weight training and cardio on same day

[karky]

Pretty basic question i know, i was asked about this recently, and i seem to have forgotten. I remember hearing that if you have to do both in the same session, cardio after weightlifting is better, but the only reason i could give was that cardio (in this case jogging) would make you tiered before you're weightlifting. But you're weightlifting would make you tiered for you're cardio if you put it last, so.. is this just one of those priority cases, or is there some fancy reason why you should do one before the other?

[ParanoidAndroid]

I think it's also safety:

If you lift weights first and than do cardio, you'll be tired, and maybe won't run/bike as fast.

But if you do cardio first, you'll be tired for lifting. It's pretty dangerous to lift while you're already exhausted from cardio. I wouldn't want to squat after running 3 miles.

[gobbla]

which one do you want to improve? do that first. Improving at both is difficult, and there's no point in getting tired before your priority exercise.

that said think real hard on what's easier to improve (for joe average)? if it's a steady state cardio then they're likely going for time...30min or what ever. Are they consistently pushing harder during those 30 minutes? If the answer is no then they obviously don't care about it...put it at the end. Same with lifting...if they aren't putting weight on the bar, doing more sets, reps, finishing in less time...they're wasting time, might as well go for a jog.

[Keith S.]

karky:

I remember this being asked a lot when people first began doing TT about 2 or so years ago. Craig would advise people to do their weight training first. His theory, was that either one will get you tired before the other, correct? If so, then which would be more dangerous to do when tired. Would you rather be holding a 200 pound barbell over you or on your back when you're exhausted from the 30 minute run you just did? OR would you rather your legs get tired and have to maybe stop your run early?

Essentially IMHO I think it's safer to do cardio after, I'd rather fall off a treadmill than drop a weight on my chest.

[smoddelm]

Hmmm - my trainer says that doing cardio after weight training erases the hormonal and multi-hour metabolic benefits of weight training. And he is pretty "conservative."

[andrew_plamondon]

Cardio right after weightlifting was shown to help the body use more fat for fuel : http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/q...=pubmed_docsum

[JoshDunn]

Either or. Personal preferrence.

[Jason B]

Originally Posted by smoddelm

Hmmm - my trainer says that doing cardio after weight training erases the hormonal and multi-hour metabolic benefits of weight training. And he is pretty "conservative."

What the hell do you (or him I guess) mean by that? Ask him to give you some backing behind that and let us know what he says.


As for the original question, my question is, why are you doing steady state jogging? Realize that putting it after lifting will help, but if you're performing endurance training alongside strength training, your body will 'choose' the endurance training and adapt to it preferentially over the strength training, and your lifting will suffer. A better option would be high intensity 'cardio' (god I hate that word) like HIIT, sprints, hills, agility drills, tabata, etc.

[Terra Nova]

Originally Posted by karky

Pretty basic question i know, i was asked about this recently, and i seem to have forgotten. I remember hearing that if you have to do both in the same session, cardio after weightlifting is better, but the only reason i could give was that cardio (in this case jogging) would make you tiered before you're weightlifting. But you're weightlifting would make you tiered for you're cardio if you put it last, so.. is this just one of those priority cases, or is there some fancy reason why you should do one before the other?

Depends somewhat on the duration and intensity and the type of your cardio and also to some extent whether your weight training is a lower body workout , full body, upper body etc. workout ( or not ) on the same day you do your cardio.

What is a typical cardio session for you - duration ? intensity ? type ? Why are you doing cardio - toward what goals ?

One school of thought is that if your weight workout is focused on lower body on the same day as a cardio workout, that a weight-bearing cardio session before weights will pre-exhaust your legs. This is seen to be a good thing because it not only really warms up your muscles but because it also serves as a form of pre-exhaustion - so you can hit that muscle Fatigue / Tension level needed to spur muscle growth using much less weight. On top of that, if you don't do both on the same day and do a heavy leg workout on Day 1 and then do cardio on Day 2, by doing the cardio so soon afterwards, you may not be allowing opitmal time for muscle recovery to take place after your Day 1 workout.

Of course others would say never to do both on the same day ( as the cardio ) as it diminishes the intensity you can bring to your weight session...and that intensity should always be at it's best level possible.

Sometimes practical considerations make more sense...i.e do one early in the day and the other one at the end of the same day if you can...or if doing a full-body workout 3X days a week, do cardio on off days.

[Craig]

If you care at all about getting stronger, do weight training before intervals.

A total body workout would not fatigue the legs enough to impact interval training, whereas interval training would impact both upper and lower body strength training. The "systemic" fatigue would lower your upper body lifting performance, and the local fatigue from intervals would lessen your lower body performance.

If you want to run a 4-minute mile, then your endurance training would take precedence, and you would schedule your lifting on off-days or only before easier running sessions.

I would never recommend "pre-exhausting" your legs with cardio before strength training. That would NOT lead to more muscle growth, but in fact, less.

The bodybuilding version of pre-exhaustion is pretty lame and of questionable benefit, but the cardio version recommended has absolutely no benefit and only opportunity for detrimental effects on muscle growth.

However, if all you are doing is beginner slow-steady cardio and beginner weight training, then it probably doesn't matter what order you use.

As for cardio negating the hormonal benefits of weight training, like Jason B said, that is bunk. Would love to see that research.

There is absolutely nothing magical about doing one before the other. Its just common sense,

CB

[twinsavsvikingsfan]

I run 5 days a week and lift twice a week. I normally lift before my easy run on Tuesdays and on Thursdays when I don't run at all. Of course, I'm doing more of the endurance thing rather than HIIT, but my body has seemed to have adapted to this. I feel little effect running right after lifting and on my Friday recovery run, after lifting the day before, I hardly feel it at all.

[laxcdn]

Do the cardio in the am and weights in the pm or switch that around.

[jijin]

HIIT in the am (maybe once, max twice a week), lift in the pm, or vice versa. then maybe some short slow-to-moderate cardio on off days for CNS regenaration.

Read 7 Reasons You're a Weakling by Eric Cressey

[BamaDave]

I've gone either way on the AM/PM split, with 10-12 hours between workouts. On the rare occasions that I have done weights and running right after the other, I did the weights first.