Cardio or Heavy Lifting first?

Options
SafireBleu
SafireBleu Posts: 881 Member
in Fitness and Exercise
I have been doing cardio and have lost almost 50 LBS. I have 25 more I want to get off to reach my first goal of 160 where I will re-evaluate and decide how much lower to go. I want to focus, for the next 25, on lowering my Body Fat %. I am gonna do a week of maintenance and then plan to do cardio 5 days a week, like I do now, but add strength training 3 times a week. I am curious as to what you all recommend. Since my focus will be to lower body fat and maintain my lean body mass, should I do cardio first or strength training first? Does it matter?

Replies

  • JNick77
    JNick77 Posts: 3,783 Member
    Options
    I have been doing cardio and have lost almost 50 LBS. I have 25 more I want to get off to reach my first goal of 160 where I will re-evaluate and decide how much lower to go. I want to focus, for the next 25, on lowering my Body Fat %. I am gonna do a week of maintenance and then plan to do cardio 5 days a week, like I do now, but add strength training 3 times a week. I am curious as to what you all recommend. Since my focus will be to lower body fat and maintain my lean body mass, should I do cardio first or strength training first? Does it matter?

    Definitely strength training first. It requires a little more energy and focus.
  • JBApplebee
    JBApplebee Posts: 481 Member
    Options
    It depends. On the days you do the strength training, are you doing them at the same time, or one in the Am & one in the PM? I prefer to do my cardio before work & then lift when I go to the gym later in the day.
  • Nopedotjpeg
    Nopedotjpeg Posts: 1,806 Member
    Options
    If it's back-to-back lifting first. I agree that it probably doesn't matter too much if it's split up during the day.
  • SafireBleu
    SafireBleu Posts: 881 Member
    Options
    Most days I will have time to split them up and would do cardio in the afternoon and strength at night. If I don't then strength first?
  • Nopedotjpeg
    Nopedotjpeg Posts: 1,806 Member
    Options
    Most days I will have time to split them up. If I don't then strength first?

    Basically. I've heard some stuff about strength training only being able to burn glycogen, and that's why you do it first, but no confirmation on that. The real reason to me is that strength training requires you to keep good form while pushing yourself, and if you've just done a good bout of cardio right before, that isn't easy to do. Plus, you can just go all out with the cardio this way without worrying about having to lift afterwards.
  • SafireBleu
    SafireBleu Posts: 881 Member
    Options
    Thanks everyone for the replies.
  • mmapags
    mmapags Posts: 8,934 Member
    Options
    Depending on how intense you go with either, you may want to consider doing them on different days. There is some research that indicates that the body competes for recovery resources when both are done in a span of less than 8 hours. So early am for one and late afternoon for the other should be fine or on different days.
  • Mom2M_and_O
    Mom2M_and_O Posts: 214
    Options
    Thanks everyone for the replies.

    Thank you for your question. I'm getting to the same point soon where I'm going to look very seriously at a fitness center where I can focus on strength exercises on my lunch break and do cardio at night at home. This was a helpful thread because I was really hoping I wouldn't have to fit cardio in on my lunch break, too.

Categories