Cardio before or after?

mittencat77
mittencat77 Posts: 137 Member
in Fitness and Exercise
I always do my cardio before my weights. Today I did it after weights and what a difference (better lifting; higher heart rate on cardio with less effort). I was wondering what others experiences have been and rationale for before or after weights. Thanks!!!

Replies

  • biggiwig4483
    biggiwig4483 Posts: 90 Member
    I need a lot of strength for weight lifting. Definitely weight lifting first for me.
  • mittencat77
    mittencat77 Posts: 137 Member
    sijomial wrote: »
    mittencat77 wrote: »
    I was wondering what others experiences have been and rationale for before or after weights.

    BTW - there's better metrics than HR for the effectiveness of whatever your cardio is.

    Thanks! Do tell- what are these better metrics? My HR was definitely inflated for my cardio...that I am certain of.
  • sijomial
    sijomial Posts: 19,809 Member
    edited September 2019
    mittencat77 wrote: »
    sijomial wrote: »
    mittencat77 wrote: »
    I was wondering what others experiences have been and rationale for before or after weights.

    BTW - there's better metrics than HR for the effectiveness of whatever your cardio is.

    Thanks! Do tell- what are these better metrics? My HR was definitely inflated for my cardio...that I am certain of.

    Inflated HR is a bad thing not a good thing!
    Think about it - if I averaged 20mph cycling for an hour at 140bpm that would be better fitness than doing the same speed at 150bpm.

    Performance metrics are your measure of success: speed, power, endurance, improvements over previous efforts.....
  • Azdak
    Azdak Posts: 8,281 Member
    mittencat77 wrote: »
    sijomial wrote: »
    mittencat77 wrote: »
    I was wondering what others experiences have been and rationale for before or after weights.

    BTW - there's better metrics than HR for the effectiveness of whatever your cardio is.

    Thanks! Do tell- what are these better metrics? My HR was definitely inflated for my cardio...that I am certain of.

    You said it: inflated. As in, artificially raised. Not by a training effect, but by incomplete recovery from the previous effort. No different than an elevated HR via stress, heat, or illness.

    A more suitable metric in this case would be perceived exertion based on breathing.
  • DancingMoosie
    DancingMoosie Posts: 8,619 Member
    I do mine separately.
  • MikePTY
    MikePTY Posts: 3,814 Member
    Generally speaking, if you do both as part of the same workout, whichever you do first will get your top energy and effort, so I'd recommend putting first whichever is the most important to you if you do it as part of the same workout.
  • MyFreakingNameIsScott
    MyFreakingNameIsScott Posts: 199 Member
    I prefer cardio after strength because the studies have shown the metabolic burn lasts much longer after the workout. So, if ones goal is to lose weight, this would be a good pattern. Different goals may mean a different pattern. My suggestion is to look up some actual studies. This place is good for learning what people do but it’s also full of opinions that may or may not be accurate.
  • Hannahwalksfar
    Hannahwalksfar Posts: 572 Member
    Or you could just do an insane circuit class and combine both before dying
  • Azdak
    Azdak Posts: 8,281 Member
    MyFreakingNameIsScott wrote: »
    I prefer cardio after strength because the studies have shown the metabolic burn lasts much longer after the workout. So, if ones goal is to lose weight, this would be a good pattern. Different goals may mean a different pattern. My suggestion is to look up some actual studies. This place is good for learning what people do but it’s also full of opinions that may or may not be accurate.


    Like this one. Studies on “metabolic burn” show mixed results and, in any case, the “metabolic burn” is grossly overstated.

    Just for fun, I did a brief (like 5 min) search on this topic and found a couple of studies (that were not really helpful) and several articles on this topic. The responses were from people identified as “coaches”, “fitness experts”, and “NASM elite trainers”. Every one of them was wrong-primarily because, from what I can tell, 95% of the people working in the fitness industry have never studied exercise physiology.

    Because there are so many variable, it is virtually impossible to scientific “prove” that one type of concurrent training is definitively the better choice for everyone.

    I think the only thing that one can say with confidence is that, when doing longer workouts, the activity that is done first will affect the level of fatigue for doing what comes second. So, as has been said hundreds of times on this topic, the sequence of the workout will depend on one’s goals, one’s fitness level, one’s endurance, etc.


  • J72FIT
    J72FIT Posts: 6,002 Member
    Generally I don't like to do them on the same day...
  • Jthanmyfitnesspal
    Jthanmyfitnesspal Posts: 3,522 Member
    Generally, I split them, sometimes morning/afternoon. But, my cardio workouts can be pretty long (I swim, ride, run, kayak, hike, and do yard work.) Also, in terms of overall performance in the cardio activities (which is my goal), a little resistance training goes a long way!
  • CipherZero
    CipherZero Posts: 1,418 Member
    If your goal is to maximize your strength gains, do cardio after lifting.

    If your goal is to exercise, do whatever order you want.
  • slbbw
    slbbw Posts: 329 Member
    I do a warm up cardio before I lift for roughly 10 min. I have done intense cardio both before and after, although usually on different days, and after was definitely a better experience overall. That said I commonly do a 10 min running warmup, 45 min of lifting and 10 min of running at high intensity after and I like it.

Categories