Which comes first? Cardio or weightlifting?

VallieeeBabe

So my goal is to lose weight but I also want to tone. Ive been doing cardio first then weightlifting but I hear to do otherwise or I hear I’m doing it right. Need advice..

kommodevaran

To lose weight, your main priority is to eat less (less than you burn, eat in a calorie deficit).

flippy1234

I do weight lifting first. I want most of my energy to go to that. Then I do cardio. Weight lifting is more important to me than cardio. I think it depends on what is a priority for you.

Maxxitt

Resistance training followed by a reasonable level of cardio. When on the weight loss journey, a top priority is preserving muscle. The cardio is good for your heart and brain, and will give you a few more calories to play with.

bufger

Same as others have said. I do weight lifting first (roughly an hour) followed by 30 minutes of a decent intensity cardio (i.e. 10 miles on the stationary bike at 8-9MET)

For me I want to preserve muscle whilst losing weight. I lose the weight in the kitchen not the gym

Azdak

At my age, I always have to pee first. Pretty much before doing anything.

fb47

Diet first and foremost, second is weight lifting since that's what's going to shape you in the body you want and then cardio. I put cardio third because it is not a requirement, if you do it, it's simply to use it as a tool to help you lose weight and/or for the health benefits. I don't do cardio or else I'd be required to eat even more food and since I already eat a lot, I prefer skipping that part even when I am cutting. But in the end, it's all about personal preference, for some cardio is more important than weightlifting because their metabolism is low and they want to eat a little bit more, so that's when cardio becomes very important for their weight loss goal.

kimny72

It depends on your goals, and what is more important to you. In general, you'll have the most energy for the thing you do first.

Personally, I only do light cardio as a warm up and cool down on weight training days. I feel both are equally important to me for different reasons, so I don't want one to take away from the others. So I have 3 strength training days and 2 cardio days, and I walk and/or stretch on the other 2 days.

For weight loss, your diet is really the key. Cardio burns more calories, but strength training can be more effective to reshape your body.

I don't think there is really one right answer. You kind of have to figure out what works best for you.

kshama2001

Azdak wrote: »

At my age, I always have to pee first. Pretty much before doing anything.

Before, during, after...

kshama2001

I no longer do cardio (other than for warming up) in the same session as weight lifting and once I made the switch realized how much my lifting had been suffering for this.

Now, if I had energy for cardio after weights that meant I was slacking on the weights.

HeidiMightyRawr

For weight loss it doesn't really matter as long as the calorie burn / overall deficit is still the same.

From a performance point of view, it depends really on your priority but personally I'd always do lifting first because you will be fresh for that, and more likely to perform the exercise correctly / less chance of injury than if you were already tired from the cardio.

Duck_Puddle

kshama2001 wrote: »

Azdak wrote: »

At my age, I always have to pee first. Pretty much before doing anything.

Before, during, after...

I think bladder control is really the primary ticket to my next half marathon PR.

Duck_Puddle

And it depends on your goals. I prefer to do them not on the same day or not at the same time (meaning if they have have to be on the same day, I’d do one in the AM, one in the PM).

On days when I have to do both in succession, I “do cardio” first because I’m a runner and running is my priority and I’m more worried that I’ll alter my running gait after squatting and either not be able to hit my intended running targets or end up with some kind of injury (keep in mind my last injury was because I tripped over an empty laundry detergent bottle - so safety first).

Also, I’m a runner and really dgaf about lifting except that it’s good for me and helps me lift my 100+ pound wild orangutan lab-Satan mix dog into the bathtub. So if I can’t lift as much after I run as I might have if I did the lifting before I ran, I really don’t care. Running is my priority.

J_Fairfax

If you are talking about in an individual workout whether to do cardio or weight lifting first I have heard that it's best to do weights first, and this is the approach I take.

The main reason is safety. If you do weights when you are fatigued then you are at a higher risk of injury if you push yourself because you are already fatigued.

Also if you are pushing yourself with hard weight sets then your recovery time will be increased if you have tired yourself out from cardio.

If you do weights after cardio you can push yourself hard on the weights, and then push yourself hard on cardio.

This way around the chance of injuries are much reduced.

pinggolfer96

Weightlifting. Don’t waste your glycogen stores on cardio before strength training!

AnnPT77

Goals driven. My priority is rowing. I will row before lifting, especially in on-water season, then lift. On off days from rowing (or most of off season), I'll do a short, easy rowing machine warm up (5-10 minutes), then lift.

In off season, it depends on sport-specific training plan. Steady state days: Warm up, lift, volume steady state rowing, in that order. Once we get deep enough into off-season training to have serious intensity days, it's row, take a longish break, warm up again, lift. YMMV.

BEASTFIELD314

It all depends on your goals. Losing weight is done in the kitchen. You will hear both sides of the coin regarding cardio vs. weight training. I hear that you still continue to burn calories, even after you are done with the weights - as the body heals itself. Personally, when I was doing my thing, I would do weight training first - building up strength. Then I would do maybe 20 minutes of good cardio. But to each their own. I am no expert, and have no training or educational background, lol. I would say try it both ways, and decide what way you like best!

SCoil123

I do them on separate days and try to incorporate an equal number of each in my week

LiftHeavyThings27105

VallieeeBabe wrote: »

So my goal is to lose weight but I also want to tone. Ive been doing cardio first then weightlifting but I hear to do otherwise or I hear I’m doing it right. Need advice..

So, as everyone has stated - depends on your goals.

I will - generally speaking - do seven minutes (plus or minus) on the treadmill before my training sessions just to get the blood flowing, get my body temperature up that 1 degree or so and to get my mind right. Then, I will do my training session. I will always start with the main movement of the day (which is usually some compound movement - like bench or overhead press - and will then move to the 'other' exercises. I often - but not always - will then jump on the treadmill again for another seven minutes (or so).

I previously was doing power lifting so Cardio was not a word that I ever said....or thought about! LOL! But, not doing that any longer so I am doing some Cardio. I actually enjoy it. If I don't do fasted Cardio in the morning then I will do it *AFTER* my training session. For me, if I am doing both at the same time....Cardio takes a back seat to the training session. Always.

But, to put some definitions out there....

Cardio is a tool to increase the "calories out" side of the equation.

Resistance training, specifically when performed in a "progressive overload" fashion, will help increase muscle mass but does not burn as many calories as lots of people seem to think.

Abs, since everyone wants abs (including this old man!), are built in the kitchen....it is all about reducing the body fat to a very lean level (for men, something like 10%.....everyone is a little bit different....and I believe that for women it would be something like 20% - someone conform or refute that).

So, my questions for you @VallieeeBabe - what works for you? If you are doing Cardio and then resistance training how is that working for you? Have you always been doing it that way? I am a huge fan of starting with general concepts and then playing with the options to see what works best for me. I would encourage you to play with this. If you do decide to do resistance training and then cardio, do that for a couple of months (unless you absolutely hate it).

Also, how is your nutrition? Since you are looking to lose weight, this is accomplished - first and foremost - via a caloric deficit. Cardio is - as mentioned - a tool to increase the "calories out" side of things. How are "calories in" with you?

MHarper522

I do a bit of cardio first to get the blood/adrenaline flowing, like a warm up, and then I do weights, then cardio again and then stretches. That's just what I was taught to do for years while figure skating so it's what I'm comfortable with. To me, lifting weights without warm up feel like I'm stiff and rusty.

J_Fairfax

It is possible to warm up for weights, by doing weights, really you shouldn't ever start your weightlifting workout at the max working weight for that session.

Take squats for instance, I always do a couple of sets of the empty bar to start, then add weight incrementally, usually 50lbs at a time, doing 3 reps at each warm up weight so that by the time I reach the working weight for that session I am warmed up.

Same principle for bench press and a bunch of other weight lifting exercises.

If you just throw xxx lbs on the bar and start to lift with no warm up at all, you're setting yourself up for a world of trouble.

I think the people who are talking about doing weight lifting before cardio assume that you will be incorporating a proper weight lift focused warm-up into that session.

But whatever works, and a bit of light cardio before weights is no big deal, but having a full cardio session before an intense weight session is pushing things.