The No. 1 Question About Warm-Ups

Hail to the Dinosaurs!

Two quick notes, and then we'll talk iron.

1. The January Dino Files.

Is now available in both PDF and
Kindle editions - AND (get this) in
hard-copy. The hard-copy is printed
and shipped to you by Amazon.

PDF edition

http://www.brookskubik.com/dinosaurfiles-january2017.html

Kindle edition

http://www.brookskubik.com/dinosaurfiles-january2017kindle.html

Amazon hard-copy

http://www.brookskubik.com/dinosaurfiles-january2017hardcopy.html

2. The Complete List

Speaking of Amazon, here's the complete
list of all 22 Dinosaur Training e-books
available in the Kindle bookstore, with
quick and easy order links for all of them:

http://www.brookskubik.com/kindle.html

Our Kindle books are just the thing for
those of you who are trapped indoors
by bad weather - or who just want some
great weekend reading.

Note that you do NOT need a Kindle reader
to read Kindle books. Amazon has a free app
you can download that lets you read Kindle
books on any device.

3. The No. 1 Question About Warm-Ups

On the training front, here's an email from
an older Dino with a very common training
question:

"Brooks,

My question concerns warm-up sets. As an
older lifter (57), I like to do a lot of warm-up 
sets before my top weight for the day. I like
low reps, never doing more than 5, and often
doing triples, doubles or even singles.

If I'm doing squats, and my top weight for the
day is 200 pounds, I might start with the empty
bar, and then do 95, 135, 155, 175, 195 and then
200.

Now here's the question: When I add weight and
progress to a top set with 205 pounds, do I also
add 5 pounds to each warm-up set?

If I do that, eventually the first warm-up set will
be very heavy. On the other hand, if I stay with
the bar, and then go to 95 and so on, eventually
I will be doing many more warm-up sets.

What do you recommend?

Banny"

Thanks for your email and your question. It's a
very common one.

Older lifters need to start light, and they need to
perform a series of gradually heavier warm-up
sets before they tackle their heavier weights.

When you add weight to your working set, you
should keep your initial warm-up sets where they
are. That allows you to start light and work up
slowly and gradually.

The place where you make your adjustments is
at the top of the warm-up progression.

In the example you gave, I would try this: empty
bar, 95, 135, 155, 175, 185, 195, 205.

Or this: empty bar, 95, 135, 155, 175, 190, 200,
205.

By the time you work up to 250 pounds for your
top set, things might look like this: empty bar,
95, 135, 155, 175, 195, 215, 230, 240, 250.

If you end up needing to do a few more warm-up
sets, don't sweat it. Just do them. At our age,
they're very important.

Hope that helps, and hope you keep on training
for another 57 years!

As always, thanks for reading, and have a
great day. If you train today, make it a good
one!

Yours in strength,

Brooks Kubik

P.S. For more about effective training for older
Dinos, grab Gray Hair and Black Iron:

http://www.brookskubik.com/grayhair_blackiron.html

P.S. 2. My other books and courses are
right here:

http://www.brookskubik.com/products.html

P.S. 3. Thought for the Day: "Start light and
easy and finish heavy and strong." - Brooks
Kubik

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