Yeah, i hear you. Same situation here. Just doing some real light sets of like 8 or 10 reps does a lot more for me than any other kind of warmup.
I've had some problems in my left knee, probably patellar tendonitis. I've foam-rolled, done light cardio, and stretched on off days. Before workouts, I did 10 minutes of cardio to break a sweat, then foam rolled, then warmed up with light weights.
Well, nothing ever changed. My knee felt exactly the same.
So a week ago I said 'Fuck this.' I just got under the bar and started warming up by squatting. Used 95lbs until I felt loosened up and I was sweating. No walking on the treadmill or foam rolling beforehand.
Guess what? Everything feels exactly the same. It still hurts where it used to hurt. What felt good still feels good.
From now on, I'm going to simply warm up by squatting with light weights. No more dicking around beforehand.
I read everywhere that I have to do 10 warm up exercises to help prevent me from injuring this or that. Fuck that noise. Makes no goddamn difference.
Yeah, i hear you. Same situation here. Just doing some real light sets of like 8 or 10 reps does a lot more for me than any other kind of warmup.
Same thing here buddy. I mean, I'm just squatting, so I just squat easy first. I always start with the bar for a set or two, maybe do 5-10 vertical jumps with enough time between rest that I don't get to breathing hard. Then load 135, 185, 225 and so on until I get to working weight. Knees probably feel better with less unnecessary movement.
I hate to burst your bubble though, that is a warm up, and its really all you need.
Last edited by Ryan Long; 04-13-2010 at 02:44 PM.
[QUOTE=cjangelo;119755]From now on, I'm going to simply warm up by squatting with light weights. No more dicking around beforehand.
QUOTE]
Agreed. Just warm up as outlined in SS. Simple and quick.
The only warmup I've ever done was by lots of light squats.
Some people have called this foreplay.Originally Posted by cjangelo
With respect to squats, I've always started with the empty bar and worked up in weight, but then I've never had any knee problems.
If you're still young and dumb, you can fuck the warmups. It might be the only thing you fuck for a while, so go for it. ; )
As you get older, and you start to rack up the little annoying WTF things your body does, you will see the value more. I said fuck the warmups for a long time, then I discovered easy ankle mobility warmups and foam rolling, and the squats took off again.
Squats and powercleans are actually the only thing that seem to even work as warm ups.
Bike & Rower have to be done at a ridiculous intensity to have anywhere near the same effect as 5 empty bar squats for me at least.
The only non-barbell warm up I do is some shoulder dislocates.
I agree wholeheartedly,
I always experiment with doing different things of warm ups. For a while doing the Concept 2 Rower for about 10 minutes. Then it was jogging around the track, and then it was jumping rope mixed with speed bag. The best thing I do now is go right to the Squat Rack do about 5 minutes worth of jumping jacks in it, so my bodybuilding friends dont curl in it. By far the best warm-up I have experienced so far.
-Dave