First, it is essential to warm up. Stretching is highly recommended, as is a balanced intelligent diet and rest.
There are, of course, numerous different warm-up techniques, but the one described here is simple and effective for our purposes (the times given are for reference):
1. Begin with gentle to moderate cardiovascular exercise, not only to activate your heart and breathing but also to ready yourself mentally for the training session (“psychological warm-up”). 5 to 10 minutes.
2. Warm up your joints around the area you intend to work out without using weights. 2 or 3 minutes.
3. Start with a couple of sets of the basic exercise you intend to do first, using only half the usual weight. It is also advisable to warm up the synergetic and fixing muscles involved in the exercises you plan to do. These are almost always the abdominal and lower back muscles (lumbar region). 5 or 6 minutes.
4. Briefly stretch the muscles concerned in the planned exercises. 2 or 3 minutes.
5. Begin the training session, making the first set lighter than the rest.