Greetings,
I hope this post finds you all well.
I’ve read several articles on the warm up protocol for lower reps ( i.e. 1 - 8 ); ramping, pyramid. But have not found any for higher reps ( i.e. 12 - 20 ), if there is any. How does one warm up for higher reps without fatiguing the target muscle to the point where you are hindering your work sets? Is the approach the same as lower reps but with less warm ups? Longer rest times between warm ups?
Thanks for your input.
What works for me is doing some bodyweight or very light resistance exercises for the target muscle group first, then one warm-up set at about 60% of my working weight. This seems to be enough without causing fatigue. Everyone’s different though, so experiment a bit!
For higher rep squats or deadlifts, you could do bodyweight explosive moves; think broad jumps, low rep box jumps, etc.
But it kind of depends on the lifts you’re preparing for and your individual needs (injury history, age, joint irritations, energy, etc.). Higher rep sets often mean that you’re going to be using a low enough weight that there’s a relatively low risk of injury.
And with many exercises (especially machines) you could probably get away with no warm-up at all. So it depends.
But this:
…seems like a smart way to do it.
I think I’m in the majority here. Are you starting out your workout with the higher reps? My strategy would differ if it’s exercise one vs the third or fourth.
I would do a classic dynamic warm up routine with bodyweight only.
I remember reading something about doing a heavy lift to prime yourself for high reps. So, something like this.
135×3
225×2
275×1
135×20
135×20
135x15
I can’t find the article - it might have been on a different site.
There are a multitude of variables:
IMO, you don’t need to do high rep warmup sets. You should not be moving remotely close to the weight feeling heavy.
I’m sure there are thousands. Every strategy stems from the concept of post-activation potentiation. CT wrote a few times about his 1/6 loading scheme. My personal favorite is 10/8/6 ramp followed by burn out set of 15-20 with the weight you used for 10.
If I was working up to working sets of 12-20 my warmup would not really change much. I’d still stick to some sets of 2-5 reps only until my first working set. If you try to match reps, i.e. do something like 20x95lb then onto 20x135lb, you’ve already fatigued yourself.
