Resistance ALWAYS before cardio?

bump... I want to know that too

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I would absolutely do the strength training first. Not only because most experts tell you that but from my experience I would hold back on my running speed so I would have strength left to do weights. Doing better strength training has helped my half marathon training considerably and in my opinion kept me injury free--knock on wood! Stronger your body is, the faster you will become... Good luck! PS: Lower weights, higher reps if you are trying to tone and trim. Also, a low calorie protein shake right after your WO(within 30 min) would be a great addition to you diet.

so cardio as a warm-up is fine, you know, 15 to 20 minutes of moderate cardio before doing resistance. But you don't want to work to long before resistance, because you'll deplete your glycogen at the muscles sites prematurely, which could give you a false failure threshold, meaning you'll think you're working to failure, but you're really just depleting muscle glycogen, which really defeats the purpose of resistance training.

If you're serious about marathon training, then on days you do your runs, just do your runs, and on days where you aren't running, do your resistance, don't mix the two days, or if you do, give yourself plenty of time in between to recover muscle glycogen.

PM me if you want more detail.

Currently, I space it out so that one day I do weights/resistance training, and the next day I run (I'm also working on a running goal - a 10K.) This gives my body time to repair between the exercises, so I don't put too much strain on muscles and ligaments.

That said, I know that if I was to combine them, I'd lose weight faster. My GP has said my current regime is fine, but if I want to combine it, I should not do too much resistance training before running at this stage, simply because my muscles and ligaments are not yet strong enough to handle too much strain. So he recommended doing 1/2 the normal amount of resistance training before the run, if I wanted to incorporate both in the same workout session. Over time, he said I could build it up, but not at the very beginning, as the chances of injury are much higher.

However you combine them, whether in one workout session or over two, you will see a marked improvement in your running as the strength training improves the strength in your muscles and ligaments. The best resistance training to help your running is basically all lower body. Emphasize your work on your abdomen and legs; think endless squats, lunges, situps, deadlifts, leg extensions, etc.

I realised my biggest fear for this change is relinquishing the calorie burn of cardio as I do rely on eating back my exercise calories, though logically I know building muscle will boost fat loss at least as much. I'm also reluctant to up the protein with drinks etc. as that's less calories for real food. But you know what, if I skip the junk and the booze I'll have more left for what my body really needs.

Sry, one more thing since I just read this part... I COMPLETELY understand what you mean. I've been monitoring my HR in an addictive fashion while transitioning to a more lifting oriented workout and I burn the same or more than I do when I'm in cardio mode. Nothing burns calories (or fat) more than your muscles. The more muscles you have, the more cals you need to eat.

More great ideas, thanks! And Keola, you look GREAT on your regime!

Thinking about it, my goal is to shift my body composition, so shed fat while building muscle. But as the half marathon is looming, I think fat loss is the priority of the two for now. Lugging all this excess weight around is doing me no good at all.

I'm going to start my resistance routine on my three non-running days (today's the day!) and see how it goes.

I realised my biggest fear for this change is relinquishing the calorie burn of cardio as I do rely on eating back my exercise calories, though logically I know building muscle will boost fat loss at least as much. I'm also reluctant to up the protein with drinks etc. as that's less calories for real food. But you know what, if I skip the junk and the booze I'll have more left for what my body really needs.

There is no reason why you would have to "up the protein" just because you start doing more lifting. If you are eating an appropriate level of protein at this point, that should be fine.

There is so much unnecessary chatter and static on this subject that I think it affects people's brains.

You will get more benefit from just regularly lifting weights-any way you want--than all of this other stuff combined. Just maintaining a regular routine will account for about 98% of your improvement -- all this peripheral crap --when to lift, eating protein, etc--makes up the additional 2% of improvement AT BEST.