Warming Up For Hypertrophy

Warming Up For Hypertrophy (6-12 reps)

If your goal is muscle size, your warm up will be similar to a strength warm up. Depending on training age (years working out) your work sets (after the warm up) should involve a rep range of about 6-12 reps. You still want to avoid excessive lactic acid release because of some partial Type IIb contribution, so again keep warm up reps at six or below.

Sets should be less since the body will be performing at a lower intensity (% of 1 rep max, not how loud you scream) therefore needing less preparation. Tempo should be about the same as for strength.

Again, stretching would be counter-productive unless injury/chronic tightness exists, in which case PNF would be the most effective pre workout modality, followed by the warm up. A general warm up is still not necessary, like strength training go right to the 1st exercise of your workout and commence the specific warm up.

Example Warm Up Routine:

Planned Work Sets - 3 sets of 8-10 reps @ 185lbs

Warm up set 1: 50% 10RM = 95lbs x 6 reps

Warm up set 2: 80% 10RM = 150lbs x 4 reps

Advanced Technique Trick: Take a look in the on-deck circle at a baseball game - the batter has weighted donuts on his bat during his warm up swings. When he steps into the box his bat feels light, therefore increasing swing speed and power output.

This is called a neural pre-load and can be applied to your weight training routine for immediate gains in strength in tern leading to new muscle growth. Neural pre-loading acts like a light switch for your Type IIB fibers, turning them on so they can assist your other fibers during your hypertrophy sets.

Example Neural Pre-Load Warm Up:

Planned Work Sets - 3 sets of 8-10 reps @ 185lbs

Warm up set 1: 60% 10RM = 110lbs x 6 reps

Warm up set 2: 90% 10RM = 165lbs x 3 reps

Warm up set 3: 130% 10RM = 240lbs x 1 rep

Warming Up For Endurance (12+ reps):

Individual response will determine the best warm up for endurance weight training - at least more so than the other categories. More often than not, I recommend only one set for a specific endurance warm up. If you are performing an exercise unfamiliar to you, more warm up sets can be beneficial, and the less comfortable you are at performing the movement, the more reps you should use in the warm up set(s).

While physiologically it is arguable whether a warm up set is even necessary at all for endurance, it does serve as a nice transition from your daily routine to help you get focused on the workout, while also providing an opportunity to assess any possible injuries and get an idea for how strong you feel. Higher reps are fine, no need to worry about excessive lactic acid since that will be unavoidable (and possibly beneficial) in an endurance workout.

General warm ups are optional, if 5 minutes on a treadmill helps you to have a better work out, by all means do it. Just don't feel like it's necessary if you see no benefit. Stretching is optional as well; your muscles are contracting with a relatively low force output, so no harm will be done. Again, only stretch first if you feel it contributes to enhanced performance - try one workout stretching first, and the next stretching after and assess performance differences.

Example Warm Up Routine:

General: 5 minutes on treadmill (optional), 5 minutes stretching (optional)

Specific: Planned Work Sets - 2 sets of 15 reps @ 100lbs

Warm up set: 60% of 15RM = 60lbs x 10 reps

Whether this article has reinforced your old warm-up habits or offered you some new warm-up strategies, I suggest you make full use of them. Applying these techniques to your workouts will offer the benefits of better workouts, faster progress, and fewer injuries.