Cardio or Weights first?

[Konoko]

I have decided to restart my training, and have come up with a weights/exercise plan. My question is should I do my cardio workout (swimming) before doing weights or after? Or should I not do weights and cardio on the same day?

Cheers

[Sohan]

Depends on the time you have available. Any exercise you do will require recovery--the more you do the more recovery you need. If you cannot do separate cardio/weight sessions, then whatever you want to put more emphasis on I'd do first. I have done weights before swimming and after, and been fine with either, but don't expect to lift as well after swimming, nor to swim as well after lifting. In the end, try both ways and see which you prefer.

I personally would prefer weights after because of the warm-up you get from swimming. Get some carbs and a little protein in your system after you get out of the pool to help recovery, before you go in the weight room.

Respectfully,

Sohan

[elbows_and_knees]

I personally would lift first. by swimming first, you run the risk of not being fully recovered when you lift, preventing maximal lifts.

[DJmma]

id swim first, or maybe do them at the same time...i swim alot. but i started swimming before i lifted. i dont really know which is better, but swimming is a great cardio workout, so dont put that on hold just to work out. either swim, and work out, or swim. thats what id say.

[Aodhan]

If at all possible, separate them. Weightlifting tears muscle fibers, so the last thing you want is to be working them more when they want to start repairing.

If you can't, then do cardio before your weights, there will be less impact, and you will be warmed up for your weight workout.

Aodhan

[isshinryu5toforever]

Actually, you always want to lift before you do your cardio. For one, you burn more calories that way, and two, if you do a real cardio workout you'll be too tired to lift to your full potential. That's if you stack them together, which most people do. If you separate them, here's what I do. 6 AM wakeup, 6:05 eat half a Cliff Bar or Snickers Marathon Bar (make sure to drink at least one class of water or sports drink with the bar) and then run 5-10 miles (35 minutes-just over an hour). Eat breakfast including eggs for protein. Then I have class all day. At about 5, before dinner, I lift for no more than an hour. I split up my lift days to concentrate on one or two body parts a day. After running in the morning, you may feel like your legs are tired, but you still need to pick a day to work your legs. Then I have dinner which is usually a chicken breast or two for protein, or I eat a bar with a lot of protein and not so many carbs if I am going to have something like pasta. There is nothing wrong with doing cardio and weights on the same day, but just make sure your body can recover. You can set up a schedule, but be flexible. If you have an off day scheduled, but feel pumped to go to the gym, and if you have a gym day scheduled, but are still recovering from going really hard, take the day off and take a light jog (light enough that you can carry on a conversation) for an hour or so, nothing too strenuous just to help push out the lactic acid.

[Sohan]

Actually, you always want to lift before you do your cardio....you burn more calories that way...

Sorry to disagree, but this isn't true. It would violate the law of thermodynamics. Calories utilized are a function of the work performed, not the order of the workout. The more work you do, the more calories are required to perform that work. Do cardio before weights, you lift less. Do weights before cardio, you do less cardio.

Respectfully,

Sohan

[isshinryu5toforever]

This isn't a matter of calories, it's a matter of aerobic threshold. If your tank is fueled, you'll be able to go. So, that's not the issue. The issue is being too out of breath to lift adequately. If you do a really good cardio workout, you should be pretty out of breath. This is more the issue than your muscles being too drained to work. Besides if you're lifting, you should spread out your workouts so you're not hitting too many major body parts on the same day. I try to split it up day 1: chest and core day 2: back and legs day 3: arms day4: shoulders. I do cardio after every one of those days, whether it be on the bike, running, playing basketball, or running stairs. I guess it's more about finding what works for you. About the burning more calories, it was some study I read about in Men's Health. I tend to trust them, and as funny as it sounds your comment was the first thing that came to my mind too, I'm kind of a science geek at heart.

[Sohan]

This isn't a matter of calories, it's a matter of aerobic threshold. If your tank is fueled, you'll be able to go. So, that's not the issue. The issue is being too out of breath to lift adequately. If you do a really good cardio workout, you should be pretty out of breath. This is more the issue than your muscles being too drained to work. Besides if you're lifting, you should spread out your workouts so you're not hitting too many major body parts on the same day. I try to split it up day 1: chest and core day 2: back and legs day 3: arms day4: shoulders. I do cardio after every one of those days, whether it be on the bike, running, playing basketball, or running stairs. I guess it's more about finding what works for you. About the burning more calories, it was some study I read about in Men's Health. I tend to trust them, and as funny as it sounds your comment was the first thing that came to my mind too, I'm kind of a science geek at heart.

I understand your point, but work is work. If you do cardio first, you will not have adequately recovered when you do weights, and your lifting will be somewhat diminished in capacity. You can't refuel quickly enough to completely recover as you would have if you hadn't done cardio. What ends up happening is your lifting capacity is diminished. A diminished lifting capacity means less volume, and less volume equals less calories burned.

Try doing a max bench sometime after an hour on the treadmill, and then the next week do the max without any cardio before. I'm sure you'll lift more without the cardio. It's the same the other way around; not too many successful road runners pump iron before a big 10k.

Whatever is performed first diminishes the work capacity of the second, thus reducing the amount of work that can be performed. And the energy required to perform work is expressed as calories. Therefore, if your work capacity is diminished you will burn fewer calories.

Regardless of whether you do weights first or cardio, the total workout caloric expenditure is the issue, and it doesn't really matter energywise which comes first.

Respectfully,

Sohan

[Aodhan]

Actually, you always want to lift before you do your cardio....you burn more calories that way...

Sorry to disagree, but this isn't true. It would violate the law of thermodynamics. Calories utilized are a function of the work performed, not the order of the workout. The more work you do, the more calories are required to perform that work. Do cardio before weights, you lift less. Do weights before cardio, you do less cardio.

Respectfully,

Sohan

Additionally, you're best fat burning zone is sustained exercise in the 60-80% of MHR range. Weightlifting is a bunch of sitting around, with explosive movements every minute or so. Plus, you can have rock hard muscles and still have a layer of fat over them.

The misnomer of weight loss from lifting isn't from the burning of the calories, its the increase in muscle mass which burns more calories at rest than fat does.

Aodhan