Warm up for Squats

[fig]

What do you guys do to warm up for squats? I've never had pain until today and it was almost unbearable. No pain at 135, huge pain at 225 for 2 sets, then nothing for another 225 and felt fine for 2 sets of 275.

Warm up has always been 5 mins on bike, 1 set w/ just the bar, 1 set at 135, 1 set at 225.

Form may be an issue but I've been squatting for years w/o problems and once I felt my knee today, I really focused on form and didn't help.

[l2elapse]

have you tried stretching

[fig]

have you tried stretching

I have not. You stretch quads and hams?

[l2elapse]

i personally dont but know several people that do

[FireGuy]

I remember when I would walk in the gym and literally go, 135-225-315-405-465. After over two decades it now takes me a good 20 minutes of stretching and several high rep sets of squats with anywhere from an empty bar to 225lbs before I am ready to put 315 on the bar and get to work.

[tbody66]

What do you guys do to warm up for squats? I've never had pain until today and it was almost unbearable. No pain at 135, huge pain at 225 for 2 sets, then nothing for another 225 and felt fine for 2 sets of 275.

Warm up has always been 5 mins on bike, 1 set w/ just the bar, 1 set at 135, 1 set at 225.

Form may be an issue but I've been squatting for years w/o problems and once I felt my knee today, I really focused on form and didn't help.

clarification please, the pain was in your knee?

have you tried stretching

Please do not ever, ever, ever, stretch a cold muscle, if you wanted to do some minor stretching after warm up, that would be okay, I've even done stretches of quads and hams between sets, just don't do them cold. I'm a fan of jumping rope for warm-ups.

[terraj]

dymanic streching only before lifting IMO, after a couple of warm up sets.

[fig]

I remember when I would walk in the gym and literally go, 135-225-315-405-465. After over two decades it now takes me a good 20 minutes of stretching and several high rep sets of squats with anywhere from an empty bar to 225lbs before I am ready to put 315 on the bar and get to work.

Interestingly enough, the link below was the most helpful post I could find searching so I left it open

http://forums.steroid.com/showthread...17#post5015717

[fig]

clarification please, the pain was in your knee?

Yes

Please do not ever, ever, ever, stretch a cold muscle, if you wanted to do some minor stretching after warm up, that would be okay, I've even done stretches of quads and hams between sets, just don't do them cold. I'm a fan of jumping rope for warm-ups.

I pulled a hamstring years ago doing this. Learned my lesson for sure.

[fig]

dymanic streching only before lifting IMO, after a couple of warm up sets.

What's dynamic stretching?

[FireGuy]

Interestingly enough, the link below was the most helpful post I could find searching so I left it open

http://forums.steroid.com/showthread...17#post5015717

How funny, glad to hear I am giving consistent answers nearly an entire year later LOL.

[growing1]

Stretching is key to me for legs. Especially with a background in football. It just gets the mind right before the pain sets in.

[MuscleScience]

I personally feel that best way to warm up is to do the actual movement your about to do for many repetitions. I mean how better else to warm up the nervous system to be optimally primed for your working sets. Heart rate, blood shunting, focus and practice are all happening. One of the worst things to do before performing a lift is to stretch vigorously. It seems counter intuitive until you think about what your actually doing to both the muscle and the nervous system. If you stretch a muscle out, you cause the muscle spindles in the muscle to lengthen out. This sends and inhibitor signal to the spinal cord telling the muscle to contract and protect itself, thus decreasing it ability to produce force.

[fig]

I personally feel that best way to warm up is to do the actual movement your about to do for many repetitions. I mean how better else to warm up the nervous system to be optimally primed for your working sets. Heart rate, blood shunting, focus and practice are all happening. One of the worst things to do before performing a lift is to stretch vigorously. It seems counter intuitive until you think about what your actually doing to both the muscle and the nervous system. If you stretch a muscle out, you cause the muscle spindles in the muscle to lengthen out. This sends and inhibitor signal to the spinal cord telling the muscle to contract and protect itself, thus decreasing it ability to produce force.

Alright, I'm gonna try your/Fireguy's advise and see how that goes. Like your Location btw, 215lb @ 8% is my goal. 195lb @ 11% at the moment.

[fig]

I personally feel that best way to warm up is to do the actual movement your about to do for many repetitions. I mean how better else to warm up the nervous system to be optimally primed for your working sets. Heart rate, blood shunting, focus and practice are all happening. One of the worst things to do before performing a lift is to stretch vigorously. It seems counter intuitive until you think about what your actually doing to both the muscle and the nervous system. If you stretch a muscle out, you cause the muscle spindles in the muscle to lengthen out. This sends and inhibitor signal to the spinal cord telling the muscle to contract and protect itself, thus decreasing it ability to produce force.

Damn...double post

[MuscleScience]

Alright, I'm gonna try your/Fireguy's advise and see how that goes. Like your Location btw, 215lb @ 8% is my goal. 195lb @ 11% at the moment.

I have the 215 but not the 8% at the moment...LOL

[tbody66]

I have the 215 but not the 8% at the moment...LOL

I have neither, so both of you can shut up now! (180ish, 18%)

[Natureboy71]

I just do some minor stretching, then the bar for a set of 12, 135 for a set of 8 then right down to business with 350. I do use knee wraps when I start the big squats. Not saying this is the best way, but I have never had any problems yet anyway.

[Brewster]

Usually at my gym theres always some chick wasting the 1 squat rack using the bar with no weights.
I usually round house kick the chick in the face and I consider myself strecthed after that.

[fig]

Usually at my gym theres always some chick wasting the 1 squat rack using the bar with no weights.
I usually round house kick the chick in the face and I consider myself strecthed after that.

Lmao...I needed a laugh today

[Stephen73ta]

I stretch every time before I workout. Keeps you loose and prevents injury. Pretty much common sense IMO. Not to mention increased flexibility promotes lower blood pressure and relieves stress.

[jypoll]

I'm 20 yrs old and I'm too ignorant to stetch, but my warmup for squats starts with just doing the motion and slowly adding weight, I will never attempt a set to failure unless I have done 5 warm up sets at low weight

[tbody66]

I stretch every time before I workout. Keeps you loose and prevents injury. Pretty much common sense IMO. Not to mention increased flexibility promotes lower blood pressure and relieves stress.

Stretching is key to me for legs. Especially with a background in football. It just gets the mind right before the pain sets in.

google "stretching a cold muscle" you will find that it is not common sense to do so. I totally understand that high school football coaches and track coaches and wrestling coaches etc... etc... etc... have been teaching it for years. It is not a good idea in any sport! Stretching is invaluable, but not as a warm up!

[A010011000111]

i walk 10-15 minutes to my gym at college, thats a pretty good warmup, also riding a bike or elliptical enough to get heart rate up to about 60-75% age predicted max HR for half a minute... i say bike and elliptical because they are lower-impact than the treadmill. and if you got the space do some dynamic stretching!

I stretch every time before I workout. Keeps you loose and prevents injury. Pretty much common sense IMO. Not to mention increased flexibility promotes lower blood pressure and relieves stress.

i hope you dont mean static stretching, its awful in a warm up!

Usually at my gym theres always some chick wasting the 1 squat rack using the bar with no weights.
I usually round house kick the chick in the face and I consider myself strecthed after that.

:-)

dymanic streching only before lifting IMO, after a couple of warm up sets.

yes dynamic stretches are KING!!

[fig]

i walk 10-15 minutes to my gym at college, thats a pretty good warmup, also riding a bike or elliptical enough to get heart rate up to about 60-75% age predicted max HR for half a minute... i say bike and elliptical because they are lower-impact than the treadmill. and if you got the space do some dynamic stretching!



i hope you dont mean static stretching, its awful in a warm up!



:-)



yes dynamic stretches are KING!!

Is your username in binary? lol

[MuscleScience]

Any kind of stretching before lifting is counterproductive and does not lead to a decrease in injury at all. In fact, some papers have shown that stretching before resistance training can actually lead to injury.

[shortybrolick]

Any kind of stretching before lifting is counterproductive and does not lead to a decrease in injury at all. In fact, some papers have shown that stretching before resistance training can actually lead to injury.

Also a decrease in strength right? I believe I read that somewhere.. While dynamic stretches actually do the opposite.

[MuscleScience]

Also a decrease in strength right? I believe I read that somewhere.. While dynamic stretches actually do the opposite.

Yep, decreases the maximal output that the muscle can exert. Dynamic stretching is worse!

[terraj]

Dynamic stretching is worse!

No shit huh, had always done Dynamics (arm swings, hip rotations, knee rotations)prior to combat training and I carried it over into weight training.

I have read a few times that Dynamic Stretching before weight training will temporarily increase strength.

Interesting study -

http://soar.wichita.edu/dspace/bitst.../grasp0622.pdf

Conclusion
There was a significant difference between static and dynamic stretching on vertical jump, but not on standing long
jump. No significant difference was found with any of the standing ling jump data due to technical difficulties with
the long jump mat sliding on the gym floor. Static stretching resulted in a decrease of performance while dynamic
stretching resulted in an increase in performance. Our findings suggest that when performing vertical jump, those
individuals who perform dynamic stretching will perform better than those who perform static stretching. Thus,
athletes performing lower extremity power movements should choose a dynamic stretching routine rather than a
static stretching routine immediately prior to competition to see greatest performance results.


Another study below shows "Acute effects of dynamic stretching exercise on power output "

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18076260

[MuscleScience]

No shit huh, had always done Dynamics (arm swings, hip rotations, knee rotations)prior to combat training and I carried it over into weight training.

I have read a few times that Dynamic Stretching before weight training will temporarily increase strength.

Interesting study -

http://soar.wichita.edu/dspace/bitst.../grasp0622.pdf

Conclusion
There was a significant difference between static and dynamic stretching on vertical jump, but not on standing long
jump. No significant difference was found with any of the standing ling jump data due to technical difficulties with
the long jump mat sliding on the gym floor. Static stretching resulted in a decrease of performance while dynamic
stretching resulted in an increase in performance. Our findings suggest that when performing vertical jump, those
individuals who perform dynamic stretching will perform better than those who perform static stretching. Thus,
athletes performing lower extremity power movements should choose a dynamic stretching routine rather than a
static stretching routine immediately prior to competition to see greatest performance results.


Another study below shows "Acute effects of dynamic stretching exercise on power output "

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18076260

Im sorry, I mistook dynamic stretching for ballistic/extreme stretching which are entirely two different things. My mistake.

There is a caveat to stretching and athletic performance. Stretching when it involves a full ROM prior to an athletic event has been shown to improve athletic performance for some types of athletes. However the general consensus in the literature right now is this. Strength and power athletes should not perform static type stretching protocols. However, athletes can perform a specific, full ROM exercise/stretch that targets the muscles that are needed to perform an athletic event provided that they also incompass a FULL ROM.


Here is a systemic review of the literature from 2010 as a full article about stretching and performance.

http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/1...9.01058.x/full

Scand J Med Sci Sports. 2010 Apr;20(2):169-81. Epub 2009 Dec 18.
To stretch or not to stretch: the role of stretching in injury prevention and performance.

McHugh MP, Cosgrave CH.

Nicholas Institute of Sports Medicine and Athletic Trauma, Lenox Hill Hospital, New York, New York 10075, USA. mchugh@nismat.org
Abstract

Stretching is commonly practiced before sports participation; however, effects on subsequent performance and injury prevention are not well understood. There is an abundance of literature demonstrating that a single bout of stretching acutely impairs muscle strength, with a lesser effect on power. The extent to which these effects are apparent when stretching is combined with other aspects of a pre-participation warm-up, such as practice drills and low intensity dynamic exercises, is not known. With respect to the effect of pre-participation stretching on injury prevention a limited number of studies of varying quality have shown mixed results. A general consensus is that stretching in addition to warm-up does not affect the incidence of overuse injuries. There is evidence that pre-participation stretching reduces the incidence of muscle strains but there is clearly a need for further work. Future prospective randomized studies should use stretching interventions that are effective at decreasing passive resistance to stretch and assess effects on subsequent injury incidence in sports with a high prevalence of muscle strains

[growing1]

google "stretching a cold muscle" you will find that it is not common sense to do so. I totally understand that high school football coaches and track coaches and wrestling coaches etc... etc... etc... have been teaching it for years. It is not a good idea in any sport! Stretching is invaluable, but not as a warm up!

I hit the elliptical for 10 min before leg day. No static stretching. It does reduce strength and fatigue your muscle.

[growing1]

google "stretching a cold muscle" you will find that it is not common sense to do so. I totally understand that high school football coaches and track coaches and wrestling coaches etc... etc... etc... have been teaching it for years. It is not a good idea in any sport! Stretching is invaluable, but not as a warm up!

I hit the elliptical for 10 min before leg day. No static stretching. It does reduce strength and fatigue your muscle.

[growing1]

oops double post...sorry

[terraj]

.



http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/1...9.01058.x/full

Great read there.

[tbody66]

Obviously the type and frequency of stretching is very sport specific, I will always say though that never perform a stretch of any muscle that is cold. So, IMO, if you jump rope for a minute or elliptical or something that involves warming the whole body up, your stretching won't be as likely to cause yourself damage. I am a huge fan of stretching, and massaging, the muscle groups you are weight training some during the workout and more after.

[fig]

Lots of good info. Doing legs tomorrow...will let you know how it goes

[UberSteroids]

Hey man,

I never stretch. All I do is warm up sets increasing the weight with each set, then when I get to my work set... I just go all out on it. It has been working fine and I cannot recall when was the last time I got injured. To be honest, my last injury was about 4 years ago...back when I used to stretch a lot... hahahha.

[growing1]

Hey man,

I never stretch. All I do is warm up sets increasing the weight with each set, then when I get to my work set... I just go all out on it. It has been working fine and I cannot recall when was the last time I got injured. To be honest, my last injury was about 4 years ago...back when I used to stretch a lot... hahahha.

thats halarious....not your injury...but the coincidence.

[tbody66]

Lots of good info. Doing legs tomorrow...will let you know how it goes

Can't wait to hear!!!

[fig]

Can't wait to hear!!!

Fvcking incredible leg day. Haven't squatted like that in probably 2 months. Was really focused today so it was mostly due to that but since I didn't have pain I could take full advantage of it. Didn't stretch, just 5 min bike and about 5 warm up set. Real light, real slow. Worked like a charm. I guess I'm just getting old