FT Questions....

[Scott Stevenson]

Hi all.
I have a few ideas as to what to do here but man I fo love a good topic of intelligent conversation.

#1 Issue is warm up sets. Mainly for thigh movements. I can do multiple warm up sets to get ready to squat or leg press etc. Or, I have done my quad and hamstring movements for the day before. Especially calves which leads to increased dorsiflexion in my squats.Possible issues are weakening of the muscles leading into llower weight moved on the compound movement. Issue 2 less overall work done due to less total sets.

If you are fatiguing yourself with your warm-ups in a way that hinders performance, then you have done too much. (The only exception would be that if you find you NEED To do that much warm-up for the sake of injury prevention, in which case it's a necessary evil.)

The question / issue of warm-ups is brought up regularly (here and on other boards). It's an individual thing - do what you need to do and if you're not sure what that is, then simple trial and error should help.

And I've mentioned this before: If you're not able to tune in during a warm-up, you may also be incapable of doing a good job of auto regulating, which is an important part of FT. I'll just leave it at that.

#2 muscle rounds. For those of us who do no cardio and are in poor cardiovascular shape, it can often hinder the work we can do. For example my legs could do a MR of squats with 250ish but due to my cardio performance I only do 225lbs. Would it be advisible to add in some conditioning work to the week so that eventually I can do the poundages possible or shall one just stay at the 225lb?

You'll adapt to the specific demands placed upon you. Cardio, HIIT, sled dragging or what have you will simply cut into recovery.

Exception would be if you're coming back from a lay off and are in horrible shape.

Lastly, free bar squats are not recommended for MR's. Part of your issue may be that you're expending too much energy racking and re-racking the bar. If you are doing free back back squats for MR's, I'd stop doing so - it's an injury that's found a place to happen.

-S