People who don't warmup

[Mark Rippetoe]

It's not just warming up to your work sets that is important. I personally think every workout, Starting Strength or otherwise, should start with some light cardio (brisk walk, elliptical, C2 rower (my favorite)), and a good portion (5-10 minutes) of stretching. Neck, chest, shoulders, back, hips quads, hams, etc... To expect your best results, it all needs to be loose and supple before one gets under a barbell. People skip it all the time.

Cool down is just as important, if not more so.

Why?

Most of these guys don't warmup or write anything down as far as their weight/reps/sets. They walk in the gym and do their max. Most of the guys who do this are pretty ripped though but it just seems like a bad idea for your body in the long run

MOST guys actually do warm up. Not like the workout Nick-guy advises, but certainly through a progression from light to heavy in the lift being trained.

[Nick Klemetson]

Why?

Blood circulation, lactic acid breakup, oxygen distribution. Seems like anything to prevent post workout muscle soreness, aid in recovery, and prevent injury is a good idea. If pre and post workout stretching isn't DTP, then I guess I'm not and never will.

[sbhikes]

I start deadlifts with the empty bar. I have no problem deadlifting with smaller plates. Sometimes I warm up with some air squats before I squat the empty bar. Depends how stiff I feel. I otherwise trust the warmup sets to warm me up. I don't care what other people do. They are younger and stronger and who knows what they did before the walked into my view in the weight room.

[kittenSmash]

One of my buddies was really bad about not warming up if his brother or I didn't make him. This all ended when he tried pulling 635 cold. He's still not fully recovered from it. Sad, cause he's a genetic freak, and switched to body building since he can't pull heavy right now.

[Peoria]

It's not just warming up to your work sets that is important. I personally think every workout, Starting Strength or otherwise, should start with some light cardio (brisk walk, elliptical, C2 rower (my favorite)), and a good portion (5-10 minutes) of stretching. Neck, chest, shoulders, back, hips quads, hams, etc... To expect your best results, it all needs to be loose and supple before one gets under a barbell. People skip it all the time.

Cool down is just as important, if not more so.

How does one "cool down" from a heavy set of deadlifts while battling dizziness, oxygen debt and blurry vision?
And I may be alone on this but I think stretching is vastly overrated.

[Mark Rippetoe]

Blood circulation, lactic acid breakup, oxygen distribution. Seems like anything to prevent post workout muscle soreness, aid in recovery, and prevent injury is a good idea. If pre and post workout stretching isn't DTP, then I guess I'm not and never will.

You're not really very familiar with the relevant muscle physiology at work here. Brooks and Fahey is your next project.

How does one "cool down" from a heavy set of deadlifts while battling dizziness, oxygen debt and blurry vision?
And I may be alone on this but I think stretching is vastly overrated.

One "cools down" from a heavy set of deadlifts by not deadlifting any more until the next workout. And stretching is vastly overrated.

[Milo's Ghost]

I don't know what you're talking about; and how would not having weight on the bar fuck with your squat mechanics?

Maybe I'm special in being able to differentiate techniques of different variants of a movement...I frontsquat on my light day and have yet had it fuck up my LBBS technique..they're completely different

Read more closely. Less than 135 on the bar will fuck with your *deadlift* mechanics, unless you have lighter-than-45 lb. bumpers.

But yes, I'm sure you are special anyway. Carry on snowflake.

[Will Morris]

Blood circulation, lactic acid breakup, oxygen distribution. Seems like anything to prevent post workout muscle soreness, aid in recovery, and prevent injury is a good idea. If pre and post workout stretching isn't DTP, then I guess I'm not and never will.

What does the best, most recent scientific literature state about stretching pre-excercise? Even post-exercise, stretching has not been conclusively shown to have a benefit. Stretching is most beneficial to someone who has a muscle length impairment, or for very specific persons / athletes that require an obscene amount of flexibility (read: gymnastics). If you want to get right down to it, in the absence of a muscle length impairment, stretching actually reduces performance. Vertical jump, power output, and strength have all been shown in recent literature to be inhibited by pre-workout stretching.

You don't believe doing a warm-up progression from light to heavy aids in blood circulation? What is stretching doing to promote "lactic acid breakup"? Further, what the hell does lactic acid breakup mean? Are you arguing that lactic acid is detrimental to performance?

[Milo's Ghost]

How does one "cool down" from a heavy set of deadlifts while battling dizziness, oxygen debt and blurry vision?

My cooldown from deads is the following proprietary protocol:

1. Don't fall over.
2. Find chair.
3. Sit in chair.

I'm thinking of setting up a website and writing an ebook.

[macorn63]

I'm pretty average on the bp, but after a set of squats I'm more than warmed up and don't really get anything from warming up w/ less than 135. I still do 3 warmup sets, I just start w/ 135. Same goes for DL. On the rare occasion I do an exercise by itself, then a full warmup is in order. Learned the hard way about going too fast w/ pulled hams and other parts.