Warm up/cool down with light cardio

[pitweiler]

My cousin is dead set on that you need to do a light cardio and cool down before and after you lift. At least 10 min. He said it gets your blood going and you see better results when you do this. Does everyone do this? Do you need/should do this?

[Doom44]

Before lifting light cardio yes. But i only do 5 minutes. After lifting no. After lifting i do some stretching

[pitweiler]

Yeah I stretch before and after. I've been doing about 5-6 min of light cardio when he mentioned it. Haven't noticed a difference though

[warlockjmr]

Warm up going through the full range of motions of whatever lift I am doing that do with light weight and high slow reps. Gets blood pumping to the correct muscles and helps me stretch too. Also like to throw some light power cleans in to start me off.

[MakeEveryRepCount]

Warm up going through the full range of motions of whatever lift I am doing that do with light weight and high slow reps. Gets blood pumping to the correct muscles and helps me stretch too. Also like to throw some light power cleans in to start me off.

As WL mentioned, it doesn't HAVE to be cardio. Warming up with some light sets works just as well. You get blood flowing and release fluid into the joints that helps cushion them for when you start lifting heavy. Jumping straight into your routine is not a good idea. Hell, when I do warm up on the treadmill (usually because there's too many folks in the gym) I still do some light sets to get blood flowing to the area I'm actually going to be working.

[yosimitesam]

On upper body days, I do my Nordictrack for 5 minutes to warm my shoulders and back up. It also gets the legs moving. Depending on how I feel afterwards, I'll do 25-35 minutes on my treadmill. I don't do shit after legs.