My opinion on this topic from an old thread....
Quote:
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.
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Always up for someone to give me some knowledge to think otherwise though.