REVERSE LUNGE WITH TWIST AND OVERHEAD REACH

  Stand with your feet hip-width apart, hands at your sides. Lunge back with your right leg, while turning your head and shoulders to the left and reaching over your head with your right arm. Hold for 1 second. Return to the starting position, then lunge backward with your left leg, turning your shoulders to the right and reaching overhead with your left arm. Do 5 lunges with each leg. INCHWORM ? Stand with your feet together. Bend forward and place your hands on the floor. Walk your hands out until you're in a push-up position, with your body forming a straight line from neck to ankles. Now walk your feet up to your hands. Do 5 to 8 repetitions. Now comes the most important part of the warm-up: preparing your body for the specific exercises you're about to perform. If the first exercise in your workout is squats, for example, you want to do at least a set or two to get your body ready. How many warm-up sets you do depends on whether the workout calls for light, medium, or heavy weights: Light (more than 12 repetitions per set) Do one warm-up set of 8 repetitions with about two-thirds of the weight you'll be using in your first set. In Stage 1, you 'll be starting each workout with either squats or deadlifts. Your initial workouts call for two sets of 15 repetitions of those exercises. Since you aren't likely to use a lot of weight, you could simply warm up using your body weight on the squats, and perhaps an empty barbell for the deadlifts. I don't like to prescribe specific starting weights for any exercise (as I'll explain in the next section) , so this is really up to you. The key is to practice the exercise through the full range of motion before doing the "work" sets, the ones listed in the workout charts. Medium (8 to 12 repetitions per set) Do two warm-up sets: • 5 to 8 reps with about 50 percent of the weight you'll use in your first set • 4 to 6 reps with about 75 percent of the first -set weight Heavy (fewer than 8 repetitions per set) Do three warm-up sets: • 5 to 6 reps with about 50 percent of the weight you'll use in your first set • 3 to 4 reps with about 75 percent of the first -set weight • 2 to 3 reps with about 90 percent of the first -set weight This is for the first exercise in each workout. Should you do warm-ups for subsequent exercises? That's up to you. I don't know of any research that answers the question. In my own workouts, I'll do warm-up sets for any exercise calling for heavy weights with muscles I haven't already used in the workout. So if the first exercise is squats or deadlifts (lower body) and the next exercise is bench presses or rows (upper body) , and the weights are heavy (fewer than 8 repetitions) , I recommend doing a warmup set or two for that subsequent exercise. I wish I could be more specific, but the truth is that additional warm-up sets could have a negative effect if they sap some of the energy you need to complete the workout. But at the same time, your muscles, joints, and nerves will always perform better with proper preparation. So the best advice I can offer is to preserve energy by minimizing warm-ups before doing high-repetition sets. When the workout calls for low reps and heavy weights, go for safety and performance by warming up specifically for the first two or three exercises in that routine, and use your own judgment on subsequent exercises. If you feel that you need a specific warm-up for any exercise, at any point in your routine, you probably do.