Weights before Cardio?

I had a trainer at a health club tell me that I should do cardio after weights.
5-10 min. of cardio in the beginning is ok for warm up though.
He said that it takes 15 min. of exercise before your body starts to burn fat.
So if you do your cardio last you will burn more fat calories, according to him.

My personal trainer told me virtually the same info.
I had some results when doing the cardio first, but much better results after switching over to warm up, weights and cardio last.

Weights first, IMO. Go big, cardio with whatever is left in the tank.

^^^THIS^^^ Go BIG and then go cardio.

I had been told that cardio after weights is best to avoid lactic acid buildup which causes sore muscles. But on the other hand, warming up is necessary. So I do:
15 mins bike
15 mins treadmill
45 mins to 1 hour of weights
20 mins bike
20 mins treadmill
15 mins of stretching

But I only do it 3 times a week. And it's not often that I get sore muscles afterwards.

Stretching, cardio, weights, cooldown, and then stretching.

That way you don't injure yourself and your muscles stay engaged.

What?

http://www.columbiatribune.com/news/2009/jul/19/stretching-ineffective-against-workout-injuries/?body
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/02/sports/playmagazine/112pewarm.html

All you need is a few warm-up sets, maybe a 5 minute walk on the treadmill.

I guess we all have different ideas, concepts and opinions. As a massage therapist I can tell you that stretching before and after a workout has major benefits to the body, whether the person will do cardiovascular or weight lifting. But I'm not here to argue that with anyone, like I said, this is just my opinion based on my profession.

But is it not true that you should be doing dynamic stretches before a workout an static after? That's what my physiotherapist and personal trainer's advocate.

And to answer the OP, if I do cardio on the same day I lift weights, I do it at a different time of the day. Whenever I do weight lifting, by the end of the workout I'm completely exhausted, so doing cardio before will take energy from me that will be needed for the weights, and after my weight session I can't barely stay up.

But is it not true that you should be doing dynamic stretches before a workout an static after? That's what my physiotherapist and personal trainer's advocate.

I guess that's the most common thing to do. I personally do both static (to release the muscle fiber and break part of the fascia build up that happens when we don't move much) and dynamic (to help warm up) before my workouts and after my workouts I do static to increase flush out the muscle tissue and that way help the recover of the muscle by increasing circulation.

Weights first, IMO. Go big, cardio with whatever is left in the tank.

This ^^ I set aside separate cardio only days to go for gusto, weight days are usually just that, weight days, if I have energy left at the end of one to get in more than 15+ minutes of cardio in whatever form at a moderate/intense level I haven't done my job properly in the weight room.

I often (60% of my workouts) combine weights and cardio in a vigorous circuit. Wearing the HRM, keeping the heart rate in the zone.

5 min cardio or active stretching (not static stretching, so you can do standing lunges to warm up or a few walking lunges but don't do static (standing and holding pose) stretching pre-workout as it can lead to injury. Then do weights (min 20-30 min) - you will have more glucose in your muscles and thus more energy to get a more effective weight/circuit workout... then burn off remaining glucose afterwards with cardio (at least 20 min). THEN you can (and *should*) do "static" stretching, be sure to stretch all major muscle groups for at least 5 min total... don't bounce, hold for min 30 seconds each pose.

This is order is the best way to prevent injury and be most effective in workouts.

Bump, great advice!