Running b4 or after weight routine?
 

To burn fat in the most efficient way, should i run b4 or after i do my weight lifting routine?

To burn fat it really doesnt matter which one you do first. The amount of calories you burn depend on the amount of activity over a given time period. Though do keep in mind you have to work out for about 30 min before you even start using your fat reserve, so at the 30 min mark is when you should start counting your true workout time.

I do suggest lifting first then running though. The running will help get the lactic acid out of your muscles, which will help prevent you from becoming too sore. Also running then lifting will strain your muscles to the point where you either A) are too tired to lift effectively, or B) will push your muscles beyond the limit and will get injured.

Back when I actually lifted weights, I found that a quick run, 5-10 minutes, at a brisk pace (usually on a treadmill) was a great complement to my warm up. Got the heart going, got the body going, and loosened me up even more. Then follow up the weightlifting with a good run like Seaver suggested.

I doubt you could run long enough to be effective and then still get in a good workout on the weights, so Id certainly get in the workout run afterwards.

Definitely run AFTER your weight routine. If your goal is mass gains, you're going to want to lift pretty heavy weights and if you're already tired from running your lifts won't be of a very high quality.

run afterwards.

Running after your routine, while better for fat burning, will also inhibit muscular growth due to shoving your body out of an anabolic state, and into a catabolic one due to the cardio.
If you do want to run and maintain maximum muscle gains, do it on days you don't lift, or a few minutes before your weights.

If you do cardio before you run, it'll keep your heart rate higher throughout your workout increasing the amount of calories you'd burn, but you won't be able to lift as heavy.
I'd suggest doing interval training. Jog for 5 minutes or so to warm up, then alternate between 30-45 seconds of running at top speed and jogging for 30-45 sec. This keeps your heart rate high without being as hard on you as an all-out sprint.

except skip the before you lift idea and keep the lifting / cardio at the least 8 hrs apart.

Gotta keep 'em separated!!! heyyyy!

it all depends... notice how there's multiple things being said in this thread? it's not a 100% science. if you want to body build, then it might make a difference in the order, but otherwise it really won't. weight lifting and running work on different energy systems, so as long as your not running a marathon before lifting, it really won't matter energywise (any tireness trying to lift after running will be more mental exhaustion then actual physical fatigue). the one caveat is that if you're gonna do your legs, i'd say don't run that day.

this is a big misconception... at rest, you're body mainly burns fats... sleeping, almost only fat... the amount of fat/carb you burn while exercising is based on intensity rather than time (that is until you burn all the free carbohydrate in your system at which point only fat is left to use for fuel). the harder you work, the higher % of that energy is coming from carbs compared to a lower intensity. but while you may burn more fat at a lower intensity, you burn less calories over all. depending on how hard you work and for how long, not only could you burn more calories overall, but you could burn more fat at the higher intensity in less time than you would have at a lower intensity.

Hannukah harry, I'd say that was a mitzvah (good dead).

Unfortunately lots of ideas .. some good .. some .....
What EXACTLY do you want from your body image at your goal weight?

my goal is just to become fit (i.e. lose the fat off my mid section).. i have no desire to be muscular body builder big, but ok cut. Several years back i was 135lbs no fat and decently cut. that's all i need.

i'm not big by any means right now (only 145lbs @ 5'8"), but i got a belly i want to get rid of.

You want to lose fat efficiently you have to weight train. Besides all the yabble about muscle burning more calories an actual proper strength training session will have similar effects to HIIT plus many other ways

don't cardio before a weights session. there's no point to it. there's no point to 'get the blood flowing'. weights uses the CNS, warm that up instead, not waste your glycogen levels.

alot of bad juju going on here. read up on HIIT. its about QUALITY not quantity.

one more thing. whats your diet like?

i've started doing light warmups before my workouts, like 10 minutes on the stairs or bike or treadmill. i've found it helps my weightlifting in that i feel a little more energetic throughout. i don't think i would ever do full blown cardio, like 30 minutes, before a workout though. it just doesn't make sense. you'd burn most of the glycogen stored in your muscles i would imagine, leaving nothing for weight training. now that i think about it running after a workout doesn't make sense either. not that i've given it that much thought at this particular moment.

either way, i would say do cardio on your non weight training days.

doing a 5-10 minute warm up is just common sense, you do it to get the blood flowing to your muscles and actually warm their temperature to lesson the chance of injury.

but i'm curious as to why you say you don't see the point to doing cardio after lifting? i know both arguments for and against doing it beforehand (and i think whether or not you do it then should mainly be based on your goals and the specifics of that days session).

you're right. i guess if you were mainly concerned with mass building, i'd say cardio after isn't the best idea. but if you just want to stay healthy and in shape, then it's not that bad of an idea. i've done both, and when i was just in maintenance mode i had no problems doing a run after working out.

my workout plan is a pretty good mix of all of this..
MWF i will go on a short warm up run and then lift lots at the gym
TuTh i just go on a really long, hard run....
and on either saturday or sunday i go bike or climb, just stay active

Do the one that is most important first so that it get your strongest effort.

It doesn't matter. It's the amount of exercise what matters.