Quote:
Originally Posted by kfisherx
Well I can't seem to kick my ass hard enough that I don't want to do anything after HIT. Even on hill sprints. I tear up the hill as fast as I can and walk back down and do this for 7 times or 20 min. I mean it is only 20 minutes. I am a distance runner and am used to doing 3 hours of cardio. In the USMC we did physical stuff all day long. I know the intesity of HIT is different but even so after a 20 min run of any sort I am just warmed up for lifting. Of course I have to take a few minutes rest but once I've had that time I feel like I want to really hit the weights.
The converse however is not true. I tried doing my HIT after my lifting and I just cannot bring myself to do it. Lifting does kick my ass. Perhaps this is because my body is so used to running and cardio and so new to lifting? I don't know. I just know that it doesn't work for me to do them in the prescribed order.
|
If you're in good condition this may well be the case. The ordering of lifting -> cardio is in place because of fatigue elements. As a rule, lifting will usually impact cardio less than the opposite order.
However, if you're in good condition this may not always be the case, likewise depending on the kind of cardio work In fact, sprinters will routinely do their acceleration and speed work before a lifting session.
This really ties back to what Lisa said about HIIT being ill-defined. People tend to just think of it in monolithic terms, but "interval cardio training" has gradations of intensity and effort just like lifting weights does.
HIIT, strictly, is defined as maximal efforts with limited/brief rest periods specifically to tax anaerobic metabolism, but there's other ways of doing intervals with longer rests or less exertion in the work interval. I tend to use what's called extensive tempo runs, which are intervals but with less rests/less effort, with my girls because I find pure HIIT to be too much if done regularly, as an example. Speed work done by sprinters will rarely go more than 30-60 yards, with very long rests to ensure high quality on each attempt.
Short, fast, brief intervals can have the same kind of effect on the body as lifting weights. If it's not fatiguing you too much, this can actually exploit the same kind of post-activation potentiation effect as heavy weights. It's known that doing jumps and such before lifting has that effect, and this isn't terribly different.
In other words, recall the key principle of exercise: there's only guidelines, no absolutes. If this order works for you, do it.