weight lifting & cardio (Read 2093 times)

Is it better to do your cardio (running, biking, etc) before or after you do your weight lifting/strength training? Thanks!!

Definately if your going to lift you want to do some kind of a warm up first (run a mile or two, or ride the bike, or elipitical -however you spell it)... But I think the problem comes if your planning on lifting heavy and also want to run 5 or 6 on the same day....at which time I would recommend you do first what is more important to you. I would normally run my normal 5 or 6 miles and then lift, but I might poop out when trying to lift....but for me that is better the lifting heavy and then getting too tired to run.....

I normally lift first, run second. Trust me, you'll always have more energy on a run after working out than vice versa.

Weights first, then cardio. Whichever one you do second is going to suffer because you're already tired. And its a lot easier to hurt yourself with weights (ie: dropping a weight on your head) than when you're running...

Ditto to what Trigirl said! Also try not to do weights the same day as a speedworkout, hills or long run.

My experience is that if i run first it reflect on my weight lifting. So i always lift first and do a short run. On off days i run a greater distance. For example i'll run 4km on lifting days and 10 km on days off. My two cents M.

Hey, finally a question in my wheelhouse. It depends upon the intensity of each workout. As a rule you are actually better off doing weight training first because of the way your body burns energy and the build up of lactic acid. When you are weight training you are generally working in a very low heart rate zone with small bursts into a very high heart rate zone. You can literally fry one or two body parts ( pecs & biceps or back & triceps ) and even though you may feel exhausted you will find that you still have plenty of energy for a respectable cardio workout once you get going. On the flip side, if you do a fairly intense cardio workout first your body will have a very hard time regulating energy and heart rate while weight training. You will find that intense cardio hurts your weight training performance more than intense weight training hurts your cardio performance. Of course, if you are working legs in your weight training session then you pretty much have to do cardio first or risk injury. Likewise, if you do an intense ab session before your cardio you'll definitely feel it a few miles into your run.

As a number have stated, if you are focusing on one activity over do that one first. If you are trying to get some quality in both aspects lift first, after a brief warm-up. Here is my anecdotal evidence: Note: I was a football player and wanted more of the strength, but this same routine was used for any athlete that came into the gym. Strength and conditioning training in the summer in high school was about a 2 hour workout every morning. We'd start at 8. We began the day by doing some light warm-ups and stretching for 20-30 minutes. Activities varied from day to day, but I highly recommend doing some jump rope. Then we would lift heavy for about an hour or so making sure that you give your muscles at least 48 hours recovery before taxing them again. Afterwards, we would usually hit the track or do some plyometrics for another 20-30 minutes. Most of our running wasn't low heart rate cardio (I will always remember the day we ran 14 x 100m), but there is no way we could have gone into the weight room after that. Alternatively, after track workouts in the spring. I could never lift a thing after maybe a 4 or 5 miler at a easy pace. Plus a nice easy run after leg days really gets the blood going and takes away some of those aches.