Cardio then Lift or Lift then Cardio?

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fragileelegance
fragileelegance Posts: 102 Member
in Fitness and Exercise
Is there a proper way, does it matter which one you do first? How do some of you guys do it?

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  • SunofaBeach14
    SunofaBeach14 Posts: 4,899 Member
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    If I'm going to do both during the same session, which I rarely do anymore, then I prefer to lift first so I'm fresh to get the most out of my lifting session. If I'm tired during a run I'm a lot less likely to hurt myself than if I'm tired while putting up heavy weight.

    That said, find what works for you here. There really isn't a magic combination that works for everyone.
  • FindingMyPerfection
    FindingMyPerfection Posts: 702 Member
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    Lift first, cardio after.

    I want to have all my energy to lift heavy first. Also I only do. 10-15 min cardio cool down. I use it more to help loosen muscles that have tightened due to the lifting.
  • kaned_ferret
    kaned_ferret Posts: 618 Member
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    I get bored easily so change things up a lot (not on a specific lifting plan, just using exercise to burn a few more calories) and will do 10 mins cardio on the cross trainer, a few sets compound exercises with dumbell weights, back to the cardio and so forth. Possibly not the most effective way to exercise but it gets me off my bum! Interested to see the more scientific answers :)
  • cwolfman13
    cwolfman13 Posts: 41,868 Member
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    I like to get the most out of my lifts so I do them first...if I have anything left in the tank afterwards I might do 20-30 minutes of cardio...but I usually do my cardio on non-lifting days. Really, if you're pushing yourself as hard as you can on your lifts then you're not going to have a whole lot of reserve energy for much of a cardio session...certainly not a very intense one. The times I do cardio after a lift, it's usually just a mellow jog or some easy elliptical work...I don't ever have anything left to really go hard at anything.

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