Request to WBA: How do you warm up for squats?

[spesmilitis]

At first I used to be hesitant to do squat warm ups. I remember you mentioned you take about 30 minutes to warm up for squats. I was like 'I spend so much energy doing squats, if I have to save as much energy as I can'. Well, through out the my last several squat workouts, each time I added some mobility/dynamic stretch or cardio because I felt like they would give me a smoother squat. Low and behold, my warmup is now about 30 minutes.

Now that I accept the fact that warming up is necessary to squat good, I want to know how to warm up correctly.

 

[stinkyape]

I usually spend 30/40mins boxing/kicking a heavy bag when I get to the gym - That includes dynamic strectching (legs) and static stretches (upper body). Gets me nice and limber throughout my whole body, but I don't go too hard if I'm going to be lifting weights - Don't want to wear myself out. After that if I'm doing squats I'll do one quick set (12 to 20 reps) without any weight (no bar), then just the bar for another quick set, and then perhaps one set with 60kgs (~125lb or something for you backwards types who are stuck in the past ). Then I move onto actual weights... So yeah, what I do is spend plenty of time warming up doing other stuff that I enjoy - And it works good. No leg injuries from squats, ever. I did tweak my back the other week though, but nothing serious! Just too much weight!!

 

[shaunuk]

http://www.ironaddicts.com/forums/showthread.php?t=3404

-shaun

 

[Warboss Alex]

Just like in the IA article but I do a bunch more with the lighter sets (10 reps or so) but I do have a bad knee which needs a lot of loosening up. I also do quad and hamstring stretches between all sets, warmups included.