Is it better to do cardio to lose fat before strength training?
Rags_91
Posts: 15 Member
What I'm asking is should I be doing cardio and strength training at the same time? Or would it more beneficial to focus on cardio to lose weight and then focus on strength training and gaining muscle afterwards?
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Replies
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I'm not a man but I think either way works. It's good to do a little bit of both.0
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I would do them both throughout the weight loss process.
Strength training will help you retain muscle and will help with your physique.0 -
I've heard firstly that it's best to do them on separate days, or during separate sessions....and that if you're going to do them at the same session, to do strength first, then cardio..xo0
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Both, together, at the same time, well, in the scheme of your workouts, yes!0
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What I'm asking is should I be doing cardio and strength training at the same time? Or would it more beneficial to focus on cardio to lose weight and then focus on strength training and gaining muscle afterwards?
It depends on what your goals are, what your stats are, your experience with weightlifting, what program you are on. The question is too undefined for anyone to be able to give a real answer.
That being said cardio does not cause weight loss, neither does lifting. Weight loss is all diet. You get heather, stronger, and to eat a little more from exercise but not lose weight.0 -
Both, but be prepared for the scale to move slower with strength training as part of your regimen, and that's not a bad thing.
When we eat in a deficit we lose water, fat, and muscle. Strength training as part of your remimine helps to combat that muscle loss, so your losses are mostly water and fat. This may cause the scale to move slower, but if you keep measurements you'll see the progress as you're losing mostly fat and lowering your BF%.0 -
Cardio before or after weight training is fine, but you will feel weak (at least I do) for whichever comes second. If you are mostly concerned about weight loss this shouldn't be a big deal. You can also split cardio and weights into separate days of the week. Honestly, cardio and weights really won't help you lose "that" much weight on their own. Diet is 80% of weight loss; training is 20%. So if you have a high quality diet you will lose weight without exercise. Though I would still advise clean eating and hard training.0
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Yes, do both. What is your current program or what do you plan on doing? I'd focus more on lifting and then do short, intense cardio sessions either after lifting or on alternate days depending on how often you want to workout.0
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Fat loss happens with a calorie deficit whether or not you exercise. One of the biggest myths in the fitness industry is that cardio is NEEDED for fat loss. Cardio and lifting are for fitness and health. They can HELP with creating a calorie deficit, but if one ate as much as they burned regardless of how much exercise they did, no weight loss would occur.
A.C.E. Certified Personal and Group Fitness Trainer
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Kickboxing Certified Instructor
Been in fitness for 30 years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition
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I should have been more specific. I'm on a calorie deficit, roughy 1700 per day but I have started to train for a 5km run for next summer 3 days a week. Doing the C25K. I'm just wondering if I should be doing more and including strength training to maximize weight loss and becoming more fit.0
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I should have been more specific. I'm on a calorie deficit, roughy 1700 per day but I have started to train for a 5km run for next summer 3 days a week. Doing the C25K. I'm just wondering if I should be doing more and including strength training to maximize weight loss and becoming more fit.
Training to complete or do you want to crush some dreams?
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I would do them both throughout the weight loss process.
Strength training will help you retain muscle and will help with your physique.
This^
Do both!
You maximize weight loss "results" with strength training. It doesn't help move the number on the scale so much, as it helps lower body fat percentage.0 -
I feel that strength training should be integral, if not the key focus when losing weight, so that as much muscle mass is preserved in the process.0
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No always do strength first, while glycogen stores are high.0
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I would definitely do both, I start with light cardio to get a sweat and warm up, then weight lift, and then cardio after my lifting session
Like several people stated above, weights will help shed BF%. It also helps with weight lose because the soreness caused by lifting weights is from the muscles being microscopically torn. It takes calories for your body to heal those tears so you actually keep burning calories after your weight lifting session is done. And weight lifting results in muscle gain which in turn increase your metabolism (basically, the more lean muscle you have, the more calories you will burn while at rest).
As for the cardio, the warm up cardio is just a preference of mine, some people just prefer a good stretch, but cardio after lifting is important because it helps get blood to the muscles and will help with recovery and of course overall fitness0 -
I've been doing cardio for the last 6 month and it's helped me drop weight. I have now just started adding weights, albeit not heavy, a few times a week. I also do cardio on a weights day but far shorter session.0
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Whenever I've worked out with a trainer they would incorporate both. Typically using lighter weights with less reps will build less bulky muscles but make you toned. Also doing push-ups and planks; any type of body weight resistance exercises, will help you reach your weight loss goals when integrated with a cardio work out.0
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One doesn't build "bulky" muscles nor bulks up on a calorie deficit, and light weights don't make you "toned". Muscles get firmer from resistance that challenges it. If all it took was to use light weights, walking with body weight alone would be enough to firm up the quads, but unfortunately that's not true.Typically using lighter weights with less reps will build less bulky muscles but make you toned.
A.C.E. Certified Personal and Group Fitness Trainer
IDEA Fitness member
Kickboxing Certified Instructor
Been in fitness for 30 years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition
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I do both and recommend both. I used to do them on separate days but now I do cardio after strength because I found I needed my rest days.
Diet for fat loss, strength for muscle retention, cardio for fitness.0 -
Whenever I've worked out with a trainer they would incorporate both. Typically using lighter weights with less reps will build less bulky muscles but make you toned. Also doing push-ups and planks; any type of body weight resistance exercises, will help you reach your weight loss goals when integrated with a cardio work out.
OP, this is not true, especially if you're in a deficit.
Building bulky muscles comes from an on point diet, in a surplus, and hours of dedication and work in the weight room on a progressive overload program.
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Since dealing with runner's knee resulting from weak glutes and core, I highly recommend doing strength training while working on your running. The stronger you are, the less likely you'll have to deal with injury down the road. I like doing both!0
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radiosilents wrote: »Since dealing with runner's knee resulting from weak glutes and core, I highly recommend doing strength training while working on your running. The stronger you are, the less likely you'll have to deal with injury down the road. I like doing both!
This
Also, muscle will raise your BMR (you will burn more doing nothing with more muscle). The cardio will also be more effective.0 -
This time around I've focused more on cardio to up my fitness and cut the fat first, then transition more into upper body workouts and some lifting. But this brings up what I feel is a valid point that I think is often misrepresented here on the forums. Unless a person is doing very low resistance type cardio work, they are obviously working muscle groups to get that heart rate up, and thus preserving muscles in that area.
And for that reason, I think the type of cardio work a person does has a huge impact on muscle retention and/or development during that period of weight loss. I've dropped over 30 pounds since the start of the year, and gained size in my quads due to my cardio type workouts. Though my stuff has been mostly lower body (biking and elliptical with higher resistance/inclines frequently) adding swimming and others can help retain muscle mass while cutting fat at the same time.0 -
I'm that person that can't stop checking where my weight is... I went from 343 to currently 280 on mostly just dieting and cardio, I do very little to any weight cause all I'm focused on is losing weight and not gaining muscle, I read all the comments and now I probably will be adding weights 2x out of my work week and see how that goes... Always try something new till you find something that works.0
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robertw486 wrote: »This time around I've focused more on cardio to up my fitness and cut the fat first, then transition more into upper body workouts and some lifting. But this brings up what I feel is a valid point that I think is often misrepresented here on the forums. Unless a person is doing very low resistance type cardio work, they are obviously working muscle groups to get that heart rate up, and thus preserving muscles in that area.
And for that reason, I think the type of cardio work a person does has a huge impact on muscle retention and/or development during that period of weight loss. I've dropped over 30 pounds since the start of the year, and gained size in my quads due to my cardio type workouts. Though my stuff has been mostly lower body (biking and elliptical with higher resistance/inclines frequently) adding swimming and others can help retain muscle mass while cutting fat at the same time.
Exactly! My primary goal was fat loss not gaining muscle. All I needed to do was use and retain the muscle I had and exercise in general should do that. I've lost nearly 30 lbs this year through the elliptical and spinning, both set at high resistance. I also did a hilly hike and cycling. But a trainer at the gym and other so called experts on forums said I'd lose lean mass if I didn't do weight lifting saying my form of exercise didn't count as strength training.
Well, they were wrong. My hilly hike now takes much less effort and time. I now run up hills and cycle hilly terrain that previously killed my legs. That's an indication of gaining strength, NOT losing lean mass. There's just so much BS tossed around from 'expert' trainers even when it defies common sense.
Now that I've dropped majority of the excess body fat and now a slim and fit 125 lbs, I'm now adding bodyweight training and dumbells for resistance training. I'm enjoying it more now that I'm fitter. It's a matter of personal preference. Since my primary goal was fat loss and not building muscle, I focused on the activity that would burn the most calories and that was high intensity, high resistance cardio. The kind of strength training I'm doing now, which is the only kind I'm interested in doing, is a drop in the bucket in terms of calorie burn. I still rely on cardio for my main source of calorie deficit.0 -
rankinsect wrote: »Diet for fat loss, strength for muscle retention, cardio for fitness.
This is a nifty turn of phrase.
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robertw486 wrote: »This time around I've focused more on cardio to up my fitness and cut the fat first, then transition more into upper body workouts and some lifting. But this brings up what I feel is a valid point that I think is often misrepresented here on the forums. Unless a person is doing very low resistance type cardio work, they are obviously working muscle groups to get that heart rate up, and thus preserving muscles in that area.
It depends. If you're in the horrifically-named "fat burning zone" in terms of heart rate, where a lot of people chill for a long time, you don't really push your muscles near their limits - and it's that level of exertion that keeps muscle mass. If you do shorter cardio at higher intensity, then yes, you will be pushing those muscles and maintaining muscle mass in those muscles.0 -
rankinsect wrote: »robertw486 wrote: »This time around I've focused more on cardio to up my fitness and cut the fat first, then transition more into upper body workouts and some lifting. But this brings up what I feel is a valid point that I think is often misrepresented here on the forums. Unless a person is doing very low resistance type cardio work, they are obviously working muscle groups to get that heart rate up, and thus preserving muscles in that area.
It depends. If you're in the horrifically-named "fat burning zone" in terms of heart rate, where a lot of people chill for a long time, you don't really push your muscles near their limits - and it's that level of exertion that keeps muscle mass. If you do shorter cardio at higher intensity, then yes, you will be pushing those muscles and maintaining muscle mass in those muscles.
I agree, but to an extent I think the "line" at where you retain muscle mass is very grey, and somewhat skewed based on nutrition almost as much, if not more than, the amount and type of exercise a person is doing. I think this also applies to bulking, with many taking the extremes as the norm. (Not claiming you are doing this though)
I learned that overall my protein levels weren't even at MFP standards most of the time unless I adjusted my diet. But yet in years of being on what many would consider the low end of protein intake, I've had no problem retaining muscle mass, and even gaining muscle mass. And in that regard, there are people that claim you can't gain muscle mass without lifting heavy. For me personally I've also found this to be another blanket statement that I've seen is untrue for me. I put quite a bit of muscle on my upper arms and shoulders at one period in my life lifting lighter weights more frequently.
And though I've never had a goal of being super thin, I would think the same would apply. If a person walks long distances slowly and keeps their heart rate down, in theory the cardio in the "fat burning zone" would be of no benefit to muscle retention and might cause muscle loss. But if that were true, anyone who never pushed themselves harder would constantly be losing muscle mass. Similar to weight loss, I think the loss of muscle mass at some point will plateau and the body will allocate nutrition as needed. Otherwise certain people would simply reach a point they were in capable of performing even that light cardio stuff.0 -
Traveler120 wrote: »...But a trainer at the gym and other so called experts on forums said I'd lose lean mass if I didn't do weight lifting saying my form of exercise didn't count as strength training.
Well, they were wrong. My hilly hike now takes much less effort and time. I now run up hills and cycle hilly terrain that previously killed my legs. That's an indication of gaining strength, NOT losing lean mass. There's just so much BS tossed around from 'expert' trainers even when it defies common sense...
Gaining strength does not necessarily equate to maintaining/gaining lean mass. Your body undergoes neural adaptations during training which make your CNS more efficient at utilizing your existing muscle, which makes you stronger. It's quite possible, even probable, to lose (or fail to gain) lean body mass while still gaining strength via neural adaptation. So maybe those "expert" trainers weren't tossing BS around after all.
A couple references:
ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/3057313
ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/164641220 -
Traveler120 wrote: »...But a trainer at the gym and other so called experts on forums said I'd lose lean mass if I didn't do weight lifting saying my form of exercise didn't count as strength training.
Well, they were wrong. My hilly hike now takes much less effort and time. I now run up hills and cycle hilly terrain that previously killed my legs. That's an indication of gaining strength, NOT losing lean mass. There's just so much BS tossed around from 'expert' trainers even when it defies common sense...
Gaining strength does not necessarily equate to maintaining/gaining lean mass. Your body undergoes neural adaptations during training which make your CNS more efficient at utilizing your existing muscle, which makes you stronger. It's quite possible, even probable, to lose (or fail to gain) lean body mass while still gaining strength via neural adaptation. So maybe those "expert" trainers weren't tossing BS around after all.
A couple references:
ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/3057313
ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16464122
I agree, but on the flip side a person will only gain so much in terms of efficiency.
It's quite possible that people that think they are in recomp or bulking modes are simply fooling themselves as well, but really without more advanced measurements nobody can know for sure the total gains or losses in LBM.
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