weight lifting first of cardio first?

Anyone know for sure which is better to do first- weight lifting or cardio? I tend to do weights after cardio as a cool down-ish kinda thing. I recently read on a previous topic that you can log weights under the cardio section as "strength training"- had no idea! I was so frusterated that it wasn't counting calories burned during lifting- I'll definitely be doing that now! Also learned that you can enter stretching under cardio. I love the message boards ) makes MFP complete!:happy:

Anyone know for sure which is better to do first- weight lifting or cardio? I tend to do weights after cardio as a cool down-ish kinda thing. I recently read on a previous topic that you can log weights under the cardio section as "strength training"- had no idea! I was so frusterated that it wasn't counting calories burned during lifting- I'll definitely be doing that now! Also learned that you can enter stretching under cardio. I love the message boards ) makes MFP complete!:happy:

Weights first. Max energy and strength to get the intensity needed to trigger growth and build strength. You don't even need cardio afterwords if you do it circuit style with as little rest as possible between exercises.

Well, not to be a rabble-rouser here, BUT . . . I do my cardio first and then weights; when I start out with weights first, I tend to pull muscles. It may just be me, but if I'm not seriously warmed up (at least 15 minutes for me), my muscles are cold and I get injured. I am a big believer, like the first guy said, however, in doing circuit weight training so it's both cardio and strength training at the same time. I love workouts where I do one weights exercise (like flyes for chest) for a minute, then go on to biceps for a minute, etc. That gets my blood pumping. Best of luck to you.

They say for weight loss that you should do your weight training first because it uses up your stored carbohydrates and then when you get on your cardio machine all you have left is your excess fat to burn. But if you don't need to lose weight then I guess it depends on how you feel.

This was a question I was asking myself few months ago and you be surprised the answers I found..............


If your lifting weights to gain mass, then your gonna wanna do cardio on the days your not weight training and you want to speed walk not run or jog because it breaks down the muscle, for about 45 minutes a session.

Have you ever seen built marathon runners ? running always breaks down your muscle.

If your weight training just to burn fat ,you still would wanna do weight training first because your recovery will be quick and you will still have energy to burn to jog.

Short answer: Weights first then cardio.

Long answer: You train based on the energy system you are using. There are three energy systems: ATP-CP, Anaerobic Glycolysis, and Aerobic Glycolysis (also known as the Oxidative System or the Krebs Cycle). The ATP-CP system uses creatine phosphate and stored ATP in the muscles for quick bursts of energy, lasting no more then 30 seconds. This is the system that is used for say a 40-yard dash or max lifts. Anaerobic Glycolysis uses glycogen or blood glucose for the fuel and supplies energy for activities lasting up to 3 minutes. Most lifting exercises fall in this catagory. Aerobic Glycolysis uses a combination of glycogen or glucose and fat for fuel for longer cardio activities. Aerobic glycolysis requires a by product of glucose or glycogen breakdown in order to be able to burn the fat. If there isn't enough glycogen usage from either the aerobic or anaerobic systems to provide the pyruvate needed, then the body will have to turn to muscle breakdown to convert the protein into glycogen to be burned and provide that pyruvate so that fat can be burned. This is why people who do a lot of long cardio lose muscle as well as fat. Weight training not only helps prevent the muscle usage by sending neurological signals to the brain that the muscle needs to be saved and strengthened, it also provides that pyruvate from anaerobic glycolysis so that fat burning can occur. Replenishment of the ATP-CP system occurs in about 8 minutes. So, high intensity spurts of activity can be repeated throughout the workout every 8 minutes without loss of power. If they are done closer together then that, you may notice a loss of ability to perform to your max. Glycogen replenishment depends on the intake of carbs after a workout. 0.7 to 3 grams per kilogram of body weight is recommended within 2 hours after exercise. If you are going to do an extra long cardio workout, like a marathon, it is suggested that you replenish glycogen with carb intake during the activity so that you don't have to break down muscle. Protein should be replenished based on what activity you are doing. If you are just weight training, 1 to 1.5 grams per kilogram of body weight per day of protein ingestion are recommended to help repair and rebuild the muscles from the cellular damage caused by lifting. If you are doing long aerobic exercise, up to 2 grams per kilogram of body weight are recommended so that you can help decrease the loss of muscle from the activity. Replenishment of glycogen and protein will take a little while, so you can't really refill the stores while you are working out, but you can provide the carbs to keep from going into as much protein while exercising, but you still need to replenish after the exercise too, especially since you can't replenish protein at all during exercise.

So, now that I've explained the reasoning why, here's what I recommend to my clients, in this order:

Warm up--at least 5 minutes, up to 15 minutes depending on the client. People with asthma and other issues need longer warm ups. Some people, even without medical reasons, need longer warm ups. Warm ups are dynamic total body movement through as full a range of motion as possible to prepare the body for what is to come. This can be dynamic stretching, but it should be similar to the exercise you are about to do. If you are doing heavy weight training (70%+ of one rep max), then you should do a warm up set of each specific exercise too with about 30% of your 1RM.

Weight Training--Broken down by muscle group so that they can weight train a different muscle group the next day. This can be done by Upper Body/Lower Body or Muscle Pairs or Individual Muscles depending on the goals of the client. For clients who are focused on fat burning from their workouts, this will only take 20-30 minutes. For clients who are focused on muscle building, it may take up to an hour or two.

Cardio--If we're focusing on muscle building, we may skip cardio completely and do only a short cardio session on another day. If we're focusing on fat burning, then cardio is the longest part of the workout, lasting from 30 minutes to an hour. We may do sprints or intervals or steady state depending on the way they feel that day and what the goal of the workout is. Heart rate during cardio is dependent on the client (IE: hypertensive patients have to maintain a lower heart rate while training) and the goal of the workout (Heart strengthening is 80+% of max heart rate and fat burning is closer to 70% of max heart rate, again, these are depending on the ability of the client and their medical condition.)

Cool-Down--Generally an extra 5-10 minutes of their cardio at a lower intensity to bring the heart rate down slowly.

Stretch--Static stretching or partner assisted PNF stretching for at least 10 minutes. This activates the Golgi tendon organ and muscle spindles to stimulate the shuttling of nutrients to the muscles for repair and replenishment of required nutrients. Because of that, it helps decrease DOMS (delayed onset muscle soreness) and prevents the decrease in range of motion ability that you see in some body builders. It has also been shown to decrease the risk of injury from future workouts or falls because it keeps the range of motion up so that the body isn't as traumatized by those workouts or falls.

So, now that I've rambled for EVER, LOL, I'll apologize for giving you more information then you probably ever wanted. I tend to get excited about training though, and can't keep my mouth (or in this case fingers) from going on and on and on. :laugh:

Short answer: Weights first then cardio.

Long answer: You train based on the energy system you are using. ....