Warming up properly for each weight lifting workout is a vital part of building muscle and strength.
Too many people have no idea how to warm up properly and severely limit their muscle and strength gains.
When you warm up properly…
You greatly decrease the risk of injury and you increase the amount of weight you are able to lift throughout your workout.
A bad warm up can still decrease the risk of injury but decrease the amount of weight you can lift. A bad warm up will fatigue your muscles and force you to lift lighter weights throughout your workout.
When you lift lighter weights, you do not provide the proper muscle building stimulus.
You're going to learn how to warm up properly so that you decrease the risk of injury while increasing the amount of weight you lift throughout your workout. You will not add unnecessary fatigue during your warm ups.
You'll be doing a pre workout warm up in which you warm your body up physically and mentally.
You'll also be doing specific exercise warm ups during your workout when needed.
Warming up mentally is one of the most under used techniques that can lead to awesome muscle and strength gains. Your mind is the most powerful thing in your body. If you learn to use it to your advantage, you will reach your goals faster than you could ever imagine.
Before we get to the actual pre workout warm ups, I want to summarize what you're going to be learning in this section:
- How to properly warm up to decrease your risk of injury during your workout
- How to warm up so you maximize the amount of weight you lift therefore maximizing muscle and strength building potential
- How to warm up to prevent fatigue
- What to do in your pre workout warm up
- How to mentally warm yourself up and get mentally ready to perform your workout at the highest level possible
- Guidelines for performing specific exercise warm ups
Let's get started…
The Pre Workout Warm Up
You're going to have two things going on during your pre workout warm up: (1) a physical warm up to prepare your body to lift heavy weights and (2) a mental warm up to prepare your mind for heavy weight lifting.
What exactly does the pre workout warm up accomplish?
- Improves muscle elasticity and reduces the risk of muscle strains and muscle pulls
- Blood temperature is increased which enhances your performance and allows you to lift heavier weights for more reps
- Dilated blood vessels allow more blood to circulate through the body and puts less stress on your heart
- Increases your alertness and allows you to focus on the task at hand
Here's the layout of your pre workout warm up…
Step 1: 5 minutes of light cardiovascular exercise
You can go for a light jog or use any cardio machine that allows you to do some light activity. You can slowly increase the intensity over the 5 minutes, but don't do anything too intense.
Remember, the purpose of a warm up is to warm up and not add fatigue to your body. You need everything you have for the weight lifting portion of the workout.
During those 5 minutes of light cardiovascular activity, I want you to visualize your upcoming workout. Visualize yourself doing each exercise in order.
Imagine the feelings you will have and how you will fight through the signal your mind sends to stop the set early. Your mind needs to know that you are in control during this workout.
Visualize yourself doing heavier weight than ever before.
Watch yourself doing the exercises with perfect form and technique. Use these 5 minutes to get your mind ready for a tough workout.
Step 2: Perform 20 jumping jacks followed by 10 body weight squats and some easy push ups
Jumping jacks are an amazing warm up exercise to do right before a weight lifting workout.
Jumping jacks will raise your alertness and heart rate. When you are finished with the jumping jacks, you will be ready to lift some heavy weights.
Jumping jacks will bring out the aggressiveness you need before you start lifting weights. Turn that muscle building switch on high.
Go straight into the 10 body weight squats after you finish your jumping jacks. The body weight squats are a great overall exercise and will advance you towards the intensity you'll need during your workout.
Finish off the pre workout warm up by giving your upper body some direct stimulation. Do 5 to 10 easy push ups. If push ups are too hard for you, do push ups with your knees on the ground.
Again, don't wear yourself out. You are not doing this to add fatigue. You're doing this to get ready to lift heavy weights.
That's It for the Pre Workout Warm-Up Routine
That's it for the pre workout warm up. It will take you less than 10 minutes to get ready for your workout. Do not stretch before your workout. Stretching is not required and will only add fatigue.
Do the pre-workout warm up as shown, and you will be ready to lift some heavy weights and build some serious muscle mass.
Some of our workout programs will include some different pre workout warm ups depending on the goals of each program.
Start using the pre workout warm up guidelines here and watch your performance improve greatly.
Navigation Links for the WLC System
You are currently within the WLC System section of the website.
– Previous: 10 weight lifting secrets
– Next: The true purpose of food
Want to read about a different topic? Follow the links below to go to the higher level pages.
– WLC System home page
– Weight Lifting Complete home page
Leave a Reply