I enjoy cardio and weight training very much. However, my morning cardio sessions last 45-60 minutes and then I get home and do my stretching which is a whole lot of time.
I've heard that doing weights after cardio is better for calorie burning but that's a whole other 15 minutes at LEAST added to an already long cardio session. Would it be less effective for me to continue my cardio in the morning and then do weight training later in the day? Would I get the same benefits? Is weightlifting effective if not done right after cardio?
i always do my weights wayyy later than my cardio. I do cardio in the morning before food. I do weights sometime in the afternoon--sometimes at night 30 minutes after a light protein/carb meal. Just remember to have a small protein snack after your weight session. I hope you enjoy it!
So for an evening gym going.. whats the best routine, run a mile or two then lift? Or lift one night cardio the next? Help!! I never knew it mattered!!
It is MOST effective to break up the sessions so if you CAN do morning and afternoon that is awesome. Most people dont have time for 2 workouts a day. Remember you need to warmup before those weights though.
If you are doing them both at the same workout it is usually more effective to do weights and then cardio. For the simple reason that for most people if you do hard work with your weights it will have less impact on your ability to do cardio than the other way around. Although if you have a specific goal for your cardio that day you might want to reverse it.
If your cardio session is relatively short then you might do it first just to save the warmup time. I have done part of my cardio session (i.e. run to the gym) then my weights and then the bulk of my cardio and it seemed that balance was most effective for me because I was really well warmed up for my weights.
I'm not sure how often you are working out, but you also don't have to do both weights and cardio every day. You could do weights three days a week and cardio twice a week, or vice versa. I have had a lot of success alternating cardio and strength training days.
Also, if you are doing weights and cardio on the same day, then I'm not sure you need to do 45 to 60 min of cardio. The weight lifting is also burning calories, so you could maybe cut the cardio back to 30 minutes? I guess it depends on how long you are doing weights for. When I lift weights, it usually is for an hour or so. If I do cardio on the same day, I'll usually do only 15 min of cardio (and use it as my warm up), with a few shorter, more explosive cardio exercises (e.g., kick-outs, bear crawls, long jumps, split jumps, jump squats) in between strength training sets (I usually do one set of explosive cardio to two to three strength training sets).
I second what ennay said - I would do weights first and then cardio.
And Barbara took the words out of my mouth - I was going to suggest exactly the same thing - if you already, for whichever reason, want/prefer/have to do cardio and weights on the same day, spend more time with the weight and less time on the treadmill (or whatever form of cardio you use). With the long cardio sessions you will be using fat, but you will be also losing lean body mass and that's not what you want. I learned the hard way myself.
Cardio and weights works best when it gets DONE.
Just do it! Don't worry about timing, etc. Really, unless you are in a contest prep for a bodybuilding competition, there's no need to concern with such small details. Just get it done! If you want to do it together, do it. If you want to split it up, do it!
Thanks to you all!
I love your idea BluetoBlue - I never really thought about making myself set days to run/or whatever (and that could mean NOT having to go to the gym everyday, run outdoors for a change) and spend my other days on weights with some brief warm up cardio! Thanks again.
And I understand doing is best I've been good at that part but have recently hit the slump of "what now"
Thanks again!!
Weights and Cardio question
