Warm Up

I never really had a consistent warm-up routine until I struggled to come back to the sport of lifting after a lower-back injury. Had I properly warmed up prior to lifting each session, I might not have suffered the injury in the first place. I treat warm-up routines as a method of injury prevention and will not start the warm-up sets with a barbell until I feel completely warm and ready to lift - both physically and mentally.

This article outlines my 10-15 minute warm-up routine that I like to perform before any of my compound lifts (squat, bench, press, deadlift). There are some slight variations depending on the movement I am performing, but at the heart of the routine are four key movements.

Ever struggle to figure out how much weight you should use per set during a 1-rep-max test? Well, look no further! Here’s a calculator that you can use to determine how much weight you should use for each of your warm-up and working sets in order to reach your target 1RM. Input your target 1RM weight into the “target 1RM weight” field as well as the set number. The calculator will output the number of reps and respective weight you should hit for the given set.