Cardio on lifting days

Onederchic

I am fairly new to MFP, very new to lifting and not so new to cardio. My question is about doing cardio on days I lift. I found a video on youtube for a 5 minutes HIIT routine and I am wondering if I do it 2-3 times on a day I lift, will it be enough?

Here is how the routine is laid out -

Workout Structure
2 Bodyweight Exercises – No equipment needed

20 Seconds On: Burpee Jacks
10 Seconds Off
X2

20 Seconds On: Squat Jumps
10 Seconds Off
X2

1 Minute Active Rest – Grab a drink of water, pace, jog in place, do high knees; whatever you do, just don’t sit down and rest completely.

Round 2 (Same as above)

20 Seconds On: Burpee Jacks
10 Seconds Off
X2

20 Seconds On: Squat Jumps
10 Seconds Off
X2

Onederchic

If bumping my own post is wrong, I don't want to be right.

dlwyatt82

Just don't do cardio right before you lift; if you're going to do both, lift first.

Onederchic

Just don't do cardio right before you lift; if you're going to do both, lift first.

Thank you very much

dad106

I always do cardio on separate days.. mainly because I lift to failure and once I finish lifting, I'm high tailing it out of the gym!

Most of what is listed in that routine could be considered bodyweight strength training anyway instead of cardio.. so I would find a different type of cardio to do.

smilesalot1969

Just don't do cardio right before you lift; if you're going to do both, lift first.

I was told the opposite by my trainer. I was told if i was going to do heavy cardio do it first, then lift

dlwyatt82

Just don't do cardio right before you lift; if you're going to do both, lift first.

I was told the opposite by my trainer. I was told if i was going to do heavy cardio do it first, then lift

Your trainer is wrong.

jawheb

Just don't do cardio right before you lift; if you're going to do both, lift first.

I was told the opposite by my trainer. I was told if i was going to do heavy cardio do it first, then lift

Same here, trainer recommends cardio first then lift. I split it up 3 days cardio, 3 days weightlifting.

smilesalot1969

Just don't do cardio right before you lift; if you're going to do both, lift first.

I was told the opposite by my trainer. I was told if i was going to do heavy cardio do it first, then lift

Same here, trainer recommends cardio first then lift. I split it up 3 days cardio, 3 days weightlifting.

that makes two trainers wrong then :ohwell:

urbancyclist

Agreed, your trainer is wrong.

1973CJ5

Cardio or lift is a personal choice, there is no right or wrong.

I do cardio first because I won't do it after I am done lifting, usually too tired!

jealous_loser

I guess it depends on what kind of cardio you are doing. If you are doing hard core HIITs and stuff, I would do them after so I can get the most out of my lifting. If you are taking a stroll on the treadmill though, I don't think it would matter.

dlwyatt82

If you're lifting heavy enough weight that it's a challenge to complete your sets (which you should be doing or working toward; otherwise, what's the point?), then doing a lot of cardio first is dangerous. You'll be tired before you even start, which can lead to bad form and injuries.

It's better to be 100% rested when you do the heavy lifting, and save the cardio for afterward. You're a lot less likely to kill yourself on a treadmill than on the bench.

jawheb

It works for me, maybe not for everyone else. I guess it all depends if you are trying to gain or lose weight. Im trying to gain weight so thats why I split it up.

smilesalot1969

Think i'll stick with my trainer he was a military FI for 15 years and has been a personal trainer for quite a few years after that. Just my own personal choice :ohwell:

DoxieLove10612

I wasn't seeing results just doing cardio so I started lifting last week. I see a personal trainer on Fridays to help guide the way and this is his professional advice. Cardio for 5 minutes (I run just to get my heart rate up) lift for 30-45, then do medium intensity cardio after. I do about 45-60 minutes of 4mph at 6.5-10% incline. But I am doing a lot of leg stuff so around 45 minutes I am about ready to just fall of the treadmill and sleep. Good luck!

Onederchic

I am attempting to lose weight. I am gearing toward lifting heavy and I really was only wondering how much cardio I needed to do on days I lift (3 days a week). I do 1-1.5 hours of cardio 2 days a week when I am not lifting.

babyblue1333

It's more like a boot camp kind of workout. I do lifting and cardio together. My trainer gives me a program once a week to do on my own. She has a degree in kinesiology (spelled wrong lol) and she knows her stuff. I also do boot camps with her twice a week.

Tilran

You should typically split up your days. Do Cardio until it hurts one day...then do lifting the next day until it hurts split upper and lower body to different days for adequate rest.

As far as before or after, I'm not sure if you mean doing like an hour of cardio and then lifting? That is incorrect, your body will be too tired to lift..regardless of injury, you wont challenge your body hard enough and the lifting will be pointless.

Unless you mean a warmup on a cardio machine...that is different. I always recommend doing 10 minutes of cardio on lift days to get blood flowing and get muscles warmed up, but dont do an hour of cardio and then lift.

MoreBean13

Just don't do cardio right before you lift; if you're going to do both, lift first.

I was told the opposite by my trainer. I was told if i was going to do heavy cardio do it first, then lift

Same here, trainer recommends cardio first then lift. I split it up 3 days cardio, 3 days weightlifting.

that makes two trainers wrong then :ohwell:

Depends on your goals- whatever you do first is priority. If you have endurance or speed training goals, it makes sense to do cardio first. If weight loss or strength are your goals (which most of the MFP population does have) then strength training should be done first- that way you can utilize the hormonal changes from the lifting to accelerate fat burning during cardio, AND you have your full strength to get the most out of lifting.

myfitnessnmhoy

Cardio first = muscles properly warmed up and lower chance of pulling something. Probably decent advice for beginners who don't intend to lift "heavy" (very few reps to failure) and want to avoid injury.

Lifting first (after a SHORT but sufficient warm-up) = more energy left in the muscles and you can lift more weight at higher reps before failure. This means your weight lifting is MUCH more effective. Then you can use steady-state cardio to burn off calories if you wish.

Personally, everything I've read and heard states that, for RESULTS, lifting first (again, preceded by enough cardio to warm the muscles up properly to avoid injury - just a few minutes is fine).

No matter what, lifting anything at any level that actually challenges you beats just sticking with pure cardio. Before, after, in the middle, whatever. Just grab something heavy and (using proper form and safety precautions) lift it 'till ya can't lift it no more).

alyssamiller77

Just don't do cardio right before you lift; if you're going to do both, lift first.

Ah yes, more advice spouted as if it is 100% empirical fact when in reality it is nothing more than a personal preference. You have no context to say this is how she must do it and your story about bad form, yadda yadda yadda is only half true.

If you're "lifting heavy" (a lame *kitten* term I wish people would stop using) you're going to be pretty tired within the first few reps anyway. In other words, whether you did cardio first or not, being focused on your form is ALWAYS a requirement for lifting. Never once did you ask the OP what her goals were, just assumed.

To the OP, there is no black and white answer for this, you have to decide what's best for you. I've done it both ways (cardio before and cardio after) and I can say both work equally as well and I've seen no ill effects of either. I do lift to failure in low reps (the infamous lifting heavy) and I've never found that Cardio first was inhibiting in that regard. In fact on some days it was nice to get that good warm-up first and then hit the weights hard. Other days I felt like just slamming the weights right away and did the cardio afterward.

These days I don't do both on the same days but that's just the structure of my personal workouts. Again your preference is what's important here.

Onederchic

I'm the OP and my original question was to only find out *how much* cardio to do on lifting days. Not sure how it got sidetracked into what to do first

bcf7683

My personal routine is:

-5 minute warm-up on elliptical (As hard as I can, no resistance)

-Lift (Whatever muscle group I'm doing that day. I lift heavy, so I prefer to do so before cardio)

-12-15 minutes HIIT style cardio on an elliptical or treadmill (which ever I feel like doing that day. I like to alternate). I do a 30 second warm up, then up the speed to as fast as I can go (usually 8.5) for a minute, then down to 6.5 for a minute, back up 8.5, etc. until I hit 12-15 minutes. [[The HIIT cardio definately does work- I burn more calories doing that for 15 minutes than if I were to run a steady pace for 30 mins. It tends to burn more fat because your heart rate is up and down, forcing your body to expend more energy. I could honestly run and run and run at 5.5 mph until my legs fall off, but doing HIIT on a treadmill for 15 minutes alternating between 6.5 & 8.5 mph- I can hardly drag my sweaty a*s out of the gym afterwards.]] I end cardio with a 3-4 minute walk.

-After the HIIT, I do a full body stretch, and then I'm outta there.

Usually takes around an hour & a half for my whole routine.

DavPul

Just don't do cardio right before you lift; if you're going to do both, lift first.

I was told the opposite by my trainer. I was told if i was going to do heavy cardio do it first, then lift

Your trainer is wrong.

Very, very wrong.

MoreBean13

I'm the OP and my original question was to only find out *how much* cardio to do on lifting days. Not sure how it got sidetracked into what to do first

However much you want. Some people (a lot actually!) don't do any. Somewhere in the 15-40 min range is where you'll get the most amount of fat oxidation vs muscle catabolizing.

alyssamiller77

How much cardio you do depends on your goals. Tripling up a 5 minute HIIT routine may work for you if you're not looking for huge gains in cardio vascular fitness. You will still improve your fitness and depending on what your activity level is like right now that may be sufficient for you. If you're trying to train for something more intense, you probably want to get in more than 15 minutes of cardio.

All I can really speak to without more context is my own experience. When I was doing Cardio and Strength together, I would typically do 30-40 minutes of cardio followed by the same amount of time lifting. My goal at that time was to lose weight while maintaining my current muscle mass (or as much as possible anyway) and improve my overall endurance. Those 30-40 minutes were typically HIIT although once a week I'd go with a more leisurely pace. It worked for me. I lost 35 pounds and can run all day long on the soccer fields for days in a row without issues.

I hope that's helpful but some more context around your goals would help provide a more detailed answer.

JustJennie1

Depends on how much time you have.

I do 30 min. of cardio before I lift because that's all the time I have for cardio. As to when to do it (before or after) is completely up to you. You will hear everyone on here tell you that you must do your cardio after your weights. It's practically gospel here LOL but it's up to you. For me I have to do my cardio first otherwise I won't do it at all and I have to do cardio period because no matter how much or heavy I lift and no matter how good my diet is I will gain weight (and not muscle weight) without cardio. It's just how I am.

vancemcdaniel

Okay...

So here is the deal....

If you are lifting weights you need the glycogen in your muscles for energy and recover between sets. If you do intensive cardio before lifting weights you will burn up that blood sugar and wont have it for use during your lift. Now, if you are doing cardio to burn fat then doing your lift before cardio is the best way to access that body fat. WHY? Because, if you have an intense lift (weight training session) you are burning up that blood sugar and by the time you do cardio your body will be forced to access body fat for energy.

I have really simplified the explanation however it rings very true.

One caveat. If you are doing crazy high intensive aerobics and weight training on the same day, you may need to eat something in between sessions. For the average person looking to lose weight and gain muscle and muscle tone, refer to my original statement.

BTW.. A fifteen or twenty min warm up on the treadmill is a great way to get ready for a weightlifting session. It takes about that much time for the heart to get into fat burning mode anyway. So a warm up is not cardio.

Onederchic

My goal is not to be fat anymore, lol I want to slim down while building some muscle. I am not sure how much more detail I can give. I have about 100lbs to lose and not even sure if I should even attempt heavy lifting at this stage but I have started anyway (at home, Olympic weight set, bench, hand weights) and my boyfriend is the one who is helping me out (and no, he is not a personal trainer, he just uses his own personal experience, lol).

DavPul

I'm the OP and my original question was to only find out *how much* cardio to do on lifting days. Not sure how it got sidetracked into what to do first

Welcome to the MFP forums, second only to Mexico City in hijacking.

The answer is do as much as you want. You haven't specified your goals so it's hard for us to give exact parameters. But if you want to do 15 mins of hiit, go ahead. Want to lift and follow it up with a 45 steady state run, knock yourself out. 3 hour hike, I'm not going to tell you no. All are legit ways to lose weight, and at times I've done them all to great success. The difference is in how much it may affect your other goals. Without knowing those, you get a general answer followed up by specific hijacking.

By the way, you know you should do the cardio after, right........


Edited to add: you answered the goals question as I was typing. Answer remains the same. Do as much as you like because at this stage you have a ways to go before worrying about reaching your strength muscle potential. Lift as heavy as you can, do as much cardio of whatever type you enjoy, watch your calorie intake. And welcome to MFP.