I see all kinds of muscle building warm ups at the gym. Some people do not warm up at all, and some people warm up too much. The thing about a muscle building warm up is that you have to find a balance between doing too much and too little.
If you want to instantly add more weight to your lifts, then a proper warm up will help you do so.
I am a big fan of showing up the guys at the gym. I love watching a guy run back to the rack to pick up a heavier weight than me so they can perform the same exercises with more weight. Their downfall?
They now suffer from poor form because they are straining to lift a weight much too heavy for them. So how am I able to lift heavier weights than some of the guys I workout with?
Many of they guys I see working out at the gym start off by doing some warm up sets at lighter weights. Then they do a set of slightly heavier weights but not their heaviest weight. Then they sit down and hit their heavy sets.
What's wrong with this picture?
You have already wasted too much of your energy on warm up sets that are not helping you build muscle at all. I've seen some people perform 4-5 sets before starting their heavy sets. By the time you start your heavy sets, you tire quickly and assume you have worked your muscles efficiently.
Not only have you wasted valuable time and energy, you have also wasted work out intensity. Not only have you not worked your muscles effectively, you have made absolutely no muscle gains.
Why? Because if you have not lifted more weight, then you have not overloaded your muscles yet.
If you are looking to build muscle mass, do not waste your time on warm up sets. I will show you how you can add weight to your very first workout.
The key is to decrease the number of reps you do as you increase your weight.
Let's take a Bench Press for example:
Assume for this example that you can bench 180lbs, but are having difficulty getting over that hump.
Say you start off at 100 lbs doing 10 easy but smooth reps. Now you take a couple minutes to rest.
Then you start to press 140lbs, for 6 reps followed by another 2 minute rest. Now let's do a set at 170lbs for 3 reps. Finally, we are going to do your previous best of 180 for 2 reps.
That's right, I said 2 reps, because now I am going to have you add another 10-20lbs onto your personal best and perform as many good controlled reps as possible.
I guarantee you are going to be able to lift more than 180lbs.
By decreasing reps as we added weight, we have not fatigued the muscles too much. We do not want to tire out our muscles on the warm up, but rather on the final sets at the end that really count.
A correct muscle building warm up allows your muscles to get used to handling heavier weights as you progress through your sets. It also allows you to conserve energy and intensity so that you can build strength as well as muscle mass.
Try this at you next session at the gym and let me know how it goes. If you stagger your weights and reps correctly I will guarantee you can lift more weight than you did last week.
Labels: Exercises, Fitness Exercise
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