warming up
Single Versus Multiple Sets - A Historical Perspective
A few months ago I was reading the DeLorme and Watkins 1951 book Progressive Resistance Exercise as historical research for the book I’m working on, and found the following statement about single versus multiple sets:
Pages 27-28
“Three sets of exercise in which the resistance is increased after each set offers the advantage of warming up the muscle but probably does not contribute toward increasing the muscle strength. By doing 10 repetitions only with the 10-RM strength increases would be approximately the same as when three sets are performed. In fact, if it were not important to set the physiological stage preparatory to a maximum exertion, only one set of 10 repetitions would suffice. This has been demonstrated time and again in the clinic in the treatment of injuries in young athletes. The validity is also attested to by the fact that many of the strongest strength athletes never perform more than 10 repetitions for any one exercise. Incredible as it may seem, many athletes have developed great power and yet have never employed more than five repetitions in a single exercise.”
According to Bill Hinbern, David Willoughby said nobody used “sets” prior to World War II, although it was common to perform two or three different exercises per muscle group. Decades of research and in-the-gym experience show the single-set approach is just as valid today as it was back when our grandfathers and great grandfathers might have started lifting weights.
Warming Up
Most of the physical benefits of a warm up - increased blood flow to the muscles, enhanced metabolic reactions, reduced muscle viscosity, increased extensibility of connective tissue, improved conduction velocity of action potentials, etc. - are obtained during the first few repetitions of an exercise. If a moderate or higher repetition range is used, the first few repetitions of an exercise warm up and prepare the muscles and joints involved for the harder reps later in the set and a separate warm up is not required. Additionally, each exercise performed helps prepare the muscles and joints for subsequent exercises they’re involved in.
I do not perform a warm up for the majority of exercises in my workout, and do not have the people I train warm up for their workouts with a few of the following exceptions, and no one has been injured as a result. Like most aspects of exercise, whether to perform a warm up or not depends on the individual and the specifics of the workout being performed. › Continue reading