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Cardio. before or after strength training?

Did the chicken or the egg come first? This question is as relative as asking if I should do cardio before or afterweights.

First and foremost, warming up is not considered as part of your cardio time. Warming up is to increase your blood flow and get your muscles prepared to exert energy without being injured.

Alot of the time cardio before or after lifting can be based off a preference. From a physiological standpoint you should do cardio after your work out if you want to burn more calories. Your body will burn more kilocalories per minute (up to 12 kcal more) if cardio is executed afterwards because of the elevated hear rate . If your goal is to burn as many kilocalories as possible then do your cardio after you lift weights.   In addition you want to do weights after because cardio will take energy away from your muscles that will need to produce energy for lifting. If you are looking to build muscle mass and gain overall strength d your cardio after. Weights slightly increase the use of fat as fuel because the body’s carb storage is depleted first with strength training.  If you’re unmotivated to do cardio after weights but need to do cardio, then do your cardio before. The following chart explains in what scenarios you would want to do cardio before or after weights.

Cardio 1st Your preference Weights first
Training for endurance performance Upper body work out Leaning out
Developing cardio endurance Which will make you feel better leaving the gym Losing weight
Want to simply get moving Which will make you fell more motivated Lower body strength work
Feeling stiff

As you see it is about what your overall goal is and more importantly based off preference . Myself, I like to do cardio afterwards because it helps with my muscle recovery especially after lifting heavy. For my clients, I ask the ydo their 20-25 minutes of cardio after we train because other elevated calorie burn. For people who cannot commit to doing their cardio after lift but can do it beforehand, then do it then. Just make sure you get it in!

 

 

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