Warm up sets for strength training

Warm up sets at flux CrossFit tend to create confusion and mild chaos. In the interests of alleviating this chaos and speeding up the time it takes to get through the warm up sets I have put together a couple of examples of what a warm-up set should look like. I draw directly on Mark Rippetoe's wisdom for establishing my warm-up sets.

First of all, the warm-up serves a couple of purposes: to warm up the muscles, tendons and ligaments (soft tissue stuff) and second, to practice the movement before the set gets heavy.

Starting with lighter sets and progressing to a heavier set enables the athlete to practice the range of motion, and to prepare the motor pathway necessary to execute a movement in a mechanically efficient, and hence safe, manner. Here are some examples:

front squats

2x5 x 45

1x5 x 70

1x2 x 85

3x5 x 125

deadlifts

2x5 x 85

1x5 x 120

1x2 x 160

1x5 x 190

squats

2x5 x 45

1x5 x 75

1x2 x 135

3x5 x 160