In general, how long should you rest between warm up sets?
For example, here’s a warm up progression Alan Thrall mentioned in his recent video on warming up: 45x5, rest 1 (R1), 95x5, R2, 135x5, R3, 185x3, R4 205x3, R5 → working weight 3 sets of 225x5, what amount of rest are we talking? I assume R1 and R2 would be rather short, then R3 at least a minute, then R4 and R5 at least three minutes?
This is something I’ve been wondering about in my own training cuz it feels like I’m spending lots of time waiting between warm up sets recently…
(My version info: I am a 35 y/o novice and I’m doing a push/pull split, working out 3-4 times/week. Right now I’m squat, bench, plus more as time allows; pull day is chins, then single leg RDL, plus. I’d been doing DL on pull day in January and zercher lunges on push day in January. My brilliant plan is to do switch between doing single leg work on pull or push day. I’m 5’11", 196 lbs, eating 3000-3200 cal/day, almost all whole foods and whey concentrate, at least 180g of protein/day. Why aren’t I doing the SSLP? Well, feel free to dunk on my programming and nutrition, but I’d also like an answer to my question if possible )
If you don’t feel you need the rest between warmups, you don’t need to take it. There isn’t a “standard amount” - you take what you need, so you’re adequately warmed up – but not fatigued – for your work sets.
Yes sir. I took my time resting between warm up sets for the first time in a long time yesterday (I’m usually pressed for time) and the difference was night and day on my work sets.
I used to rest between warm up sets. I always felt a little fatigued, even from them. Then I just scrapped any rest, due to the longer and longer workouts. I just run a warmup set, load the next weight and lift it immediately. Then I rest the same amount before my work set as I do between work sets. This usually dissipates any fatigue that I may have gotten from the warmups. I tend to include my last warmup at or 5-10% above my work set weight too. I do 5 & 3 reps for the first and second warmup sets, then singles after that.
This method took about 2-4 weeks to get used to. But I feel like I have a much better work capacity due to this. I don’t feel as tired when coming up on each successive work set. I think it all comes down to building up some additional work capacity.
Warmup recommendations are all over the place, even among well-respected coaches. I recently watched one of Mike T.'s coaching call videos about warm-ups, and the volume he suggests for warmups is really low. I’ve tried it a few times and I like how it doesn’t really introduce a lot of pre-workset fatigue, but I’ve also noticed how it doesn’t really get me prepared for heavy weights on some days. I think for me, I just need more warmups some days so I have to go by feel a bit if things are feeling stiff and tight. I feel like personally I need to address this early in the warmups with lower weights, rather than later in the warmups when weights have already started getting heavier. For example, doing lots (5x5) of empty bar squats seems to really let me loosen up on cold mornings.
Is it possible to derive any “conditioning” benefit from using shorter rest times? It seems like when I cut down my rest times I got less out of breath after heavy sets going forward.
…Of course that could be placebo, coincidence or just gains I have made. I have just wondered about this before. Thanks.
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