Favorite exercises to start workouts with

[AutoKal47]

Hey guys,

which exercises are your favorite to start your workouts with?

It'll sound silly but for me the warm-up/first exercise can really
affect the whole routine, different for every day/muscle group of course
which ones are yours?
I always start my wo with low weights/high reps, I assume everyone
does the same.. for me are:

- Chest/Tris day: flat bench or inclined DB followed and plyos (no rest)

- Deadlift/squats/abs day: leg curls/prone curls (opposite, no rest) and standard deadlift (of course light and fast)

- Traps/Upper Back/Shoulders: if I start with shoulder wo is lateral raises or DB press, if traps BB shrugs
Shrugs do the trick, for shoulders i could use suggestions

- ** Arms/Full Body depletion wo day: this is where I'm lost.. I change every time and I didn't find an exercise that I like to start with, this day always starts kinda meh..
what gets you pumped and in the mood when doing arms?

- Legs/abs day: leg curls/prone curls (again opposite, love to start with these, it never fail to pump me up right away)

- Back day: some pull down, whether v-bar or standard wide grip lat machine

 

[mattrag]

I like a big movement. But I'll do a lot of reps to warm up. Well about two sets of 15.
For bench press or shoulder press usually gets me pumped.
Back I love my bent over rows. I really don't like leg pumps but wide stance squats are good for me. Currently I do a full body workout everyday so I am pumped full throughout the whole body most of the time lol.

 

[AutoKal47]

I like a big movement. But I'll do a lot of reps to warm up. Well about two sets of 15.
For bench press or shoulder press usually gets me pumped.
Back I love my bent over rows. I really don't like leg pumps but wide stance squats are good for me. Currently I do a full body workout everyday so I am pumped full throughout the whole body most of the time lol.

hey bro

I'm quite the opposite here, I like isolation for warm up, I can't do big movements right away lol (aside from bench)
but the worst day is arms, sh#t I hate direct arms workout and right now I even have to hit tris twice a week
because i need to increase strength (they're holding my bench back) and every damn Wed I never know how to start
because anything just makes me sad in the pants lol I'd squat before doing direct arms wo

 

[mattrag]

hey bro

I'm quite the opposite here, I like isolation for warm up, I can't do big movements right away lol (aside from bench)
but the worst day is arms, sh#t I hate direct arms workout and right now I even have to hit tris twice a week
because i need to increase strength (they're holding my bench back) and every damn Wed I never know how to start
because anything just makes me sad in the pants lol I'd squat before doing direct arms wo

Maybe try some resistance bands? I know plenty guys who like holding weights and just rotate them to warm up their shoulder and arm. I like to just jump in and do light weight of the exercise im doing to kinda prime my CNS to get ready for some heavy weight in the movement.
Been doing that and I find I am more IN the workout. THough after the craze nonesense I dont think I can ever be THAT in w/o crack.... WHY MUST CRAZE MAKE ME SLEEPLESS!!!

 

[JohnRock]

The rowing machine or jump rope are usually enough to get me warmed up and I don't really do isolation moves, so after that, I start working up to my working sets on the big lifts.

 

[ZiR RED]

Bodybuilders and a lot of power lifters neglect or fail to realize the potential and utility of a dynamic mobility based warm up specific to resistance training. I think the use of activation exercises are also overlooked.

DeFranco has some really good mobility warm ups, so does T-Nation.

Br

 

[AutoKal47]

Bodybuilders and a lot of power lifters neglect or fail to realize the potential and utility of a dynamic mobility based warm up specific to resistance training. I think the use of activation exercises are also overlooked.

DeFranco has some really good mobility warm ups, so does T-Nation.

Br

De Franco! right, why i didn't think about that.. thank man, I'll check out tn too, and yes I do agree with you 100% about the importance and the utility a warm up done right.
On a side note, I increased my bench and squat terribly since I started to do plyos, crazy difference.. Not only for warm up or as sets
in a couple of workout days but right before the heaviest lifts, for me made a big a$$ difference

Maybe try some resistance bands? I know plenty guys who like holding weights and just rotate them to warm up their shoulder and arm. I like to just jump in and do light weight of the exercise im doing to kinda prime my CNS to get ready for some heavy weight in the movement.
Been doing that and I find I am more IN the workout. THough after the craze nonesense I dont think I can ever be THAT in w/o crack.... WHY MUST CRAZE MAKE ME SLEEPLESS!!!

Good call the bands bro! I meant to try them for tris, bench and other things, seems like it's time for me to get them
and try give it a shot for the warm up too

 

[ZiR RED]

On a side note, I increased my bench and squat terribly since I started to do plyos, crazy difference.. Not only for warm up or as sets
in a couple of workout days but right before the heaviest lifts, for me made a big a$$ difference

I forgot who wrote about this...someone calling it a neuro charging workout - doing low impact plyometric movements a day or two prior to a big workout to increase force output.

Maybe Thibideau?

Br

 

[AutoKal47]

I forgot who wrote about this...someone calling it a neuro charging workout - doing low impact plyometric movements a day or two prior to a big workout to increase force output.

Maybe Thibideau?

Br

I don't remember either but it might be him yes.
I started doing like plyos pushups twice a week, many variations (not on chest day) and jump squats on other days
again a couple of times a week (and again not on legs day) and both my bench (but not only that, all the chest heavy exercises)
went up, and so did squat(s, back, front and hack). I always keep the plyos to 4/5 sets, maybe a lil more for pushups as i like to do them,
and I like to vary (fast left/right and front/back pushups stimulate chest in a way I can't reproduce with any other exercise for example..)

I kept researching and found out this article about how plyos done right before attempting a heavy lift were activating
the muscles in a i-don't-remember way.. twitch and fibers and and and..
Long story short: I started to do 2x8 or 3x5 fast sets of pushups before the last 3 heavy bench sets, and jump squats (no weight of course) right before the last 2 or 3 sets of squats and goddamn what a difference!
Done right before I can *feel* my muscle stronger, feel 'em activating in a different way. It does work for me, big time.

Actually *just* today I finally squatted 3 plates, I was stuck right behind that for quite some time and it has been only two weeks of plyos.
Did 2x8 right before the last 3 sets, I loaded 3 plates knowing I would have done it today (x3) for how strong I was feeling
in the previous two sets.

 

[Resolve]

Hey guys,

which exercises are your favorite to start your workouts with?

It'll sound silly but for me the warm-up/first exercise can really
affect the whole routine, different for every day/muscle group of course
which ones are yours?
I always start my wo with low weights/high reps, I assume everyone
does the same.. for me are:

- Chest/Tris day: flat bench or inclined DB followed and plyos (no rest)

- For chest, I rotate through a bunch of stuff, but for tris I always start with rope push-downs. It stretches out and warms up the elbows, so that the heavier movements to follow don't hurt.

- Deadlift/squats/abs day: leg curls/prone curls (opposite, no rest) and standard deadlift (of course light and fast)

- Squats. Squat day was all about squats, and little else. Deads usually had their own day later in the week.

- Traps/Upper Back/Shoulders: if I start with shoulder wo is lateral raises or DB press, if traps BB shrugs
Shrugs do the trick, for shoulders i could use suggestions

- Give Push Presses and Overhead Pin Presses a try. They have added more size to my delts than anything else.

- ** Arms/Full Body depletion wo day: this is where I'm lost.. I change every time and I didn't find an exercise that I like to start with, this day always starts kinda meh..
what gets you pumped and in the mood when doing arms?

- I actually just tried an arm/conditioning workout by Scott Abel. It's on T-nation and is called total body arm day or something like that. Also, try narrow grip chin-ups. Sets of ~5 slow, controlled reps are awesome.

- Legs/abs day: leg curls/prone curls (again opposite, love to start with these, it never fail to pump me up right away)

- Back day: some pull down, whether v-bar or standard wide grip lat machine

- For legs, either hack squats or leg press. I put my all into those two, so they have to be first so I have the energy to really push them. For back, almost always pull-ups.

 

[GTB]

hey bro

I'm quite the opposite here, I like isolation for warm up, I can't do big movements right away lol (aside from bench)
but the worst day is arms, sh#t I hate direct arms workout and right now I even have to hit tris twice a week
because i need to increase strength (they're holding my bench back) and every damn Wed I never know how to start
because anything just makes me sad in the pants lol I'd squat before doing direct arms wo [/QUOTE

Yeah, that's me. I usually do an iso movement especially for shoulders and tri. I like to start
chest tris with rope cable pulldowns, for some reason really loosen up my elbows/ and a pec deck high rep(good stretch)
Back/Bi's Back I always start with pull ups/bi's I like spider curls great pump
Legs/ shoulders High rep wide stance squats and high rep aronld press
We are all different, but since I am getting older stretching is key for a great workout.

 

[cisco_trooper]

I've been warming up 5 to 10 minutes on jump rope to get blood really flowing. Then my first set of every exercise is 12 to 15 reps at about 60% of the weight I'm using for the remaining sets. I'm happy with it so far.

 

[Gerbil]

Every workout a 5 minute walk. Gets the blood flowing.

 

[ZiR RED]

Every workout a 5 minute walk. Gets the blood flowing.

I bet

 

[thegodfather]

I do rotator cuff warmups and exercises before anything when i get to the gym. After one shoulder surgery, im not messing around anymore.

 

[Jonbero]

I always start with a 10 minute walk on the treadmill

Then I do the big compound movements first

Chest & biceps; Bench press
Legs; Squat
Back & triceps; Deadlift
Shoulders & lats; Military press

 

[Gerbil]

I bet

View attachment 51513

I am 6'0" 217lbs I really have to use my giant wheel other wise I wasted all the time and effort finding one that big.:rofl:

 

[C Rex]

I tend to start off with my compound movements heavy with one warm up of leight weight and high reps and end with sculpting, high rep/low weight exercises:

Chest: start w/ BB Bench (1 warm up set/ 6 sets total), end with cable flys (6 sets total)
Back: start with Deadlift(1 warm up set/ 6 sets total), end with reverse delt fly (6 sets total)
Shoulders: start with BB shoulder press (1 warm up set/ 6 sets total), end with lateral raise (6 sets total)
Legs: Begin with heavy squats (1 warm up set/ 6 sets total), end with leg extension(6 sets total) and uphill walk on tread mill.

 

[asooneyeonig]

i have a list of exercises that are best described as yoga/pilates like. they each have a focus body part or movement and i will do at least one each. 2-3 on a movement i am training that day. then i always end with some sort of overhead squat. and on deadlift days i like some light weight low rep cleans and power cleans.

 

[Young Gotti]

rotator cuff or extensive leg stretches then the first movement i usually do it was i consider to be the hardest or most beneficial exercise for each respective muscle, except deadlifts, i do those last because i feel if i do them first it really hampers the rest of my back workout

Chest: Incline DB or BB press
Tricep: Close grip weighted Dips or Skull crushers
Back: Wide grip weighted pull ups
Bis: BB or DB curl
Legs: Squat
Shoulders: BB or DB military press

 

[waynaferd]

I start with compounds, one plate per side, 5 or so reps, one more each side, 5 or so reps, then add the 35's, then 25's, etc, til I'm up to my working weight for whatever sets/reps