Warm Up Outline (10-20min)

rest 1 (rst)
n.
1. Cessation of work, exertion, or activity.
2. Peace, ease, or refreshment resulting from sleep or the cessation of an activity.
3. Sleep or quiet relaxation.
4. The repose of death: eternal rest.
5. Relief or freedom from disquiet or disturbance.
6. Mental or emotional tranquillity.
7. Termination or absence of motion.
8. Music
a. An interval of silence corresponding to one of the possible time values within a measure.
b. The mark or symbol indicating such a pause and its length.
9. A short pause in a line of poetry; a caesura.
10. A device used as a support: a back rest.
11. Games See bridge1.
v. rest·ed, rest·ing, rests
v.intr.
1. To cease motion, work, or activity.
2. To lie down, especially to sleep.
3. To be at peace or ease; be tranquil.
4. To be, become, or remain temporarily still, quiet, or inactive: Let the issue rest here.
5. To be supported or based; lie, lean, or sit: The ladder rests firmly against the tree.
6. To be imposed or vested, as a responsibility or burden: The final decision rests with the chairperson.
7. To depend or rely: That argument rests on a false assumption.
8. To be located or be in a specified place: The original manuscript rests in the museum.
9. To be fixed or directed on something: “His brown eyes rested on her for a moment” (John le Carré).
10. To remain; linger.
11. Law To cease voluntarily the presentation of evidence in a case: The defense rests.
v.tr.
1. To give rest or repose to: rested my eyes.
2. To place, lay, or lean for ease, support, or repose.
3. To base or ground: I rested my conclusion on that fact.
4. To fix or direct (the gaze, for example).
5. To bring to rest; halt.
6. Law To cease voluntarily the introduction of evidence in (a case).
Idioms:
at rest
1.
a. Asleep.
b. Dead.
2. Motionless; inactive.
3. Free from anxiety or distress.

The Heavy-Light-Medium System for Strength and Power

C.S. Sloan

March 11, 2009 04:28 PM
For many years now, I’ve felt that the best all-around system of training is the heavy/light/medium system. It’s great for beginning strength athletes since it teaches them how to properly regulate intensity and volume (and how to handle 3 full-body workouts in a training week). It’s also great for anyone interested in not just developing strength and power, but also developing the muscle mass to go along with it. Add in the fact that it’s capable of getting lifters in great condition, and I think it’s hard to argue against its effectiveness.

The best-known advocate for this style of training is probably Bill Starr, who made the system popular through his classic book “The Strongest Shall Survive” (published in the ’70s), and in many subsequent articles for Iron Man Magazine. Of course, Starr didn’t invent the program. Before his book was published, many bodybuilders and powerlifters from the ’60s and ’70s used it. (Some of these lifters did prefer a medium/light/heavy system of training, however, thinking it best to save the heavy stuff for the last training day of the week.)

The purpose of the article is to show how to properly use a heavy/light/medium system. Although many people advocate this program as a good means for gaining both size and strength (a search of the many internet forums should attest to this fact), I have found that many lifters don’t understand how to utilize it correctly. Since I have trained many others and myself?usually either powerlifters or football players?using the system, I believe I understand its nuances better than most. I have also used this system for extended periods of time (as long as six months), which is something that needs to be done in order to really understand any training methodology.

What follows is a week of workouts designed for anyone that’s new to this style of training. Pay close attention to all of the details, and read the training plan several times before you attempt the program. After I have finished going over the program in detail, I will offer a few pointers so that you can properly tweak the system based on your goals and your level of strength fitness.

Read more…..

What eventually happened in my case is that I instinctively started experimenting with my warm up sets to try to find something better, and I ended up coming upon a sequence that I later realized was extremely close to what a lot of experts recommend.

What is that warm up sequence, you ask?

Well, for most of the people, most of the time, it should go something along the lines of this:

1. Start off with 1 VERY light set of 10-15 reps. For this set you’d usually use just the bar (with no weight on it) or some VERY light dumbbells if it was a dumbbell exercise. If it’s a machine exercise, you’d put on some equally light and easy/insignificant amount of weight.
2. The next set, do 8 reps using 55-60% of the actual weight you will be using during your actual work sets for this exercise. So, if your first work set was going to be with 200lbs, you’d use 110-120lbs for this set.
3. The next set, do 5 reps using 70-75% of the actual weight you will be using during your actual work sets for this exercise. So again, if your first work set was going to be with 200lbs, you’d use 140-150lbs for this set.
4. The set after that, do 3 reps using 80-85% of the actual weight you will be using during your actual work sets for this exercise. So once again, if your first work set was going to be with 200lbs, you’d use 160-170lbs for this set.
5. And for your final warm up set, do just 1 rep using 90-95% of the actual weight you will be using during your actual work sets for this exercise. So, using the same example, if your first work set was going to be with 200lbs, you’d use 180-190lbs for this set.
6. You’d then rest for whatever the prescribed amount of rest time is for that exercise, and then begin your first work set.

To make that even clearer, here’s a pretty chart…

As you can see, you’d typically take about 45-60 seconds between each warm up set. There’s really no special set amount of time, but usually the time it takes to casually change the weight, catch your breath (if it needs to be caught) and get into position will last about 45-60 seconds anyway, so something similar to that would be perfectly sufficient.

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