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Comment by x86x87 | Hacker News Reader

going to say something controversial here, but... if you go to the gym to lift weights and after that you end up doing all this mental gymnastic to allegedly save time you're doing it wrong. you are literally avoiding lifting small weights to load up your bar, when you are there to lift weights. I would challenge everyone to show me how much time they can save.

Also, if you want to save time AND if you have a super complicated workout that involves 30 different weights on the bar you are also doing it wrong. for each exercise you should have 2 weights: warmup and the weight you are working on. work with a weight that allows you to do 5 sets of 5 reps (+1 warmpup set). Do: bench press, overhead press, squats, barbell rows. that is all. you will get the workout done in 30 minutes. Compound movements with a barbell are all you need (before you gang up on me, remember we are optimizing for time and the best return for the effort).

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Do you really only use one warmup weight when lifting heavy?

Let's say I'm squatting 325lb / 140kg. I'll usually do 5/reps empty bar, 5 reps 135lb, 5 reps 225, 5 reps 275, then 3-5 "working" sets of 325 (3x5 or 5x5).

Do you think all those intermediate warmup reps are a waste of time?

I think when you're still doing light-ish weight (like too light to be adding ~1 plate per warmup set I guess), it's easy to do too many warm-ups. Like on deadlifts, I was doing something like 155x5, 225x5, 255x5, then 285x5, and got stuck because my grip would be too tired by the time I had the working weight on. Switching to 155x5, 245-265x3 as a warmup made it easy again to continue up to 310 still doing double overhand.

OHP also seems to suffer a lot from warmup fatigue. I found that 45,95,135 works better than adding an extra warmup at 110-115, for example.

I do x3-4 on all my final warmup sets now since I'm really just using it to get my body ready to expect the weight, so the extra fatigue from x5 seems pointless.

Regarding OP though, I think it makes sense to just adjust your warmup sets to make loading plates easy. Like I was planning to bench 205 today, so I did 115,165,205 because I could load 35, 25, 2x10 to make that easy. Maybe it'd be better to do 170 instead of 165, but I don't think warm-ups need to be an exact value. You're just getting used to feeling the weight for the day.

That tickled me too. It's like saying that walking is a warmup for sprinting.

Walking on the spot is a warmup for sprinting.

https://athleticsweekly.com/performance/sprinting-warm-cool-....

Not on its own.

Yes. At least right now. For me the goal of the warmup is to practice/remember the correct movement under load. Also remember the 2 preconditions i mentioned one of which was optimizing for time (there is nothing wrong in doing it progressively like you do, but again remember we are "efficient" and optimizing for time). Somehow I doubt that if you are squatting 3 plates you can do this exercises continuously without breaks between sets.

My squat right now is at 280. I load 1 plate (135) and warm up with that. After that I go to 280 and do 5x5.

There is a balance of warming up your muscles and getting your body accustomed to the feel of the weight, and exhausting yourself with too much warmup.

For squats I warm up with some body-weight reps, then do one set with empty bar, then ramp up adding 45lb plates until I reach my working weight. I'll do 3 to 5 warmup reps at each weight, with an intense focus on proper form.

I would rather do 5/3/1 Krypteia or something out of Tactical Barbell (the name's a bit extra but the content is good).

Classic 5x5 stalls out hard and doesn't really have a plan for progression after that. It's adequate to maintain a decent baseline but the same time commitment had me progressing in strength and conditioning.

i don't know about you, but for the use case where you want to build some strength and stay there without having dreams of bench-pressing 7000lbs this is great.

I think if you can do bench 2 plates, squat 3 plates and deadlift 4 plates you are already stronger than 90% of all people (including people that do all this crazy programs).

If you can get that done in 30 minutes with 2 workouts per week I am calling it a massive win. It allows you to maintain muscle and bone mass as you age. Hitting a plateau is fine with me.

Now, if your goal is not that it is fine, but ultimately it's about what your goal is.

Yes it is all about why you are there. For me, I want to be stronger. I don't want to make weightlifting my life or set any records. Sets of 5 works just fine for me. The only time I've hurt myself lifting weights is trying out my "1RM" or trying to hit "RPE 10" lifts. I don't do that anymore. If you can do 5 reps with good form, you probably aren't going to hurt yourself lifing that weight, and it's fairly safe to add 5-10 lbs more for progressive overload.

> for each exercise you should have 2 weights: warmup and the weight you are working on.

DYEL? There is no safe way to have a single warmup set for a high deadlift weight. It feels like you recently discovered Stronglifts.

no no no bro. DYEL.

Let's share some stats here if you want to go that route. tell me how much you lift and I'll do the same.

My Wilks score is 442.

there is absolutely no way you optimize switching plates and spend only 30 minutes in the gym if this is for real and you're not a troll.

That's a non-sequitur. I do multiple warmup sets. Typically one for each pair of plates.

It's not. Go back and read my original comment.

I quoted it!

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