Strength Training or Cardio FIRST?

hrbal1cs
hrbal1cs Posts: 7 Member
edited September 20 in Fitness and Exercise
I have been on MFP since January, and to date have lost 25 pounds, hoping to lose the last 15 before June! I had some sessions with a personal trainer, and I asked him if I should strength train first, or do cardio first. He told me that it didn't really matter.

Well, now I have heard two sides of the story...if you are trying to burn fat, cardio should be first, followed by strength training. if you are building muscle, then strength training should be first, followed by cardio. Now, I have done strength training first the whole time I have been exercising/dieting, and I have lost weight, and toned up some muscle, but now I wonder if I should be doing cardio first, and then do strength training. I do not do all muscle groups everyday; I do arms Monday and Thursday, and legs Tuesday and Friday. Wednesday I do not any.

My question is which should I do first? I want to tone, AND lose weight. Maybe it would help if you knew that my goal was to lose 80 lbs altogether; so I have about 55lbs to go. Which is going to speed this process up?

Thanks in advance for the suggestions and advice:smile::smile:

Replies

  • HOSED49
    HOSED49 Posts: 642 Member
    The principle behind building muscle and doing strength training first is simple:
    You need all your fuel and energy to push max effort on all weight lifting exercises so you may build muscle.
    It breaks down to your goals, want a combo of both? Strength and cardio, do Interval workouts. Make some days cardio days, or if you have time, do two a days, either weights or cardio, one 3 hours or more after the other...make sure you feed your muscles though and give your body a chance to recover.
  • aareeyesee
    aareeyesee Posts: 65 Member
    I think this sort of min/maxxing is what keeps the exercise forums in business but I will throw in my 2 cents. You have glycogen stored in your muscles and in your liver if I remember correctly. Muscle contractions use that first then move to whatever is next. If you weight train first the glycogen gets used for what its is good at (maximum effort muscle contractions) Then when you go do your cardio it only has one place to pull energy from. Well 2 actually it can burn muscle for fuel or it can use fat. If I remember correctly you should keep your after weights cardio less than 35 mins and less than 135bpm so that the energy need is low enough that fat is a viable (slow) energy source and not converting muscle into energy. That is also why u shouldnt have anything with carbs in it before or during your workouts if u are trying to burn fat because it will just use those as the second choice rather than moving to the last choice which is always fat. Sorry I usually leave a bunch of links as foot notes but im going to bed. If this thread is still alive tomorrow I will dig them up.
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