Cardio before or after weights?

[LiLShAnK357]

So this is the big topic at my gym, I have read tons of articles saying do it after and tons say do it after.....

Honestly what works the best? I usually lift then do 20-30 mins each day of moderate intensity cardio.

I heard do it after because you are burning stored fat where as if you did it first you are using your carbohydrates, and carbs should be saved for your weights to help with energy and powerlifts etc....

any imput with reasoning is appreciated!

thanks!

[phozosado]

Cardio after. Definitely. I don't know about the reasoning, but I can tell you that if I did my cardio first, my lifts would be crap.

Originally Posted by LiLShAnK357

So this is the big topic at my gym, I have read tons of articles saying do it after and tons say do it after.....

Honestly what works the best? I usually lift then do 20-30 mins each day of moderate intensity cardio.

I heard do it after because you are burning stored fat where as if you did it first you are using your carbohydrates, and carbs should be saved for your weights to help with energy and powerlifts etc....

any imput with reasoning is appreciated!

thanks!

[RooRooTJ]

Originally Posted by phozosado

Cardio after. Definitely. I don't know about the reasoning, but I can tell you that if I did my cardio first, my lifts would be crap.

Definitely after, especially for fat loss. If you do it before your workouts will suffer. When you do it after you have already depleted your glycogen stores and will burn fat much more effectively.

[cyriloatley]

If your strength training or Training to put size on, always do cardio after you weight train. Reason being your muscle fuel (glycogen) you want to keep reserved for muscles to use as you lift weight (anaerobic exercise),
So to stay Anabolic or in a muscle building state use up the most readily and useable energy source first, glycogen.

Then by doing Aerobic work after you will then get into your fat stores as your Aerobic engine uses a different energy source once the glycogen is used up.

if you really want to dig deep into cellular respiration check this link

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cellular_respiration

Namaste
Cyril~

[GrokTheCube]

Definitely lifting first. You'll burn a lot of glycogen, and your energy will be decreased if you use cardio first. At 60% of your max heatrate, you'll be burning mostly fat, but you'll still deplete glycogen. High intensity activity like lifting will burn mostly glycogen, and if you're down on glycogen, you'll have less strength and endurance.

[armz_ha]

definately after weights. That way you'll be able to lift heavier when you lift and burn more bodyfat when you do cardio.

[everton85]

This is interesting, I always assumed you should do a bit of cardio first to warm up before hitting the weights. I'm trying to add weight and mass and can't afford to burn much fat - should I axe cardio all together? I currently do 6mins of hard resistance bike as a warm up before weights.

[DuLac]

I have done it both ways.

I lift harder if i do lifting first, which makes me feel stronger psychologically.

Cardio afterwards is definitely a fat-loss event because you've already helped to start burning through the available energy with the weight training.

However, by doing cardio after weights, and you'll find it harder to do cardio. Particularly on leg-days.

I prefer doing cardio last.

[phozosado]

Originally Posted by everton85

This is interesting, I always assumed you should do a bit of cardio first to warm up before hitting the weights. I'm trying to add weight and mass and can't afford to burn much fat - should I axe cardio all together? I currently do 6mins of hard resistance bike as a warm up before weights.

Right now you should be doing a lot of compound movements with heavy, heavy weight and eating a lot of food. Cardio isn't a 'warm up.' Stretch instead and maybe do a quick light set before starting your pyramids. You can do about 15 minutes of light cardio after your routine. I wouldn't worry about intense cardio until you put on some mass.

[dkemano42]

Originally Posted by LiLShAnK357

So this is the big topic at my gym, I have read tons of articles saying do it after and tons say do it after.....

Honestly what works the best? I usually lift then do 20-30 mins each day of moderate intensity cardio.

I heard do it after because you are burning stored fat where as if you did it first you are using your carbohydrates, and carbs should be saved for your weights to help with energy and powerlifts etc....

any imput with reasoning is appreciated!

thanks!

Hey,

Your reasoning is pretty good there. I believe its really twofold to do cardio after weights. 1st is because you want to lift weights when you can focus all of your intensity and energy toward lifting. You cant really do that after doing cardio for 20 or more minutes. 2nd is because when you lift weights you expend most of the carbs in your body, so when you start doing cardio you are pretty much going to be buring fat right away, or soon into the cardio session.

Those are the 2 main reasons I believe cardio should be done right after weights.

DK