A lot of people keep asking me “what will be the best time to do cardio?” Should we do cardio before the workout or after, should we do it in the morning or in the evening, etc.
If you want to learn “what is the best time to do cardio exercises”, then you must read this article.
Is There Any Best Time To Do Cardio Exercises?
The best time to do cardio exercises majorly depends on your goal – whether it is fat loss, muscle gain, building endurance, etc. There is no one size fits all.
You have to optimize your training schedule according to your fitness goal. This can be:
For Fat Loss | For Muscle Gain | For Cardiovascular Fitness | Morning Cardio | Evening Cardio
Best Time To Do Cardio For Fat Loss
In order to lose fat, some people do hours and hours of cardio. Their main focus remains on cardio exercises as they think cardio leads to burn fat. However, maintaining a negative energy balance is much more important to lose weight.
For a healthy fat loss, you have to optimize your weight training session and cardio session mindfully. Let’s have a look at when should you do cardio for fat loss.
Cardio Before or After Weight Training:
It’s a very debated topic that cardio should be done before or after weight training. Well, for most people, it is always better to do cardio after weight training for fat loss.
Reason…
When you enter the gym, you have all the energy and your glycogen levels are full. So in that condition when you prioritize your weight training first, you get two benefits.
You can lift weights with your full potential which helps in improving strength and retaining muscle mass. During lifting weights, you will burn all the glycogen that was stored in your body.
After that when you do cardio exercises, you will burn more energy from the stored fat in your body. In this way, doing cardio after weight training is more beneficial to burn more fat while retaining muscle.
In a study published in Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise shows that doing cardio after weight training burns more fat for the first 15 minutes of cardio as compared to doing cardio before weights.
Another good strategy is to do your cardio exercises in a different session altogether or on a different day. For instance, morning cardio and weight training in the evening, or three days of cardio exercises and three days of weight training, alternatively.
Read full article: Cardio Before or After Weights?
SUMMARY: If your goal is fat loss, then the best time to do cardio is after weight training or in a different session. Studies shows that it helps you in burning more fat.
Best Time To Do Cardio During Muscle Gain
Most people ignore cardio exercises during muscle gain that sometimes makes them bulky and they tend to gain a lot of fat. During the gaining phase, it’s better to do some cardio too, along with weight training.
Adding some cardio in your routine will help you in gaining lean muscle mass with minimum fat possible and build your cardiovascular ability.
So when and how frequently should you do it?
Doing 10-20 minutes of cardio after your weight training session for 2-3 times in a week would be optimal during muscle gain. Don’t do cardio before your weight training session as this will hamper your workout and you won’t be able to lift with your full potential especially on leg days.
Also, avoid doing empty stomach cardio during muscle gain. After a long fast of 8-10 hours during sleep, your body gets into a catabolic state. If in that state you do empty cardio exercises in the morning, then your body may break your muscles to get energy.
Does Cardio On An Empty Stomach Burn More Fat?
Hence, it is recommended to have a light meal before doing the early morning cardio session. This will fuel your cardio training and you won’t lose muscle by doing cardio in that way.
SUMMARY: Doing some sort of cardio in your gaining phase helps you in gaining lean muscle mass. Do 2-3 times a week after weight training or in a different session.
Best Time To Do Cardio For Cardiovascular Fitness
If you want to be a long-distance runner or an endurance athlete like a marathon runner etc, then you have to work on your cardiovascular fitness. You have to improve your cardiovascular ability. For that, your main focus should be on cardio training.
To improve your cardiovascular fitness, the best time to do cardio exercises is at the beginning of your workout. Because at that time you have all the energy to put in your cardio training.
If you have serious goals, then you have to do some long cardio sessions. Hence, do your cardio training at that time of the day when you feel most energetic. To make it effective do it consistently and with a proper schedule.
SUMMARY: To improve cardiovascular fitness, the best time to do cardio is before weight training. Else, do it when you feel most energetic or in a separate session.
Morning Cardio Exercises
The major benefit of doing early morning cardio is weight loss. You have a minimum reserve of glycogen both in your muscles and liver. So because of this, your fat burning process starts immediately when you start training as your glycogen levels are already depleted.
However, if you are doing early morning cardio on an empty stomach, then there is a downside too. As you have not eaten anything, your body will seek energy in your muscles and it can cause the breakdown of muscle tissues that leads to muscle loss.
So in doing morning cardio, you may lose your muscles also along with fat. Hence, it is better to have a light meal with a decent amount of protein or a protein shake 30 minutes to 1 hour before doing cardio. This will fuel your muscles and help you in preserving your hard-earned muscles.
SUMMARY: Morning cardio is good for weight loss but you may lose some muscle too. So it is recommended to have a light meal before training.
Evening Cardio Exercises
If you are not a morning person, then it is equally healthy to have an evening cardio session. But make sure you don’t have any undigested food in your stomach during your workout. So avoid eating anything heavy before your cardio workout.
Take a healthy meal with enough amount of protein and complex carbohydrates before about 2 hours of training. After that, have some simple carbs like a banana or two before 15-30 minutes of cardio.
You can also have a cup of black coffee just before starting the session as there are several benefits of coffee before a workout.
In the end, both morning and evening cardio has there own benefits. It doesn’t make much difference that when you do it. Make sure to remain consistent with your cardio or workout as its consistency that matters a lot. Now it depends on you that you are an early bird or a night owl.
SUMMARY: Evening cardio is as healthy as the morning one. Make sure to have a healthy meal before cardio and give some time to digest it properly.
Best Time To Do Cardio – In A Nutshell
So this was the detailed article explaining the best time to do cardio on the basis of your fitness goal.
For most people, it is better to do some cardio exercises after weight training. However, what matters is to optimize your workout according to your goal. Try to make a balance between your cardio exercises and weight training.
