Warm up before Working out with Weights
Muscles are not capable of performing at high levels of intensity unless they have been ‘warmed-up’ sufficiently. This is common knowledge amongst most serious bodybuilders. What isn’t such common knowledge, is that muscles should be warmed-up with the exact same exercise they are about to perform.
The ideal warm-up for any particular exercise is itself. The only truly effective warm-up exercise for the bench press is, in fact, the bench press. This simple secret often causes confusion. So, what’s the best way to warm-up before performing a workout? Definitely not with the use of power lifting techniques. Power lifting techniques are unnecessary and counter productive when trying to build muscle fast.
Let me explain. The warming-up process for competitive power lifting is designed for the single repetition lifts the competitor must perform. An individual who participates in a weightlifting competition is not interested in producing rapid increases in muscle size. Their primary concern is ensuring their strengthen muscles are warmed-up sufficiently to perform a series of single repetition lifts, without sustaining injury.
When performing single lifts, careful and deliberate warm-ups are critical. A maximum capacity lift attempted with a cold muscle exposes you to a very high risk of injury. In most cases, muscles that are not warmed-up, will not perform at all. So warming-up with the intended single lift exercise with a considerably lighter weight is the most common method used. In other words, they perform multiple sets to warm-up for the single attempt lift.
But, warming-up for competitive and Olympic weight lifting is one thing; warming-up for a muscle building routine is entirely different. Too many guys warm-up like a weightlifting competitors before starting their routines. Using lighter weights, they performs three to four additional sets of every exercise, insisting that it will lead to maximum muscle gains.
