Should you do your cardio before or after your weight training? This is another question I’ve seen asked time and time again. For some reason (I have no idea why!), it has always been common place for weight training to follow cardio. This is the wrong way to do it, no matter what your goal, cardio should always be done after weight training and here’s why…
Why cardio should follow training:
- If you’re goal is to lose weight then doing cardio after your weight training is especially important. The simple reason is that weight training depletes glycogen is muscles. Glycogen is used as primary a fuel source for cardiovascular exercise, so with glycogen depleted your body is more likely release fat from cells to be used as energy. When you do cardio without weight training before, it takes around 20-25 mins for glycogen levels to fall and fat cells to potentially be released.
- You should save your maximum amount of energy for the weights.
- Doing cardio before weights will pre-fatigue your muscles. Obviously this limits your muscle building potential becuase you won’t be able to push out the weight and reps you otherwise could.
- If you’re training hard, ti should require 100% physical and mental energy. You cannot do this after 45 mins of running on a treadmill. Cardio on the other hand, only requires mental energy to stave off boredom!
A few notes on cardio…
If you goal is to gain weight and build muscle, I suggest you drop out all non-essential cardio. When I say non-essential, I’m not saying quit doing sports you enjoy, just don’t do cardio for the sake of doing it. The more cardio you do the more calories you have to put through your system to grow, so doing more cardio simply means you have to eat more!
If you goal is to lose weight, cardio after weight training is ideal. As I mentioned above, glycogen is already depleted meaning you’re much more likely to burn actual fat.
That’s it, if you have a different opinion or any questions post them up!
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Great tips, thanks. I always try to do cardio after weight training. I find if I do it first I have no energy for the weights (just like you said). Thanks!!
i have small doubt regarding this…i was weighing 98kg before and by doing cardio and other excersises i had come upto 78kg within 6 months.. now i want to put some mass and build some muscle…right now i start my excersise with jogging for 15min which means i loose nearly 280-300 calories….then i go for my weight training…can plz let me know that for building muscle that jogging is necessary or not…
Hi,
Jogging is not necessary for building muscle, actually it stops you from building muscle. Whatever calories you burn inn cardio you have to make up in food and supplements. If you’re going to do cardio, you should do it after you workout. Then follow your session up with a post workout shake.
Good luck.
Thankyou Jeff…thankyou for ur reply…rellyit will help me…
i m nowdayz also facing the same prob as Sandeep,a bit different yet,i used to weigh a lot a year ago,but by doing constant cardio i hav reduced a lot and muscles too!! m now planning to add on muscle mass but as i have suddenly started eating more there is a significant inc in my body fat& weight,ther4 2 keep fat down i do HIIT everyday fr 30mins fter weights,is tht effective&helpful? & also suggest wen shud i take in my post wrkout shake 2 get max. benefit of cardio while nt hindering muscle growth?
i have been trying 2 gain weight and muscle for like a year or so right now i wieght about 160lbs and am 37yrs old and i am 6′1 my goal is 2 be 190lbs in 3months i think it not happening because i am a type one diabetic i had this illness for 17yrs i have free weights at home and a weight bench also and the perfect push up pros and the iron gym but nothing not happening what advice do you have for me
If i do cardio after weight training..when should i take my protein shake?..In between weight training n cardio or after weight training n cardio?
@Jack - after your cardio
k ty bro…and also what i wanted to ask is does cardio cause you too lose muscle especially your upper chest..like i do 35 minutes of cardio twice a week after weight training..is that fine?because i have some amount of fat which i wanna lose..
k ty bro..i have one more query..I do cardio for about 35 mins twice a week cause i want to lose all the fat i have and gain muscle n have a tighter look…does this much cardio affect my muscle gain process…specially ive heard cardio causes you to lose ur upper chest..is this true?
sorry for two comments..the first one didnt appear for me for some reason..
hey jack.no this much cardio will NOT affect your muscle gain. if you are eating plenty of protein(2 grams for every pound of body weight) and have a good wieght taining programme, making sure that you are timimg yourself between sets(2-3 break between sets,2min break between each exercise.this allows your muscle fibers to reapir themselves fully.then the cardio you are doing will be burning excess fat thus allowing your muscles to become more prominint(vissible). also making your chest muscles more defined, cut, and visible.
Spot on there mate!
isnt 2g protein per pound too much??ive heard 1g protein per pound body weight and im following that…
Hi all
I was just wondering if u can help me please because i was trying to make a workout plan to fit in cardio into my original workout i’m doing now. so my original work is (MONDAY chest/triceps TUSEDAY back/biceps WEDNESDAY legs THRUSDAY sholders/abs) and i was thinking to put carido in my new work out (MONDAY chest/triceps cardio after weights or not TUSEDAY rest or cardio WEDNESDAY back/biceps cardio after weights or not THRUSDAY legs or don’t work legs because i’m doing cardio or take this as a cardio day FRIDAY sholders/abs cardio after weights or not) so what do u think please ?
Hmm I’m stuck I want to gain weight but I’m also gaining a bit of fat, Shall I just not do cardio all together? Or maybe once a week?