The way I like to work around this is by putting 1-2 isolation hypertrophy movements first in the session BEFORE the heavy/hard training begins. Usually, this will be an antagonist exercise to the main motion of the day. For example, if the first main exercise of the day was the bench press, we can warmup with an antagonist movement (in this case, some sort of rear delt row). By doing 3-4 hard working sets (to failure, if necessary) of rear delts before bench press, we can warmup our body without actually impacting performance on the main lift. This is also helpful if you tend to skip your hypertrophy work: if we move it the the start of the session, you can't skip it!
For the squat, I like warming up with 3 working sets of calf raises. This warms up the ankles and increases mobility temporarily so that we can achieve a better bottom position in the squat. Doing the calf raises seated is better for this since the bent knee angle will have slightly more carryover to the bottom position of a squat compared to standing raises. For deadlifts, since they are a hip hinge, you can warm up with a reverse hip hinge! This is basically any core exercise where we bend the spine dynamically. Think weighted situps, hanging leg raises, and reverse squats!
No matter what movement you choose, these hypertrophy exercises act as warmups as well! They will help us break a sweat and get the relevant joints moving through a large range of motion. This makes them a great warmup tool and will go a long way in preventing injuries.
So a typical lower body day with these warmups would look like:
1. Seated Calf Raises - 3 x 15-20
2. Hanging leg raises - 3 x AMRAP
3. Squats
4. Deadlifts
5. Accessories
For the olympic lifts, you can also warmup with reverse hip hinges and calf work, since the olympic lifts are basically a pull and a squat all in one!
This is a method that prevents athletes from skipping hypertrophy work and also ensures that you are warmed up before training even if you don't have enough time to get a proper general warmup in!
