How many warm-up sets do I need?

Three to five before a heavy compound lift. The heavier the working set relative to your max, the more steps the ramp needs, because each jump has to stay small enough to stay easy.

Do warm-up sets count as training?

No, and treating them as training is the mistake this ramp is built to avoid. The reps fall as the weight rises specifically so the ramp costs you nothing.

Do I need to warm up for accessory work?

Usually one light set is enough. A ramp matters for lifts where the working weight is a large fraction of your maximum, which is mostly the squat, bench, deadlift and overhead press.

Should I rest between warm-up sets?

Long enough to change the plates and breathe. Sixty seconds is plenty until the last step, which deserves the same rest as a working set.

Calculator

Warm-up set calculator

A ramp from the empty bar to your working weight. Four sets, falling reps, rising load, with the plates for each one.

Build the ramp

Working weight

Bar

Rest about a minute between the early steps and the same as a working set before the last one. The whole ramp should take five or six minutes.

Set	Weight	Reps	Each side
1	20	10	bar only
2	40	8	10
3	55	5	15 + 2.5
4	70	3	25
5	85	1	25 + 5 + 2.5
Work	100	as written	25 + 15

How it works

A warm-up ramp gets the bar heavy gradually, so the first working set is not also the first time the weight feels real. It runs from the empty bar upward, adding load while taking reps away, and it should leave you fresher than when you started rather than tired.

Enter your working weight and your bar, and the calculator prints the ramp. It opens on the empty bar, then runs sets at roughly forty, fifty-five, seventy and eighty-five percent, with the reps for each and the plates to load.

Working up to a hundred kilos gives ten reps with the empty bar, eight at forty, five at fifty-five, three at seventy and a single at eighty-five. That is five sets and about six minutes, and the last one weighs eighty-five kilos, so the hundred does not arrive as a surprise.

The falling reps are what keeps the ramp cheap. Eight reps at forty percent costs almost nothing; eight at eighty-five would cost you the session. Each step gets closer to the working weight and shorter, so total fatigue stays near zero while the movement gets rehearsed at the load you are about to use.

Sets lighter than the bar cannot exist, so any percentage landing under it is dropped. That is why a light working weight produces a short ramp. There is nothing meaningful between an empty bar and sixty kilos, and inventing steps there would only waste time.

Questions

How many warm-up sets do I need?: Three to five before a heavy compound lift. The heavier the working set relative to your max, the more steps the ramp needs, because each jump has to stay small enough to stay easy.
Do warm-up sets count as training?: No, and treating them as training is the mistake this ramp is built to avoid. The reps fall as the weight rises specifically so the ramp costs you nothing.
Do I need to warm up for accessory work?: Usually one light set is enough. A ramp matters for lifts where the working weight is a large fraction of your maximum, which is mostly the squat, bench, deadlift and overhead press.
Should I rest between warm-up sets?: Long enough to change the plates and breathe. Sixty seconds is plenty until the last step, which deserves the same rest as a working set.