What Should You Do Before or After Cardio?
Strength training is good for your muscles; cardio is good for your heart. Both are very important if you want to be healthy and fit, but what is the best way to combine them?
We looked at one argument in favor of resistance training in the first place : both use up your muscle’s fuel stores, but lack of that fuel is more of a problem for strength training than cardio. Another reason to start with weights is that you’re more likely to screw up when you’re tired, so grappling with a barbell at the end of your workout is arguably more dangerous than just spending another five minutes on the stationary bike.
But there’s another side to this: if you get up first, you’ll get more tired when it’s time to do cardio. You won’t be able to do your best for the sprint. If you do a long run, you will feel even more exhausted towards the end.
So, here’s your rule: what is more important to you, do it first. You will be delighted with this, and then you can do less important exercises.
- If you’re trying to get stronger and want to lift as much weight as possible, lift first.
- If you want to get faster or better at endurance, do cardio first.
- If you’re just training for general fitness, then both will work.
If you train primarily for weight loss, this is still a challenge. Some studies say you burn more calories in a single workout if your weight comes first; but in the end you run the risk of feeling fatigued and cutting back on cardio.
Do not hesitate and stir! If alternating between the two works in your schedule, do so. You can even break up a cardio session and do half before and half after. If you can, put the more important first, but in the end what really matters is that you can do both consistently.