FaderMonkey

I'm sure this has been asked before, but I tried a search and couldn't find anything.

If you are doing cardio and weight lifting, which should come first, and why? I've been told a couple times that you should do lifting first. One person told me that you burn more fat during your cardio workout if you do it after lifting. Is that true?

Fenton-J-Cool

It's important to do a proper cardiovascular workout before attempting any kind of lifting. This will stretch you out, and get your blood flowing... needless to say, essential for heavy lifting.

If you're really concerned about fat burning, all it takes is regular cardio and nutrition.

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WarWagon

I'm going to have to disagree with Fenton. If you're properly stretched/warmed up, then yes, it is true, it is better to lift, then do cardio. The best time to do cardio is when you first get up in the morning, but if not, follow up your lifting with a moderate cardio session. Lifting is anaerobic, therefore it will reduce the glycogen levels in your muscles (carbohydrates). When in a glycogen-deprived state, you burn much more fat. This is similar to doing cardio in the morning before you eat, but you don't have the benefit of your metabolism staying at an elevated level throughout the day.

Rangsk

What if I have no desire to burn fat (i.e. I really don't have any fat on my body)... but I still want to do cardio to strengthen my heart. Should I do cardio first?

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hannukah harry

do cardio first. no matter what. if you don't want to be burning much fat, then don't do to intense of a cardio workout. you'll still get cardio health benefits, although you may not improve your cardio fitness quickly.

the reason you do cardio first is because, as war wagon said, it's anaerobic. you want to be able to do as good of a possible cardio session. the more intense you exercise, the less %fat burned, but more calories total.

with lifting, most of the energy from lifting comes from pc-atp system (phospho-creatine). whenever you sprint, about the first 20 seconds of it is fueled primarily from that system. after about 15 seconds anaerbic glycolysis starts kicking in and from 20 to 60 seconds it is the primary energy system. so unless you run marathons before lifting, you will always have enough blood glucose/glycogen stores (especially since when you run/bike, the muscle glycogen stores used come from the legs, so if you want, take the cardio easier on leg day).

but always do cardio first.

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Plan9Senior

Hehe, I should start coming back here more often. ALWAYS lift weights first End of discussion

Yakk

Why? The other side gave reasons, and I am sort of curious what are your reasons to do weights then cardio?

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Last edited by JHVH : 10-29-4004 BC at 09:00 PM. Reason: Time for a rest.

SixEdxMia

*nods in agreement*

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Nazggul

I am not agreeing or disagreeing. I do morning workouts (swim/bike/run) often. I do however have this little nag in the back of my mind.

Can it really be that good for you to take your heart rate from its lowest point during the day to the highest within just a few minutes? Granted, after a decent easy warm up, but still, I just always wondered about that. =)

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hannukah harry

that's funny, cause my prof. with a PhD in ex. phys seems to disagree with you. but then again, you must be right.

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apeman

if you people were hardcore like me you'd run while lifting weights

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st33lr4t

if you want to gain mass you would lift then do cardio. more energy means heavier weight no?

you will have more strength lifting from warming up using weights vs stretching and cardio.

anyways i do cardio in the morning and lift at night so i avoid this issue. try both ways for a couple weeks and see which feels best and gets the results you want.

dimbulb

It's important to warmup first, before doing any kind of strenuous exercise like weight training or even cardio. Light cardio for 10-15 minutes is a good way to warm up the muscles before exercise. Do your stretches after your cardio warmup, THEN warmup using weights.

I'll go dig up the relevant links, but you should NOT do your heavy fat-burning cardio together with your weight training. If you are doing both on the same day, make sure they are spaced at least 5 hours apart. If your objective is to bulk, doing both at the same session will hamper your goals...

cliche

Seems like it depends on what you want to get out of your training. I'm personally a CV man so will do a hardish CV session and follow up with some weights - but if you want to bulk up I'd restrict the CV beforehand to a light warmup just to get your muscles nice and fluid and prevent injury. But either way you should probably be doing some form of CV before you start lifting.

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ChrisJericho

I never do cardio before weights. Because I do low rep&high weight I want to be in the freshest condition possible so my form is at it's best. It's difficult to lift the same amount of weight properly after running 2 miles than if I hadn't. Anyways, that is just my preference.

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pocon1

If you are looking to improve your muscle and burn fat, then do weight training first. Focus on your muscle first, because weight training is pure carbohydrate burning. It is very hard to lift heavy on fat. Once your carbs are a little lower, you can move to aerobic training. Aerobics works best on a mix of fat and carbs. Lower your carbs, burn a little more fat. You still have enough energy to easily get your heart rate to a sustained aerobic and calorie burning level. If your do cardio first, you may sabotage your ability to push hard enough during your weight training workout.
If you want to specialize in cardiovascular conditoning, do that first. Just don't expect as much out of your strength training. But, if you are a mid to long distance runner and like that skinny, strung out look, then go run to your hearts content. You won't be able to grow much muscle.

Beefimator

Here is what you need to do. First you need to figure out what you specific goals are. Than according those goals, you need to apply the cardio. If your goal is to grow, or gain some mass, forget about the cardio for a little bit. As long as you keep your training at a good pace (keeping your heart rate up) you should have little to no fat accumulation. If your goal is to lean out a little bit while holding onto some of your mass, then cardio after you train is the way to do it. Nothing too crazy. 15-30 minutes should do the trick. Every other day. Keep the intensity up. If you just want to stay in good shape, I would do cardio either in the morning, if you can, or on days when you aren't training.

I have to be honst with everyone, I didn't read anyone elses post before I responded. So if I said what some others said, I'm sorry.

Cowman

Im with pocon on this one. What he's saying is make sense, and Plan9 seems to agree with him and plan9 generally seems to know what hes talking about. =/

personally, I do weights before cardio because ifI do cardio first I just don't have the energy to lift weights. Seems to me that if you don't have the energy to lift to the maximum amount of your muscle, then you won't be able to gain any more muscle.

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Spanxxx

As I've posted before, if you read many articles at all.. you would have read by now that you should always 1. do [some] cardio before any workout to warmup 2. stretch after you've warmed up your muscles.

I think Beef has it though. I know for me personally I do 10-20 minutes of cardio at an approximate 60-80% zone to get my heart and blood going. It isn't enough to really make me tired (anymore at least) and is just about right for me to warm-up my system before my weightlifting. I then will go stretch and do light weight (50% max) warm-ups on each zone before I start lifting. All of this works for me, but might not be right for someone else.

However, I think every article I've ever read on the subject concurs with the fact that you should definitely do SOME cardio to get your system going before you do any heavy lifting OR cardio workouts. 5-20 minutes at a moderate pace on the bike/treadmill/eliptical/stairmaster/rower works really well. As a good rule of thumb... try to break a good sweat. At least for me, that's a good indication that my system is good and "started".

In the end though, find your own groove =)

pimp

Studies I have read show that cardio after lifting burns more calories blah blah - however I do the exact opposite because of experience. When I've lifted w/out at least 10-20 minutes bike or running I have pulled a muscle (a few times). So I usually do cardio, enough to break a decent sweat, before I hit any weights.

Stompy

Generally the reason you DON'T want to do cardio before lifting is simply because when you lift, you should give it your all.

If you run a few miles before, by the time you hit the weights, you're not AS energized as opposed to lifting first. As mentioned above, lifting is anaerobic. It'd be wise to have as much energy in your muscles/body as possible when doing it.. otherwise, you're not really giving it 100%.

Personally, I ALWAYS lift before cardio and usually follow up with 10-15 minutes of HIIT cardio (walk 2 minutes at 60% heart rate, then run 1 minute at 90%.. repeat 4-5x). I usually do cardio on days I don't lift.

It is encouraged that you do warm up cardio before lifting. Not much, but just enough to get the blood pumping. I don't normally do this as I've tried with/without it in the past and noticed no difference whatsoever.

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SiNai

Well, I've always been told it is best to alternate if at all possible, and just simply not do cardio around the same time as lifting- If you really have to, do 1 in the morning, 1 in the night, or something.. Lifting before running is bad because after lifting you need to be replenishing your proteins, definitely not doing aerobic exercise in your now catabolic state. Running before lifting is bad too, I think, and I suppose it could be because of Stompy's logic.. Anyway, there's my two cents..

By the way, I also do a small amount of warm up running/stretching before I go at it.

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Fenton-J-Cool

Even if you don't have that much fat it's important to stretch things out. Also, it really gets your blood into all your muscle tissue which is essential.

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wraith41

Theres a difference between cardio before a workout, and warming up before a workout. You should really alternate days if you're doing both IE Lift Monday, jump rope Tuesday, etc.

As far as warming up, anything brisk that gets your blood pumping, and makes you sweat a little as well as breathe a little harder than normal. 5-10 minutes should suffice, however you may need longer depending on your needs or if its really cold. Also, you should stretch after your warm up so your muscles can get the full range of motion after they've had some blood running through them

EVIDENT

Hey, if Plan9 says weights first, then it's weights first for me!

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