Cardio before or after weights?

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mickey9694
mickey9694 Posts: 74 Member
in Fitness and Exercise
Does it matter?
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  • SezxyStef
    SezxyStef Posts: 15,268 Member
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    it depends on your goals...

    I do cardio after my lifts always or on my off days..not that I do a tonne of it but....
  • MeanderingMammal
    MeanderingMammal Posts: 7,866 Member
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    As above, it really dpends on your objectives and what you mean by cardio. There are a couple of reasons, largely around exploiting your easily available fuel stores to do the exercise whilst maintaining good form to avoid injury.

    If you're using an elliptihell or stair climber then I'd advocate resistance first, because form on thse really isn't important. If you're running or cycling out of doors then I'd suggest resistance afterwards as both of those are more likely to hurt you if you reach fatigue from resistance training.

    That's coming from the perspective of someone whose running and cycling performance is most important, for someone whose resistance training is more important then you'll get a different response.
  • vickiem74
    vickiem74 Posts: 49 Member
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    I generally do a short warm-up with cardio, lift weights, and then finish with 20ish minute run. I also do cardio on days when I am not lifting.

    Who knows if I am right or wrong but as long as I am getting some results I am good with it! :smile:
  • aliah1981
    aliah1981 Posts: 18 Member
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    I usually do 15-20 minutes of HIIT cardio then lift. The ONLY reason I do this is because I ASSUME if the cardio keeps my heart rate up then lifting after will contrubute to keeping it somewhat up there.

    Again, just my way of justifying how i work out :wink:
  • KyleB65
    KyleB65 Posts: 1,196 Member
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    As mentioned above. Depends on your goals.

    What has been suggested to me by a couple of different trainers is to do a max 10 min of moderate "cardio" before a weight training session. These were gym based trainers so their cardio meant dreadmill, eliptical or skip rope.
  • Iron_Feline
    Iron_Feline Posts: 10,750 Member
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    I like to do an 8 min HIIT session after lifting, but that's my personal preference.

    I save any long cardio for non lifting days if possible.
  • CharlotteAnneUK
    CharlotteAnneUK Posts: 186 Member
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    I usually do them on different sessions, but if I do both in the same session its always cardio then weights.
  • JoRocka
    JoRocka Posts: 17,525 Member
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    1.) depends on your goals

    2.) a warm up is not cardio.
    it's warm up.

    3.) if you have no specific training goals- typically weights before cardio is a good rule of thumb

    4.) if you HAVE a specific training goal and strength is it- weights absolutely before cardio

    5.) specific goal happens to be an endurance training type thing- then cardio takes priority.
  • TheBadToe
    TheBadToe Posts: 246 Member
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    I do c25k before I lift. I usually do a week 4 run walk. Adds up to about 2.5-3miles... and it doesnt wipe me out.
  • ncrugbyprop
    ncrugbyprop Posts: 96 Member
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    1.) depends on your goals

    2.) a warm up is not cardio.
    it's warm up.

    3.) if you have no specific training goals- typically weights before cardio is a good rule of thumb

    4.) if you HAVE a specific training goal and strength is it- weights absolutely before cardio

    5.) specific goal happens to be an endurance training type thing- then cardio takes priority.

    What she said.
  • tquill
    tquill Posts: 300 Member
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    If I did weights at 6 pm, I plan my cardio for about 4-5 decades after that during the shuffleboard tournament.
  • BlueBombers
    BlueBombers Posts: 4,065 Member
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    It's up to you, I do a little cardio before or on my off days.
  • Ainar
    Ainar Posts: 858 Member
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    I do weights first and then I do my cardio - 30 min to 1h of running. Otherwise I do lose strength on my weights if I do cardio first and my lifting and gains suffers. Some people say that if they do cardio after weights it decreases muscle and strength gains. Personally I find it nonsense. Tried doing only weights without cardio at all and have noticed no difference from what I'm doing now. But of course we all are genetically different so you might find otherwise.
  • AllOutof_Bubblegum
    AllOutof_Bubblegum Posts: 3,646 Member
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    After. That way I have energy to lift as hard as I should be.
  • joesimtre
    joesimtre Posts: 48 Member
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    I don't do them at the same time unless it's necessary. I do cardio in the morning and weights in the evening. I can never find the energy to give both the attention they need for success if I do it all at once. Cardio usually lasts about an hour and weights about an hour. So I break it up. Most of my friends do both. 20 minutes of cadio before they lift. I just need more cardio.
  • cfl68
    cfl68 Posts: 48 Member
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    Weights first. You won't get the same level of lifting intensity in, if you tire the muscles out first. What I learned during my journey is your body needs to use your stored fat as fuel for exercise. In order to do this, you must burn off your glycogen stores first. When you weight-train, you typically use glycogen as fuel. By doing weight-training first, you can burn the majority of your glycogen stores. Knocking out your cardio after you crush the weights will burn more fat! GL
  • Squamation
    Squamation Posts: 522 Member
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    I would do a 15 min warm up at 5.5-6 mph on the treadmill, then weight lift.

    I would do my cardio - 45 min to an hour at 6.5-7 mph on my non weight lifting days.
  • belgerian
    belgerian Posts: 1,059 Member
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    Google http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/08/06/cardio-or-weights-first-exercise-order_n_1739089.html depends on your goals.
  • 2dogzrule
    2dogzrule Posts: 245 Member
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    I like to do it before so my heart rate is up before strength. I wear an HRM for both and I see a larger calorie burn on the strength when I do it this way.

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