Do you Weight Lift or Do Cardio First?

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  • meshashesha2012
    meshashesha2012 Posts: 8,329 Member
    i do a 15 min cardio warm up before lifting. if possible i finish off with a 12 minute HIIT session if i have the energy. if not then it's just a 15 easy cool down before stretching.
  • jastarki
    jastarki Posts: 14
    I keep my days separate.. IE One day I do a light warm up(like 5 min on the treadmill and then lift) and then the following day it's a cardio day.

    Reason being by the time I'm doing lifting, the last thing I want to do is hop on a treadmill/elliptical/whatever your cardio choice is.

    Agreed. I run, and I don't like doing it after strength because my legs are so shaky. If I do strength and cardio on the same day, I split them up and do one in the morning and one in the afternoon/evening.
  • Fit4Evolution
    Fit4Evolution Posts: 375 Member
    to gain strength and size lift first.. to reduce and lose weight and shred cardio first!
  • Fit4Evolution
    Fit4Evolution Posts: 375 Member
    the first thing you do will burn the sugar stores in your blood and muscles so if you need to lift heavy you dont want to burn them up first. if you do cardio first you will burn through the sugar and the rest of the whole workout will be a mix of fat protein and sugars
  • Guajardo73
    Guajardo73 Posts: 17 Member
    You have to rotate! If u get in a set routine ur body wil plateau! Keep your body guessing what is gna come next!
  • wellbert
    wellbert Posts: 3,924 Member
    If you can bang out 30 minutes of cardio any more intense than walking it might be time to put some more plates on that bar.
  • mmapags
    mmapags Posts: 8,934 Member
    always strength first ,use up all your stored energy on weights .so its all fat burning doing cardio

    Care to expound? And back it up with some proof in the form of peer reviewed research. For this to be true, your weight routine would have to burn somewhere around 400 grams of glycogen. This occurs during distance running somewhere between the 1.5 hour and 2 hour mark. Running burns far more glycogen than weight training so how long would you have to strength train to get to the point where you burn "all fat" when you switch to cardio. Then there is always the issue of bonking or "hitting the wall" when you did totally expend your glycogen stores. Feeling weak, and like you can't go on? That'd be a fun time to do some cardio!!

    When people do strength or cardio is up to them. Most professional athelete do them on different days with the exception of 5 to 10 minute cardio warmup and the same for cool down before and after strength training. I'm not a professional athelete but I figure if it's good for them, its good for me.
  • aproc
    aproc Posts: 1,033 Member
    I always do weights first so I can get the most out of it.
  • mmapags
    mmapags Posts: 8,934 Member
    If you can bang out 30 minutes of cardio any more intense than walking it might be time to put some more plates on that bar.

    Yeah boy! I'm totally feelin' you! :laugh:
  • AZKristi
    AZKristi Posts: 1,801 Member
    I've always done cardio first as well, because I thought warmed muscles would benefit more from lifting... but some of you are saying I will burn more fat if I do cardio last... It seems to be 50/50. Not helping!!!! lol

    It doesn't matter what you do first. If you utilize your glucose during cardio, your body will utilize fat in strength training. If you utilize your glucose during strength training, your body will burn fat during cardio.
  • mmapags
    mmapags Posts: 8,934 Member
    I've always done cardio first as well, because I thought warmed muscles would benefit more from lifting... but some of you are saying I will burn more fat if I do cardio last... It seems to be 50/50. Not helping!!!! lol

    It doesn't matter what you do first. If you utilize your glucose during cardio, your body will utilize fat in strength training. If you utilize your glucose during strength training, your body will burn fat during cardio.

    Whah??? Again, do you really think you will use up all glycogen stores doing either? Or both in one workout? No disrespect but this is just plain wrong and has no basis in the physiology of exercise.
  • BigBoneSista
    BigBoneSista Posts: 2,389 Member
    When I do them in the same morning its 5 mins of light cardio to warm up my muscles then I strength train for about 40 minutes. Then I do my hour of cardio.
  • hesn92
    hesn92 Posts: 5,966 Member
    Interesting. I guess I have it wrong then. lol. Oh well, I don't even do weights and cardio on the same days anyway LOL
  • joejccva71
    joejccva71 Posts: 2,985 Member
    You have to rotate! If u get in a set routine ur body wil plateau! Keep your body guessing what is gna come next!

    This simply isn't true and accurate man.
  • RachelsReboot
    RachelsReboot Posts: 569 Member
    On my strength days it goes like this

    Morning:
    10 min on elliptical (2.5,5,2.5) low, med, low intensity
    Strength
    10 min on elliptical (2.5,5,2.5) low, med, low intensity

    Evening
    30-45 minutes of cardio
  • Roma_Tee
    Roma_Tee Posts: 38
    My trainer has me do a short cardio warm up, then strength train, then a cardio cool down. I'm not sure the reasoning behind that but his body looks great so I trust it :)
  • Picola1984
    Picola1984 Posts: 1,133
    Ok this morning I swapped my usual routine around. I followed the masses and did light cardio, weights then cardio

    I definitely felt the burn more but its left me feeling a lot more tired, and this isn't good when I'm in late at work (which is a busy place to be!)

    So I will choose the method after work )
  • mmapags
    mmapags Posts: 8,934 Member
    My trainer has me do a short cardio warm up, then strength train, then a cardio cool down. I'm not sure the reasoning behind that but his body looks great so I trust it :)

    This! Your trainer knows what he doing. If you are doing your strength at high enough intensity you should not have enough left to do more than a cool down on the same day. If you want to do both on the same day, the 2 sessions are best seperated by at least 8 hours as the body needs recovery time.
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