Russian squat program: how do you warm up for the working sets?

[matjusm]

I’m sure that there are quite a few people here who have done the Russian squat program or at least have general knowledge of it.

I’ve done it twice before and saw progress and want to go through another cycle.

I have however one question: what is the recommended warmup for it? I mean this in terms of reps and weight used.

Right now my max is 170kg, as such the magical 80% is 136kg (though I’ll go for 135 due to lack of fractional plates).

I always do my Olympic lifting (primary focus of my training, not powerlifting) first so I’m already somewhat warmed up from snatches/cleans.

I’m thinking:
5x60kg (35%)
5x100kg (59%)
4x120kg (70%)
Then the 6 sets at 80%. As the reps on the working sets go up, I think I might want to increase my warm-ups as well so when doing 6x6, I’d be warming up with sets of 6 as well.

Does that sound reasonable? What have you used to warm up for the Russian squat routine?

[TrettinR]

I'm not a fan of a pre-written warmup routine as I don't know how I'll feel from day to day. Somedays I need more warmups, somedays I need less. Just do what you need to do to get your body ready for your working sets.

[olyw8lifter]

Don't know how you'll fair doing the Oly lifts first with this program (been there, done that, and it didn't turn out well). I would think about doing the squats first, then use whatever energy you have left on the lifts. How are you planning on programming the lifts while running this so you have enough energy left for squats?

[Ownster8932]

I'm currently trying it for the first time. Day 5 is tomorrow. Yes, that warm-up sounds fine to me. Pretty similar to what I do. I always do 5-10 mins of dynamic stretching first and then my squat warm-up basically looks the same. Not sure the set at 70% is needed, but I don't think it is a big deal either way.

I agree about doing the squats first. If you are doing the routine, it is because squats is what you would really like to increase currently, is it not? So to me, it seems to make sense to do that first.

[MSDPL]

i wouldnt over think it; ur 80% is 300lbs; so personally i'd do. barx10 135x5 185x3 225x3 optional; 275x1-3 then do my working sets

[IcemanIsDead]

I have found this to be the best as far as getting lubed up and ready (no homo):

Bar 2x5
40 kg 1x5
60 kg 1x5
80 kg 1x3
100 kg 1x1
120 kg 1x1

If you do it more or less back to back you will get warmed up properly, I wouldn't do too many reps above 60%, try to save your energy for the working sets and focus on slightly more reps in the lower percent range to get warm. The reps over 60% are simply primers that get you ready for heavier weights.