// FREE CALCULATOR //

Warm-Up Calculator

Enter your first working weight and how many warm-up sets you want. You get a ramp of plate-friendly jumps, reps falling from 10 to singles, with the plates for each set. It is the ramp the IronLedger app suggests before a working set.

1 to 12 warm-up setsPlates for every setkg or lbSame ramp as the app

// WARM-UP TO 315 LB //

Warm-up sets with plates per side
Set	Weight × reps	Each side
W1	95 × 10	1 × 25 lb
W2	155 × 5	1 × 45 lb + 1 × 10 lb
W3	215 × 1	1 × 45 lb + 1 × 35 lb + 1 × 5 lb
W4	265 × 1	2 × 45 lb + 2 × 10 lb
Work	315	3 × 45 lb

Start with a set or two on the empty bar first if you like; the ramp begins at the first loaded step.

// HOW THE RAMP IS BUILT //

Four rules, no guesswork.

Steps you can load

Every warm-up lands on the bar plus a multiple of 10 (10 kg or 10 lb), so between steps the plates change by a single size rather than to an awkward percentage.

Where it starts

For a working weight of 100 or more, the first warm-up is the bar plus 50 or half the working weight, whichever is lower: 70 kg for most heavy kilo lifts. Lighter lifts start near 40%.

Where it ends

The last warm-up lands near 85% of your working weight and always more than 10 below it, so the first working set is still the heaviest thing you lift.

Reps that taper

10 reps on the first warm-up, 5 on the second, then singles. With two warm-ups it is 10 and 3; with three, 10, 3 and 1; a single warm-up is 5 reps.

One difference from the app: its steps stop at the bar plus 230, which would leave a 405 lb squat with a top warm-up of 275 lb. This page keeps adding steps of 10 above that. Up to about 300 kg or 325 lb on a standard bar, the two give identical ramps.

// QUICK ANSWERS //

Common working weights, ramped.

Four warm-ups on a standard bar.

Four-set warm-up ramps for common working weights
Working weight	Warm-ups (weight × reps)
100 kg	50 × 10, 60 × 5, 70 × 1, 80 × 1
140 kg	70 × 10, 90 × 5, 100 × 1, 120 × 1
180 kg	70 × 10, 100 × 5, 130 × 1, 150 × 1
225 lb	95 × 10, 125 × 5, 155 × 1, 195 × 1
315 lb	95 × 10, 155 × 5, 215 × 1, 265 × 1
405 lb	95 × 10, 175 × 5, 265 × 1, 345 × 1

// BEFORE AND AFTER //

Fits the rest of the session.

How many is enough

The longer answer, with what changes for heavier lifts and later exercises, is in how many warm-up sets to do.

Find the working weight

Not sure what to load? Estimate a max with the one rep max calculator, or pick a load by effort with the RPE calculator.

Any other load

The plates column uses standard gym plates. For your own set of plates or a different bar, use the plate calculator.

// DIRECT ANSWERS //

Questions lifters ask.

How many warm-up sets should I do?

Enough to reach your working weight without tiring yourself, which is usually more sets for heavier lifts. Four is the default here and in the IronLedger app, and you can choose from 1 to 12. Our guide on how many warm-up sets to do covers the reasoning.

How do you calculate warm-up sets?

This calculator spreads the warm-ups from about half your working weight (for lifts of 100 or more, never above the bar plus 50) up to about 85% of it, then moves each one to the nearest load you can make with common plates. Reps go 10, 5, then singles.

Why are the warm-up weights not exact percentages?

Because percentages rarely load cleanly. 47% of 140 kg is 65.8 kg, which no plate set makes; 70 kg is a 25 kg plate a side. Each step lands on the bar plus a multiple of 10, so the plates change by one size at a time.

Should warm-up sets be heavy?

Heavy enough to rehearse the lift, light enough not to cost you working reps. That is why the reps drop as the weight climbs: the last warm-ups are singles, close to working weight but far from failure.

Do warm-up sets count toward training volume?

Usually not, and IronLedger doesn’t: its suggested warm-ups are not saved or counted toward your stats. Only your working sets are.

Does IronLedger suggest warm-ups?

Yes. Before a working set, the IronLedger logger suggests a warm-up ramp from 1 to 12 sets that you can edit and send to the plate calculator. This page uses the same ramp; for very heavy working sets it adds steps the app doesn’t, as explained above.

// SOURCES //

Where the maths comes from.

IronLedger: how many warm-up sets should you do?

Warm-ups ready before every set

The IronLedger logger suggests this warm-up ramp before each working set, and one tap sends a warm-up to the plate calculator. Free, with no subscription. iPhone now; Android is in closed testing.

Get IronLedger free on iOS

Use it from an AI assistant

The same calculation is a free JSON API at /api/tools/warm-up and a tool on the IronLedger MCP server, so an assistant can run it and link back to this page with your numbers.

API and MCP details

// MORE TOOLS //