Some people warm up before Weight Work Outs and some don't. Which one are you?
In the beginning of my Bodybuilding career, I really wasn't sure what a warm up was. I just did a few minutes of slight stretching and that was it. I always felt that the first set of the exercise was my warm up. For example if I was doing chest, the first set of light bench presses was enough for me. I didn't want to do anything prior to take my strength away.
Besides we didn't have any treadmills, or life cycles to warm up on. If I did 4 sets for an exercise the light one first didn't count, so it ended up being 5 sets.
This carried true for every exercise and body part and worked well for me. In the Golden Era this is what most of the people did in their workouts.
Moving on in time there are so many other options in training now with cross fit, aerobics, yoga and on and on. But bodybuilding was my love and the results on the body you could carry around with you. It didn't mean you were in the best shape cardio wise but at least good to look at. The way around that now is to do a cardio weight workoutt with 30 second rest between sets. This covers both areas.
When the new gyms came about with all the cardio machines, i would incorporate the treadmill or bike after my workout and at that time, I was already warmed up but I did it for circulation. Living here in California, the weather is always warm so long warm ups aren't necessary but when I was wrestling in Minnesota during the winter it took an hour and I still was freezing in the gym.
Over the years as you train you can't help but get injuries, sore joints, pulled muscles and it's painful. Does that come from not warming up or just age? I have to believe that some comes from heavy training and some from maybe not warming up but most comes from age.
To this day I can still walk into the gym and go right to the weights to train and feel fine. There are some days that I will ride the bike first but that's not working the area that I'm going to train so it really doesn't warm that up. It just helps with circulation and I still feel that it can take away from my overall strength when I get to the weights. Especially 20 minutes on the bike.
I alternate now with maybe 10 minutes on the bike then right to the weights but in most cases I go right into my workout. You should at least get some slight stretching to the body part that you are going to work first but just a few minutes and make sure the first set is light and a warm up set.
Try it both ways and see what works for you.