Cardio before lifting

[Adam B]

I am tired of going threw threads looking for my answer. While in gym I normally do my cardio workouts before lifting weights. Mainly because if I do get to tired I already got my cardio done. But had a guy at gym tell me tonight it is best to do weights 1st then cardio because of some chemical your body uses up in cardio. Is this true or am I fine to keep doing my way.
Thanks in advance

 

[Alaskanopolis]

I’ve always done weights then cardio. If I do cardio first at the proper intensity I’m way too sapped to get much out of strength training. I feel like I get maximum benefits out of my strength training—which is getting the heart rate up as well—then the cardio I do is just that much more beneficial. I’m also not a physical trainer or educated on the matter I’m anyways...but these 24” pythons speak for themselves, brother.

 

[MikeStrong]

I'm no expert or pro by any means, but in my experience it seems that by doing cardio first uses up the energy I can get from my glycogen stores and my weight workouts are no where near as good as they could be. If I do weights first, I can get through a good, heavy workout (or whatever you're doing for the day), and then still get a solid cardio workout after.

There have been days where I took a 10 minute break after the weights to let myself refresh. Like at the end of leg day when I want to hit the stair stepper for part of my cardio. But most days I can finish my weights workout, grab a protein shake and refill my water, then get started right into cardio.

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[Adam B]

Thank yall. glycogen is what that guy said I remember as soon as I read what you wrote. I guess starting tomorrow I'll do my weight 1st and then hit up cardio. I only get to come to gym 3 days if lucky 4 days a week and normal only 2 hours a day so I want to make the most of my time there

 

[Felix40]

I like cadio and strength on different days. That way they dont interfere with each other and I get 100% on each for the given day.

 

[Trr15]

Depends on what you're looking to get out of your workout. Are you looking primarily for strength/mass gains? if so, prioritize weight training and do cardio afterwards or on "active recovery" days. If you're looking to establish a basic level of fitness, I'd probably lean more toward cardio first then weights. Do you aspire to run an ultra-marathon? I guess you see where I'm going. I prioritize weight training 9 months out of the year. 3 months prior to hunting season I transition to a cardio focused workout. This keeps me in shape year round, fends off dad-bod and gives me the lungs for the mountains when I need them.

 

[Jbehredt]

If you’re lifting specifically for muscle gains, sets to failure, cardio before lifting will hurt those sets. If you’re lifting more “leisurely” and doing cardio to stay fit then it doesn’t matter so much. I run before I lift because, as you said, if I save it for the end it’s easier to talk myself out of doing it. I workout alone so I’m not going to failure often. If I was trying to bulk I’d definitely do cardio after lifting, and get a spotter.

 

[Alaskanopolis]

Thank yall. glycogen is what that guy said I remember as soon as I read what you wrote. I guess starting tomorrow I'll do my weight 1st and then hit up cardio. I only get to come to gym 3 days if lucky 4 days a week and normal only 2 hours a day so I want to make the most of my time there

 

[Alaskanopolis]

I signed up and have been doing the mountain tough program. I like it because I know what I’m doing before I go in and I can usher get it done. That and it’s catered for what I want so the research is done for me.

 

[Coach Chris]

You're pre fatiguing your muscles by doing cardio first which inhibits your ability to generate maximum contractile force which is the point of strength training.
You're also depleting glycogen stores which you need for your strength training session.

If your goal is to be skinny and weak than doing cardio first is fine.

 

[Adam B]

My goal is to be in better shape. I dont care about cutting or looking good. Went to Colorado for 1st time last year elk hunting and it turns out all those thousands of post saying dont wait until a month before going to get in shape was right. I got my ass kicked hard in the mountains last year and like everyone said going once gets you hooked for life the week we got back we started planning this year trip and I joined gym in January

 

[ShortMountain91]

I think if your goal is endurance than do your cardio first. You will be increase your endurance capacity quicker this way. If your goal is to burn the most fat and get ripped do your cardio last. Me personally I to do my cardio last 9 months out of the year then do it first for 3 months before hunting season. I probably lose some strength in these 3 months but to me I value endurance over strength in the mountains

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[Jet-Tac]

Why not split your time up? Cardio 4 days a week and on the 3 off do strength training or even 2 of the days and take a day off. The cardio is most likely going to benefit you more in the mountains so why not put more focus there. I mean its nice to not have muscle fatigue and burn but if you cant get up the mountain without falling over due to breathing and heart rate then the fact that your legs are not hurting isn't much help.

 

[jp0212]

Not surprisingly, this is actually extremely complicated and only has so much to do with Glycogen. Just to be clear, Glycogen is simply stored Glucose which is kept in your liver and muscles. During exercise your body will use both Free Glucose from your blood as well as Glucose produced by breaking down Glycogen. The actual chemical that is relevant is ATP (Adenosine TriPhosphate), which is literally the means of energy for your cells. Think of it as gasoline you put in your truck. Now, when you are exercising in an aerobic capacity your body uses a combination of Oxygen, Glucose and Triglycerides to produce ATP. If you are Anaerobic, your body essentially has to use only Glucose and Triglycerides. When your body is Aerobic the ATP production is extremely efficient, when you are Anaerobic it is not.

To put it all together, it really depends on what you are doing for "cardio" before you do weights. If you are walking for 20 minutes or doing a light jog, you don't even come close to burning your Glucose and Glycogen stores. If you do a serious bout of HIIT training for 20-30 minutes, then you might burn through a significant amount of your Glucose and stored Glycogen leaving not enough for weights. That will essentially put you in a position where your body is overly fatigued to get good muscle contraction needed for weight training.

Very long story short, I would never recommend doing any cardio before you perform weight training. Typically, you will want to start your workout with a 7-10 minute warm-up. Weights should then never exceed 60 minutes. If you want, you can crank out a quick 20 minute cardio session, ideally something like a HIIT workout, after you finish weight training. Important to note, when you workout you will typically see a big rise in your Cortisol (Stress Hormone) levels after about 45 minutes to an hour. I don't want to nerd out too hard and make this overly confusing, just know the Cortisol spike that occurs is bad. You typically want to keep your workout (not including warm-up) to less than an hour but no more than 90 minutes. For that reason, it is typically ideal to split your weight training days and your cardio days. I know the OP said he only has a couple days to workout, so you can always hit the gym for weights then do cardio sessions at home (i.e. running outside, bleachers and track at a high school, etc.).

Hope that wasn't overly confusing and helps. Let me know if I need to clarify anything further. Tried to keep this short and sweet.

 

[Bigjay73]

Da heck is cardio?

 

[Dos Perros]

Pro-tip: you can drink apple juice or eat some candy or pumpkin pie mid workout to help power through.

 

[5MilesBack]

I used to lift for 1.5 to 2 hours and then go to basketball practice. By the time practice was over, the last thing I would have wanted to do (or even could do) was lift.

 

[TriX10]

I always like the thought process of doing a quick cardio to warm up 6 to 8 minutes then keep a high intensity lifting pace to keep the heart rate up, get a bit of both at the same time cardio and weight training. Cardio is the worst lol

 

[Coach Chris]

FWIW - My professional endurance athletes train concurrently. They strength train before their sport training. The hour of strength training is counted as the first hour of their endurance training.

 

[mtwarden]

I’m in the lift one day, cardio the next camp (actually it’s two days cardio/one day lift= 4 cardio/2days lift)

I always (usually ) feel energized going into my lifting day