Should You Do Cardio Before Or After Your Weight Training Workout?

Should you do cardio before or after your weight workout? Many prefer to do their cardio before weight lifting to get it out of the way and as a general warm-up. Is this the best way to maximize results?

Should you do cardio before or after your weight workout? Many prefer to do their cardio before lifting to get it out of the way and as a general warm-up. I do endorse a 5-minute pre-workout general warm-up for safety' sake, but for maximum fat loss, post-weight training aerobics should be the mainstay of your program.

The funny thing about being on the cutting edge of weight-loss science is that people are reluctant to believe you until someone with an M.D. says it is so. Well, the wonder of all wonders, it just so happens that a recent study suggests that the best time to do cardio is after a weight workout and that how long you rest between the two can make a difference in both hormone release and fat burning.

This is not new information to bodybuilders who specialize in rapid fat loss year in and year out. My experience as a competitive bodybuilder is what prompted me to use this style of training for fat loss in my clients.

The study was presented at the 2006 ACSM meeting and featured 10 healthy men who did three types of exercise routines on different days: 

1) Endurance exercises only 

2) Endurance exercise after weight training and a 20 minute rest 

3) Endurance exercises after weight training and 120 minutes rest

The weight training workout consisted of six exercises each done for three to four sets of 10 reps. Pretty standard fair and similar to the second phase of the Fat to Fit Program. The cardio exercises consisted of stationary cycling for an hour at low intensity (50 per cent of maximum heart rate.

For maximum fat loss I would suggest a higher intensity level and a more High-Intensity Interval Training style as opposed to the low-intensity approach used in the study.

Doing the weight workout before aerobics led to marked increases in lactate, norepinephrine and growth hormone levels. These are all great things when it comes to maximum fat loss. Before the endurance exercise started those in the 120-minute rest group showed the highest levels of free fatty acids in the blood, while those in the 20-minute rest group showed higher levels of norepinephrine and growth hormone.

During the endurance and weight training exercises, blood levels of free fatty acids and glycerol were higher in both weight training groups than in the endurance the only group. The bottom line is that those in both weight training groups were burning more fat during the aerobic exercise than the aerobics only group.

You can compound the case for post-workout aerobics further by adding in the fact that not only did the group that did weight training first burn more fat during their cardio but also burned more calories in total by virtue of an increased overall daily metabolism increase and calories expended through the actual resistance training itself.

The study clearly shows that doing a weight workout before aerobics leads to hormonal changes that increased fat oxidation (read weight loss or fat burning) during the following aerobic workout.

Here is another angle to the story. Imagine yourself doing 30 minutes to an hour of aerobics and then going on to do your weight training. How much energy do you really have left to do justice to your weight training? After all that cardio, you have burnt through your glycogen stores (which are the muscle preferred source of fuel) and will not have the energy to stimulate the most outrageous fat burning method available to you. An all day long, increased metabolism, because you stimulated your muscles.

It kind of makes you smile when you find out information like this doesn't it?

how to HIIT Your Cardio Hard

High-Intensity Interval Training is a workout strategy that is intended to increase performance with shorter training sessions. High-Intensity Interval Training, or HIIT, is one of the best methods for muscle retention and fat loss. Studies have shown that long endurance activities such as aerobics cause the breakdown of muscle tissue, which is why HIIT should be emphasized. HIIT and interval training are very similar and the only difference between them is the intensity in which they are done. Interval training is a varying of intensities within a workout, where you add a low-intensity session with a high-intensity session.

High-Intensity Interval Training is a workout strategy that is intended to increase performance with shorter training sessions. High-Intensity Interval Training, or HIIT, is one of the best methods for muscle retention and fat loss. Studies have shown that long endurance activities such as aerobics cause the breakdown of muscle tissue, which is why HIIT should be emphasized. HIIT and interval training are very similar and the only difference between them is the intensity in which they are done. 

Interval training is a varying of intensities within a workout, where you add a low-intensity session with a high-intensity session. You can perform your interval training in many ways, and you should also use variety. It can be performed on a Stairmaster, mountain bike, local track, or a stationary bike. As with all methods of exercise, you should rotate the type of exercise performed to keep your body from adapting. If you desire longer-lasting results, cardiovascular work should be a priority on your fitness to-do list. Your main emphasis in exercise should be for cardio health, strength-training, and flexibility. 

As with most cardio exercise, you should track your heart rate, distance, intensity, length, target heart rate, calories burned, and cool-down time. One of the great things about HIIT is that it can be applied to other activities as well. Running stairs, riding a stationary bike, a stair-stepper, or any activity where you can shift from high intensity to low intensity will work wonders. Let`s say that you`re going to add HIIT to running sprints or steps.

Start working in intervals! Jog for a certain amount of time, sprint for a certain amount of time, followed by a short jogging session, and keep repeating a certain sequence until your time is finished. We`ve always been told that low-intensity aerobic exercise is the best method for ridding the body of unwanted fat. However, new research proves this opinion to be false. The reason that this low-intensity opinion of cardio exercise came about is a study that showed that lower intensity cardio burns a greater percentage of calories from as opposed to carbs.

 In research, HIIT has been shown to burn fat 50% more effectively than that of lower-intensity exercise. HIIT speeds your metabolism and keeps it running at a fast rate for up to sixteen hour after your workout. The bottom line is that HIIT burns a higher number of calories than that of lower-intensity.

 If you are looking to burn fat quickly, HIIT is the way to go. However, not everyone responds properly to this method. Diabetics whose body already has problems managing carbs should not train with HIIT. Other people who have just started a workout program should start with low-intensity and slowly start incorporating intervals as they get more advanced. The demands of HIIT can only be used by experienced trainees because newbies will simply give up after the first day of hard work. Take things one day at a time and the results will be experienced at a later time.