Incorporating both cardio and strength training into your fitness routine is a fantastic way to achieve a well-rounded level of health and fitness. But when it comes to optimizing your workouts, the question of whether to do cardio before or after strength training often arises. The answer, as it turns out, depends largely on your fitness goals.
Cardio First? Weights First? What’s the Big Deal?
The order in which you perform cardio and strength training can impact your energy levels, performance, and ultimately, the results you see. Understanding the benefits and drawbacks of each approach can help you design a workout plan that aligns with your specific objectives.
Understanding Your Fitness Goals
Before diving into the specifics, let’s clarify the most common fitness goals and how exercise order can influence them:
- Endurance: If you’re training for a marathon, triathlon, or simply want to improve your cardiovascular stamina, endurance should be a top priority.
- Strength and Muscle Growth: If building muscle mass and increasing strength are your primary aims, you’ll want to optimize your workouts accordingly.
- Weight Loss: For those looking to shed pounds, burning calories and maximizing fat loss are crucial.
- General Fitness: If your goal is simply to maintain a healthy lifestyle and overall fitness, the order may be less critical but still worth considering.
Cardio Before Strength Training: The Pros and Cons
Benefits
- Improved Endurance: Cardio exercises require sustained effort, so tackling them first allows you to push harder while your energy is up, effectively challenging your muscles to resist fatigue and build stamina.
- Enhanced Cardiovascular Health: Starting with cardio ensures your cardiovascular system is working at its peak capacity before fatigue sets in.
- Better Warm-Up: Light cardio can serve as an effective warm-up, increasing blood flow to your muscles and reducing the risk of injury during subsequent strength training.
- Mental Preparation: Some people find that completing cardio first mentally prepares them for the rest of their workout.
- Increased Flexibility: Cardio boosts flexibility, making you less prone to injuries during your strength training regimen.
Drawbacks
- Reduced Strength Performance: Performing cardio before strength training can deplete glycogen stores, the primary fuel source for weightlifting, potentially leading to fatigue and reduced performance during your strength exercises.
- Compromised Muscle Growth: If you’re focused on building muscle, pre-fatiguing your muscles with cardio can limit the amount of weight you can lift and the number of repetitions you can perform, hindering muscle growth.
- Increased Risk of Injury: When your muscles are tired from cardio, your form may suffer during weightlifting, increasing the risk of injury.
Strength Training Before Cardio: The Pros and Cons
Benefits
- Maximized Strength Gains: Lifting weights before cardio allows you to focus your energy on strength training when your muscles are fresh, leading to greater strength gains.
- Optimized Muscle Growth: By prioritizing strength training, you can lift heavier weights and perform more repetitions, providing a greater stimulus for muscle growth.
- Increased Fat Burning: Studies suggest that doing weights before cardio burns more fat. Strength training depletes glycogen stores, making fat a more accessible energy source during post-workout cardio, which can accelerate fat loss.
- Improved Muscle Recovery: Light to moderate-intensity cardio after lifting promotes better muscle recovery by improving blood flow and delivering essential nutrients.
- Prevents Pre-Workout Fatigue: Being tired before you lift weights robs you of more muscular endurance, focus, and energy to lift.
Drawbacks
- Reduced Cardio Performance: If you prioritize strength training, you may not have as much energy for cardio, potentially limiting the intensity and duration of your cardio workout.
- Risk of Injury: Performing cardio on taxed muscles also increases your risk of injury and lingering fatigue
- Less Effective Warm-up: Without a cardio warm-up, muscles might be less pliable for strength training.
Making the Right Choice: Tailoring Your Workout
Here’s a breakdown of how to decide based on your specific goals:
- For Endurance Athletes: If you’re training for a marathon, triathlon, or other endurance event, prioritize cardio before strength training. This will allow you to maximize your endurance and cardiovascular performance.
- For Strength and Muscle Building: If your primary goal is to build muscle and increase strength, perform strength training before cardio. This will ensure that your muscles are fresh and ready to lift heavy weights.
- For Weight Loss: If you’re looking to lose weight, either order can be effective. However, some research suggests that strength training before cardio may be slightly more beneficial for fat burning. Ultimately, the most important thing is to choose an order that you enjoy and can stick with consistently.
- For General Fitness: If you’re simply looking to maintain a healthy lifestyle, the order is less critical. You can choose whichever order you prefer or alternate between the two. You might start with the exercise you like less to ensure you get it done.
Other Factors to Consider
In addition to your fitness goals, there are a few other factors to consider when deciding whether to do cardio before or after strength training:
- Time Constraints: If you’re short on time, you may want to combine cardio and strength training into a single workout. In this case, it’s generally recommended to prioritize strength training first.
- Energy Levels: Pay attention to your energy levels and how you feel during your workouts. If you find that you’re consistently fatigued when doing cardio after strength training, try switching the order.
- Personal Preference: Ultimately, the best order is the one that you enjoy the most and can stick with consistently. Experiment with both approaches and see which one works best for you.
Can You Do Cardio and Strength Training on Separate Days?
Absolutely! In fact, this is often the ideal approach for those with specific fitness goals or those who want to maximize their performance in both areas. Separating cardio and strength training allows you to focus your energy and attention on each discipline without compromising the other. Ideally, leave 4 to 6 hours between workouts to optimize recovery and performance for each session.
Here are a couple of sample weekly workout schedules:
Example 1:
- Monday: Cardio
- Tuesday: Strength Training (Upper Body)
- Wednesday: Cardio
- Thursday: Strength Training (Lower Body)
- Friday: Rest
- Saturday: Cardio
- Sunday: Active Recovery
Example 2:
- Monday: Strength Training (Chest, Shoulders, Triceps)
- Tuesday: Cardio
- Wednesday: Strength Training (Back, Biceps)
- Thursday: Cardio
- Friday: Rest
- Saturday: Strength Training (Legs)
- Sunday: Active Recovery
Combining Cardio and Strength Training in One Session
If you prefer to combine cardio and strength training into a single workout, there are several ways to do so effectively:
- High-Intensity Interval Training (HIIT): HIIT workouts alternate between short bursts of intense cardio and strength exercises, providing a time-efficient way to build both endurance and muscle.
- Circuit Training: Circuit training involves performing a series of strength exercises with minimal rest in between, keeping your heart rate elevated and improving both muscular and cardiovascular fitness.
- Warm-up/Cool-down: Use light cardio as a warm-up before strength training or as a cool-down afterward.
Sample Workouts
One-Hour Killer Cardio and Strength Training Workout
- 30-Minute Cardio Interval Workout: Sprints and Hills. Choose any cardio machine or activity of your choice for this high-intensity interval workout.
- Strength Circuit: Squats With an Overhead Press, Push-Up Plank and Row, Squat Curl Press, Reverse Lunge With Double Arm Row, Core Kickbacks, Hammer Curls With Power Squat, Side Lunge Row.
Strength and Cardio Workout for Beginners
- Warm-up: 5 minutes of light cardio (e.g., brisk walking or cycling)
- Strength Training: Dumbbell Goblet Squats: 3 sets of 12 reps. Push-Ups: 3 sets of 10 reps. Dumbbell Alternating Hammer Curls: 3 sets of 10 reps per arm.
- Cardio: 15 minutes of light jogging or using a cardio machine of your choice.
- Cool-down: 5 minutes of stretching exercises.
The Importance of Warming Up and Cooling Down
Regardless of whether you choose to do cardio before or after strength training, it’s essential to warm up properly before each workout and cool down afterward.
- Warm-up: A warm-up prepares your muscles for exercise by increasing blood flow and flexibility. A light cardio warm-up, such as cycling and jogging, or even doing dynamic stretches (like leg swings or jumping jacks) can promote blood flow to your muscles, transitioning them from a resting state to a “ready” state.
- Cool-down: A cool-down helps your body gradually return to its resting state, reducing the risk of muscle soreness and injury.
Listen to Your Body
Ultimately, the best way to determine whether to do cardio before or after strength training is to experiment with both approaches and see which one works best for you. Pay attention to how your body feels and adjust your workouts accordingly. Don’t be afraid to modify your routine as needed to achieve your fitness goals and maintain a healthy, active lifestyle.
