In came a great question a couple of days ago - on pull-ups, at that - he was wanting to know if I counted warm up sets as part of my routine. 

Great Question A! 

Now before I address this - I've been very vocal about the fact I hardly, if ever warm up before diving into my routines. Even straight out of bed I'll dive into HIndu pushups and such, but sometimes, what if it's freezing cold - or you're sore as heck - and so forth? 

I hardly warm up per se even in those instances. 

What I DO do is isometrics - and partials to get the blood flowing often times. 

I dont walk or jog to warm up - though I do plenty of it otherwise. 

I dont engage in lengthy stretching before my workouts - I do so after. 

I dont do routines "for warmups" first. 

No. 

Would be pointless in terms of time if I did that, one of the main things I keep saying in the 0 Excuses Fitness System, and indeed a main USP (unique selling point) is the fact you dont need loads of time at all for a full workout including everything - every part of the body. 

And while beyond the dead hang I dont need warmups at all for pull-ups, lets answer it in terms of pushups. 

Often times, I'll hold the isometric like I just said. 

Or, I'll do partials - slowly. 

Or, I might go 80% down on some of the initial reps. 

I might be a bit shaky as I "get into the movement". and so forth. 

Once that phase is over, I'll usually do something else like swing clubs or dead hangs for a minute or so, then I'm fully "Warmed up and ready to go". 

If you do it right so will you! 

Sometimes I even do 15 perfect reps for a warm up - slow and easy - then come back an hour later and do 85 more pushups to finish a bare minimum of 100 daily. 

And so forth. 

It all depends, its up to you in terms of how serious you are about your training, how you KNOW that simply being stiff and sore ain't an excuse to be lazy and skip workouts. 

Now, the million dollar question, do I count the reps? 

Sometimes I do - differently. 

5 slow pushups done 70% of the way done, I'll count as one rep, if I do half a jerky stiff pull-ups, it's half a rep, and so forth. 

So I do count 'em, depending ...

But if its just a hold, or "shaking hold" with the ab wheel (great new video out on that - despite me saying I wouldn't do videos today, after writing that last email to you, I got in the mood!) .... then I won't count 'em as part of rep counts for the regular workout. 

And that holds true for every exercise I do. 

So thats the answer, A! 

(Alex). 

And - hope that helped some of you as well. 

The 0 Excuses Fitness System is warmed up and ready to go for you HERE - https://0excusesfitness.com/0excusesfitnessystem/

I hope you dont need a lengthy warmup for the index finger on that one, hehe. 

Best, 

Rahul Mookerjee