Two Warm-Up Features for Better Performance and Injury Prevention

 In October, I started reading Dr. John Rusin’s mammoth book, Pain Free Performance, and have been experimenting with his ideas in my warm-ups since then. 

When I was in my 20s, I could warm up by doing a few sets of progressively heavier power cleans starting with the empty barbell. But when you’re in your 40s and beyond, things change. You need a more thorough warm-up.

Since adopting this approach, my back feels better after my workouts, and I can squat deeper.

Feature 1: High-Rep Isolation Work

We’ve always done muscle activation work to warm up and support joints. Where we were missing out was that it was too easy for our fitter members. They were probably not properly prepared for heavy squats and deadlifts.

Now, I’m seeing high-rep warm-ups everywhere. The functional training people, powerlifters, and bodybuilders are all doing them. These groups never agree with each other.

High-rep work increases blood flow to joints and muscles, reducing your risk of injury and helping you lift more weight during your workout. You’re also building your muscular endurance, which will help you to work harder for longer in and out of the gym. Furthermore, you’re strengthening your muscles in their weakest positions, which could reduce cramping.

Below is a list of muscles we’re working and the area protected by working these muscles.

        Glutes = Low back and hips (Donkey Kick)

        Lats = Low back (Bent Over Lat Pull Down)

        Rotator cuff = shoulders (Face Pull)

        Hamstrings = knees (Bent Knee Hamstring Curl)

Feature 2: Slow/Controlled Movements

The next big change that we’ve made is adding a slow/controlled squat or deadlift to the warm-up, corresponding to the main strength exercise for the workout.

Kettlebell Romanian Deadlift

Goblet Squat

Slowing the movement down helps us to improve technique, firstly. Adding a pause at the bottom of the movement helps us develop strength and control where our muscles are most susceptible to injury. Moreover, our brains often don’t let our bodies move into positions where our muscles aren’t in control. By adding this control, we’re improving flexibility. 

Dr. Rusin prescribes three to five sets for each of these features, but one to three sets works best for us. 

In summary, what worked in your 20s won't work in your 40s and beyond. Dr. Rusin's warm-up approach, which combines high-rep isolation work with slow, controlled movements, effectively addresses this reality. When functional trainers, powerlifters, and bodybuilders are all using this method to reduce injuries in the gym, you know it’s a good option. By activating key muscles and practicing controlled movement patterns, you prepare your body for heavier lifting while reducing injury risk.

How Hard Do You Need to Train in the Gym?

In high school, I believed that harder was better. I crushed every workout, but underperformed in competition. As punishment for my poor performances, I would make up for it with another hard workout.

In grade 12, I learned about overtraining. I had experienced nearly all of the symptoms.

Symptoms of Overtraining (or more often, Overreaching)

Stagnant or declining performance

Lingering soreness

Higher perceived effort

Elevated resting heart rate

Chronic fatigue

Frequent illness

Poor sleep

Mood swings and irritability

Loss of motivation

In my final year of cross-country, I decided not to race each workout and raced consistently well. I then went back to my old ways, only to stagnate. I didn’t have another breakthrough until I was 24, again by training smarter.

In the last few years, several studies have compared training to failure with going easier on strength and muscle-building.

Note: The term “reps in reserve (RIR)” means how many reps you’re still able to perform after finishing a set. Training to failure means you have 0 RIR, while finishing your set with the ability to perform 3 more reps means you have 3 RIR.

A 2023 study by Ruple and colleagues compared lifting to near failure (0-1 RIR) to training moderately hard (4-6 RIR). 

They found little difference between groups in strength development. Training near failure, however, was more effective for muscle building.

This means that if you could have done 10 reps, doing only 4-6 reps is just as effective for strength development. You’ll feel a lot better after, too.

Four to six repetitions in reserve versus near failure is a wide gap. A 2025 study by Hermann and colleagues narrowed things down for us. They compared training to failure versus 2 RIR.

Training to failure was slightly better for muscle building, and there was no difference for strength or muscular endurance.

Why Might We See These Results?

The authors of these studies noted that coordination between muscles and within a muscle is important for strength development. Fatigue and soreness negatively affect the development of this coordination. Therefore, we don’t want to constantly train to the point of failure.

Muscle-building is a little different. Muscle fatigue and soreness can be beneficial, although not always necessary. 

How Can We Apply These Studies?

To maximize long-term progress, you need to train hard, but not so hard that it negatively affects your next workout.

For multi-joint exercises such as squats, deadlifts, and presses, you should leave two or more reps in reserve to build strength. This ensures better technique and a lower risk of injury. This is where starting your first sets lighter and building up to one or two top sets is beneficial.

Occasionally, push yourself to see how many reps you can complete at a given weight. If you’re newer to resistance training, you might not be good at estimating how many reps you have in reserve. 

When your progress stalls, take a deload. In a deload, you back off the volume or intensity for each exercise. Fatigue and fitness are in a constant battle. With a deload, you maintain fitness while reducing fatigue, supporting future improvements in performance.

For higher rep isolation exercises, you should train closer to failure. When introducing a new exercise, start with a few reps in reserve to prevent excessive soreness. In subsequent weeks, push one or two sets to near failure and test yourself occasionally.

In conclusion, your goal should be to train moderately to hard while ensuring proper technique, occasionally pushing yourself. 

Stimulate, Don’t Annihilate!

References:

Hermann, T., et al. Without Fail: Muscular Adaptations in Single-Set Resistance Training Performed to Failure or with Repetitions-in-Reserve. Medicine and Science in Sport and Exercise, 2025.

Ruple, B., et al. The effects of resistance training to near failure on strength, hypertrophy, and motor unit adaptations in previously trained adults. Physiological Reports, 2023.

Weights Only vs. Weights + Cardio

 For many years, we trained our members similarly, whether their goal was strength, muscle building, weight loss, healthy aging, or excelling in their favourite activities.

We got great results because there’s so much crossover between these training goals. Performing sets of 5-10 repetitions on multi-joint exercises checks a lot of boxes.

For example, getting stronger helps you handle heavier weights during your higher-rep muscle-building isolation exercises. It helps you to excel at your favourite activities and maintain independence as you age. Focusing on lower reps for strength is helpful when trying to lose weight, because it’s harder to train well if you’re constantly eating low-carb meals. 

In addition, we now know that training across a variety of rep ranges is equally beneficial for muscle development. Building muscle is great when you’re trying to lose weight. It boosts your metabolism for hours after you work out and helps ensure your weight loss comes from fat rather than muscle. Having more muscle is tied to healthy aging, and larger muscles tend to be stronger muscles. 

So, if our training was working, why did we change our programs?

1. Our members got bored with training the same way. Now, if they get bored with one program, they can simply switch to another. 

2. Higher rep isolation work helps your joints feel better.

3. We added bikes and battle ropes for cardio.

4. Training at more than one rep range leads to better results.

A recent study by Ari and colleagues (2025) compared a strength- and muscle-building program with a fat-loss program to determine which was better for strength, muscle building, and fat loss.

The program ran for 14-16 weeks, with sessions up to 90 min.

The strength and muscle-building sessions consisted of lifting heavier weights with 2-3 min rest between exercises.

The fat-loss sessions consisted of lifting moderately heavy weights in supersets. A superset is where you do two back-to-back exercises with short rest periods to elevate metabolism, build endurance, and get more work done in less time. The weight training was followed by 30 minutes of cardio in the form of high-intensity interval training (HIIT).

The results showed that both groups gained strength and muscle, while losing fat. 

However, the strength and muscle-building group gained more strength and muscle mass, while the fat loss group lost more body fat. 

A Better Program Design

These two programs were designed to be different to see if they produced different results.

But what if you want to lose weight AND build muscle? 

What if the strength and muscle-building group added a few supersets? 

What if the fat-loss group added a few lower-rep sets with heavier weights?

We prefer to combine elements from both designs because our members typically have multiple goals.

In summary, you can achieve great results for a variety of fitness goals by combining low reps/heavy weight with higher reps/moderate weight, combining exercises into supersets, and adding cardio at the end of your strength sessions.

Reference:

Arı, U., Ulupınar, S., Özbay, S. Comparison of grip strength measurements for predicting all-cause mortality among adults aged 20+ years from the NHANES 2011–2014. BMC Sports Science Medical Rehabilitation, 2025.

Building Strong Bones Through Exercise

Building strong bones to prevent osteoporosis and injury from falling is a goal for many of our members at Pratt’s Pro Fitness. I’m going to show you how to best go about building strong bones through exercise.

For years, some fitness influencers created a fear that lifting anything heavier than 3lb dumbbells would make you big and bulky. 

This was incorrect and benefited no one.

Unless you’re jumping with the weight or throwing it, 3 lbs provides no challenge to your bones and muscles. 

Now, the pendulum has swung the other way. Fitness influencers are claiming that you need to “Lift heavy s#!t.”

We’re not focusing on lifting heavy necessarily, but looking to exert a stress (force) on the bones. We can do that with high-impact activities like jumping and through low-impact activities like strength exercises … even bodyweight strength exercises like push-ups.

What does the research say?

A 2021 study by Kistler-Fischbacher and colleagues reviewed the research on developing bone density in post-menopausal women. They discovered that different regions of your body responded best to different intensities.

Note: 1RM stands for 1-repetition maximum. It’s the heaviest weight that you can lift for one repetition. On average, you can lift 80% of your 1RM for 8 repetitions, making that your 8RM.

They defined high, moderate, and low intensity as the following …

High force: Resistances greater than 80% of 1RM done for fewer than 8 reps and jump forces exceeding 4x bodyweight 

Moderate force: Resistances of 65-80% of 1 RM done for 8-15 reps and jump forces at 2-4x bodyweight

Low force: Resistances less than 65% of 1RM done for more than 15 reps and jump forces less than 2x bodyweight

Looking at the above description, you might wonder how you’re going to match those jump forces if you can’t lift 4x your bodyweight. 

Imagine you’re trying to bicep curl a 20lb dumbbell. Maybe it’s not that difficult to do. Now, try lifting it with a straight arm. It’s much harder because the lever is longer. 

Your muscles have terrible leverage. It would be much easier to curl a dumbbell if your bicep were connected from your shoulder to your wrist. However, you would be so bulky if your muscles were well-leveraged. Instead, your bicep is connected close to your elbow. To curl that 20lb dumbbell, your bicep has to tug on your forearm with 100lbs of force … and the force is applied for longer than a high-impact jump.

It’s not the amount of weight used, but how hard your muscles work. 

You can use weights, cables, resistance bands, or your own bodyweight. Your muscles and bones don’t know the difference.

What did the Kistler-Fischbacher study find?

High-intensity exercise wasn’t the best for all areas of the skeletal system.

The lumber spine responded best to high-intensity exercise. 

The femoral neck (upper thigh) responded best to moderate and low-intensity exercise.

The hip responded best to moderate-intensity exercise.

How do we apply this information to our 40+ year old members at Pratt’s Pro Fitness?

High-Intensity

We like to perform 5-8 reps on our main strength exercises. These weights are more forgiving than the ones that you can only lift for 1-3 reps.

Main strength exercises include variations of the deadlift, squat, lunge, and press.

For jumps, we’re careful about what exercises we give to our members because the impact forces are so high. We prefer to focus on the muscular power benefits of jumps and leave the skeletal benefits to strength exercises.

Low to Moderate-Intensity

Accessory exercises like rows, push-ups, step-ups, and isolation exercises are done for 8-25 reps.

A Word on Running

Until recently, I would have told you that running was great for building strong bones. However, runners' bones are no stronger than those of the average person. After the first few minutes of running, the signal to build your bones shuts off. The repeated stress from thousands of steps makes it a draw. Training with varied movement, like in a team sport, is better for building strong bones.

In conclusion, building strong bones is best done through a variety of movements and intensities in the gym and is not limited to high-impact jumping and lifting heavy weights.

Source:

Kistler-Fischbacher, M. et al., The effect of exercise intensity on bone in postmenopausal women (part 2): A meta-analysis. Bone, 2021.

 

Improve Your Step-Ups with This Technique

 The step-up is an exercise that trains the quads and glutes as well as improves balance. 

Try the technique in the video below if your goal is to use step-ups for strength or muscle building.

CLICK HERE 

Stay fit,

Jonathan

The Best Squat Variation You're Not Doing

 The goblet squat is our most used squat variation. 

Like other squat variations, it emphasizes the quads and glutes. As with the front squat, you’ll feel your upper back and probably your core, too.

What I like about the goblet squat is that it’s easier to stay upright and sit deeper compared to barbell variations. In fact, I now use it as a warm-up for my barbell squats.

In the video below, I’ll show you one cue to use to ensure you’re in a stronger position. You’ll also notice that my heels are elevated on a wedge. This helps with good posture, especially if you have poor ankle range of motion.

CLICK HERE

Stay fit,

Jonathan

Developing Three Muscle Qualities for a Healthy, Active Lifestyle

 

Introduction

Building strength, power, and muscle mass forms the foundation of a healthy, capable body. Whether your goal is to keep up with your kids, perform better in sports, or simply move through daily life with ease, developing these qualities can make a tremendous difference. Strength training isn’t just about lifting heavy weights; it’s about improving your ability to produce and control force in different ways. By understanding how building strength, power, and muscle mass work together, you can train smarter, stay active longer, and enjoy a higher quality of life.

Strength

Being strong helps make it easier to pick up your kids/grandkids, excel at sports and physical activities, carry your groceries, and climb stairs and hills. Plus, if these tasks are easier, you can do them for longer periods.

We typically think of developing strength through lifting heavy weights. But this isn’t the only way to do it. 

Strength is the ability to produce force.

Muscles can produce force in three ways: by shortening, lengthening, or staying the same length all while under tension. We typically experience these actions by lifting, lowering, and holding, respectively. 

It doesn’t matter what tools you use to develop strength. You can use free weights, bands, cables, machines, and even your bodyweight. The key is that your muscles are experiencing enough tension.

How much tension do you need? 

A textbook might tell you to use a resistance that allows you to perform 3-6 sets of 1-6 reps with 3-5 minutes of rest. However, my experience tells me that performing 2-3 sets of 5-8 reps will do a sufficient job while lowering your risk of injury.

Power

While we lose strength as we age, we lose power much faster.

Power is the ability to use our strength quickly. We need power for climbing stairs, fall prevention, and excelling in sports and other physical activities. 

(If you think you’re too young to worry about fall prevention, your risk increases after the age of 35.)

Another great benefit of power exercises is that they prime your body for better performance on strength exercises later in your workout.

If we want to improve power, strength training is part of the equation. Stronger people are generally more powerful and respond to power training faster.

However, our focus should be on faster movements. Athletes enjoy Olympic lifts, plyometrics and other jumps, medicine ball throws, and sprinting (often with resistance).

Our members are better served with simpler jumps, kettlebell swings, medicine ball throws, skips, and shuffles. Keep the repetitions in the 3-10 range to maintain quality.

The goal is to move fast, rather than use more weight. You might not be straining or feeling the burn, but these exercises are effective.

Muscle Mass

Preserving your muscle mass is important for maintaining good health.

Whether your goal is to build muscle, maintain muscle, or tone, the training is the same. Again, it doesn’t matter if you use free weights, machines, bands, cables, or bodyweight.

The most important part of building or maintaining muscle is using enough resistance. 

We used to think that you needed to use enough resistance to do 6-12 reps per set. More recent research shows that we can go lighter as long as our effort is high enough.

There are two additional ways to build muscle: through feeling the burn and making your muscles sore. Contrary to popular belief, though, you don’t have to experience soreness to get results.

Basically, every rep range works. We prefer doing 2-3 sets of 5-10 reps for multijoint exercises like squats and push-ups, and doing 1-2 sets of 12-20 reps or more for isolation exercises like tricep kickbacks and calf raises.

Conclusion

Building strength, power, and muscle mass isn’t reserved for athletes. It’s essential for everyone who wants to stay strong, independent, and active throughout life. 

You don’t need complex equipment or extreme workouts; you need consistent effort, proper resistance, and a focus on quality movement. Whether you’re goal is keeping up with your kids, excelling in an activity, or staying independent, every step toward greater strength supports a healthier, more capable you.

Try These 3 Push-Up Variations

Here are three push-up variations that you can use to bust through a plateau or prevent boredom.

WATCH HERE

Tips for Proper Execution

1. Make a double chin to keep your head in line with the rest of your spine.

2. Keep your elbows tucked 45 degrees to your body. Looking from the top down, you should look like an arrow rather than the letter T.

3. Squeeze your glutes and quads and brace your core to avoid sagging at the hips.

We do 5-12 reps for the close-grip variation and 3-6 reps per side for the push-up to T and single-leg variations. If you can do more reps from the floor, add a weight plate to your low back.

Stay fit,

Jonathan Pratt

Build Your Ankle Strength for Pickleball and Hiking

 A couple of months ago, I listened to an episode of the Jacked Athlete Podcast that changed the way we train calves. These tips will strengthen your ankles for hiking on trails and for sports like pickleball.

Usually, you would perform calf raises on a step to get extra stretch in the calves, but we didn't have a convenient way to do that in our space.

Bodybuilders often perform them by turning the feet in and out to emphasize different areas of the calves, but we focus on function and performance over aesthetics.

What I learned in the podcast episode is that the Achilles tendon has a lot of subdivisions rather than being one uniform tissue. That means to optimally develop it, we need to take the ankle through a greater range of motion and turn the feet in a variety of positions when performing calf raises.

To get more stretch in the calves, we started doing calf raises on 15 degree foam wedges purchased from BC Strength. This was a low-cost option that was convenient to set up.

We also started doing our calf raises with toes in, toes out, and toes straight. We do each position for 4-8 reps totalling 12-24 reps per set.

Finally, we added some calf raises into our warm-ups with our feet turned in and out like you would experience if you've ever twisted your ankle. We're not sure if we want to try loading this position.

You can check out that video here: Ankle Inversion/Eversion Calf Raise

We recommend doing 5-10 reps per position.

Stay fit,

Jonathan Pratt

Better Posture and Reduced Pain in Only 8 Weeks

 

We've started doing monthly check-ins at Pratt's Pro Fitness, and I wanted to share feedback from one of our newer members. You can read her response below. Here are a few of the exercises we've been using to work on Denise's posture. Face Pull TRX Single Arm Row Dumbbell Bench Row Stay fit, Jonathan Pratt P.S. If you're interested in setting up a call to see if we're the right fit for you, fill out our form here: Sign-Up

FREE Home Workout

        Now that commercial gyms are closed, perhaps you're wondering what workouts you can do from home to maintain your fitness. After all, working out and eating well are great ways to maintain a robust immune system. The great news is that fitness is a lot easier to maintain than it is to build in the first place. I've created a workout that anyone can do in their home.

Doing Something Is Better Than Nothing

        Unless you have a well-stocked home gym your workouts will have to be bodyweight only. For now, that's alright. Vladimir Issurin tells us in his book Block Periodization that different fitness qualities can be maintained for various lengths of time without training them. Flexibility needs to be trained every day, but aerobic endurance and strength can be maintained at a high level even if you miss 30 days! Anaerobic endurance -- the quality trained through high-intensity interval training -- can also be maintained for 18 days. If you're an athlete, you need to be worried about losing your speed as speed needs to be trained every five days.

Training for Speed

        You can easily train speed on the street outside your home 2-3 times per week. After a thorough warm-up that includes skipping, shuffling, and backpedalling, perform a few short runs building from 50% to 90%. Then, sprint at maximum effort for up to 5sec to develop acceleration or 5-8 sec to develop speed. Perform 3-6 sprints with rests of 2-5 min resting longer for longer sprints.

Maintaining Strength

        I've included a warm-up and short workout with several variations for each exercise depending on your fitness background. This workout can be completed 2-3 times per week.

Warm-Up

Perform each movement for 5-10 reps.
        Warm-Up

Workout

Perform these exercises in a circuit for 3-5 rounds.
        Lunge x5-10 reps per side
        Shoulder W x5 reps with 5sec hold
        Hip Thrust x10-15 reps
        Push-Up x5-10
        Side Plank x15-30sec per side

Progressing

       Option 1: Try a more difficult variation of each exercise.

       Option 2: Perform more reps per set. This has diminishing returns.

       Option 3: Increased time under tension. In addition to performing more reps, you can place the           muscles under tension for more time by slowing the movement down or adding pauses.

       Option 4: Be creative. Fill a backpack, gym bag, or suitcase with books. This will add additional         resistance to exercises like squats and lunges and allow you to perform rowing variations.

Maintaining and Building Conditioning

        Conditioning is easy to maintain and even build now that the weather is warming up. Stick with walking and running if that's what you like. If you've been getting in your cardio through low-impact activities such as rowing or cycling, build into running slowly. Start with alternating jogging with walking and build volume by 10% per week.

        Another option is the extensive tempo method. While this method was developed for track sprinters as a recovery day, most people can do it. The goal is to maintain a modest heart rate of 120-150 beats per minute through running at 60-75% effort. In other words, this is neither a jog nor a sprint. After a warm-up, run 8x15sec at 60-75% effort resting for 30sec or until your heart rate drops to 120 beats per minute. Add two reps per week.

        If you have any questions about this workout or fitness in general, please contact me through my website.

Stay fit,

Jonathan Pratt
Pratt's Pro Fitness