Warm up sets...

[ricepower]

Hi, Ive been doing SL 5x5 consistently for 3 months now. Id say ive only just completely 'settled' into it now. This has been my first experience of any kind of physical training, so it has taken me a while to gain the basic muscular structure & flexibilty to do all the lifts properly.

Squats used to be about practicing flexibilty and strengthening back. Ive only just got to the stage when its an exercise about pushing power from the thighs/glutes. Now all the exercises are 'working' for me properly and requiring huge power efforts, rest times are taking longer and I need warm up sets. This is a new thing and has been making my workouts hugely longer.

I was wondering what the reccomended layout would be for warm up sets, I dont want to waste time and lifting energy on something which will not help muscle/power gains. Is doing a full 5x5 on warm up counter productive?

Ill give an example of my last workout, where I was aiming to match my PB of 52.kg 5x5 achieved in the previous session.

Squat:
45kg 5
50kg 5x5
52.5kg 5x5
55kg 3

I find it all hard and energy sapping, during the 50kg even I felt at times I wouldnt finish! 52.5kg is real hard and upward movement is slow teetering on stalling but form is great. 55kg is a try at a NEW weight, I am surprised I can lift it well but am drained of energy and only manage 3 reps. I dont feel I couldve lifted the 52.5kg without 50kg and I dont think I couldve lifted 55kg without a full 5 sets of 52.5kg

Yet they are all so draining of energy and take so much time in rest & refocusing between sets. When I was beginning Stronglifts not so long ago, I could complete workout in 30mins. Now it is taking more like 2hours. At the gym there is only one rack, so I feel bad for hogging it so long. But I cannot share with anyone either as I am still on much lower weight (no one my size squats)

With the overhead press I am having problems with progress and laying out sets/weights in most valuable order. I PB'ed at 25kg 5x5 a month ago (lame I know) but have not been able to lift it since. I still struggle to finish 22.5kg 5x5 and when I begin on 25kg I only manage 2 sets. Trying hard to push myself on the press takes forever.

But how should I best layout these sets so I can achieve more progress without such immenseley long workouts?

Advice much appreciated.

[MikeD]

Whoa, you shouldn't be warming up with a weight so close to your work weight. And if you are, you should keep it to one set that's less than 5 reps. Why did you feel the need to warm up with 50kg?

[ricepower]

Heavier weights allow me to get deeper and have much better form/stability. Tried with the 45kg, but just didnt feel right (couldnt get past parallel). Not hard enough in terms of 'power' dont think Id be 'pumped' enough to go up to 52.5kg straight after.

But please recommend a better layout if you can.

[mjh]

5x5 on a weight 2.5kg under your working weight is not a warm up, especially since you feel like you're coming close to not finishing it. A warm up should never be a struggle, and it should never make the execution of your work weights more difficult.

It is counter-productive doing this because it will fatigue you and make your form sloppy (as you've found). This is less effective for building strength and increases the risk of injury. For the OHP, no shit you're struggling to do 25kg... you've just done 25 reps with only 2.5kg less.

If you can't get to below parallel without the weight, you need to work on hip and hamstring mobility.

Try this for the squat:
20kg (empty bar) 2x5
40kg, 1x5
52.5kg, 5x5.

OHP:
20kg (empty bar) 2x5
25kg, 5x5

The idea that you can't do 52.5kg without having first done 50kg (especially for 5x5) is mental, not physical, and to be blunt, you need to harden up.

[ricepower]

Much appreciated, patiently considered advice from MJH as always.

I tried for many sessions to begin on 25kg for the OHP, as to avoid fatigue. But I could only manage a couple sets. Ill do as you say and drop to empty bar again and see what happens.

In terms of hip mobilty, I have been rigorously doing static stretches every day for 4months and dynamic stretches before workouts. I feel I have achieved near maximum hip mobility. When I contract back muscles to maintain a lumbar arch and prevent rounding, I can get just barely past parallel before I bounce up on my stretched glute & thigh muscles. The only way I can get deeper on the lighter weights is to allow rocking of hips/relaxing of muscles which would jeopoardize back stability. The larger weight naturally overcomes the spring in my glutes and gets me much deeper while still allowing optimum back stability.

[mattyc]

What are you doing performing so many extra reps? You say you have been doing SL for 3 months and still dont know how to warm up properly? Anyway, you mentioned that you are new to this kind of physical training, so its normal to make a few mistakes along the way.

Read up on warm up routines on this site to get a better understanding of what you are doing. the idea of a warm up is to prepare your muscles for the main exercise. what you are doing is using up all of your energy before you even begin the main exercise. no wonder you are feeling sapped and are slow at progressing with the weights

here is an example of a typical warm up routine:

Squats: work weight 5×5 100kg:

* 2 x 5 empty barbell
* 3 x 40kg
* 3 x 60kg
* 2 x 80kg
* 5 x 5 100kg

Pretty straight forward really. just think: '20%,40%,60%,80%' of work weight then 5x5 of 100% work weight.

Do this for each barbell exercise. it as simple as that. If you are still confused go here:

http://stronglifts.com/how-to-do-a-proper-warm-up/

Good luck!