What Order to Exercise? and.....

Amunet

Amunet

New member
Asked this in my diary.. but figured this would be a better place to ask heh.

I heard that it's better to do Cardio first then do weight training.
IS it better? Or does it even matter which you do first?

Also....

How long should you wait to exercise after you've eaten?
I wanna be burning body fat.. not the food I just ate.. ya know? heh
 
Through years of athletics I don't know that there would be any difference in calories burned by the order of the workout, its usually specific to the sport at hand. I'd say a breakup of the 2 into smaller groups. Such as a light 5-10 minute cardio, non strenous. Then a few stretches, then some lighter weights. A good stretch then heavier cardio, followed by heavier weights while your muscles are piping hot, then your final stretches and a cool down like walking. I know the ideal workout is not always possible, but varied intensity with the peak near the middle and near end of the workout is best. Keep in mind this would be only a 3 day a week type routine, you should not do weights more often than every other day to let muscles rebuild.

PS you DO want a good meal in your system before working out, at least 30 minutes before working out but not more than 3 hours. You will burn both your meal and fat, and increase your metabolism. Without the energy to do so you will do less of all these things.
 
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Don't wait too long after eating to workout. You need that fuel. Just wait until your stomach feels settled. For some people that's 20 minutes but for others it's 45 minutes.

My personal trainer opinion on the order to workout is different. I never recommend cardio before weights. To get the most out of your weight training you need your muscles to be full of fuel. If you've already done some cardio they won't be. I always recommend doing them at totally separate times, but if that's not possible I always recommend doing cardio after weights. You always want to be at your strongest when you do weights so you can lift as hard and heavy as possible. That will get you the most calorie burn and help your muscles to beceom stronger and grow.

Sarah
 
We train the other way, but it depends on what your goal is. We like the benefit of strength training but muscle building is NOT our priority.
Every coach has trained us to do cardio first and then weights...but cardio was our priority.

If I have a marathon coming up I stick to this, if I'm on break then I *might* do weights on a day all by itself but I'll do an easy run before hand.
 
Sooo.. hmm heh...
Well.. this is some good info!
Just wish there was a definite answer :p lol I mean don't get me wrong.. the posts are very informative and I'll keep them in mind.. I was just hoping for a "Well it's been proven that doing soandso first then this is more effective" :p heh
 
Definitive :p

Ok, well think about what you are doing to your body. If you do cardio you deplete you glycogen... the stuff you use to run your muscle... then go workout right after... ouch.. you are running on empty. It is definetly best to split your cardio workouts from your weight training... You can't push your muscles when you are out of glycogen. So I would absolutely do your cardio after you strength training, also if you can do both in one session you arent really putting your max effort into one or the other... I do my cardio early in the morning before I eat, then I go about my day and at about 7pm I do my strength training. It is really not the best idea to do your cardio right after or right before because you will hold back ... because you are either tired or know that you have to do your strength training afterwards... SO I SERIOUSLY advise against doing either of them in one session and if you have to do it all in one session do it afterwards.. the whole thing about doing cardio before is really more for people that are in seriously good shape with fine tuned glycogen systems and also a good resitance to lactic acid buildup... so for fat loss.. you really want to do it in a separate session or after strength training... i know i repeated myself quite a bit but i cant quite state it enough that you have to separate the cardio from the strength training... unless you are a performance athlete...
 
the whole thing about doing cardio before is really more for people that are in seriously good shape with fine tuned glycogen systems and also a good resitance to lactic acid buildup... so for fat loss.. you really want to do it in a separate session or after strength training... i know i repeated myself quite a bit but i cant quite state it enough that you have to separate the cardio from the strength training... unless you are a performance athlete...
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Do it seperately Amuret. All I am saying is that it IS POSSIBLE to do it afterwards and still benefit BUT NOT AS MUCH as if you lifted alone. I just need it as a supplementIf I do weights FIRST and then my runs my legs feel like mush and I can't go very far...so it goes both ways....BUT my goal is to get my milage in everyday.

so I hope you have your question answered.
 
Heh... thanks very much for the info.

So pretty much... if I can't seperate my workout.. do cardio after weights.
BUT best would be to seperate them and do them at different times in the day.

Alrighty.. thanks so much!! :D
 
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