Warmup Set Calculator
A good warmup wakes up the movement without spending the energy you need for the real work. Enter your working weight and Herculog lays out a clean ramp — a handful of progressively heavier sets, reps dropping as the bar climbs — so you arrive at your top set primed, not tired.
| Set | Weight | Reps | % of work |
|---|
How the ramp is built
Tell the calculator your working weight and how many warmup sets you want, and it spreads that many sets evenly from the bar (or about 40% if you're not using a barbell) up to roughly 90% of your top set. Reps fall as the load climbs — around 5 down to a single — and every weight is rounded to something you can actually load. Fewer sets means bigger jumps; add sets for a heavier or more technical lift to smooth the climb. The last row is your working set, called out in bold.
Why warm up at all
Warmups do three quiet jobs. They raise muscle temperature and blood flow so tissue is more pliable and less injury-prone; they rehearse the movement groove so your first heavy rep isn't your first rep of the day; and they let your nervous system "find" the weight, which is why a top set often feels lighter after a proper ramp than it would cold. The trick is doing enough to prepare without doing so much that the warmup itself becomes fatiguing — which is exactly what the descending reps prevent.
Adjusting for your lift
- Heavier and more technical lifts want more ramp. A near-max squat or deadlift deserves every step; a set of lateral raises needs one light set or none.
- Later exercises need less. Once you've warmed up for your first heavy press, later pushing movements are already prepared — take a token set and get to work.
- Keep warmup reps submaximal. The rep targets here are easy on purpose. If a warmup set feels like real effort, the weight jumped too fast — add a step.
- Add a general warmup first. A few minutes of light cardio and mobility before the bar work primes the whole system; this calculator handles the specific, per-lift ramp.
Logging warmups
Warmups belong in your log for completeness, but not in your numbers. Because they're deliberately light, counting them would inflate your volume and drag down your estimated 1RM. That's why Herculog lets you flag a set as a warmup: it's saved, but excluded from every metric and personal record — only your working sets shape the charts.
FAQ
How many warmup sets should I do?
Three to five for a heavy compound: empty bar, then a few rising jumps with falling reps. Lighter or later exercises need fewer, or none.
Should warmup sets count toward my volume?
No — they're too far from failure to drive adaptation, and counting them skews your metrics. Flag them as warmups so they're logged but excluded, the way good tracking handles them.
Do I need to warm up for every exercise?
Warm up thoroughly for the first heavy lift of a movement pattern; after that, exercises hitting the same muscles need little or none.
Does the calculator store my numbers?
No — it runs entirely in your browser and saves nothing, matching Herculog's privacy-first approach.
Set your work weight in a plan with the Plan Builder, flag your warmups in Herculog, and let the app keep your metrics honest — only the real sets count.
More free tools
Load the bar, estimate a max, or dial effort with RPE — all in the browser, all private.