Here’s what they reported: 1.EPOC, the measure of the afterburn or energy output after you stop exercising was greatest when cardio was done before weight training. According to health and fitness perspective, you can do cardio after weight training if you are trying to build strength. If you’re trying to lose weight or increase your strength, then doing cardio before you do your weight-lifting workout may drain your energy stores and take away from your weights session. Always keep in mind that the weight training is the REAL engine behind your fat loss efforts. Cardio before or after weight lifting: Which one is better for weight loss? Cardio Before or After Weights Cardio After Weights. The first reason we are going to give weight training a point in the fat-loss war against cardio is due to the calorie burn after the workout is completed. No matter when you get your cardio in, everybody should be doing it … It is natural to think that you have to perform weights before cardio if you are building muscles. Most people will focus on doing more cardio when they're trying to lose weight because it burns more calories, but it's far better to do strength training two to three days a week, he says. Love it or hate it --- cardio and weight training are the foundation of most workout programs. Doing cardio before your workout, (unless you’re working out on an empty stomach), is going to burn a mix of carbs and dietary fat. The general rule of thumb is to do whatever you want to get better at first. While there are several benefits for lifting weights before cardio, at the end of the day, the best fat loss plan is the one you will stick to and that continues to produce results. [1] Cardio Before Weight Training. That’s not to say you can’t do a couple of minutes of cardio as a general warm-up before starting into the weights…just don’t do an entire cardio session before weight training. That means that you’re essentially going to be burning what you ate earlier that day during your cardio workout not fat. Perform cardio after lifting weights, or ideally, after a minimum of 6 hours after lifting weights. Focus on weight training instead of cardio. Studies have demonstrated that after a weight-training workout, metabolism can be boosted for up to 38 hours post-workout. When it comes to weight loss, it doesn't really matter which you do first—but strength trumps cardio, in terms of general importance, says Strenlicht. 2.Running after a weights session was physiologically more difficult than doing it before lifting weights. An ACE-commissioned study found that placing cardio exercise after strength created a heart-rate response that was 12 beats per minute higher for the exact same workout intensity and duration. If you have any questions, please feel free to leave a comment below. “Cardio after weights is a safer bet than cardio before weights, not only for energy levels, but also for potentiating fat loss,” says Lee Boyce, C.P.T., owner of Boyce Training. (‘Resistance-run’ means weights before cardio and vice versa.) Cardio before weights. Lots of people do their cardio before their weight workout, lots do it after, and some even do it right smack in the middle. 17 responses to “Should You Do Cardio Before or After Weights?” These days, the two magic words in weight loss are HIIT (high-intensity interval training) and weightlifting. Stick to mostly low-impact cardio such as cycling, the elliptical or incline walking to save your recovery and energy for lifting. 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