How do you warm up? Do you need stretching and flexibility? And is aerobics also worth it?

What is warm-up? Is it important? And what is the ideal warm-up?

As you know (or don't know yet), I share a bit of my experience here about powerlifting and strength development. I don't abuse mice for the sake of extensive research, and needless to say, my mice never did any stretching before deadlifting. Studies have their place, but here I want to address the issues from my perspective, and what has worked for me and others in practice. As usual, feel free to comment and enlighten me, it only adds to my well-groomed humility, that I do not know everything and am always learning.

Well, warming up is preparing the body for the action we want to perform, and the ideal warm-up is what will best prepare us for that action.

It is stated in the Gemara in Tractate Berakhot, "The early Hasidim would stay for one hour before prayer." These people felt that an hour of concentration, meditation, or I don't know what, helped them prepare in the best way for the action they wanted to perform. The goal was to pray with immense concentration, to the point where they would detach themselves from everything that was happening around them, to the point where even a snake tied to their heel would not disturb their minds.

We have something to learn from those followers when it comes to powerlifting, we need to find what will help us perform complex actions that require a lot of concentration, mental strength, breaking mental boundaries and preparing the body physically. A full hour is a long time to warm up, but we need to discuss this matter openly and objectively.

So, the warm-up is the preparation of the body and mind, and if I may add, also the soul, for the required action.
It is very important, although some people find it more important than others, and the ideal warm-up will be slightly different for each person, but I will try to find the common warm-ups that help most people without detracting from those people who do other things.

Can running or walking be my warm-up?

Walking/running is a very common warm-up, perhaps because it has become something that coaches push on their trainees, not for the warm-up, but to develop cardiorespiratory endurance. And many trainees feel like they can't lift weights before fifteen minutes on the treadmill.

It's important for me to say that you won't be ready to do your work set right after this, so this doesn't have to be your warm-up, but it can be part of your warm-up. Just make sure it doesn't exhaust you.
So, if you find that you are more ready to workout after some time on the treadmill, go for it. But try it without the treadmill too, you might be surprised to find that you are just as ready without the treadmill.

Can stretching be part of my warm-up?

Studies have shown that stretching actually impairs the ability to perform the work set, so the simple answer is that it should not be included in the list of your various warm-ups for training.

Although I love research as much as many of the readers of these lines, I must say that there are exceptions to whom I would recommend stretching before a workout, and I fear that may even be the majority of readers here.

If you can't easily perform the movement of the exercise you are preparing for. And you have a movement limitation, sometimes 5 minutes of specific stretching will help you reach the desired range of motion, thus performing the movement more efficiently. If so, it would be worth the small loss of strength to perform the exercise correctly and comfortably. And it won't always even come at the expense of strength.

Here's an example: In my squat, I felt that with a closer grip I would be able to contract my back more, control the bar more, and therefore be more stable, and see