Warm-Up Set Calculator

Your Warm-Up Plan

Start with Set 1 and follow the sets in order. The weight climbs while the reps fall, helping you practice the lift without turning the warm-up into another hard workout.

The plan is a starting point. If the jumps feel too large, add a lighter set or change the percentages. If you are already warm and the working weight is light, you may need fewer sets.

Change Your Warm-Up When You Need To

The fast path needs only your working weight. The starter ramp, reps and rounding are already filled in.

Open Customize your warm-up when you want another set, different reps, smaller jumps, or exact bar and collar details. Your changes stay attached to the result you save.

Weight unit

Choose lb or kg to match the weight you use in the gym.

Your first working-set weight

Enter the weight of the first hard set you plan to perform after warming up.

Warm-up ramp

The starter plan is already filled in: 40% × 5 reps, 60% × 3 reps and 80% × 1 rep. Open Customize your warm-up to edit, add or remove sets.

Weight rounding

The default is 5 lb. When you switch to kg, the default becomes 2.5 kg. Change it if your equipment uses another step.

Equipment details

Simple rounding works for dumbbells, machines and most quick plans. Choose Barbell when the empty bar and collars need to set the minimum usable weight.

See How Your Warm-Up Builds

The chart shows each rounded warm-up weight on the way to your working set. Use it to spot a jump that looks too large before you start lifting.

The data table gives the same set order, weights and units for screen readers, copying and printing.

How Your Warm-Up Weights Are Calculated

Each set starts as a percentage of the working weight you entered. The calculator then rounds down to the equipment step so a warm-up does not become heavier than the planned percentage.

For the starter ramp, the calculation uses 40%, 60% and 80%. Open Customize your warm-up to replace those percentages or change the reps.

A 225 lb Warm-Up Example

This checked example uses pounds. It comes directly from the same calculator that produces your result.

Select “Use example” to load these values. If you choose kilograms in the calculator, the chart and personalized tables recalculate in kilograms.

When to Adjust the Starter Ramp

No single warm-up sequence fits every lift, working weight, training age or day. Add a step when a jump feels too large, reduce the reps if a warm-up feels tiring, and use your program’s prescribed warm-up when it provides one.

Research supports warming up in general, while strength-coaching guidance also emphasizes that the exact number and spacing of sets should remain flexible. The 40% / 60% / 80% starter ramp is an editable Endura planning default, not a claim of one optimal protocol.

• Effects of warming-up on physical performance: a systematic review with meta-analysis — Fradkin, Zazryn and Smoliga (2010).
• How should I warm up? — Barbell Medicine moderated coaching guidance (2019).
• Guide for the Use of the International System of Units (SI) — NIST (2008).

Related Warm-Up and Weight Tools

Use the next tool for the part of your workout you still need to plan.

• Barbell Plate Calculator

  Turn each barbell warm-up total into a plate arrangement.

• One Rep Max and Rep Max Calculator

  Estimate a max first if your chosen warm-up percentages use a max reference.

• RPE Calculator

  Record effort after the working set; warm-up percentages do not predict RPE.

• Smith Machine Weight Calculator

  Confirm Smith-machine starting resistance before selecting light warm-up totals.

• Dumbbell Bench Press 1RM Calculator

  Calculate a dumbbell-bench estimate using the same per-hand or pair convention.