diff --git a/litgpt/args.py b/litgpt/args.py
index ef41a0f006..56729fe97e 100644
--- a/litgpt/args.py
+++ b/litgpt/args.py
@@ -16,8 +16,9 @@ class TrainArgs:
     """Number of samples between optimizer steps across data-parallel ranks"""
     micro_batch_size: int = 4
     """Number of samples per data-parallel rank"""
-    lr_warmup_steps: int | None = 100
-    """Number of iterations with learning rate warmup active"""
+    lr_warmup_steps: int | None = None
+    """Number of iterations with learning rate warmup active. Defaults to 100 when
+    ``lr_warmup_fraction`` is not set; ignored when ``lr_warmup_fraction`` is set."""
     lr_warmup_fraction: float | None = None
     """The fraction of an epoch to use for learning rate warmup"""
     epochs: int | None = None
@@ -46,6 +47,12 @@ def __post_init__(self) -> None:
         if self.lr_warmup_fraction and not (0 <= self.lr_warmup_fraction <= 1):
             raise ValueError("`--train.lr_warmup_fraction` must be between 0 and 1.")
 
+        # Apply the documented default for ``lr_warmup_steps`` only when the user did not
+        # provide ``lr_warmup_fraction``. This keeps a sensible default (100 steps) without
+        # conflicting with users who explicitly opt into fraction-based warmup.
+        if self.lr_warmup_steps is None:
+            self.lr_warmup_steps = 0 if self.lr_warmup_fraction else 100
+
         if self.lr_warmup_steps and self.max_steps and (self.lr_warmup_steps >= self.max_steps):
             warnings.warn(
                 "`--train.lr_warmup_steps` should be less than `--train.max_steps`."
diff --git a/tests/test_args.py b/tests/test_args.py
index e4749b818f..c1f6aca6fc 100644
--- a/tests/test_args.py
+++ b/tests/test_args.py
@@ -34,3 +34,21 @@ def test_compute_warmup_iters():
     assert train.warmup_iters(devices=1, num_nodes=1, max_iters=20, train_dataloader=range(100)) == 20
     # lr_warmup_fraction rounds up
     assert train.warmup_iters(devices=1, num_nodes=1, max_iters=1000, train_dataloader=range(5)) == 2
+
+
+def test_lr_warmup_fraction_works_without_overriding_default_steps():
+    """Setting only `lr_warmup_fraction` must succeed even though `lr_warmup_steps` defaults to 100.
+
+    Previously a user passing `--train.lr_warmup_fraction 0.1` would hit a ValueError because the
+    mutually-exclusive validation considered the default `lr_warmup_steps=100` as user-provided.
+    """
+    # only lr_warmup_fraction is provided
+    train = TrainArgs(global_batch_size=1, micro_batch_size=1, lr_warmup_fraction=0.3)
+    # lr_warmup_fraction must be honored, not silently overridden by the default lr_warmup_steps
+    assert train.warmup_iters(devices=1, num_nodes=1, max_iters=1000, train_dataloader=range(100)) == 30
+
+
+def test_lr_warmup_conflict_only_when_both_explicitly_set():
+    """Passing both lr_warmup_steps and lr_warmup_fraction explicitly must still raise."""
+    with pytest.raises(ValueError, match="Can't provide both `--train.lr_warmup_fraction`"):
+        TrainArgs(lr_warmup_steps=50, lr_warmup_fraction=0.2)