Cardio before or after weights?

mickey9694

Does it matter?

SezxyStef

it depends on your goals...

I do cardio after my lifts always or on my off days..not that I do a tonne of it but....

MeanderingMammal

As above, it really dpends on your objectives and what you mean by cardio. There are a couple of reasons, largely around exploiting your easily available fuel stores to do the exercise whilst maintaining good form to avoid injury.

If you're using an elliptihell or stair climber then I'd advocate resistance first, because form on thse really isn't important. If you're running or cycling out of doors then I'd suggest resistance afterwards as both of those are more likely to hurt you if you reach fatigue from resistance training.

That's coming from the perspective of someone whose running and cycling performance is most important, for someone whose resistance training is more important then you'll get a different response.

vickiem74

I generally do a short warm-up with cardio, lift weights, and then finish with 20ish minute run. I also do cardio on days when I am not lifting.

Who knows if I am right or wrong but as long as I am getting some results I am good with it!

aliah1981

I usually do 15-20 minutes of HIIT cardio then lift. The ONLY reason I do this is because I ASSUME if the cardio keeps my heart rate up then lifting after will contrubute to keeping it somewhat up there.

Again, just my way of justifying how i work out

KyleB65

As mentioned above. Depends on your goals.

What has been suggested to me by a couple of different trainers is to do a max 10 min of moderate "cardio" before a weight training session. These were gym based trainers so their cardio meant dreadmill, eliptical or skip rope.

Iron_Feline

I like to do an 8 min HIIT session after lifting, but that's my personal preference.

I save any long cardio for non lifting days if possible.

CharlotteAnneUK

I usually do them on different sessions, but if I do both in the same session its always cardio then weights.

JoRocka

1.) depends on your goals

2.) a warm up is not cardio.
it's warm up.

3.) if you have no specific training goals- typically weights before cardio is a good rule of thumb

4.) if you HAVE a specific training goal and strength is it- weights absolutely before cardio

5.) specific goal happens to be an endurance training type thing- then cardio takes priority.

TheBadToe

I do c25k before I lift. I usually do a week 4 run walk. Adds up to about 2.5-3miles... and it doesnt wipe me out.

ncrugbyprop

1.) depends on your goals

2.) a warm up is not cardio.
it's warm up.

3.) if you have no specific training goals- typically weights before cardio is a good rule of thumb

4.) if you HAVE a specific training goal and strength is it- weights absolutely before cardio

5.) specific goal happens to be an endurance training type thing- then cardio takes priority.

What she said.

tquill

If I did weights at 6 pm, I plan my cardio for about 4-5 decades after that during the shuffleboard tournament.

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BlueBombers

It's up to you, I do a little cardio before or on my off days.

Ainar

I do weights first and then I do my cardio - 30 min to 1h of running. Otherwise I do lose strength on my weights if I do cardio first and my lifting and gains suffers. Some people say that if they do cardio after weights it decreases muscle and strength gains. Personally I find it nonsense. Tried doing only weights without cardio at all and have noticed no difference from what I'm doing now. But of course we all are genetically different so you might find otherwise.

AllOutof_Bubblegum

After. That way I have energy to lift as hard as I should be.

joesimtre

I don't do them at the same time unless it's necessary. I do cardio in the morning and weights in the evening. I can never find the energy to give both the attention they need for success if I do it all at once. Cardio usually lasts about an hour and weights about an hour. So I break it up. Most of my friends do both. 20 minutes of cadio before they lift. I just need more cardio.

cfl68

Weights first. You won't get the same level of lifting intensity in, if you tire the muscles out first. What I learned during my journey is your body needs to use your stored fat as fuel for exercise. In order to do this, you must burn off your glycogen stores first. When you weight-train, you typically use glycogen as fuel. By doing weight-training first, you can burn the majority of your glycogen stores. Knocking out your cardio after you crush the weights will burn more fat! GL

Squamation

I would do a 15 min warm up at 5.5-6 mph on the treadmill, then weight lift.

I would do my cardio - 45 min to an hour at 6.5-7 mph on my non weight lifting days.

belgerian

Google http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/08/06/cardio-or-weights-first-exercise-order_n_1739089.html depends on your goals.

2dogzrule

I like to do it before so my heart rate is up before strength. I wear an HRM for both and I see a larger calorie burn on the strength when I do it this way.

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sparkylady1

I strength train 5 days a week and always do my cardio AFTER for about 20 mins or so. On the days I don't strength train I do a longer cardio session.

sweetpea03b

I usually go for my run before I lift.... because I probably would skip the run if I did it the other way around.

evabugsmamaw

The way my husband and I work out is; we run on the treadmill for 30 minutes to get our cardio then we move to the weights. We usually work out at the gym for 1 hour and half every other day. But everyone is correct though it depends on how you want to lose the weight or gain muscle.

iplayoutside19

I alternate cardio and lifting days 6 days a week. 1 day off. Rarely do I do them on the same day.

ValeriePlz

I like doing strength training after cardio. I find that I need more energy for the weights, and the cardio afterwards actually helps me shake off some of the muscle tension.

JoRocka

The way my husband and I work out is; we run on the treadmill for 30 minutes to get our cardio then we move to the weights. We usually work out at the gym for 1 hour and half every other day. But everyone is correct though it depends on how you want to lose the weight or gain muscle.

no weight loss comes from a calorie deficit.

it depends almost soley on if you want to train to gain strength or train for an endurance event.

jeschauvin

I mix it up depending on my weight lifting schedule. On leg days I'll do about 15 minutes on an elliptical or rowing machine, work out legs and then go back to cardio (if I have enough energy - which most days I do) then I'll do 30 more minutes on the stairs or something. On days I'm working out arms I'll do more cardio first. 20 minutes rowing, 20 minutes stairs and 20 minutes bike. I get bored if I'm on one machine for too long.

Leadfoot_Lewis

I personally like to give my weightlifting sessions their own day. Doing cardio before lifting takes energy/resources which I need to lift. After I'm done lifting I don't feel like doing cardio nor have the energy to get a good session in. Rarely will I do both in the same day but if I do I'll do one very early in the AM and the other late in the PM.

apriltrainer

When I was concentrating on powerlifting, I always did my lifts first, conditioning after. 220 lbs(that's heavy for me) squat required me to be fuly focused. If I fail during conditioning, the most that wil happen is I have to stop and catch my breath...if I fail during a heavy lift, I might seriously injure myself. Anyways, that was my reasoning.

Now I am concentrating on kb sport and my "conditioning" comes first..which is my longcycle(clean and jerk with a kettlebell). I guess that could be considered strength endurance..but just to make this simple..my conditioning comes first for the purpose of competing in kb sport since endurance for me is important and right now i SUCK at it. Then I work on additional conditioning and some of the lifts like squat, bench or deadlift but with 50-60% of my max weight than when I was concentrating on my powerlifting.

So for me it depends on what my goal is. When I cycle back to powerlifting after my kb sport comp, I'll go back to conditioning after.