Cardio B4 Or After Weights?

[tmitchem81]

Don't Know If This Is A Highly Discussed Topic, But I Wonder How Crucial It Is To My Workout. Normally, I Do A Half/half Session On Weight Training Days.

Ex.: 15-20 Min Treadmill Warm Up
Weight Training Session (upper Or Lower)
15-20 Min Cardio (treadmill Or Bike)

But Just Read An Article, In Muscle & Fitness Her That Suggest That Your Weight Training Suffers If You Do Cardio Before.

Is This True, Any Articles Or Tips To Point Me In The Right Direction Would Be Great.

[CyborgX]

I always do cardio after lifting. I want to have all of the energy on tap for the difficult exercises, which I always do first. Exercises such as squats, military press, deadlift, bench press, etc. I want my body to be in an anaerobic state for maximum power.

[jrod196]

Originally Posted by CyborgX

I always do cardio after lifting. I want to have all of the energy on tap for the difficult exercises, which I always do first. Exercises such as squats, military press, deadlift, bench press, etc. I want my body to be in an anaerobic state for maximum power.

100% agree!

[abudabi48]

Depending on what exercising I am going to do or finish will determine when I will do cardio. If I am consentrating on upper body and or arms then I can do cardio before or after my workout session. If I am doing heavy on legs that day, I might want to do cardio afterwards. If doing light legs then I can do cardio before my workout.

I don't want my cardio to suffer because I am doing heavy legs. So, on legs days I will do the bike or eliptical runner to stay off my body weight, but still able to get a good cardio in and work up a nice sweat.

[in10city]

...

Originally Posted by in10city

It all comes down to a persons goals and priorities. If you want to prioritize aerobic conditioning and endurance, do cardio first. If you want to prioritize resistance training and muscle mass, lift weight first. The literature related to the long-term effect of exercise sequencing for fat loss is lacking but short-term studies would support weights first as well.

A short cardio warm up is fine if you find it necessary. If your priority is resistance training, then it should be kept short such that it does not introduce fatigue thus negatively affecting the resistance training session. However, some find that they perform better by doing some cardio first. So there really is no black and white answer.

Of course, separate sessions could be an option.

This describes some pros and cons of the various sequences.
http://www.musculardevelopment.com/content/view/223/55