cardio & strength - does order matter?

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wmphimu
wmphimu Posts: 77 Member
in Fitness and Exercise
A quick question - if you are doing cardio & strength, does it matter which order you do them in? My plan for tonight is 30 min on the treadmill and one of the strength/weight routines that you pull out of Self magazine (wild and crazy night in my house, right? :) ). Is there a benefit to doing one first over the other? Or is it really just about getting both in? THANKS!

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  • econgel
    econgel Posts: 2
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    I recommend strength training 1st, then finish with cardio.
  • transparentenigma
    transparentenigma Posts: 565 Member
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    Strength first, because you need to maintain proper form for the exercises to get the maximum benefits. If you do cardio and get a little tired you may not retain proper form and the exercise could become a waste of time or an exercise in what not to do.

    On a serious note you could hurt yourself by twisting your body in a position that may seem more comfortable to you, but put underlying stress on your muscles.

    So do the weights first, then the jumps.
  • SummerSusan
    SummerSusan Posts: 4 Member
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    I am new to this subject, but read that if you want maximum gains in muscle "work" then you shouldn't pre-exhaust your legs, for example, by running on the treadmill. That said, as a newbie like me I'm guessing any order is better than not doing anything at all and I will still make muscle and strength gain (modest of course) over my existing bad condition! I'm starting to add basic weight training into my pretty full cardio (Zumba) schedule for basic strength and growth, and do this before any Zumba class. I'm still trying to lose fat and am eating at a calorie deficit. If I were ready to gain some serious muscle size or strength, then I would have to eat over my maintenance level in calories (hard to picture at this point!) and drop off a lot of cardio. This is what I have been reading, again, I'm no expert! BTW, your daughter (in the photo) is a real cutie!
  • cbsmith14
    cbsmith14 Posts: 15 Member
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    I am no expert by any means, but I have trained with quite a few different pros and I've always done cardio first.

    I think the idea is to get the heart rate up first with cardio, which gets your metabolism going, then keep it up by following with strength training.

    Now i'm curious if i'm just guessing... Any pros out there with better answers?
  • whitesox56
    whitesox56 Posts: 85
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    I had a free trainer session at my gym, he told me to do a 10 min. cardio warmup, then strength and then 30 minutes of cardio to finish.

    I used to do 20 mins of cardio, do weights, do 20 more mins of cardio, do weights and then finish with 20 more mins of cardio.
  • ksankar
    ksankar Posts: 2 Member
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    Well first you should ask yourself... what is cardio? The most common answer I have gotten in the past is..."the beating of the heart and burning calories." Wherever you are right now reading this your heart is beating and you are burning calories. When you do the traditional "cardio" exercises you do increase heart rate and burn more calories. However, depending on your goals whether it is plain fat loss OR muscle building and fat loss...this all comes down to the law of thermodynamics. Calories IN vs Calories OUT. My point doing "cardio" is not necessary since were basically doing it when we do strength training. During strength training our heart rates increase and we breathe heavier (depending on our effort....the greater the effort the higher the heart rate and heavier the breathing) AND we can continuously build muscle. Its safe to say you don't see many people building muscle on a treadmill or elliptical...in fact....take a look at marathon runners. Hope this helps :smile:
  • wmphimu
    wmphimu Posts: 77 Member
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    BTW, your daughter (in the photo) is a real cutie!

    Thank you! :) It's interesting to see a variety of reasons to do one or another first. I ended up walking on the treadmill first, for no other reason then it's a little noisy so I wanted to be done with it before it would wake up my daughter. Hopefully I can make some time earlier in the day during the week so I can try it the other way too!
  • ironanimal
    ironanimal Posts: 5,922 Member
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    I would rather be too tired to run and discover that after a few minutes, than too tired to lift and discover that with a barbell over my head/chest.
  • Helloitsdan
    Helloitsdan Posts: 5,564 Member
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    Cardio after lifting.
    Read up on Lyle Mcdonald about cardio and ask yourself if you really need that?
    Or just lifting and proper diet.
  • nlehmann
    nlehmann Posts: 164 Member
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    I generally start with some cardio to get my muscles warm and get my heart rate up, then lift, then back to the all out cardio to drain the rest of my time and/or enegry.
  • Sublog
    Sublog Posts: 1,296 Member
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    A quick question - if you are doing cardio & strength, does it matter which order you do them in? My plan for tonight is 30 min on the treadmill and one of the strength/weight routines that you pull out of Self magazine (wild and crazy night in my house, right? :) ). Is there a benefit to doing one first over the other? Or is it really just about getting both in? THANKS!

    Strength first... but be careful to not do too much cardio on lifting days. It will kinda negate the benefits. You get some cardio benefits during weight lifting.

    Avoid deficit spending as much as possible when you weight train. (Meaning, doing cardio on top of weight training while already at a caloric deficit is kinda pointless).
  • ajourney2beme
    ajourney2beme Posts: 181 Member
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    I would rather be too tired to run and discover that after a few minutes, than too tired to lift and discover that with a barbell over my head/chest.

    This makes sense. Scary.
  • Debbe2
    Debbe2 Posts: 2,071 Member
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    I like a short cardio warm up followed by strength and then full out cardio. That's my preference but I do it any way I can get my workouts in.
  • belizsera
    belizsera Posts: 82 Member
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    I usually do cardio in the morning, strength at night. If I am doing a full workout it's strength first and then cardio. However, if I am doing a leg day it's no cardio. Just weights.
  • MrsSardone
    MrsSardone Posts: 194 Member
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    I live in fairfax too! Crayyyyy-zee!
  • wmphimu
    wmphimu Posts: 77 Member
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    I live in fairfax too! Crayyyyy-zee!

    That's too funny - what a small world!
  • MrsSardone
    MrsSardone Posts: 194 Member
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    Oh and I heard cardio warm up for 10 mins, then strength training, then 20 mins cardio.
  • cwolfman13
    cwolfman13 Posts: 41,867 Member
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    Personally, I don't really do much cardio on lift days...I go for a good walk at lunch to get my heart pumping above 120 for 30 minutes and that's about it. To get the most out of your lift sessions, you'll want to be as fresh as possible so if you do cardio on the same day it should be after lifting...and you should already be pretty well spent from lifting.
  • MellyMel340
    MellyMel340 Posts: 20 Member
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    Start off with light cardio, i suggest a brisk walk followed by stretching, this will get you warmed up and get your blood pumping, it will also reduce the risk if injury, then hit the strength training. When you're done you can go back to the cardio and get a full cardio session in.
  • Azdak
    Azdak Posts: 8,281 Member
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    Physiologically it doesn't make any difference. Your exercise order is entirely dependent on your goals and what you want to achieve during the session.

    You can train the body to adapt to different routines. There is no reason why you can't do quality lifting after cardio.

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