but I don't work out with barbells anymore (just dumbbells and machines). In that regard, I've pulled or tweaked muscles (mostly in my back) several times over the past few years. In additon, I'm just getting old. So I tend to err on the side of sustainability and injury avoidance. On top of that, I don't have the genetics to get big and strong (for example, I have the wrist circumference of like a 12 year old girl).

So, in addition to doing a warm up routine, I look for substitutes for core resistance exercises that work a lot of the same muscle groups (with obviously much lighter loads).

For example, instead of doing barbell deadlifts, I do kettlebell swings with about 40% of my body weight (these don't hit the exact same muscle groups but there's a good deal of overlap, even though kettlebell swings are more cardio and much less resistance relative to deadlifts).

For squats, I do goblet squats with a dumbbell as well as the seated leg press machine. Weirdly, goblet squats with a dumbbell that's about half my body weight is more challenging for me than the seated leg press with roughly double my body weight. Not sure why that is (and I realize that neither is super impressive, even if I go pretty deep on the goblet squats and do a lot of them).

One nice thing about goblet squats is that the nature of the exercise more or less forces you to have decent form (or, at least, it's much easier to have decent form doing these than barbell squats, especially if you're not very athletic). In my opinion, it's a very good exercise for beginners as well as older guys like me.