Cardio before or after Weight lifting?
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edwardkim85
Posts: 438 Member
When I do cardio, I tend to 'try' to do long ones (40 min +) first thing in the morning on an empty stomach... but
I can't weight train properly afterwards, even if I take a preworkout supplement that gives me energy.
If I weight train first, I need to eat breakfast --> weight train ---> then do cardio... but cardio at the end becomes 10x harder.
What do you do? Cardio first or weight train first?
* I tried doing HIIT a few times in the morning on an empty stomach but... not sure if you can effectively do HIIT at 100% on an empty stomache. Eating a healthy breakfast makes my HIIT 2x as intense.
I can't weight train properly afterwards, even if I take a preworkout supplement that gives me energy.
If I weight train first, I need to eat breakfast --> weight train ---> then do cardio... but cardio at the end becomes 10x harder.
What do you do? Cardio first or weight train first?
* I tried doing HIIT a few times in the morning on an empty stomach but... not sure if you can effectively do HIIT at 100% on an empty stomache. Eating a healthy breakfast makes my HIIT 2x as intense.
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Replies
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i dont do them on the same days.0
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Cardio after, because my priority is the weight lifting. I want to give it the most energy (well, strength).0
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Cardio after, because my priority is the weight lifting. I want to give it the most energy (well, strength).
You do the same when you were on a calorie deficit(fat loss)?0 -
how much weight do you need to lose?
I would split them up
for example
mwf - lift then 10-15min hiit
tth - cardio
SS - rest0 -
I would never do exercise on an empty stomach. However, I tend to do cardio before weight lifting.0
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cardio after
. ideally I wouldn't do cardio on leg day since that can impair gains but if I had to would go with a bike vs treadmill since that's supposed to be less destructive. I used to leave leg day on an "off run" day so I had that gap. Just did a program change so no cardio which is kinda a good thing since my knee and the treadmill had a little falling out today. 0 -
I've been doing one 10 min hiit session a week, after weights because our home spin bike is being loaned to a friend and I can't be bothered going to the gym another time to do it on its own! we've just been given a bit more cardio - 2 30 min LISS sessions, I did one yesterday before my workout. I biked, and was training chest and shoulders so didn't have a problem
when I have a bike at home, I do it on its own. when competing last, I was made to do it fasted. now i'd probably just do it whenever...0 -
^^^ This - otherwise whatever you do second is compromised.i dont do them on the same days.0 -
* I tried doing HIIT a few times in the morning on an empty stomach but... not sure if you can effectively do HIIT at 100% on an empty stomache. Eating a healthy breakfast makes my HIIT 2x as intense.
Why are you working out on an empty stomach if it doesn't feel good? Working out on an empty stomach does NOT burn extra fat. Calories in = calories out!
If you eat less, you'll lose weight. It DOES NOT matter at what moment of the day you eat. So if working out on an empty stomach doesn't work for you, then please don't! Stick to eating at your TDEE minus 20%.
As for cardio and weighttraining: I use 10 minutes of HIIT before weight training. But usually I do weighttraining and cardio on separate days. If you don't want to lose too much of your muscle mass you might want to refrain from endurance cardio. HIITT does much more for you in terms of losing weight but also in your level of fitness. Much friendlier on your musclemass too.0 -
The Effect of Weight Training Before Cardio, from Jillian Michaels:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nOp6dazlj4c 0 -
You shouldn't really be exercising on an empty stomach - especially first thing in the morning - breakfast is key to kickstarting your metabolism and helping you burn calories faster. I'd try to break it up; do half a cardio workout first to warm up, then weights, then the second half of your cardio workout as a cool down.0
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You shouldn't really be exercising on an empty stomach - especially first thing in the morning - breakfast is key to kickstarting your metabolism and helping you burn calories faster. I'd try to break it up; do half a cardio workout first to warm up, then weights, then the second half of your cardio workout as a cool down.
I'm sorry, but this isn't true. Skipping breakfast does not slow your metabolism. It's a myth. There are many people that do very well on intermittent Fasting (proven). It's personal preference if you eat breakfast or not.
For me personally, I'm sluggish as a snail without my breakfast. I used to skip breakfast too, believing those myths. Then I would have a horrible workout and binge as soon as I got home because I was starving. Just eat at your goal. IFor your weighloss it doesn't matter if you do or don't have breakfast. If you have a better workout on food in your stomach, then I suggest you eat breakfast!0 -
Cardio after, because my priority is the weight lifting. I want to give it the most energy (well, strength).
You do the same when you were on a calorie deficit(fat loss)?
Yeah, I'm on a deficit some days and eat more on lifting days only. It's a small deficit overall (for the week).0 -
No.You shouldn't really be exercising on an empty stomach - especially first thing in the morning - breakfast is key to kickstarting your metabolism and helping you burn calories faster.
Its perfectly fine to exercise on a empty stomach if that is comfortable to the individual.
Even if it wasn't a myth, you also don't know if the OP's goal is to burn calories as fast as possible.
To answer your question OP. Its all up to the individual. If I were to do both on same day, I would always do lifting first as my focus is either on strength or muscles gains and not fat loss most of the time.
Personally, I eat small before lifting and depending on what cardio I am doing, I decide how much if any I will eat.
Lastly if I am doing hill sprints which is by far the most beneficial cardio while building leg muscles or pulling a sled, I would do that after my leg days which doesn't hinder the benefits I want because it is built in to my specific program.
If I am running lets say 5-8 miles or cycling 20 miles, I feel comfortable doing that the same day with a some type of break as well because it is relatively easy for my fitness level and doesn't tax my body noticeably.
If I was running 9-18 miles, I would not do it the same day as my gym work.
It really down to your goals and preferences of the individual mixed in.0 -
* I tried doing HIIT a few times in the morning on an empty stomach but... not sure if you can effectively do HIIT at 100% on an empty stomache. Eating a healthy breakfast makes my HIIT 2x as intense.
Why are you working out on an empty stomach if it doesn't feel good? Working out on an empty stomach does NOT burn extra fat. Calories in = calories out!
If you eat less, you'll lose weight. It DOES NOT matter at what moment of the day you eat. So if working out on an empty stomach doesn't work for you, then please don't! Stick to eating at your TDEE minus 20%.
As for cardio and weighttraining: I use 10 minutes of HIIT before weight training. But usually I do weighttraining and cardio on separate days. If you don't want to lose too much of your muscle mass you might want to refrain from endurance cardio. HIITT does much more for you in terms of losing weight but also in your level of fitness. Much friendlier on your musclemass too.
This0 -
Some people do cardio on an empty stomach as they get nauseous otherwise.
I personally use cardio partially to warm up (low-medium intensity), lift, then on non leg days do higher intensity cardio afterwards.
You'll want to start with whatever is the most important to you.0 -
[I would split them up
for example
mwf - lift then 10-15min hiit
tth - cardio
SS - rest
[/quote]
This is my schedule but I only do 5-6 minute HIIT after lifting (I'm doing SL 5X5 and that's about all I can muster for HIIT after that, my legs are jelly afterwards)0 -
i dont do them on the same days.
This!!!
In most cases, it is too hard on the recovery to do it the same day unless your dividing it up, or doing pretty minimal work load of each.
On weight only days, I like to do 5 - 10 minutes of easily pedaling or treadmill/eliptical to warm up - then hit the weights. 5 minutes of cool down of cardio at the end to flush the system.
Save the cardio stuff for its own days (like 5 per week) and 2 weight days (one upper body, one lower body).
If you do exercise in the morning before breakfast - drink coffee first. It's a training method for cyclists and runners to cut weight by doing a lower level effort ride/run of no more than 90 minutes in the AM. We call it (probably a misnomer) "bonk training"...
http://www.superskinnyme.com/bonk-training.html
No way I would do weights after starting the morning off with a "bonk traink" on coffee alone. If you want to do a 2-a-day by starting off with your morning cardio (shorter session of 30-45 minutes), then I would eat breakfast, lunch, and recover through the day to hit the weights later in the day after your glycogen stores have been totally replenished. Why lift if your body is not fully charged and ready to tear down the muscle through the lifts? In that scenario, you'd be much better off doing a 90 minute to 2 hour cardio session and hit the weights the next day.0 -
Whatever you want the most priority to go towards, do that first. If your goal is to simply lose weight, the lift first then cardio.0
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You should ALWAY do weights before cardio. ALWAYS.
When you do cardio first all you are doing is burning up all the glycogen in your muscles and then when you go to lift weights all the glycogen is gone and you are out of gas, so to speak.
On the flipside, if you do weights first you can burn up the glycogen and give your weight training all that you've got and then when you do cardio you have a better chance of actually burning fat.
I do weights 5 times/week and cardio only 3 of those days, after I'm done with weights.
If you don't lift weights as frequently as I do, try doing the cardio on it's own day like other people have suggested. Just never do cardio before weights -- totally counterproductive.0
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