Thread: Better lifts without warm-up????

thats funny i just had a amazing pump today with mixing Glutamine with my sizeon Creatine... prob just all in my head lol

As for the coffee. I too gave up coffee to try to improve my recovery and it worked for me.

I now drink 4 oz. first thing in am to jump start. I do a light stretch and one four minute tabata in morning.
Then another 6 oz. with a heaping teaspoon of instant coffee 1/2 hour before workout. This workout takes place after 6:30pm. So for me it's 12 hours between coffee. No caffeine during day just water.

As to warm-up. Now I am NO lifting expert. I jog some stairs while rotating my joints before I lift until I break a light sweat. I am in no way tired or winded.

Good luck

whats your routine look like?

typically people warm up too much.. i do one warmup for my whole workout, and thats it

I too think that i was wasting too much energy in warming up, about the routine I'll post it tomorrow as i just got my routine planned so cant recall all of it.

Any thoughts on Coffee? Normally I work out at around 7.30 PM thats after the whole days work, normally makes me feel sluggish at gym. But that coffee sure did something. Whats with coffee and recovery time?

coffee will inhibit your creatine absorption (from the perspective of some scientific studies).. plus creatine makes you retain water while caffeine, a diuretic, makes your body lose water. while it may not make a huge difference, it is not optimal.

whenever i have to workout at night after work, i go home and shower first. i find it helps relax/loosen me up.. and its rejuvenating, so my workouts are 100x's better.

Originally Posted by PreMier

coffee will inhibit your creatine absorption (from the perspective of some scientific studies).. plus creatine makes you retain water while caffeine, a diuretic, makes your body lose water. while it may not make a huge difference, it is not optimal.

whenever i have to workout at night after work, i go home and shower first. i find it helps relax/loosen me up.. and its rejuvenating, so my workouts are 100x's better.

I do the same. Plus it's no fun walking into a workout, already sweaty and smelly.

Hot or Cold shower? Also this option is not feasible as I go to gym directly from office, no showers at gym or office...

I have to be warm to have a good workout, the gym I go to is freezing. I always have to wear pants,full sleeve t's and sometimes a sweatshirt on top of that. I always have to do a brisk walk on the treadmill for a few mins before I get started and a few exercises with just empty bars for my whole body before I begin. Maybe I'm unlucky with the Canadian weather.

Yeah i can understand, Its normally hot in India except winter and rainy season.

Originally Posted by PreMier

coffee will inhibit your creatine absorption (from the perspective of some scientific studies).. plus creatine makes you retain water while caffeine, a diuretic, makes your body lose water. while it may not make a huge difference, it is not optimal.

whenever i have to workout at night after work, i go home and shower first. i find it helps relax/loosen me up.. and its rejuvenating, so my workouts are 100x's better.

So...you sweat, shower, sweat again, shower again (hopefully)?

As far as warming up goes. I stretch for maybe 5 minutes then I jump on the treadmill for no more than 10 minutes. Just enough to break a light sweat, warm the body,and get the blood flowing. I'm not running at all, just walking. Then I hit the weights. If I don't warm up then I feel like my first two sets suffer.

I used to not warm up enough. That is until I got hurt. Probably over do it now but I'm not screwing up my shoulders any more.

I have to warm up my shoulders to get them back far enough to grab the bar when doing squats

Originally Posted by majorpain

As far as warming up goes. I stretch for maybe 5 minutes then I jump on the treadmill for no more than 10 minutes. Just enough to break a light sweat, warm the body,and get the blood flowing. I'm not running at all, just walking. Then I hit the weights. If I don't warm up then I feel like my first two sets suffer.

in all honesty this seems like to much warm up to me...

my warmup usually consists of 2 minutes of liiiight cardio on an elyptical or walking on a treadmill

then some workout specific light weight exercise

for instance
push days i will do some super light rotator cuff movements
and maybe a couple sets of 10 pushups (for me this is a super light set)

then i go straight into my workout...
my total warm up takes less than 10 minutes
and only 2-3 of that is with my feet (unless im working legs)

warmup: stretching/bike for either a 1/2 mile (non-leg days) or 1 mile (leg days).

nkira what is your usual warmup?

I am attaching pictures here as there many variations in names of streaching exercises....other that the exercises in pictures i also do free squats, shoulder rotation & push-up's.

static stretching is best done after your workout...
as i do believe i was instructed on this board

Originally Posted by Ben dur

static stretching is best done after your workout...
as i do believe i was instructed on this board

thats correct. i recommend reading gazhole's journal, and get some warmup ideas from it

When younger I never did any type of warm-up at all. Most often I was pyramiding back then so to an extent one gets warmed up doing the excercise before hitting the heaviest set.

Now that I'm 45 I do just a bit of warm-up which typically takes just a couple of minutes unless it's really cold in which case I'll do a bit more.

After a workout I'll do a few stretches as part of my cool down.

For myself I've never noticed much difference with regards to caffeine. I know for some people they get a real rush, some it even seems to drag down their workout but I've never noticed a difference.

doesnt matter if i mix a redbull and no shotgun

glucose
whey isolate
arganine ester ethyl
creatine
CAFFEEININININEEE

and like 50 other things

the difference in "pump" is noticable at BEST

meaning barely

Whats going to be harder to rip, a cold rubber band or a warm one? Get my drift.

Aside from getting the blood flowing and making your muscles and connective tissue warm, a warm up prepares your body for the stress you are about to impose on it (and training is a huge stress on your body). Your CNS is primed to fire the appropriate muscles at appropriate times (for example, a person who sits all day puts their hip extensors into a stretched position, it is helpful to do a bit of activation work on your glutes to get them firing appropriately etc), dynamic stretching acutely increases flexibility while priming your proprioceptors (muscle spindles and golgi tendon organs) to aid in injury prevention.

A warm up should not be challenging, you just need to get your core temperature up, and get yourself moving...remember you are priming your body for the torture you are about to impose on it.

So that means even 10 mins on treadmill are good enough..right?

Also i have been trying to find gazhole's journal......no success yet.

I wouldn't even do that. Do a dynamic warmup - it'll work better.

Hate to ask...but what is dynamic warm-up?

Got Built? » High Intensity Interval Foreplay

thats why i wanted him to see this, check the dynamic warmups

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