Cardio on lifting days

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  • alyssamiller77
    alyssamiller77 Posts: 891 Member
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    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
    Onederchic Posts: 128 Member
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    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
    bcf7683 Posts: 1,653 Member
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    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
    DavPul Posts: 61,406 Member
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    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
    MoreBean13 Posts: 8,701 Member
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    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
    alyssamiller77 Posts: 891 Member
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    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
    JustJennie1 Posts: 3,843 Member
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    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
    vancemcdaniel Posts: 13
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    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
    Onederchic Posts: 128 Member
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    My goal is not to be fat anymore, lol :D 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
    DavPul Posts: 61,406 Member
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    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.
  • jesz124
    jesz124 Posts: 1,004 Member
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    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.

    Reason why? Pretty please? ;-)
  • Onederchic
    Onederchic Posts: 128 Member
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    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.

    Thank you!!! :flowerforyou:
  • vancemcdaniel
    vancemcdaniel Posts: 13
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    Do as much cardio on those days as you have the energy and desire for. Sorry I did not read your OP properly. there is no rule of thumb as to how much cardio you do on a lifting day. Not unless you are doing sport specific training and are on a program that is geared towards a specific goal or sport. Since you are simply looking to get in overall great shape and shed pounds, have at it.!

    Simply listen to your body and go for it.

    When and if you attain a certain level of fitness and your goals change, then and only then should you worry about specific ways of training and why.
  • DavPul
    DavPul Posts: 61,406 Member
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    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.

    Reason why? Pretty please? ;-)

    Cardio will have more of a drain on your strength production than strength will have on your cardio production. Cardio first tends to lead to a lackluster lifting session. Heavy cardio will lead to a worthless lifting session with drastically higher chance of injury. If you've got a heavy cardio day and it's a priority, just lift on a different day.
  • montanadanni
    montanadanni Posts: 184 Member
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    i seperate my cardio and lifting days but a good cardio warm-up before lifting is highly suggested (also light cardio isn't bad on lifting days, just heavy cardio isn't suggested)

    reasons

    1) then your not half assing one or the other work out because your already put out due to your weightlifing/cardio
    2) also less prone to injury because your exhusted
    3) weightlifting (when done right) is quite a bit of cardio in its self

    if you do them on the same day. do your lifting first, so your performance and form is ideal.

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