But that doesnt mean youre going to walk into the gym andjustpick the thing up.
Thats not necessarily true.
The first few sets always feel heavier than they should.
A warmup can address one or all of those concerns, preparing you for the job of lifting.
Your muscles will work better when theyre warm (like, literally at a higher temperature).
Youll also want to be ready to move in all of the ways that the lift requires.
Two people might warm up in completely different ways for the same workout.
As youre getting ready to lift, you may want to instead do some mobility work.
Mobility, in this context, meansbeing able to move in the ways that your workout requires.
(We have somespecific suggestions for that here.)
Apply this same principle to whatever exercise youre planning.
If youre going to do snatches or overhead squats, you may want todo some shoulder stretches.
Stretching before a workout cangive you a temporary boost to your flexibilitythat lasts through the workout.
This stage is wherefoam rollingand dynamic stretching can come in.
Foam rolling can help loosen up a muscle, like a little massage.
Google mobility work for ___ and youll get plenty of ideas.
Experiment with adding moves in or taking them out.
For more on what activation exercises are really doing,see my explainer.
Again, select exercises for this stage based on what technique work you should probably practice.
Goblet squats may be a good primer for barbell squats, for example.
Lets say youre going to do squats at 200 pounds today.
Start by doinga set of the same number of repsyou will do for your working sets, or more.
You havent done any technique or activation work, but thats fine if you dont feel you need it.
Its fine for your warmup to be different for each workout, or for it to change over time.
Figure out what makes sense foryou, and build your warmup accordingly.
