Cardio before or after?

Lindsey_Ross

From everything I've heard and read, it seems like it's better to warm up, do your weights, and then do your cardio.

I think you want to do your weights while your body still has glycogen and burn through that on weights, then the cardio once your body is starting to turn to your fatty acids for energy.

I don't have a real source for this aside from listening to different interviews on podcasts and hearing this often.
A lot of people are saying it depends on your goal and could be very right.

Willbenchforcupcakes

What's your priority? That's what you should do first.

I do almost no purposeful cardio. But I do get 20,000+ steps in most days of the week.

H_Ock12

Separate days for cardio and weights for me, unless the weight area is too peopley, then I'll do elliptical or stationary bike til it thins out.

ninerbuff

EllaLeahB wrote: »

Any insight on whether cardio is best to do before or after lifting weights?
Thanks in advance

Depends on your personal goals. What I will say is that people do cardio thinking it burns fat off the body. Well it really doesn't work that way. It burns calories and helps to put you in a calorie deficit. So for the same amount of time versus weight lifting, cardio burns more calories if the intensity is about the same.
I personally do my cardio before my lifting because I usually WON'T after I lift. And I'm at that point in my life that putting on muscle isn't a priority anymore. So I weight train to maintain.

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ninerbuff

ozgurvh wrote: »

Cardio reduces your glycogen rapidly so you can do short cardio for warm up than lifting than cardio

This entirely depends on intensity. Moderate/low intensity cardio wouldn't do very much to reduce it even up to an hour.


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Been in fitness for 30 years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition

EllaLeahB

Thank you everyone.

cerise_noir

I do it after.

My legs would be too tired for squats if I did cardio before.

cwolfman13

I do cardio on non-lifting days. On lifting days I do a three mile walk (which I just do most days and don't really consider to be "exercise") and lift in the PM. My main form of cardio is cycling...I do interval sprints on Tuesdays and Fridays and longer endurance rides on the weekends...both take it out of me fairly well and I'm hesitant to get under a heavy barbell after those sessions. Occasionally I have the opportunity to ride my bike to the gym, but it's a really easy warm up spin of about 5 miles and a cool down on the way home...but very easy pace, not a training pace.

I guess it would also depend on what level of intensity your cardio is at and what level of intensity your lifting is at.

cloverdaisy

I usually do cardio after my bodypump session. Either way is fine as long as you're doing it.

kaizaku

You shouldn't do cardio and weight together. Unless you do weightz in the morning and cardio. In the evening. Since you lose weight whilst doing weights. When you do too much you use your muscles for energy. If you do want to do cardio straight after working out then do 10-15mins max.

bbell1985

kaizaku wrote: »

You shouldn't do cardio and weight together. Unless you do weightz in the morning and cardio. In the evening. Since you lose weight whilst doing weights. When you do too much you use your muscles for energy. If you do want to do cardio straight after working out then do 10-15mins max.

nope

canadianlbs

EllaLeahB wrote: »

Any insight on whether cardio is best to do before or after lifting weights?
Thanks in advance

i think it's just what works best for you. partly depends on how hard you're doing either of them. so far in my experience as a lifter/bike commuter, the 'worst' workouts are my rides to work the day after a serious lifting session. i can still do those rides, but i can really feel the pep isn't there in my legs.

everything else seems to be fine, either way. i can lift in the mornings and then ride to work, and that seems okay. or i can ride most of the way home and then lift before i go the last mile. it's just that overnight window that seems to have an effect, in my case.

jillDob

I start off with 10-15 cardio to loosen up then weights then a little on the treadmill or cross trainer to cool down.

Iknewyouweretrouble

hot debate. i was told lift first. but after lifting i couldn't finish my cardio. so i cardio first. when i lift my muscles feel "warmed up" and ready to go. but i have a friend who does cardio last just fine.

ninerbuff

kaizaku wrote: »

You shouldn't do cardio and weight together. Unless you do weightz in the morning and cardio. In the evening. Since you lose weight whilst doing weights. When you do too much you use your muscles for energy. If you do want to do cardio straight after working out then do 10-15mins max.

That's a no. It takes a lot of work (like up to 2 hours of really high intensity work) to completely deplete glycogen stores. That whole "muscles for energy" when combining weights and cardio the same session is broscience.

A.C.E. Certified Personal and Group Fitness Trainer
IDEA Fitness member
Kickboxing Certified Instructor
Been in fitness for 30 years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition

jgnatca

I do about twenty minutes moderate cardio to warm up my muscles, some stretching, then lifting. That twenty minutes is not an intense workout.

My goal is "avoid injury".

cwolfman13

Iknewyouweretrouble wrote: »

hot debate. i was told lift first. but after lifting i couldn't finish my cardio. so i cardio first. when i lift my muscles feel "warmed up" and ready to go. but i have a friend who does cardio last just fine.

I think it depends on your training objectives and/or whether or not you have training objectives or you're basically working out to workout.

If someone is doing a program like strong lifts or something where you're supposed to progressively overload the barbell, one would be ill advised to do a bunch of cardio before hand as it is more likely than not that one would not be able to progress in a linear fashion in the weight room and/or at minimum, the session simply won't be quite as good as it could be...of course this would also depend on the duration and intensity of the cardio work.

Conversely, if one has a specific training objective in regards to their cardiovascular work, it would be ill advised to lift and then go train that aspect afterwards as the training bout would be sub-optimal. For example, if one was training for a marathon or a century ride or something, they would want to optimize their run or ride and that won't happen after a hard lifting session...on the flip side, if one is just wanting to get a bit of cardio in for the sake of doing cardio, it's not really a big deal to go hit it up after a lifting session.

At one point in time, most of my cardio was simply for the sake of doing cardio for my health...I'd usually lift and then go knock out a 5K, but I didn't care about time or performance, I was just doing it to do it. As it is now, I have certain training objectives I want to achieve in both the weight room and on my bike, so I separate those training bouts to maximize my performance in both.

donharkrn

I personally don't combine cardio with weights. If I had to, I'd do it after. When I do cardio on the same days, I do it in the evenings after a morning workout. Glycogen stores need time to rebuild.

Dead_Darling

I do about 10mins cardio for warm up, then lift and finish off with around 45mins cardio. I've always preferred it that way.

rugratz2015

I do cardio, core and stretching, cardio, weights and then finish off with more cardio. Although the scales aren't decreasing as fast as I would like I am wearing smaller clothes and I'm getting lots of compliments as to my changing body shape. Obviously this may not suit everyone.