the thing I stopped skipping that changed everything

Right so I used to just walk in, load the bar, go. Figured warming up was for people who had extra time or weren't serious enough to just crack on. Absolute nonsense, honestly, and I paid for it more than once. What actually made the difference for me wasn't some complicated protocol — it was just eating something real about 90 minutes before I train. Not a bar, not a shake, actual food. Carbs mainly. And then doing at least 10-15 minutes of movement before I touch anything heavy. I mean it sounds dead obvious written out like that but I genuinely trained for months just hoping my body would warm up while I was lifting. It doesn't. You feel stiff on your first heavy set, you compensate, something starts complaining. Happened to me with my hips last year and I was out for three weeks being an idiot. So yeah — food, time, movement. In that order. That's basically it.