trainers
should stick with the first and second types of warm-ups
while advanced trainers may wish to try the third type.
1. Full Warm-Up
- This usually involves
doing some low-intensity cardio work for five
to ten minutes until you break a sweat.
- It gets blood flowing
and prepares the body for work to come.
- Some light stretching
follows this then a few light sets of whatever
exercises are going to be done.
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If you feel you need this
much warm-up, go ahead. Keep in mind, however, not to
do too much or will affect your energy levels for the
actual workout. This type of warm up is particularly appropriate
for novice, injured, or older trainers, though anyone
can use it.
2. Light Set Warm-Up
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- This involves doing
a number of progressively heavier sets (starting
very light) on the exercise you are about to do.
This prepares the specific muscle group for the
work sets.
- Don't do too much
here or your work sets will suffer.
- These light sets
are often done before each new exercise, particularly
if you are moving on to a different bodypart.
- If you are doing
a different exercise for the same bodypart, a
warm-up for that exercise is usually not necessary,
though some trainers like to do a few quick, light
reps to get a feel for the movement.
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3. Limited Warm-Up
This type of
warm-up is for advanced trainers only. Do a set of ten
reps with 50% of the weight you're going to be using for
that exercise. That's it. Your body can be trained to
work fine with this type of limited warm-up.
- If you usually do an
extended warm-up, work down to this level slowly.
- This method has the advantage
of conserving energy for work sets.
- For exercises where you
will be using low reps and very heavy weight (close
to your max), you may want to do a low-rep progressive
warm-up. For example, if you are doing deadlifts with
405 pounds, do 5 reps with one plate per side, 2 reps
with two plates, 1 rep with three plates, and maybe
1 rep with three and a quarter if you feel you need
it. This type of pyramid warm-up doesn't exhaust you
but still prepares your body for heavy work. This type
of warm-up is the best for when you going for a one-rep
maximum attempt.
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The limited warm-up
is especially appropriate for those whose jobs involve
sudden physical labor without the time to warm up,
e.g. firefighters (you will never see a firefighter
walk around for ten minutes, stretch out, then do
a few push-ups before running into a burning building
to pull somebody out).
It conditions your
body to be able to handle sudden physical activity
without injury.
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