warm-up

[unochamp1]

Rip,

Thanks for a great interview with Coach Staley. In that interview you mentioned that it takes you 40 minutes to warm up for lifting. I'm curious about what kind of things you do during that warm-up.

One reason I ask is that I'm pretty tight in my hips and hamstrings. I think it's because I have a desk job which keeps me in a pretty crappy position all day. I've noticed that I don't feel too elastic in my hams/hips when I begin to squat. I usually bike/row before starting and then do some bodyweight squats, holding the bottom position for a bit, but it's only helping minimally. However, after I'm done working out and I try to do bodyweight squats, I can feel every muscle in my legs like they're rubber bands. What I want is to feel that before I start squatting. Thanks.

[Mark Rippetoe]

You are not going to feel the same before you train as you do after. If you do enough warm-up that you obtain the same feeling before you squat heavy, you'll have trained -- not warmed up. Are you making progress? If so, you're doing most of it right.