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Strength Train First, Cardio Second, or Reverse?
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So here is my take on this discussion.... December I was back up to 272lbs (mainy due to an injury & I stopped exercising and my diet went south). I started back to my program of hitting the gym.... I lost close to 20lbs fairly quickly by hitting the weights for 45 minutes then doing 20 minutes on a stationary bike. Once I lost the 20 lbs I noticed I could do a lot more things easier without the excess body weight... I joined Crossfit 2 months ago and have had nothing but way more success. Since joining i have lost another 19lbs! I love Crossfit!! So do what you think is best and feels good!0
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If you're talking about overall as in "which do I start this month and which do I save for next year", then I say do both.
But if you're talking about which to do in the sense of what do you start your workout with and what do you finish with, I prefer to do strength training, first. I simply find that cardio is more forgiving if I'm fatigued and need to slow down or my form degrades.2 -
It depends on what you're trying to accomplish...from a purely exercise/workout standpoint, it doesn't much matter...from an actual training standpoint it does.
What I mean is, for example, right now I'm training for a time trial series on my bike...so I keep that work separate from my lifting because I want to be able to give my training bout everything and I wouldn't be able to do that after a good lifting session...conversely, after I do a training ride I'm pretty well shot so there's no way I would want to get under a heavy barbell either...and if I did I can guarantee my session would just suck. I do them on opposing days and on the days I do both, I do one in the AM and the other in the PM so I have plenty of time and food for recovery.
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If you're talking about overall as in "which do I start this month and which do I save for next year", then I say do both.
But if you're talking about which to do in the sense of what do you start your workout with and what do you finish with, I prefer to do strength training, first. I simply find that cardio is more forgiving if I'm fatigued and need to slow down or my form degrades.
I have to agree. It is, in my opinion, safer and easier to slow down on your cardio if you get gassed than it may be holding a too heavy weight over any portion of your body. I usually do cardio and strength on different days.0 -
When I do both on the same day, I do strength first because cardio tires me out and I end up not being able to put as much effort into the strength workout otherwise. But I almost always do them on separate days, so I can give full effort to each.
And strength training is so beneficial to people who are overweight! Increase strength, retain muscle mass, feel like superman/woman, and look better once the weight drops than you would have without strength training.2 -
I do cardio first because I hate it and need to get it over with. If I lifted first, I'd leave the gym half the time before I get to the cardio.2
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brucealfred3 wrote: »I disagree with most people on here... In order for you to become a good weightlifter, crossfiter, or whatever, you have to have your weight under control. There's a reason you don't see fat people doing snatches or clean and jerks... From personal experience...lose the weight, then shape your body with the lifting.
You never really gave a reason0 -
If you're talking about overall as in "which do I start this month and which do I save for next year", then I say do both.
But if you're talking about which to do in the sense of what do you start your workout with and what do you finish with, I prefer to do strength training, first. I simply find that cardio is more forgiving if I'm fatigued and need to slow down or my form degrades.
Even though I am more focused on cardio than strength, I find this too, if I do them as part of the same session. More often I do them in separate sessions (morning/evening or one of those/lunch) and if so it doesn't much matter to me vs. convenience of schedule.
I also agree that starting strength training when one is overweight vs. waiting is the way to go.0 -
Do you mean in long term, or just as like a workout routine?
If long term, I would say a mix of both, mostly focusing on cardio if you want to lose weight since you burn more calories that way, and to lift to retain some of the muscles you would possibly lose when losing weight
If during a workout, I'd say that based on experience/preference, I'd rather lift then do cardio (HIIT). Tried doing 10 minutes of HIIT today before lifting, and I couldn't lift as heavy as my last workout (which was 2 days ago)0 -
I have to lift first. If I run c25k first, my legs are already a bit sore...and I can't lift properly.
If I lift properly, I have no strength left in my legs to run afterwards.
So I have to do my runs on non-lifting days.
M - 45 min lift 20 min light walk
T- 35 min c25k + golf
W- 45 min lift 20 min light walk
Th- 35 min c25k + golf
F- 45 min lift 20 min light walk
S- 35 min c25k
Su - rest
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If your goal is maximum strength, then do them on separate days. If you need to lose weight, then it doesn't really matter, either order will produce less results in terms of cardiovascular and muscular fitness, but not enough so that you won't benefit more from doing both than you would from either individually.0
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DancingMoosie wrote: »I like to split them up into completely different workouts either on different days, or one am, one pm. If doing them back-to-back, I find that one or both suffers and you don't get your best workout out of either of them.
Agreed. I do one thing at lunch time and the other after work, or do different days. I used to combine cardio with weight lifting and my strength really suffered for this.0 -
My cardio is 90% running, so I don't do any kinda of strength on days that I run. If I was doing weights the same day as cardio, it would be upper body lifting only. I'd never do leg strength and then cardio; my muscles would be way too fatigued and that would lead to poor performance and injury.0
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For personal preference reasons only, I have always done cardio first. The only point I will add is that I have never experienced a problem with form or incurred any risk of injury, even when lifting 4-8 RM weights after 45-60 min of hard cardio. I have achieved PRs in both squats and bench press after 45 min of tempo running. I almost certainly do fewer total exercises/sets than I would have otherwise, but I do as much as I want. The body can be trained to do a lot of things.0
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For personal preference reasons only, I have always done cardio first. The only point I will add is that I have never experienced a problem with form or incurred any risk of injury, even when lifting 4-8 RM weights after 45-60 min of hard cardio. I have achieved PRs in both squats and bench press after 45 min of tempo running. I almost certainly do fewer total exercises/sets than I would have otherwise, but I do as much as I want. The body can be trained to do a lot of things.
Not that it matters because PRs are awesome, have you set PRs on non cardio days and then beat them after cardio or have they always been after cardio? I ask because I am curious if your PRs would be higher without cardio?
It is tough one measure because you can never reset the baseline for an accurate test so there is always that wonder if you really had 10 lbs more in you without the cardio.0 -
For personal preference reasons only, I have always done cardio first. The only point I will add is that I have never experienced a problem with form or incurred any risk of injury, even when lifting 4-8 RM weights after 45-60 min of hard cardio. I have achieved PRs in both squats and bench press after 45 min of tempo running. I almost certainly do fewer total exercises/sets than I would have otherwise, but I do as much as I want. The body can be trained to do a lot of things.
Not that it matters because PRs are awesome, have you set PRs on non cardio days and then beat them after cardio or have they always been after cardio? I ask because I am curious if your PRs would be higher without cardio?
It is tough one measure because you can never reset the baseline for an accurate test so there is always that wonder if you really had 10 lbs more in you without the cardio.
I wasn't trying to prove the point one way or the other--just pointing out that I could do improving maximal lifting after some very tough (and long) cardio workouts and questioning that lifting after cardio put one at higher risk of injury due to "poor form". And that I was able to lift as heavy as I wanted (in the 4-8 RM range) without any problems.
Research suggests pretty strongly that doing a lot of cardio first can/will have a detrimental effect on subsequent lifting, so any personal experience I might have had would be insignificant.
So, again, it goes back to priorities. For me, lifting heavy first might give me a 95% quality strength session but only a 20% quality cardio workout. Doing cardio first gives me a 95% quality cardio workout and an 85%-90% quality strength workout--so for me it's a no brainer. Others might have a completely opposite reaction.
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If you're trying to lose weight I would do cardio first. Heart rate is the most important factor in weight loss. If you raise your heart rate with 10 minutes of cardio or so it should stay north of 128 - 130bpm for the duration of the strength training. In addition to fatiguing your muscles your body will burn more fat simply because your heart rate is higher. Also, doing cardio every day surpasses your appetite. If you do it right you'll be doing cardio and strength training at the same time every day. That said the increase in heart rate will slow your muscle growth after a certain point. You'll grow a little and become more lean but you won't see body builder style gains if you're exercising this way. There are also some risks if you have hypertension or any sort of heart condition.0 -
For personal preference reasons only, I have always done cardio first. The only point I will add is that I have never experienced a problem with form or incurred any risk of injury, even when lifting 4-8 RM weights after 45-60 min of hard cardio. I have achieved PRs in both squats and bench press after 45 min of tempo running. I almost certainly do fewer total exercises/sets than I would have otherwise, but I do as much as I want. The body can be trained to do a lot of things.
Not that it matters because PRs are awesome, have you set PRs on non cardio days and then beat them after cardio or have they always been after cardio? I ask because I am curious if your PRs would be higher without cardio?
It is tough one measure because you can never reset the baseline for an accurate test so there is always that wonder if you really had 10 lbs more in you without the cardio.
I wasn't trying to prove the point one way or the other--just pointing out that I could do improving maximal lifting after some very tough (and long) cardio workouts and questioning that lifting after cardio put one at higher risk of injury due to "poor form". And that I was able to lift as heavy as I wanted (in the 4-8 RM range) without any problems.
Research suggests pretty strongly that doing a lot of cardio first can/will have a detrimental effect on subsequent lifting, so any personal experience I might have had would be insignificant.
So, again, it goes back to priorities. For me, lifting heavy first might give me a 95% quality strength session but only a 20% quality cardio workout. Doing cardio first gives me a 95% quality cardio workout and an 85%-90% quality strength workout--so for me it's a no brainer. Others might have a completely opposite reaction.
Wasn't trying to challenge you, just something that I find interesting when trying to decide how much cardio I might want to do before lifting. I agree that conceptually it will have an impact but no way to test that theory with any real controls.0 -
I strength train first and then run, or I separate them by a good amount of time, such as running in the morning and strength training in the evening. I do this because strength training is my priority. Aside from prioritizing, the only reason I can see to do strength training first and then cardio is safety. I don't want to put a heavy barbell on my shoulders or over my head when I'm already tired.0
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If I do hard cardio first, it leaves nothing left in the tank for lifting. If I lift first, I can force my way through cardio.0
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