Spend an hour in any gym and you'll see both. One lifter walks in from the car park, loads the bar to their top working weight and gets under it cold, grinding out the first set on knees and hips that were sitting in traffic ten minutes earlier. Across the room, someone has been on a foam roller since before the first lifter arrived. A band routine follows, then some lying hip work, and by the time they reach the rack a good chunk of the session has gone.
Both are trying to do the right thing. One skips the preparation entirely; the other turns it into the workout. A useful warm-up sits between them: around eight minutes, most of it spent on the lift you're about to train.
What a warm-up is for
Strip it back and the job list is short.
- Getting warm, literally. Muscles and joints move more comfortably once your body temperature has come up a little. A few minutes of easy work does it. So does a hot day.
- Rehearsing the movement. A squat is a skill, and the first reps of the day are rarely your best. Better that they happen with a light bar.
- Checking in with today. Sleep, stress and yesterday's session all change how a weight feels. Lighter sets on the way up tell you whether today is a day to push or a day to hold steady, before anything heavy is on the bar.
- Arriving. Ten minutes ago you were answering messages. A few minutes of warming up is time to put that down and think about the session ahead.
Anything outside that list is optional, however virtuous it feels.
Part 1: a general warm-up, 3–5 minutes
The aim is to raise your temperature and breathing a little. You should feel warm and slightly out of breath, and nowhere near tired. Pick one:
- Rowing machine or bike at an easy pace
- A brisk incline walk on the treadmill
- A skipping rope, in short bursts
- A loose circuit of leg swings, arm circles, walking lunges and a few inchworms
Moving stretches fit here too, if you like them. Swinging a leg forward and back, or circling the arms, takes a joint through its range without holding it at the end. You'll see this called dynamic stretching. Keep it brief and loose and the label hardly matters.
If you cycled in or walked twenty minutes to the gym, you've already done this part. Go straight to the rack.
Part 2: warm-up sets
This is where most of the value sits, and it's the part people skip. Warm-up sets are lighter sets of your first exercise: plenty of reps with a light load at the start, then more weight and fewer reps each time, climbing towards your working weight. The reps drop as the bar gets heavier so you arrive at your work sets practised and warm, with nothing spent.
Here's an example for someone whose working sets on the squat are 3 sets of 5 at 100 kg. Scale the numbers to your own weights.
| Set | Weight | Reps | What it's for |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Empty bar (20 kg) | 10 | Find your depth and groove the pattern |
| 2 | 40 kg | 5 | Light load, same positions |
| 3 | 60 kg | 3 | The bar starts to feel like something |
| 4 | 75 kg | 2 | Check bracing and bar speed |
| 5 | 90 kg | 1 | One rep close to working weight |
| Work | 100 kg | 3 × 5 | The session starts here |
Rest between the early sets is roughly as long as it takes to load the plates. Take a minute or so before the 90 kg single, and again before the first work set.
The last warm-up set is a preview of your working sets. If it moves slowly, better to find out at 90 kg than at 100.
A few practical notes:
- Heavier working weights want more steps. Someone squatting 50 kg might go empty bar, 30 kg, 40 kg, then start. Someone squatting 160 kg will want six or seven jumps.
- Keep reps low near the top. A set of eight at 90 kg would take something out of the work sets it was meant to prepare you for.
- Later exercises need fewer ramp sets. By the time you reach Romanian deadlifts or the leg press after squats, your legs are warm and the patterns overlap, so one or two lighter sets usually cover it. Switching to a new area, say pressing after a lower-body lift, deserves a couple more.
- Machines and dumbbells follow the same idea. One lighter set of 10 to 12, one closer to working weight, then go.
What to skip or shorten
Long static stretches right before heavy sets
Holding a stretch for a minute or more feels like good preparation. The common view among coaches, and in much of the sports science, is that long holds immediately before heavy lifting can take a little off your strength for a short while afterwards. Short holds of a few seconds seem to make little difference either way. If a muscle feels tight, a brief stretch is fine. Save the long holds for after training, or for a separate evening session where the trade-off costs you nothing.
Endless mobility circuits
Mobility work has a place, particularly when you're trying to improve a joint's range over months. That work sits better as its own short session or at the end of training. Before lifting, a couple of minutes aimed at whatever feels stiff today is enough. Twenty minutes of bands and rollers every session mostly uses up time meant for the lifts, and the warm-up sets will show you a real restriction faster than guessing at one.
Going hard in the general warm-up
A fast 2 km on the rower is conditioning. You'll be warm, and you'll also be slower under the bar. Easy pace is all this part asks for.
Adjusting on the day
The eight-minute version assumes an ordinary day. Some days ask for more.
- Cold mornings and cold gyms. Stretch the general warm-up to six or seven minutes and add an extra light set before the first lift.
- Older or creaky joints. Plenty of lifters in their forties and beyond find the first ten minutes are the stiff ones. More reps with the empty bar and an extra step or two in the ramp usually sort it.
- An old injury. Give that area some attention first, with a few controlled reps through a comfortable range, then build. A physio who knows your history can give you a better routine than any general article.
- Coming back after a break. Treat the ramp as a test and be willing to stop lower than planned.
One firm rule: warm-up discomfort should ease as you go. Stiffness that loosens over a few sets is normal. Sharp or worsening pain is a reason to end the session and have it looked at by a doctor or physio. More warm-up sets won't fix it.
The 8-minute template
Copy this into your notes and swap in your own numbers.
General, 3–4 minutes
- Rower or bike, easy pace: 3 minutes
- Leg swings: 10 each side
- Arm circles: 10 each way
Warm-up sets for the first lift, 4–5 minutes
- Empty bar × 10
- Around 40% of working weight × 5
- Around 60% × 3
- Around 75% × 2
- Around 90% × 1
- Start your working sets
Later exercises
- One or two lighter sets, then work
The bottom line
Get warm with a few easy minutes, then climb to your working weight in small steps, cutting reps as the bar gets heavier. Most sessions need about eight minutes of that, a little longer when the gym is cold or your joints are complaining, and the top of your warm-up should look a lot like the start of your workout. Anything beyond that is optional. Spend the time you save lifting.