Cardio After Lifting = Muscle Loss?

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KatTheAmazon
KatTheAmazon Posts: 16 Member
in Fitness and Exercise
After seeing pics of people who switched from weigh machines to free weights, I thought to do the same. DH generally does free weights so I asked for his help. After roughly 40 min, he and his parents were done but I wanted to do some cardio to burn more calories. DH disagreed and said I would just burn off the muscle that i just built. I'm on the bike now burning calories.

That makes no sense to me. I understand long term weight lifting is good for burning more calories at rest but isn't cardio important as well? Should you not do cardio right after lifting? Or this a recent "muscle magazine" trend?
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Replies

  • Emtabo01
    Emtabo01 Posts: 672
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    I don't know any rules, etc. on this, but I do heavy weights 3x week and do cardio 5 days a week. I'm definitely building muscle, can feel them and my inches are decreasing. My scale weight has stayed about the same though. In my head, I'm losing fat from cardio, gaining muscle from weights and I look and feel better so it's working for me. Now if that is actually what is happening in my body - I have no idea.
  • withchaco
    withchaco Posts: 1,026 Member
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    When you do weight lifting as hard as you should, you won't have enough energy for a hardcore cardio session afterwards. A little bit of cardio, sure, but not as hard as you usually go.

    It's generally not possible to build muscle and lose fat in the same session. Muscle building requires caloric surplus (eat more than you burn). Fat loss requires caloric deficit (eat less than you burn). The two of them are mutually exclusive. Super-new beginners may be exceptions, but you're not going to be super-new for long.

    What *is* possible is to lose fat so that your existing muscles show better. You become tighter and gain more definition, and may even gain some strength... but not mass/size.
  • meshashesha2012
    meshashesha2012 Posts: 8,326 Member
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    if someone can do endurance style cardio after they lift then they arent lifting enough weights.

    i regularly do cardio on he treadmill after my lifting sessions but 20 minutes is my MAX and i'm probably only to run about 5 minutes of that time.

    i save my longer 45-60 minute cardio sessions for non lifting days
  • MoreBean13
    MoreBean13 Posts: 8,701 Member
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    if someone can do endurance style cardio after they lift then they arent lifting enough weights.

    i regularly do cardio on he treadmill after my lifting sessions but 20 minutes is my MAX and i'm probably only to run about 5 minutes of that time.

    i save my longer 45-60 minute cardio sessions for non lifting days

    QFT. I am a runner, but I schedule my real running and lifting on separate days. You can't get the max out of two activities back-to-back. I ran yesterday after lifting, but only at about 80% of my tempo run speed and only for 15 mins. If you're lifting using the principle of overload (which you should be) your muscle should be too fatigued to do endurance cardio.

    That being said, you get maximum fat-burning from some cardio after lifting. Longer than around 30 minutes can be more catabolic then beneficial. A lower intensity shorter bit of cardio after lifting can be beneficial for meeting fat loss goals.
  • BazAbroad
    BazAbroad Posts: 248
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    The cardio after weights is basically to push your muscles a bit more and to flush them out,
    its not true cardio because your hard weight training has burned you out,
    your doing cardio type exercises but not true cardio,
    and then there is a cool down.
  • Sarauk2sf
    Sarauk2sf Posts: 28,072 Member
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    if someone can do endurance style cardio after they lift then they arent lifting enough weights.

    i regularly do cardio on he treadmill after my lifting sessions but 20 minutes is my MAX and i'm probably only to run about 5 minutes of that time.

    i save my longer 45-60 minute cardio sessions for non lifting days

    QFT. I am a runner, but I schedule my real running and lifting on separate days. You can't get the max out of two activities back-to-back. I ran yesterday after lifting, but only at about 80% of my tempo run speed and only for 15 mins. If you're lifting using the principle of overload (which you should be) your muscle should be too fatigued to do endurance cardio.

    That being said, you get maximum fat-burning from some cardio after lifting. Longer than around 30 minutes can be more catabolic then beneficial. A lower intensity shorter bit of cardio after lifting can be beneficial for meeting fat loss goals.

    ^^this
  • saschka7
    saschka7 Posts: 577 Member
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    "Burn off the muscle you just built"? That sounds like 'bro science' to me... I'd ask him to show you where he read that. I do realize that if you were lifting to your full ability, you probably wouldn't have the *energy* to do serious cardio, but as far as it negating your efforts...well, I'm just a big doubting Thomas on that one. Seems like he might be one of those people who confuse fat with muscle.

    Then again, maybe I'm completely wrong. :laugh:
  • KatTheAmazon
    KatTheAmazon Posts: 16 Member
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    I wasn't doing high intensity cardio (a comfortable zone 2 according to my HRM).. I ended up being able to do about 30 min. We did upper body for lifting and my cardio was on the bike.

    Earlier in the year, I was working out 5-6 days a week and I would do the weight machines M T TH F with cardio (for about an hour total workout time), W and a weekend day cardio only (appx. 1 hour). I really slimmed down and toned up. Didn't lose much weight for about 3 months (5 pounds and this was after a 35+ pound weight loss), but lost inches! Depression hit and everything went out the window so now i'm trying to get back into the swing of things.

    Thanks for the replies!! Hearing what DH said really surprised me because just a few years ago he was telling me how cardio after lifting is what you should do. Tomorrow I will be sure to do an only cardio day and I will try to get back to what I used to do (except with free weights!).
  • Capt_Apollo
    Capt_Apollo Posts: 9,026 Member
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    technically you don't build muscle when you lift. you build muscle the next day.
  • Laces_0ut
    Laces_0ut Posts: 3,750 Member
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    technically you don't build muscle when you lift. you build muscle the next day.

    but what if you lifted the day before? :)
  • zaph0d
    zaph0d Posts: 1,172 Member
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    You don't build muscle in the gym; you create microtears in the muscle fibers. You build muscle when you sleep as these microtears are repaired. Doing some cardoi after a strength workout is more or less fine if you have some leftover energy, though I prefer to split cardio and strength to different days.
  • DavPul
    DavPul Posts: 61,406 Member
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    Nope. Not the case. At the level of lifting and cardio we're talking about here you'll be just fine. Go ahead, lift first and do your cardio after.
  • KatTheAmazon
    KatTheAmazon Posts: 16 Member
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    Nope. Not the case. At the level of lifting and cardio we're talking about here you'll be just fine. Go ahead, lift first and do your cardio after.

    Yeah, I'm not doing "heavy" lifting. I am pretty much a beginner at free weights and the different muscles that are needed are so not strong yet. I've also not been exercising on a regular schedule and only just started back up this month after a few months off.

    I'm a noob. My ultimate goal to just get back on the horse (literally), so super heavy lifting may not ever be for me.
  • StrongerThanThor
    StrongerThanThor Posts: 544 Member
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    Get your protein shake immediately after weight lifting then do your cardio.
    Also keep your protein intake high every day, and you will never worry about muscle's loss.
  • RikanSoulja
    RikanSoulja Posts: 463 Member
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    I have actually read several articles stating the opposite. Doing cardio after lifting people where shown to have increased level of HGH in the system leading to better strength and muscle gains. Also people where shown to lose more fat because the glycogen stores in your muscles have all been but depleted so your body will use the fat to burn. Of course the cardio was a moderate intensity for 30 mins at most I believe.
  • amateurdude
    amateurdude Posts: 44 Member
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    Cardio doesn't kill gains, and unless you're eating a caloric surpless you won't be making any gains anyways, (besides, noob gains, maybe)

    Do your cardio.
  • BackTatJIM
    BackTatJIM Posts: 1,140 Member
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    I started doing cardio before lifting and loved it but then found that cardio after lifting gave a lot more energy for lifting. Normally I lift for about a hour and do some type of cardio 15-30 minutes after lifting... have not done anything but gain a lot of strength, no muscle loss that I am aware of and yes this is eating at a small deflict. PEOPLE WILL GIVE YOU A MILLION DIFFERENT ANSWERS .. DO WHAT WORKS FOR YOU ;-)
  • LorinaLynn
    LorinaLynn Posts: 13,247 Member
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    i save my longer 45-60 minute cardio sessions for non lifting days

    QFT. I am a runner, but I schedule my real running and lifting on separate days. You can't get the max out of two activities back-to-back. I ran yesterday after lifting, but only at about 80% of my tempo run speed and only for 15 mins. If you're lifting using the principle of overload (which you should be) your muscle should be too fatigued to do endurance cardio.

    This and that.

    I lift 3 days a week and run 3 days a week. On different days.

    After lifting, about the only thing I can do is sit down and log my exercise. :laugh:
  • AbsoluteNG
    AbsoluteNG Posts: 1,079 Member
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    Nothing wrong with doing both cardio and weight lifting at the same time. I have a friend who's constantly gaining muscle with a low body fat range. If i had to guess, he has around 8% body fat. He does 50 minutes of cardio with a goal of hitting 6 miles in those 50 mins and then he lifts weights. He spends 3 to 4 days in the gym at 2 hours a day. He also drinks a protein shake during his workout so this probably prevents any muscle loss that you might be afraid of.




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  • AbsoluteNG
    AbsoluteNG Posts: 1,079 Member
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    Link below to a summary of real scientific research that shows doing both cardio and strength training in the same day does not matter.
    http://www.muscleandfitness.com/training/other/should-you-do-weight-training-cardio-same-day

    However, the results of the studies actually showed that performing weight training and cardio on the same day had no negative effects on endurance training, resistance training, or muscle growth. In fact, they found that doing 50 percent less of both types of exercise on the same day produced the same results as doing full workouts devoted to one or the other. So, if you’ve been doing your weight training and cardio on separate days, combine your workout to get more bang for your buck.


    Edit: There is a simple and logical explanation as to why muscle gains were not stunted in the study above. It's because cardio increases heart rate which in turn increases blood flow to your muscles, which in turn increases muscle repair process by providing more nutrients to the muscles that require any repairs.



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