Cardio vs Strength Training
Options
CricketKate
Posts: 3,657 Member
Does it make any difference whether you do cardio or strength training first? One trainer said that I should do strength training first so I wasn't as tired and could give more effort. Another trainer said that I should do cardio first so that my muscles were warmed up and could give better performance. Does it make a difference?
0
Replies
-
Good question. I've always heard that the best thing to do is circuit training where you do a couple of minutes of cardio and then a couple of minutes of strength training over and over.0
-
It's generally best to do strength training first. You can do 5-10 minutes of cardio first, however to warm up your muscles.0
-
Really shouldn't do before weights. You need max energy and all your strength to lift with intensity needed to trigger muscle growth.0
-
Hi!
I am not sure if my way is right or wrong, but it works for me and I thought I would share! Generally I like to get in a nice run or walk before any strength training. Once I've completed my weights, I go back for another run or walk (depending on how I feel)! If I am going to be a part of a fitness class (boot camp, kickboxing, high intensity training, step), I almost always hit up the treadmill, stair mill or elliptical first.
hope this has helped!0 -
I think it depends on if you're a man or woman...For women when they do strength training they're goal is to tone up not really build it whereas for men most of them want to build their muscles. With that said I've been told that doing cardio before a workout will help you burn fat more during weight lifting since your heart rate is already up after a cardio workout which means you're burning more calories during your strengthening exercises. I've also heard that when toning up you want to burn out on lower weights than use really heavy weights like men do. Again this will increase your heart rate and burn more calories.
Hope that helps you...Good Luck!0 -
it might come down to the way you feel and prefer
i have heard the same thing from everyone i talked to.......i found for myself that i feel and can do better with doing the cardio first then strength.....i have a friend that does a few min on treadmill the some strength, then to the elliptical and back for more strength
good luck and just do what helps you get thru your workout and still feel good
0 -
here is what you want to do to minimize injury warm up first 3-5 minutes as hard as you can then stretch. stretching serves absolutely no purpose if your muscles are cold, then do your weight training, then more cardio to cool down and stretch again. if you want to do extended cardio, it doesn't matter if it is in the warm up or cool down, but it the warm up you want to work your way up to a dead sprint, in the cool down your working down to a leisurely jog.0
-
I think it depends on if you're a man or woman...For women when they do strength training they're goal is to tone up not really build it whereas for men most of them want to build their muscles. With that said I've been told that doing cardio before a workout will help you burn fat more during weight lifting since your heart rate is already up after a cardio workout which means you're burning more calories during your strengthening exercises. I've also heard that when toning up you want to burn out on lower weights than use really heavy weights like men do. Again this will increase your heart rate and burn more calories.
Hope that helps you...Good Luck!
Tone and build both require triggering muscle hypertrophy. Stretching and warm up are not required for weight training. The warm up and stretch is accomplished in the first few reps. Your just wasting energy for your lift.0 -
Thanks for all the info!0
-
It's generally best to do strength training first. You can do 5-10 minutes of cardio first, however to warm up your muscles.
I agree. This is what a trainer told me.0 -
For the average person it doesn't make any difference. It boils down to personal preference and how your body responds to different types of exercise.
If you want to perform best at cardio, do cardio first. If you feel that doing cardio first makes you too tired to perform at your best when lifting, then lift first.
There are no absolutes (actually, the only "absolute" is that there are no absolutes).
Two things are often left out of this discussion. First: If they are focused and consistent. beginners will make substantial gains doing almost anything in any order. The small differences that might exist will be overwhelmed by the large increases that will occur as a matter of course. Advanced/trained exercisers should have enough knowledge and self-awareness to understand that what is appropriate to "them" is often irrelevant to beginners. Second: people can adapt to a lot of different routines. If you prefer to do cardio first, you can develop the ability to maintain productive strength workouts as well.
As a rule, I avoid using personal anecdotes, but I am going to describe my experiences, not because I think they "prove" anything, but just as an example of what I am talking about.
I do cardio first for two reasons: one, I prefer doing cardio and so I want to have my maximum energy for my cardio workouts; two, for whatever reason, if I do strength first I have absolutely nothing left for cardio. That's my personal preference and it means absolutely nothing for anyone else. I have developed the ability do 30-45 min hard cardio sessions followed by strength workouts at a 4-6RM intensity. I have no problems with form following a hard cardio workout.
Is my lifting performance as good as it could be if I didn't do the cardio first? Almost certainly not. It's just a question of balance. If I do cardio first, I can do a 90%-100% quality cardio workout followed by an 85%-90% strength workout. If I tried the opposite, it would be more like a 90%-100% quality strength workout and a 40% quality cardio. So I give a little on one end to get back more on the other.
Again, there is nothing special about what I do and there is no right or wrong answer to this question. I just focus on two points: one is that there are no absolute right or wrong answers on this topic and two is that, even if there was a small proveable benefit in doing one first over the other, for beginners it has zero relevance.0 -
The main problem with doing cardio first is that your glycogen stores will already be depleted by the time strength training comes around. So, you will have less than ideal conditions to build muscle. The best thing would be to do cardio 8 hours before or after you do strength training instead of lumping them together.
Personally, I do Strength Training > Cardio in the morning and then another Cardio session at night. My Cardio sessions are short, intense 20 minute interval workouts. I always push myself to try to do better than the last workout.0 -
your assuming that cardio and weight training have to be separate? why? if done right 20 min of weight training can give every bit as much of a cardio workout as 20 min on a treadmill. I mean the whole idea of cardio is to get your heart rate up and keep it up, and you can do that while weight training. use a small amount of weight get it moving and keep it moving, that way you can do both at the same time.0
-
I do them on different days !0
-
Check out this article. Provides some great perspective on doing some pretty simple exercises.
http://www.mensjournal.com/everything-you-know-about-fitness-is-a-lie0 -
For the average person it doesn't make any difference. It boils down to personal preference and how your body responds to different types of exercise.
If you want to perform best at cardio, do cardio first. If you feel that doing cardio first makes you too tired to perform at your best when lifting, then lift first.
There are no absolutes (actually, the only "absolute" is that there are no absolutes).
Two things are often left out of this discussion. First: If they are focused and consistent. beginners will make substantial gains doing almost anything in any order. The small differences that might exist will be overwhelmed by the large increases that will occur as a matter of course. Advanced/trained exercisers should have enough knowledge and self-awareness to understand that what is appropriate to "them" is often irrelevant to beginners. Second: people can adapt to a lot of different routines. If you prefer to do cardio first, you can develop the ability to maintain productive strength workouts as well.
As a rule, I avoid using personal anecdotes, but I am going to describe my experiences, not because I think they "prove" anything, but just as an example of what I am talking about.
I do cardio first for two reasons: one, I prefer doing cardio and so I want to have my maximum energy for my cardio workouts; two, for whatever reason, if I do strength first I have absolutely nothing left for cardio. That's my personal preference and it means absolutely nothing for anyone else. I have developed the ability do 30-45 min hard cardio sessions followed by strength workouts at a 4-6RM intensity. I have no problems with form following a hard cardio workout.
Is my lifting performance as good as it could be if I didn't do the cardio first? Almost certainly not. It's just a question of balance. If I do cardio first, I can do a 90%-100% quality cardio workout followed by an 85%-90% strength workout. If I tried the opposite, it would be more like a 90%-100% quality strength workout and a 40% quality cardio. So I give a little on one end to get back more on the other.
Again, there is nothing special about what I do and there is no right or wrong answer to this question. I just focus on two points: one is that there are no absolute right or wrong answers on this topic and two is that, even if there was a small proveable benefit in doing one first over the other, for beginners it has zero relevance.
Ditto this.
I've different anecdotes personally, but for the vast majority of people it's not going to matter. And to answer the question on a case by case basis, not only are you going to need to know the specifics of the individual's goals, you're also going to need to know exactly how the "cardio" and "weight training" are being formed.
I'd personally rather have my strength training negatively impact my cardio than I would my cardio negatively impact my strength training. But that's specific to my goals, needs and training. Generally, conditioning before weights hurts weights more than weights before conditioning, but again, that can't be globally applied to all people, all goals, and all training.
And in reality, if they're done together, you can make arguments for or against either order aside from the compromises I just mentioned. After strength training, motor control is generally pretty fried. So going and doing something repetitively taxing in nature like running is probably a good way of getting yourself hurt after enough time. Granted, plenty of people get away with it.... but something to think about.
On the flip side, where conditioning is done after weights, you can make an argument on what's happening on the molecular level, which we won't get into here. For anyone interested... do some research on mTOR and AMPk.
In an ideal universe... and this can be said in almost all cases to everyone... they're done at separate sessions. However, for most folks who live ordinary lives, this isn't practical given scheduling.0 -
If i could still go for run after a legs weights session then i clearly didn't work hard enough. Lol.
:happy:0 -
STRENGTH TRAIN THEN CARDIO. I'VE BEEN DOING THIS FOR TWO YEARS NOW, IT MAKE A BIG DIFFERENCE!!0
-
I read once that by doing a short (10 minute) warm up that you decrease your risk of injury as it helps increase synovial fluid into your joints. Is this true????
I work out really early in the morning and I am barely awake. I need the 10 minute walk and some stretching before I hit the weight machines.
D0 -
better to do it on separate days0
Categories
- All Categories
- 1.4M Health, Wellness and Goals
- 392.1K Introduce Yourself
- 43.6K Getting Started
- 259.9K Health and Weight Loss
- 175.7K Food and Nutrition
- 47.4K Recipes
- 232.4K Fitness and Exercise
- 403 Sleep, Mindfulness and Overall Wellness
- 6.4K Goal: Maintaining Weight
- 8.5K Goal: Gaining Weight and Body Building
- 152.8K Motivation and Support
- 7.9K Challenges
- 1.3K Debate Club
- 96.3K Chit-Chat
- 2.5K Fun and Games
- 3.4K MyFitnessPal Information
- 23 News and Announcements
- 1K Feature Suggestions and Ideas
- 2.4K MyFitnessPal Tech Support Questions