So if work sets call for 4 sets of 6 for example, why do all warm up sets have to be sets of 6?
to me that’s quite exhausting with the only benefit that you’re titrating up to your work set so you get a better idea of your RPE. But with enough warm up sets of 6 reps that will probably affect your RPE itself vs the traditional warm up of reducing reps as weights get heavier, which seems to make more sense in terms of warming up without unnecessarily taking resources away from work sets.
Tong,
We get this question a lot so I want to explore this a bit further. Hope you’re willing to play along 
If someone is getting very fatigued from their warm-up sets, don’t you think improving their training-specific conditioning is a reasonable goal? What would be a better way to train this?
If training-induced adaptations are what really matters, how important is your absolute performance is on your work sets?
Just some food for thought!
-Jordan
Yes I get what you’re saying. If someone is so unfit that a few extra reps during warm up screws up their work sets, then they probably need that extra work.
And I also understand that we shouldn’t necessarily look at work sets like it’s a competition, but rather all the sets contribute to the intended stimulus.
So basically it’s a matter of perspective- if you think work sets are the only thing that matters (the only thing that drives adaptions), the warm up sets are a MEANS to completing the work sets. So just enough warm up for you to complete the main sets.
If you think in the real world things are more blurred, that the warm up sets over weeks and months do gradually induce a favorable adaption, then I guess there is more of a reason for doing the warm ups as straight sets as you’ve outlined. Agree with that?
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This actually brings me to another topic, re rest between sets. Resting 4 minutes vs 8 minutes for example can easily reduce the RPE 0.5-1 points in the upcoming set. I feel like not much is said about that in your paid template but it’s a super important variable to take into account right? This applies to warm up sets and work sets. With me personally for example, I have no issues doing straight sets warm up with same reps as work sets, but I just need that extra minute or so more rest between sets.
ok so for the programmed 3 sets of 10 RDL…there’s no way I am warming up sets of 10 all the way up to the last warm up set right?!
let’s say my first work set of 10 reps for the RDL is 120kg.
my warm up set would look something like
20kg x10
60kg x10
80kg x6-8
100kg x4-6
agree?
I think that the warm up sets do participate in driving fitness adaptations. Additionally, I think that a 5% improvement in performance during a workout secondary to reducing warm-up volume has virtually no improvement in fitness adaptations.
We recommend ~ 3-5 minutes rest between working sets in most of our templates.
I would do:
Empty bar x 10 x 2
60kg x 10
90kg x 10
120kg x 10
That said, you could do more sets of 10 if you wanted to if you needed more of a warm up. Why are you opposed to doing more sets, lol?
Wait, didn’t you just post how you took too big a jump before a heavy deadlift?
haha I’m not opposed to doing more sets…just don’t want to do a set that’s close to the weight used in work set AND have the same number of reps.
but the warm up you outlined above makes sense and it’s doable for me so I will do that thanks!
[this is supposed to be in my previous post but it saved before I finished typing]
the problem is when I want to do a warm up set that’s closer to the work weight set…so in the above example if I want my last warm up set to be 110 (just because I want to experience that weight before my first work set), I probably shouldn’t do 110 for 10 reps.
I don’t understand your phrasing above.
To clarify, you’re saying 5% improvement in performance in workout (I assume this means heavier weights / more reps given same weight during work sets) does not improve fitness adaptions, IF this is done by reducing warm up volume? But if you kept warm up volume the same, then it would lead to improvement in fitness adaptions?
I find it difficult to differentiate between the proposed warm-up and the description in most templates. E.g. RDL.
A typical workout would be:
12 @ 6
12 @ 7
3 x 12 @ 8
I’ve read many places, including on this forum, that a guideline is 1 RPE down equals a 5 % drop in weight. So that would mean 12 @ 7 is 114. I’ve done this for a long time, but maybe my warm-ups are too heavy? I don’t really mind them - now I’, kind of used to that volume, but I don’t know if it’s necessary + it takes some extra time, which is always the biggest problem in my life.
Why not? If 120 x 10 x 3 is there for the day, the 110 will be inconsequential. If it’s not, you probably need to improve your training-specific conditioning…by training more 
What I mean is that increasing the weight on the bar, via gaming your warm ups, is not going to drive more fitness adaptations.
Hi there, hope I can jump in on this thread with some similar question. Front squats have always got me super tired. On my previous routine, all I did was 3x5 and I would follow the style discussed here for warm ups - do less reps as the weight got closer to my working set level. My breathing strategy was always, one quick exhale/inhale not to lose too much time cause I knew I would get tired.
Well today I had 4x10 front squats on my BBM program. I followed the advice of doing warm ups of also 10 reps. The thing is I seem to get exhausted even tho I still feel like I can push the weight with relative ease - the bar speed doesn’t suffer as much as my head. For example, on my 5th rep of the second set, my mind was already telling me to rack it back, but I managed to finish the 10 reps and it still felt like RPE7.
Then I adjusted the weight to RPE8 and my head won the battle after the 7th rep and I gave up. The thing is I am certain that if I squatted, I’d be able to push it back up.
Last week, I even tried to do 2 reps in one breath to finish more quickly and not get so tired, but it did not work well. I got a little lighted, so this week I was taking my time with proper breaths and I felt better.
I am trying to understand what is the deal with front squats that get me so exhausted. I never felt like that with back squats. What exactly am I lacking? I haven’t routinely done any aerobic in a long time (just started last week on the BBM).
is the best strategy just to lower the weight to the point that I can complete the 10 reps and disregard the estimates based on my 3x5max?
I am having a hard time estimating the rpe, because I feel a lot of the difficulty is psychological, and taking it into account is basically letting my head “win”. Any advice on dealing with your head telling you to rack it back?
Thanks!
What program are you doing? I assume it’s a hypertrophy program…
It’s the powerbuilding 2. This is my first time running a BBM program.
Yea, if you’re new to front squats that can happen. You’ll get used to it
Jordan how would this change on meet days? Are you just doing a bunch of singles in the warmup room even with the empty bar? I would be nervous this wouldn’t actually “warm” me up and/or I wouldn’t be getting the most out of limited rack usage at a meet.