Weights Before or After Cardio?

ChantiC
ChantiC Posts: 137
in Fitness and Exercise
I know this is probably a common question. But just curious about your opinions on this :) I had a trainer show me around my gym a few months ago and she said Cardio before weights. Now my dad who was a bodybuilder a long time ago, says weights before cardio. Currently I am doing cardio and then weights and seeing not a lot of progress (partly probably due to eating). So what do you guys do?

Replies

  • FattieBabs
    FattieBabs Posts: 542 Member
    10 minute warmup on rower
    30 mins weights
    20 mins cardio on amt

    It is working.
    Others split their cardio and weights days completely.
  • __Di__
    __Di__ Posts: 1,658 Member
    I know this is probably a common question. But just curious about your opinions on this :) I had a trainer show me around my gym a few months ago and she said Cardio before weights. Now my dad who was a bodybuilder a long time ago, says weights before cardio. Currently I am doing cardio and then weights and seeing not a lot of progress (partly probably due to eating). So what do you guys do?

    I don't go to the gym very often but when I do, I always do cardio first. It doubles up as a warm-up for me.
  • mikejholmes
    mikejholmes Posts: 291 Member
    I suppose it depends on what your goals are. For most things, my answer would be "lift heavy weights - skip the cardio".
    Give me more info on your goals, and I might be able to help you more.

    Your profile says things like, you want more energy, you want to look better, and you worry about the history of heart disease in your family. My answer for those things is -- lift, watch what you eat, only drink in moderation, and don't smoke. If you must do cardio, I would suggest doing it at the "fat burn" level, and on days you don't lift. (IE: Lift Mon - Wed - Fri, and do light cardio on weekends.

    And when I say lift, I mean use freeweights -- not the machines.
  • violettatx
    violettatx Posts: 230 Member
    I do 10 minutes warm up on the bike or treadmill before lifting.

    I do my cardio on days I don't lift (30 minutes interval 3 days per week).

    I guess it depends on your goals. If you progress to a point that you're lifting heavy you probably don't want to expend a lot of energy doing carido beforehand. At least, that's the way it works for me.
  • mshopey
    mshopey Posts: 125 Member
    I stretch, do one set of weights, do 10 mins of the cross trainer, do another set of weights, do 10 mins of exercise bike, etc.
    I only do it like that because you need an interval in between sets and i think just standing there makes me feel silly.
    And when i'm out of breath from the cardio, i can catch it while doing my weights.
    No one has specifically told me this is a bad idea yet.
    But who knows?
  • iulia_maddie
    iulia_maddie Posts: 2,780 Member
    Short warm up, then weights, so you can put all your energy into it. Personally, I do cardio on days I don't lift.
  • Ainar
    Ainar Posts: 858 Member
    Well if you do cardio before weights you will use most of that energy and may feel more tired, therefore would not work that hard on lifting cos you are tired. On the other hand, if you lift first and then do cardio you probably will be tired and will have harder time doing cardio. So in the end of a day I think it really depends on what are your main goals and your preference. It won't have any effect on your muscle gains other than the fact that when already tired you may work not so hard, what may effect your workout and muscle gains as a result of it. Just try what works best for you.

    Personally I do cardio at mornings and lifting at evenings. Like that I have enough time to rest, have some meals, etc and go back to lifting with full energy. I tried to do them in one workout, before or after, but that was pretty exhausting. Could work if I would just do casual cardio after lifting but I need to increase my performance as well - time and speed, so it's hard to give full energy to lifting while trying to get as good workout as possible and then full energy on cardio.
  • mikejholmes
    mikejholmes Posts: 291 Member
    I stretch, do one set of weights, do 10 mins of the cross trainer, do another set of weights, do 10 mins of exercise bike, etc.
    I only do it like that because you need an interval in between sets and i think just standing there makes me feel silly.
    And when i'm out of breath from the cardio, i can catch it while doing my weights.
    No one has specifically told me this is a bad idea yet.
    But who knows?
    I'll say this is probably a bad idea.
    The reason you need an interval in between sets is that your body needs time to recover.
    It's fairly tough for your body to recover if you're working yourself until you're out of breath.

    At least, it's a bad idea if you want your lifts to progress.
    Again - it all comes down to goals.
  • froeschli
    froeschli Posts: 1,292 Member
    I lift, then run. should do a warmup first though, apparently that would leave me less sore ;-p
    haven't been doing it long enough to tell if it is working.

    last time i had a gym membership (some 10 years ago) i'd do warmup cardio 10-20 minutes, then weights, then cardio 30+ minutes. worked like a charm.
  • ChantiC
    ChantiC Posts: 137
    I want to say Thanks for all your input, I like hearing what other people do. So right now my workout is pretty much one day cardio and upper body, then next day cardio and lower body. Then day off, followed again by one day cardio and upper and the next day cardio and lower. When I lift I do a mixture of weights and machines and I do lift heavy. I don't really rest in between sets, I like to keep my heart rate up and I do more of a circuit. For cardio at the gym I do the Elliptical or this thing called an Arc trainer which is like a stepper and elliptical sort of lol. On my days off of gym I do walking and biking. I rest completely on Sunday because I work 9 hours in a freezer. So don't feel like exercising when I get home at all. I asked this because I was finding that during my strength training circuit I was getting real tired towards the end and really just trying to hurry and get it done sort of speak. So I thought if I started off by doing a warm up on row machine or bike then do ST, then do 20 mins of cardio I would be able to get through my circuit with more energy. My goal is to lose about 70 lbs, and I want to be strong and have some muscle definition, while still having some curves lol. I am not scared to strength train, but was curious if people do their weights before cardio. Especially since the trainer at my gym was like yes you do cardio first. In short my main focus of my workouts are lifting and some cardio, since I am fairly active daily anyways.
  • jzammetti
    jzammetti Posts: 1,956 Member
    I have discovered that if I do cardio that pushes me, I have nothing left for weights. SO, I do a warm up cardio for 10 minutes, weights for about 60- minutes and then HIIT cardio for 15 minutes on alternating workouts. Works for me
  • WeightHacker
    WeightHacker Posts: 260 Member
    i do cardio before weight lifting. and im getting progress.

    i do the free range weight not the machine weights.
    and your own body should be your weight itself.

    least thats what my trainer have told me.

    i do treadmill/running-walking outside.
    then i head to the gym to do the weights.
  • jim9097
    jim9097 Posts: 341 Member
    Before or After? How about during. I among many other trainers advocate doing 1 minute bursts of cardio in between sets of weight training. This method provides a couple benefits. 1.) it causes additional blood flow to the muscles This increases endurance of the muscle fibers. 2.) It causes additional blood flow to the muscles: This brings the nutrients needed to recover from the microfractures caused by weight training.

    You may have noticed that both are related to increased blood flow, but the benefits are essential. Not to mention this type of training ramps up your metabolism for hours.
  • bobf279
    bobf279 Posts: 342 Member
    I do a 10 min warm up with step ups and hand weights before resistance training, warming up the muscles I am about to work. I do a similar stint after strength training to cool down. I don't mix strength and cardio otherwise, different type of exercise for different days. I did read on here that if you must do both on the same day then strength first then cardio.
  • mountaingirl2207
    mountaingirl2207 Posts: 181
    I do 25 minutes of HIIT, then lift, then do steady state cardio after. I do it this way because the HIIT really energizes me and I feel like I have superpowers when I'm done. The steady state cardio is tougher, but once I get going I can usually do the full time.
  • jim9097
    jim9097 Posts: 341 Member
    I stretch, do one set of weights, do 10 mins of the cross trainer, do another set of weights, do 10 mins of exercise bike, etc.
    I only do it like that because you need an interval in between sets and i think just standing there makes me feel silly.
    And when i'm out of breath from the cardio, i can catch it while doing my weights.
    No one has specifically told me this is a bad idea yet.
    But who knows?
    I'll say this is probably a bad idea.
    The reason you need an interval in between sets is that your body needs time to recover.
    It's fairly tough for your body to recover if you're working yourself until you're out of breath.

    At least, it's a bad idea if you want your lifts to progress.
    Again - it all comes down to goals.

    It is not a bad idea to do cardio with weight training. I would not do 10 minutes, I would limit it to 1 minute of high intensity cardio. I already posted why it is a good idea.
  • mimi3087
    mimi3087 Posts: 7 Member
    I've always been told to lift first as you can always find more energy for cardio
  • GiddyupTim
    GiddyupTim Posts: 2,819 Member
    Short warm up, then weights, so you can put all your energy into it. Personally, I do cardio on days I don't lift.
    ^^^^ This. you cannot lift very much or very well if you have expended yourself running. Split them up.
  • rduhlir
    rduhlir Posts: 3,550 Member
    Really it just comes down to preference.

    I do a short incline/speed walk on the treadmill just to get my blood pumping and to raise my core temp. Then focus on the weight lifting (I life heavy) and then do either an easy recovery jog (2 miles) or a 15-20 interval session.

    But for every study that says to do cardio first, there is a study that says to lifting first. It is another one of those arguments that get beaten with a stick over and over, that just boils down to personal preference.
  • Hearts_2015
    Hearts_2015 Posts: 12,031 Member
    bump
  • hesn92
    hesn92 Posts: 5,966 Member
    I have heard weights first... that way you have all your energy for the lifting. less likely to injure yourself. I would honestly rather just do them on separate days.
  • edwardgaweda
    edwardgaweda Posts: 40
    First, I advocate a 5-10min cardio limit pre-lifting as a warmup. Train hard, lift heavy and then do cardio afterwards.

    Second, the whole "circuit" concept is incredibly overblown in my opinion. Almost everyone I've seen do this uses machines and/or does almost purely isolation movements. Also, not resting to "keep your heart rate up" makes me extremely skeptical about your claim of "lifting heavy."

    Stick to free weights and compound lifts. Give yourself 60 seconds or so between sets, and really push yourself to get the most out of each rep/set.

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