One of the hardest things to do is to generalize something that can be very individualized, but I’m going to try anyways. When it comes to warming up to find a One-Rep Max (1RM) or a Heavy Single (HS) or just warming up to work off of percentages within a workout there is more than one way to skin a cat. Side bar: Why are we skinning cats and why is there more than one way? If you’re someone who has a warm-up routine that works for you, that’s awesome. Stick with it and continue to be successful. But if you don’t, keep reading to learn a few strategies that could help you.

I’m going to touch on warming up to try and establish a new Personal Record (PR) first. Plenty of people have walked into a gym with the goal of hitting a new PR and found themselves missing weights they thought they’d be able to hit. Unfortunately, shit happens sometimes and you can do everything right and it just isn’t your day. I know I’ve been there. But chances are they didn’t warm-up properly. It’s usually one of two things, they either didn’t do enough to get their body and mind ready for a 1RM attempt or they did too much and exhausted themselves like it was a race. Either way the result is the same and you leave pissed off at the world.

Any solid warm-up routine should have Two Distinct Parts, the General Dynamic warm-up and the Movement Specific warm-up. Here is our go to general warm-up we use on a daily basis that I’ve been using for over a decade:

Once you are generally warm, now its time to roll into the barbell/movement specific portion, like back squats, front squats, deadlifts, bench press, shoulder press etc. For the Olympic lifts like Snatch and Clean & Jerk, I have a slightly different routine due to the dynamic and technique based nature of those movements listed further down in this blog.

I am a creature of habit and through enough experimenting I know what works best for me. And I encourage you to tweak and move things around a little to find what best works for you. I’m just laying out a guide of what I have found to work best for me and my athletes and wanted to share it with you. But remember, it’s not set in stone.

Whether you’re warming up for that 1RM attempt or performing working sets at a given percentage it’s always best to establish a routine for yourself. Now he best way to warm up for a 1RM attempt is to do the same exercise with sub-maximal weights to prepare you mentally and physiologically. By practicing the lift, you warm up your neuromuscular system along with your muscles and joints. Makes sense right? Below you’ll find a simple routine that should put you in the optimal position for success.

Ideally you have a previous 1RM to use as a reference point. But, if you don’t have one already, the good things is you’ll be setting a PR no matter what! That being said, if you are totally new and have never touched a barbell before, it’s probably not a good time to establish one yet. Let’s get 12-16 weeks under a barbell first, hone your technique, fix any mobility issues, prepare the body, then we can talk about attempting to find a 1RM.

How-to-Warm-Up for a 1RM/Heavy Single attempt of NON-OLYMPIC Weightlifting Lifts (Squats/Presses/Deadlifts etc.):

* Personally, I use these sets to warm-up a little more. I’m not 23 any more so my body likes when I do these way more than when I don’t do them.

Ok, now lets talk about warming up to work off of percentages within a workout. Just because the workout might call for 4 sets of 5 reps of 75% of your Back Squat 1RM, does not mean you go right to 75% and start squatting. My knees actually just started hurting thinking of someone doing that. Like everything we do in the gym, we have a plan and a purpose and our #1 priority is INJURY PREVENTION. So please, please warm-up properly. Your knees and back will thank you.

How-to-Warm-Up for Percentage Work on NON-OLYMPIC Weightlifting Lifts:

These percentages and reps aren’t set in stone, they are merely a guide to help you along your way to getting into the working sets with a plan. The worst thing you could do is throw the weight on that you are supposed to be using. Save your body…you only have one.

For those of you Olympic Weightlifters out there, here is what I do for Personal Record (PR) attempts and when working with percentages within a workout. There are tons of technique specific drills that I typically get into before hand, but I will get into that in another blog posting. I’ll just focus on the Snatch and Clean & Jerk here. This can also apply to variations of both lifts as well, such as Power Snatches or Hang Cleans.

Here is an easy to follow guide to getting warm for PR Attempts and Percentages of the OLYMPIC Lifts: 

*My body and mind prefers when I do these to help loosen me up a little more and gives me another opportunity to dial in my technique.

Like I said earlier, there is more than one way to skin a Cat, just like there is more than one way to warm-up for Squats and/or Snatches. The biggest thing is finding a routine that works for you. Take your time, try some warm-ups out, see what works, what doesn’t work and adjust as necessary. Hey if you have a routine that works for you and preps you nicely, then stick with it.

Until next time.

GPS