CARDIO: BEFORE OR AFTER STRENGTH TRAINING

May 24, 2022

What came first, ‘chicken’ or the ‘egg’? That’s how complicated certain questions can be in fitness too. One such mind-bending question, which surprisingly sounds simple, is “what training should be done first: strength or cardio?”

In fitness, most things are relative and conditional. There are very few extremes of dos and don’ts. A recommendation that works for one individual, may not work for the other. Our answer to the question: “what training should be done first: strength or cardio?”, falls in the same category.

Before proceeding lets first understand the difference between cardio and strength training.

Cardiovascular fitness is the ability of heart and lungs to supply oxygen rich blood to the working muscle tissues and the ability of the muscles to use oxygen to produce energy for movement. Thus, any activity or exercise that increases your heart rate for a prolonged period refers to cardiovascular exercise. Cardio can help you with weight loss, stronger heart, lower blood pressure and cholesterol, stress and depression, reducing the risk of heart disease and strengthening lungs.

On the other hand, strength training is a type of physical exercise specializing in the use of resistance to induce muscular contraction, which builds the strength, anaerobic endurance, size of skeletal muscles and bone density. Strength training which includes lifting weights, resistance exercise and core workouts may also elevate your heart rate, but these are usually not considered to be cardio exercise because they are structured to challenge your strength not cardiorespiratory system.

As both cardio and strength training have their specific benefits incorporating both into your routine can be beneficial for most individuals. Here comes the question that do you have to do both in different sessions and can u combine them into one? Some people prefer doing cardio and strength workouts in separate sessions. A run in the morning and a weightlifting session later is awesome for those who have time for two sessions a day. Doing two sessions can help you achieve optimal performance in both the aspects helping you build muscles, loose fat, increase aerobic capacity and cardiac output all at the same time. But what if you only have limited time and want to combine both the sessions into one?? Which form of training will you do first?? Let’s get back to the main topic.

An ACE commission 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. This presents a clear evidence that cardio should be done first to decrease the rate of perceived exertion. Doing cardio after strength can shift the intensity from moderate to vigorous without any modification to external intensity.

Cardio training prior to strength can help:

Increase core temperature.
Increase oxygenated blood flow to your muscles.
Production of synovial fluid in your joints.
May provide your muscles with a mild but useful dynamic stretch.
Prepare the muscles for physical work of lifting weights.

Many other studies suggest that it’s better to perform strength training first as:

Cardio may reduce muscle force generating capacity if done before strength workouts.
Doing strength training first may slightly increase the use of fat as fuel because carbohydrate stores will be depleted first with strength training.
It may help with glycogen retention thus increased strength and muscle hypertrophy.
More focus on lifting weights correctly.
Going into a strength session sweaty and out of breath can increase the risks of injury.

So, the clear answer to this question is that ‘it depends’. Depends on goals and preferences of an individual.

Possible Regimens

Cardio before strength

If your goal is better endurance performance (better performance when running, competing in triathlons)

General fitness is your goal and you enjoy doing cardio first.
When working at a high altitude or exercising in a cold weather.

Strength before cardio

If your goal is to get leaner or lose weight.
Strength improvement or muscle building goals.
General fitness is your goal and you enjoy strength training first.

Conclusion:

Whatever activity you choose to do first will potentially impact your performance in other. So, focusing on one goal at a time and prioritizing the same will help.

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