Beginner Template: Warm-ups and Session Duration

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1

Hey guys,

Just started running the beginner template and had a few questions:

  1. Do I need to warm up for just the first compound exercise of the day or for all of the compound exercises? Additionally, is there any point in warming up for GPP elements such as arm work?

  2. How long should I be resting for between warm up sets?

  3. As for the session duration, do I need to include the time warming up and the rest time between warm up sets?

Apologies for the abundance of questions but any input would be greatly appreciated, I am still quite new to this stuff.

Thanks!

2

I would imagine that you’d want to at least warm up with the empty bar or with light weights before your working sets.

I’d think that 0 - 1 warm up sets would suffice.

Not for very long. Like somewhere between 30 to 90 seconds.

I would imagine that you need to. Otherwise you wouldn’t be measuring your training session duration accurately.

3

Yes, warm up starting with the bar (maybe two sets of 10), then whatever rep count you are doing for the exercise, do sets of that working up to a weight that matches the listed RPE. For example, let’s say you’re squatting for 3 sets of 5 at RPE 8…

2 sets with just the bar for 10 reps
5 reps at 95 lbs (feels super easy, maybe you could do 15 more)
5 reps at 135 lbs (feels super easy, maybe you could do 8 more)
5 reps at 185 lbs (feels challenging, maybe you could do 5 more)
5 reps at 205 lbs (difficult, maybe you could do 2 more i.e. RPE 8) → This is your first work set
5 reps at 205 lbs (difficult, maybe you could do 2 more i.e. RPE 8)
5 reps at 200 lbs (difficult, maybe you could do 2 more i.e. RPE 8)

This is just an example. Don’t take the weights too literally. Figure out a good number of warmup sets for you and go from there. If 65lbs is difficult for you, you might just do two warm up sets, one at the bar and one with 10lbs added, then hit 65 and feel like that’s your work set.

About 20-30 seconds, maybe a minute on heavier warm ups.

I suppose so? Are you supposed to record the session duration on the spreadsheet or something? It’s not required in the bridge program.