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Is It Better To Lift Weights First Or Cardio?

Hey everyone, I just wanted some clarification on a few things. When it comes to lifting and cardio I get a lot of different responses. What is better: should I lift weights then go to cardio? or cardio first then weights? When I first started I was doing cardio first, then I read it's better to lift first.

Personally I dont like doing both on the same day no matter what order you do them in. But if you must then I wouldn't go ballz out cardio before lifting, it will only kill your intensity with the wieghts.

What does your program look like right now? Perhaps we can change some stuff around to better fit your schedual and goals.

for me, i lift hard first then i do cardio, its awesome going home with that high feeling after you get your pistons pumping... i would say its personal preference and your drive to get to where you want to go with your goals.... only you can stop you from going hard before or after you weightlift

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While that may be true, there is a good chance your pushing your body into a catabolic state by lifting hard then doing cardio. But if your not trying to gain or preserve muscle then it wont matter either way.

different strokes for different folks!

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Originally Posted by tjlaplant

different strokes for different folks!

you should always split your lifting and cardio up... weather its different days or 8 or so hours apart. If you do them together 9 times out of 10 you are going to be overworking your body putting it into a catabolic state and you will GAIN little muscle if any... most likely you will burn muscle away.

After 45-50 minutes of working out in 1 sitting your body stops burning fat and starts using muscle as its energy source.

I usually do my cardio first thing in the morning, around 9:00. Then at about 6:00/6:30 I head into the gym to work with weights. I feel it's best to space out the workouts as far as possible, so when I train for my second session my energy levels have recovered. I think it would be impossible for me to really hit the weights hard and heavy if I did cardio right before, same thing the other way around. If I was doing lets say HIIT cardio how would expect my body to work at 100% after?

HrdGain81 raises a very good point as well, if you workout with weights then plan on doing cardio it could be VERY catabolic, and I wouldn't really advise this unless you use some type of supplement in between (Amino Acids, whey, etc.)

I lift first and then do cardio. One of the threads I read on this board stated doing cardio first drains you and you wouldn't be able to go full on lifting afterwords, so I stick to the lift then run idea.

Lift first, lifting will deplete your muscle then the cardio will help burn fat, thats if you do both on the same day. I like cardio in the morning on off days on an empty stomach

My opinion on this topic from an old thread....

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This was a question that someone asked me on another board and I thought I would share my insight on this question. So what is the optimal order for cardio? Should it be done before or after your lifting session? Well, it really depends on what your goals are and how you have your training schedule is setup.

For most of us we want to get the most out of our lifting as possible and that means the most energy to lift the most weight that we can. By doing your cardio beforehand you are depleting your energy stores and more importantly your glycogen stores which help your muscles during your weight training sessions. This means that you won't have as much stored energy to get those big weights up. Now, does that mean that doing a few minutes of cardio as a warmup is going to ruin your lifting session? Well no, but if your doing 30 minutes or some intense cardio like HIIT (high intensity interval training) before your lifting session than it is just common sense that you won't have as much energy to put towards lifting.

The best thing you can do is to do your cardio on your non lifting days. This way when your not lifting you are still being active and getting some exercise while giving your muscles a chance to recover. If you have a training schedule where you have to do both cardio and lifting on the same days then I would recommend doing your cardio after your lifting session or come back to the gym later in the day and do your cardio. By this point your glycogen stores should be low or depleted anyways. With all this being said there has been no scientific evidence to show which is the optimal order of cardio and lifting (that I can find), but the way that your body uses its glycogen stores led me to this conclusion.

Always up for someone to give me some knowledge to think otherwise though.

Thanks for the advice guys. Oh yeah HRDGAIN81 to answer your question. I do hst training followed by 20 hiit training m,w,f. I have to workout in the morning because my schedule is busy after work. On tues and thurs I do cardio for 30 min. By the way I'm a 5'9 female just looking to lose max body fat while toning in the process. Any advice is appreciated.

Thats an aweful lot of cardio erikag. Depending on how the fat loss is going, you may want to cut back a little. Perhaps stick with Hiit, and alternate days with lifting.

If its working for you stick with it, I just think you may burn out doing all that every week.