Which should come first cardio or strength

mrsyac2

This is from the Fitness Magazine>>
The answer is:

It depends on your goal "If you're trying to lose weight, you should do cardio first," "Burn the most calories by doing your run or Spinning class as hard as you can, then use whatever you've got left for strength training."

If your main goal is to tone, do the opposite. "Most research shows that a fit person who is trying to improve her strength should lift first," Thats when motivation and levels of glycogen--- a muscle's move- it fuel- are at their highest.

mrsyac2

This is from the Fitness Magazine>>
The answer is:

It depends on your goal "If you're trying to lose weight, you should do cardio first," "Burn the most calories by doing your run or Spinning class as hard as you can, then use whatever you've got left for strength training."

If your main goal is to tone, do the opposite. "Most research shows that a fit person who is trying to improve her strength should lift first," Thats when motivation and levels of glycogen--- a muscle's move- it fuel- are at their highest.

mrsyac2

bumping so others may read if they like

3babybeans

Good info! I was just wondering this lately as I'm reaching my weight goal & things are looking a little...flabby. :laugh:

hmo4

I find that if I do cardio first or a really good warm up, my HR will stay elevated higher for my strength training, to burn more cals. Then I sometimes make it a Circuit type exercise too.

singfree

I do cardio first. It gets the blood flowing and since I find indoor cardio boring, I get it out of the way so I can do strength training. No, I do not feel that my workouts suffer doing it this way, quite the opposite, actually.

songbyrdsweet

For me, it depends on how I'm going to be lifting. If I'm about to do some powerlifting, I just do dynamic stretching before so I go in fresh. If I am just going to be circuit training, I generally run to the gym first if it's warm enough, which is about a half mile. Sometimes I'll do a class first as well, but I generally lift before I do a class. I'm not sure why they use the logic of burning as many calories as you can first...lifting uses up a ton of glycogen, and low glycogen levels create a higher demand for fatty acid use.

ChubbyBunny

I've been wondering about this....
My workout videos usually do cadio first and then resistance bands/weights after (or intermingled...depending).
I want to get good weight loss results.... tone is just a perk.

singfree

songbyrdsweet, about how many cals of glycogen are used before the dreaded bonk? I normally do about 200-250 cals cardio before weights. I do 2 workouts per day, 5 am & noon, each lasting nearly 45 mins. (Mon-Fri, and some walking/ hiking on weekends).

mrsyac2

I do my cardio first because my main goal is to lose weight and toning afterwards is a plus.
I have tried to weights first than cardio and for my goal of calories burned while at the gym I didn't like it. Now once i hit my goal I will do my weights first then finish off with cardio- But until then its cardio then weights. I still have enough energy and stamina to finish out my sets too and my HR stays up where i like it when I do cardio first rather than weights.


But like the article says- If your goal is to lose then cardio needs to go first to get your max calorie burn during that time

If your goal is for muscle and toning than it needs to be the opposite.

mrsyac2

For me, it depends on how I'm going to be lifting. If I'm about to do some powerlifting, I just do dynamic stretching before so I go in fresh. If I am just going to be circuit training, I generally run to the gym first if it's warm enough, which is about a half mile. Sometimes I'll do a class first as well, but I generally lift before I do a class. I'm not sure why they use the logic of burning as many calories as you can first...lifting uses up a ton of glycogen, and low glycogen levels create a higher demand for fatty acid use.

I wear my HRM when I workout and there is a huge diff in the calories I burn when I do weights first and then cardio compared to cardio first then weights-

songbyrdsweet

songbyrdsweet, about how many cals of glycogen are used before the dreaded bonk? I normally do about 200-250 cals cardio before weights. I do 2 workouts per day, 5 am & noon, each lasting nearly 45 mins. (Mon-Fri, and some walking/ hiking on weekends).

How much glycogen you use depends on your intensity. You will always use both glycogen and fatty acids, but in different ratios depending on your VO2Max. Most people are probably using about a 50/50 split. Bonking won't happen for a couple hours at moderate intensity because you can store several hundred to over a thousand calories in glycogen alone. If you were to do two back to back hour-long aerobics classes, you might be approaching a 'bonk'. I've done it, and it pretty much feels like the worst thing in the world. Your legs feel like lead, you're dizzy, even a little 'stupid'. Luckily, bonking is easily avoided by supplementing with about 25g carbohydrates every hour for exercise lasting more than an hour.

singfree

Yeah, I experienced that a few years ago on Atkins. About the 3rd or 4th day, I felt exactly what you described while hiking up a hill. Low carb promptly ended there forever. Thanks for your reply!

jtintx

I've read and have been told that you should do some sort of cardio first, even if it's only 10 minutes to get the blood circulating and the muscles warmed up before starting any resistance training. It is supposed to reduce the chance of injury.