Cardio before weights or after?

One of the most common confusion among gym-goers is, “If I am going to do my weight training and cardio in the same session, then how should I go, cardio before weights or after?”

At the moment people enter the gym, they start doing cardio before weights. They immediately jump on the treadmill or cycling machines and keep doing cardiovascular exercises for an hour or so.

This is one of the most common misconceptions that people believe that cardio sessions should be done before weight training which is not correct for everyone.

Why you should not do cardio before weights?

For the majority of people, it is better to do weight training before cardio as most of us want to build a lean physique. And to gain muscle mass you need to lift heavy weights. But doing cardio before weights can hamper your muscle-building goals. Here’s why…

You get fatigued faster during your weight training:

When you go to the gym after having your pre-workout meal, you have a lot of energy. Your muscle glycogen is also full. Now when you start doing cardio before weights, it reduces your energy levels. Your muscle glycogen drops down a bit and you get fatigued faster.

After that when you start lifting weights, you don’t leave with that much energy which you have had before doing cardio. Due to which you won’t be able to do your workout with the required intensity.

SUMMARY: By doing cardio before weights, you won’t have much energy to lift weights hence you get fatigued faster.

You might not be able to lift heavy:

The ultimate goal of most people is to get fit and gain muscles. For that, you have to lift heavy weights and training with good intensity. Now after depleting your energy in doing cardio, you might not be able to lift with your true potential.

As your energy levels are depleted, you will get your muscle fatigue faster. So for your best performance and to get better muscle-building benefits, you should start with weight training.

This doesn’t mean you have to jump on the weights as soon as you enter the gym. Doing proper warm-up before the workout is very important. So before your weight training, do some low-intensity cardio of about 10 min approx.

This is just to get warming up and to increase your blood flow. After the warm-up and some stretching, start your weight training. In the end, you can have your cardio session if you want.

SUMMARY: After doing the warm-up, just start lifting weights. This strategy will give you better muscle-building benefits.

Who can do cardio first…

For most people doing weight training before cardio would be the best strategy. However, if you are highly obese or your main goal is to improve your endurance ability, then you can do cardio before weights.

People who come in the category of overweight or obese can do cardio first. This is because their primary goal is to lose fat.

Those who want to increase their aerobic endurance like marathon runners can also perform cardio before weight training.