Training article
Warm Up Like You Mean It
Two minutes on a bike doesn't count
General information about training and eating, not personal advice. It is not medical or dietary advice and it cannot account for your circumstances. If you are pregnant, have a medical condition, take medication, or have a history of disordered eating, talk to a GP or a registered dietitian before changing how you eat or train.
A warm-up has one job: get the specific joints and muscles you're about to load ready to actually be loaded. A general pulse-raiser (a few minutes of easy cardio) is a fine start, but it isn't a substitute for warming up the lift itself.
Before your first working set of a compound lift, run a few ramp-up sets from light to heavy — something like 50%, 70% and 85% of your working weight for a handful of reps each. By the time you hit your actual working weight, your nervous system has already rehearsed the movement under load.
It's tempting to cut the warm-up when a session is rushed. Trim the accessory work instead and keep the ramp-up on the main lift intact.