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Cardio before or after weight lifting?

Posts: 52 Member
edited November 2024 in Fitness and Exercise
So ive been working out with a bud of mine for about a month and our thing has kinda been "stretch, interval training on treadmill for 30-45 min, weightlifting."

I feel maybe the cardio workout is dampening my lift? Anybody have insight?

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Replies

  • Posts: 54 Member
    I tend to do my cardio in the morning and weights in the afternoon after I have fuled my body in preparation. If I do them at the same time I opt for light cardio before weights as a warm up, especially on leg day as my legs would not take any treadmill work afterwards lol
  • Posts: 1,144 Member
    I do it before and after. I do 15 minutes on a Nu Step machine - it's basically a recumbent stair stepper, then do my weights, then walk for about 15-20 minutes.
  • Posts: 2,668 Member
    I've always been told cardio AFTER weightlifting so your lifting doesn't suffer, but I'm curious to see what others say.
  • Posts: 9,248 Member
    If you're doing them one after the other weights first if you're doing it in 2 separate sessions with time / meals in between the order is less important (in a nutshell you don't want to be depleting glycogen before doing your weights)
  • Posts: 41,865 Member
    Usually when I train cardio and resistance on the same day I will do one in the AM and one in the PM...and even then, I'm usually looking at my rides on those days as more of a perfunctory thing to get some miles in...i.e. I don't do hill climbs for example on a lifting day...or a tempo ride on a lifting day...I'm just trying to get in the mileage and they're pretty light days as intensity goes...even though I have a break, I'm still looking at my lifts on lifting days as my primary emphasis.

    If I were going to do them in succession, I'd lift first...again, my primary focus on lifting days is lifting. Often on Saturdays I take a nice little spin to the gym to lift and then a nice little spin home...it's done at a relatively easy pace and it's about 5 miles each way which makes for a good warm up and cool down, but definitely not a training ride.
  • Posts: 145 Member
    It depends what you want to do, cardio right after weights will reduce your size and power gains, cardio before will also do this. Cardio after weight will optimize your weight loss, but it is a minor effect. From what I hear, cardio before weights will improve your heart efficiency.

    I tend to lift and do cardio on different day or really different times.
  • Posts: 2,841 Member
    cardio after, or never.
  • Posts: 2,696 Member
    Yep, if doing cardio it should ALWAYS be done AFTER lifting. You'll always burn glycogen first, which is what you need for lifting. By the time you finish lifting and have burned off the sugar, you can do cardio to burn off fat. To do otherwise would be counter productive.
  • Posts: 733 Member
    I do a brief warm up, lifts and then cardio if I am doing both on the same day.
  • Posts: 10,322 Member
    Depends on your goals.
  • Posts: 8,358 Member
    Generally I found doing cardio before weight lifting negatively affected my lifting, while doing it the other way did not negatively affect my cardio.
  • Posts: 18,771 Member
    Neither.
  • Posts: 1,189 Member
    I've always been told cardio AFTER weightlifting so your lifting doesn't suffer, but I'm curious to see what others say.

    Lifting uses up your glycogen stores.
  • Posts: 52 Member
    So I went with what most of you said and physically I feel like I'm able to get in a better workout if I lift before my cardio. Not a definitive answer because I'm sure it depends on who you are but I see the lift before cardio working better for me. Thank you all for your help!
  • Posts: 699 Member
    Cardio after....after 30-35 minutes on the bike, I am soaked in sweat and drained....not the time to start with weights
  • Posts: 2,238 Member
    I'd say do the one you personally care about most first, and then do the one you don't care quite as much about.

    I do strength then cardio - heart health is important to me but strength training aids with muscle preservation, and my heart health is already pretty good.
  • Posts: 4,955 Member
    Prioritize first what's most important. For me, that's lifting, with cardio a very distant second. So lifting comes first, and cardio, when programmed is almost always the very last thing with only extra mobility work ever being programmed after.
  • Posts: 1,372 Member
    I'd have to do lifting first because I don't like that type of training, so I'd save cardio for a 'treat' after. Yes that is a sad notion of a treat.

    Seriously though I'd have to do lifting first because I think my technique would suffer if I was a little bit tired from cardio.
  • Posts: 4,855 Member
    Hornsby wrote: »
    Depends on your goals.

    This.

    I would suggest though, that if you are working out for general fitness, and doing both in 1 session, I would do the weights first. Lifting is going to be a bit more technical than most cardio so I would want to be fresher to help avoid sloppy form due to fatigue.
  • Posts: 5,178 Member
    In my personal experience, an intense cardio session means that strength training afterwards is going to be a half hearted attempt. I do however manage to have a strength workout first and then do some decent cardio. Maybe not "perfect" but still decent.
  • Posts: 19,809 Member
    Depends on your goals, depends on the intensity of both the cardio and the weights.

    For the majority of people it's just personal preference.
  • Posts: 235 Member

    sijomial wrote: »
    Depends on your goals, depends on the intensity of both the cardio and the weights.

    For the majority of people it's just personal preference.


    I've tried both ways and I actually need the energy boost from my 20 min cardio session to do my best with lifting. I periodically try to do weights first and feel the lack of energy. My friends tell me I'm doing it wrong but I feel like my body likes it this way. I get a good mod intense interval cardio session in and still do a good heavy sets lifting session too. The only difference is how I feel while doing it.
  • Posts: 15,267 Member
    sijomial wrote: »
    Depends on your goals, depends on the intensity of both the cardio and the weights.

    For the majority of people it's just personal preference.

    Yup this.

    When my goal was getting as much weight on the bar and lifting it I did that first.

    Now that I have been lifting for almost 3 years and my goal is to maintain what I have I do what I want to first.

    Except on DL day...I do those first always...and sometimes my squats first depends no how I am feeling.
  • Posts: 8 Member
    Just my logic but, weights first...you don't want to be drained trying to lift something that could hurt you. Cardio second...Once the sugar is gone from your muscles then your body will look to fat for the energy. Time of day and what you eat makes a difference in your performance as well.
  • Posts: 13,153 Member
    If I do cardio first, I guarantee I'm still going to lift.

    If I do lifting first, I pretty much guarantee I will NOT do cardio.

    So if I want to get cardio in, I have to do it first. But then, I don't do cardio to exhaustion, just an easy jog of a mile or a couple km on the rowing machine, just enough to warm up muscles, get the heart moving a little bit, start to breathe a little harder. Aka warm up for lifting.
  • Posts: 419 Member
    A personal trainer told me to do a small warm up of like 5-10 min on treadmill just normal pace. Then weights and then regular cardio. But idk...I went to the gym like 3 times. I just do like work out videos and stuff now because it is easier and on those it kind of mixes it up. Like some cardio, some weights, more cardio, more weights, more cardio.
This discussion has been closed.