So, which is preferable: cardio before or after weight training? The answer is determined by your fitness objectives. Perhaps you want to improve the health of your heart and lungs, or perhaps you want to lose or manage weight. Your workout sequence, as well as how frequently you should do cardio or lift weights, will be determined by your priorities.
The age-old question of whether to do cardio before or after weight training. You may favor one workout technique over the other—and, to be honest, it may change over time—but you should do both every week to reap the most health benefits.
The good news is that you may combine both into a single, efficient workout, such as a kettlebell session or slam ball training, or you can choose two-a-day workouts to fit both in (as long as you do it safely).
Based on popular fitness goals, here’s how you should decide if you want to do cardio before or after weights.
Here are some guidelines from experts.
- To improve your endurance, do cardio and then the weights.
- To lose weight and burn fat, do weights then cardio.
- To get stronger, do weights and then cardio.
You can perform either first on upper-body strength training days.
Do cardio after lower-body strength training days.
If your aim is simply general fitness, do either first, but perhaps begin with the one you dislike the least.
Now that you’ve learned the fundamentals, keep reading to learn all about combining cardio and weight training and when experts recommend you do it for the most benefit.
How frequently should you perform cardio & weight workouts?
Experts recommend that adults should do at least 2 1/2 hours of moderate-intensity cardio. 75 minutes of vigorous-intensity cardio per week. The strength training is at least twice a week. However, how you divide that up depends on your goals—and your schedule.
Some experts argue for an extra day of strength training: they recommend weight training 3 times per week of weight training is ideal. This recommended frequency has been shown to be effective when it comes to muscle building and fat loss. You can do cardio every day if it’s low-intensity. For higher-intensity cardio, you can do it less frequently.
So, if you choose one cardio option, your weekly plan can look like this:
- Weight training should be done 2-4 times a week.
- Low-intensity cardio should be done 5-7 times per week.
- Moderate-intensity cardio should be done 3 to 4 times per week
- High-intensity cardio should be done 1 – 3 times a week
- The duration of your cardio workouts is also determined by your goals.
- If you want to improve your strength, limit your cardio to a 10- to 15-minute warm-up session.
If your goal is overall fitness, the only real limit is your physical and schedule constraints. Just remember to stick to the suggested weekly workout guidelines to avoid overtraining.
Is it possible to perform cardio and weights on the same day?
Traditional workout advice proposes that people vary their workouts, doing cardio one day and weight training the next, or vice versa. However, there’s no reason why you shouldn’t do both in the same workout session.
Take, for example, high-intensity workouts like at-home tabata or Barry’s Bootcamp, which mix strength and cardiovascular training to produce benefits in less time. Doing that form of workout has no detrimental physiological effects, and it may be a lot more efficient use of your limited time.
Here’s an at-home high-intensity workout you may try:
If you’re going to do two separate training sessions in one day, make sure to give your body enough time to recover—around eight hours between high-intensity cardio and lifting weights.
Because your body does not biologically adjust (i.e., get stronger, quicker, or more endurance) until after a session, consistently pushing it with exercise will actually hamper your growth.
What sort of cardio is ideal for mixing with weight training?
Weight training is anaerobic exercise, which consists of short bursts of high-intensity exertion that are powered by glucose rather than oxygen. Low-intensity exercise (driven by oxygen consumption), according to Bowling, is the ideal sort of cardio to couple with weight training.
Swimming, elliptical machine use, rowing, walking, jogging, or cycling are all acceptable low-intensity aerobic activities. The crucial thing is to find a type of cardio that you enjoy.
If you enjoy the exercise, you’ll be more consistent with your workouts, which will make them more effective. It’s also important to give your body variety; sticking to the same cardio or weight lifting routine can lead to fatigue or overuse syndromes in muscles and joints.
How to Use Cardio and Weight Training to Improve Your Fitness Goals
If you want to gain strength, do cardio after weight training.
The explanation is simple: lifting is difficult, and you need all of your energy (physical and mental) to move loads with perfect form and technique while avoiding damage.
By prioritizing weight lifting over cardio, you can focus more brain power on correctly lifting those weights rather than going into a session sweaty, and out of breath, unable to perform as well and increasing your risk due to fatigue.
The low-intensity cardio is the best type of cardio to pair with weight training.
This is supported by science: When researchers compared three workout protocols—strength training alone, running followed by strength, and cycling followed by strength—they discovered that pre-strength workout running or cycling limited the number of weight lifting reps participants could perform compared to strength training without using a treadmill or exercise bike beforehand.
In addition: According to a separate JSCR study, muscle power fell after running on a treadmill, while heart rate and rate of perceived effort, or how difficult the workout felt, increased.
If your main goal is to lose weight, do cardio after weights.
You can burn more fat during the first 15 minutes of that cardio activity if you do cardio after weight training than starting with cardio and then lifting.
And if you have a specific heart health objective, you’ll want to do both because cardio is notoriously good for your ticker. Some studies found that resistance training was more likely than aerobic exercise to lower a kind of heart fat linked to cardiovascular disease.
However, there’s nothing wrong with performing cardio before weight training, especially if you’re just trying to stay fit in general.
Because increasing your heart rate is a wonderful way to prepare your body. You may want to begin your workout with a cardio warm-up (such as jump rope), even if you prefer weight exercise.
Performing light cardio, such as cycling or jogging, can prepare your muscles for the physical work of lifting weights and increase blood flow to the large muscle groups you’ll be using.
You should strive to include 10 minutes of low-impact cardio in your warm-up.
If you want to boost your cardiovascular endurance, do cardio before weights.
The same logic applies here that says you should emphasize weight training if you want to improve strength. Doing a heavy weight day before cardio may fatigue the muscles. This might cause you to lose proper form while doing cardio and increasing your risk of injury.
If you’re preparing for a race, doing weights before cardio may reduce your endurance. Persons who did strength training before running had worse running impairment than those who ran first.
To Conclude
You should incorporate both strength training and cardio into your workout routine.
Also, you can do both in a single session. Your fitness objectives influence whether you do cardio before or after weights.