Order Cardio then weights or

[bodhitree]

cardio then weights or weights then cardio?

why?


or is splitting it up between both good?


opinions welcomed, thanks

[Radplaiddude]

ITs easy to lift first.

[Hephaestus]

I've heard that the order in which you do them influences your body's reaction to training (i.e., bulking up vs. burning off), but I can't verify this.
I like to start with cardio, as it gets the whole body warmed up and thus makes other exercise less likely to cause injury, as well as making further exercise more of a challenge on the muscles.

[Scott R. Brown]

Hi bohitree,

Do what you want or need the most first.

If you wish to work on your strength primarily then always lift first.

Another option is to do cardio in the morning and the weights in the evening. Both will take something out of the other. So you would perform longer, easier cardio while you focus on increasing your strength or lighter less intense weight training while you focus on your cardio.

I recommend you cycle your program. As your weights increase, temporarily reduce your caridio intensity. The rule of thumb is: As the intensity of one goes up the intensity of the other goes down. A possible cycle is to spend 3 months light cardio/heavy weights then 3 months heavy cardio/light weights.

Good Luck!!

[IronFist]

Weights first.

Lifting after you do cardio can be dangerous, and you won't be able to lift as much.

Or, you can do them on seperate days.

[johnyk]

Hi bohitree,

Do what you want or need the most first.

If you wish to work on your strength primarily then always lift first.

Another option is to do cardio in the morning and the weights in the evening. Both will take something out of the other. So you would perform longer, easier cardio while you focus on increasing your strength or lighter less intense weight training while you focus on your cardio.

I recommend you cycle your program. As your weights increase, temporarily reduce your caridio intensity. The rule of thumb is: As the intensity of one goes up the intensity of the other goes down. A possible cycle is to spend 3 months light cardio/heavy weights then 3 months heavy cardio/light weights.

Good Luck!!

Pretty good advise.

[Hephaestus]

I've never heard of lifting after cardio being dangerous. Care to elaborate? :confused:

[Scott R. Brown]

Weight Training after Cardio Training is not dangerous!

I have done it for years and so do Boxers, Runners, Swimmers, Cross Country Skiers, etc. They may wait some hours between training modalities, but all aerobically focused sports athletes center their training around the Cardio Training and use Weight Training as a support or adjunct form of training.

[hazhardy]

i swear i have always heard that weights should be done after cardio, always.
especially as cardio gets the body warm as well, the other way round seems, well, unorthodox.
hza

[Scott R. Brown]

Hi hazhardy,

There is really no hard rule about it! Many people will do 15 minutes of light cardio before they lift weights for the reason you specify. But it is not really necessary. I have been training for over 30 years and many times I will weight train with out any type of cardio warm up.

If an individual is intending to train for maximum strength then they would want to limit their cardio training. Too much aerobic activity will reduce your maximum strength level. The body uses different types of muscle fibers for each activity and the body only has so much energy for recovery. That is why it is important to cycle training so one is never training to their maximum effort at all times. This leads to over training and is detrimental to improving performance.

[viper]

i do mostly calistenics and i find i get both at the same time iv got many friends that are personal trainers and ofcourse they reconmend a warmup before weights but most feel that if ur doin a decent hardworkout splitting the two is good when it comes to free wheights etc its good for the body to have a recovery period so no muscle group is injured depends on u though u find what works for u
I do conditioning one day and techniques the next it works for me

[bodhitree]

When i say cardio, i'm not talking about a warmup. I mean intense cardio or interval training.

Thanks for the imput everyone.

[Ford Prefect]

Depends on personal preference.

Physiologically it makes more sense to lift first, but if you can't do cardio after you lift, then do what works for you.

[blake]

I switch it up, one workout weights first then cardio, another cardio then weights. Cardio does dramatically effect your ability to lift, especially within an hour period.

[bodhitree]

Ford,
that is the way I've been doing it. It made sense to me that way, i just wanted to hear what works for others. Blake, good idea also.

[FooFighter]

I would not normally do cardio-lifting in the same day unless I am in a GPP phase. In this case, I do not think it matter much what goes first because you are not focusing on one specific energy system. Hence you can do cardio (interval training) for 20 mins first to warm up your muscles and do maybe a 30 min circuit training with bodyweight, stations, or freeweights. Or you can do the Circuit training first and then do 20 mins interval training which might help with speeding up recovery? There is no right way to atttack it, but it is a matter of preference and need.

[bodhitree]

Pardon my ignorance but what is the GPP phase? How would the intervals spped up recovery? thanks!

[FooFighter]

GPP is general physical preparedness phase. GPP is work capacity training for more extensive and complex training. Doing light cardio may remove lactic acid and increase blood flow which helps recovery.

[GuSpeed]

bruce lee lift weights then he runs. And I've heard lift weight then go running is better.

Because you gonna need all the strength to weight lift safely. Then after your weight training, you are tire and kind of worn so then you go running to get cardio in and train the body to handle impact stress on body better.

Running and then weight lifting could cause you to have bad form or injury because of fatigue.

Another thing to consider is when you work on your kung fu technique do that then go running. Really good workout and better.

Your technique will be good and get cardio in from technique works and running.