Should I Do Cardio Before or After Weights?

One of the most common questions I get is, “Should I do cardio before or after weights?”

While the long answer is “it depends”, most people will be better off completing cardio after weights whether their primary goal is muscle gain, strength gain, or fat loss.

Here are 7 reasons why you should consider doing cardio after weights:

Cardio After Weights Reason #1) Increased Energy For Lifting Weights

During exercise, the body uses stored energy in our muscles called glycogen. If glycogen levels are low, it affects our energy levels for workouts. For example, if you’ve ever gone on a low carb diet and experienced less energy during workouts, then you know what it feels like to have low glycogen levels. The same phenomenon happens if you do cardio before strength training – you use up your body’s preferred energy source for intense exercise. If you use up that energy, it won’t be available when you need to lift heavy weights, making a goal of building muscle, increasing strength, or maximizing calorie burn through weight lifting compromised.

Cardio After Weights Reason #2) Favorable Changes in Blood PH

Completing cardio can make your blood more acidic. As you exercise, energy gets broken down and utilized to make lactic acid. Although lactic acid helps to replenish your fuel sources for continued exercise, it does so by creating excessive hydrogen ions. These hydrogen ions need to be buffered, which your body handles at an ineffective rate, lowering your pH (which makes your blood plasma more acidic). This acidic environment causes muscular fatigue and performance drops. So besides using the energy you need for heavy resistance training, doing cardio first also makes it harder for you to contract the muscles.

Cardio After Weights Reason #3) Favorable Hormonal Changes

By completing cardio first, cortisol is released without a concurrent increase in testosterone. Cortisol breaks down muscle in order to give your body the continued energy to workout. This works fine when doing cardiovascular exercises and happens extensively in long duration cardio (think marathons), but is detrimental to building muscle if there’s not a concurrent increase in testosterone. For example, when you’re strength training, cortisol levels will go up but so will testosterone levels. This hormonal shift not only allows you to have energy for the workout, but also helps to rebuild muscle after the session. Without these changes in hormonal profiles, it becomes much harder to gain muscle.

Cardio After Weights Reason #4) Clear mTOR Pathways

Another nail in the coffin for doing cardio before strength training is the inhibition of the mTOR pathways. Many people have not heard of the mTOR pathway, but in essence, this is the pathway that tells your muscles to grow. In fact, one of the biggest genetic differences between those that gain muscle easily and those that really struggle to gain muscle size is due to the differences of expression for the mTOR pathway. In other words, “genetic freaks” have easy access to this pathway, whereas “hardgainers” don’t. When you do cardio with strength training and especially before strength training, this muscle building pathway becomes inhibited, making an already difficult situation that much harder. 1

Cardio After Weights Reason #5) Greater Afterburn Effect

The workout that causes the largest afterburn effect will be the most effective for fat loss because you will not only burn calories during your workout, but also for up to 48 hours afterwards. While the research is inconclusive (some studies show the afterburn effect to be greater with cardio before weights), an intense metabolic resistance training workout can create a very large afterburn effect and increase your cardiovascular health. A traditional bodybuilding workout on the other hand will not create a very significant afterburn effect so in that case, cardio before lifting may make sense from a fat loss perspective.

Cardio After Weights Reason #6) Exercise Feels Harder Doing Cardio First

The “perceived exertion” rates (how hard exercise feels) is higher when you do cardio before strength training – even if the results you get from both routines are the same. This simply means that if you do the same routine, but do cardio first, it will feel much harder then if you did the same exact workout by doing the strength portion first. In other words, all of those reasons listed above truly do make your workouts feel harder. The sad part is that this method is not more effective for fat loss or muscle gain than if you simply did the strength first. 2

Cardio After Weights Reason #7) Less Risk of Injury Due to Fatigue

If you try maxing out on squats after an intense cardio session, you may be mentally and physically fatigued, which increases the chance of injury. Besides needing the mental fortitude to put a heavy weight on your back after cardio, you will also need the help of a number of smaller “assistance muscles” to help with the movement. These may have become fatigued from the cardio beforehand. By tiring these stabilizer and assistance muscles before performing heavy strength training, you risk the chance of completing an exercise incorrectly or with improper form.

Why Not Combine Cardio and Weights?

If you’re truly pressed for time, you can combine strength and cardio movements. An example would be to complete two strength training exercises – think lunges and cable rows – followed by bike sprints for 30 seconds. By combining the strength and cardio portion, you are satisfying the need to create damage to the muscle, keep your heart rate high throughout the session and have more spikes to your heart rate creating a greater oxygen debt.

The Wrap Up

While there are several benefits for lifting weights before cardio, at the end of the day, the best fat loss plan is the one you will stick to and that continues to produce results. If you enjoy completing cardio first, then by all means go for it! I would caution using the “weights after cardio” approach, however, if your main goal is building muscle.

If you have any questions, please feel free to leave a comment below. 

Original Source: http://www.builtlean.com/2011/11/07/cardio-before-or-after-weights/

When Should You Do Cardio When Trying To Build Lean Mass?

first off, this is a very general rule to go by, and takes 1st precedence.

resistance training should always take priority over cardio. here's why....

the long term gains of increased lbm (lean body mass) and increased secretion of hormones like gh and test far outweigh the calories burnt during a cardio session..

by doing cardio before weights you are simply reducing the amount of glycogen available that could have been used more effectively to fuel your muscles throughout the weight training session...this point cannot be stressed enough.

here are the top 3 scenarios for doing weights and cardio in order of importance:

#1 - on non-weight training days

#2 - weights in the am and cardio in the pm

#3 - light-cardio after weights

now, that being said, here are a couple scenarios that are most proposed/asked about by folks, so different protocols need/can be effective. for the person who is lean and wanting to save muscle mass while burning fat, then the above scenarios cannot be altered in any way! you are asking for loss of lean tissue if you do cardio on an empty stomach or any such nonsense. you are already into a catabolic state from the overnight fast, and you are compounding this by doing cardio without fuel. cortisol will be running rampant, and eating at your lean tissue for fuel. the body is very adept at breaking down amino acids for glucose, and will greedily do so. cortisol will liberate amino acids to produce glucose (glucose cannot be synthesized from fats) and can lead to muscle loss. i would propose the best scenario here would be to treat your cardio session as you do your resistance training session. albeit a different pwo formula (protein/fiber/fats will fit the bill here, no impact on insulin, thus keep any lypololysis induced during your cardio session intact)), but still with the same intensity and purpose. you would not dream of working out on an empty stomach, would you? never work out on an empty stomach. true, you will burn a buttload of calories, but they will be as much lean tissue as fat. never sacrifice lean tissue (long term results) for a short term fix.

it is also perfectly fine to do a “warm up” session of cardio before your weight training session if you are mid range, not real lean but not lots of fat stores either. but, here you are on that borderline of getting a lean hard body, and building lean tissue should be your number one priority. but make sure this is no more than a warm up, just to get blood flowing. 5 minutes at most should suffice. i personally prefer to warm up with the exercise i am going to do…i.e…weights.

now, on the other hand, if you have plenty of fat to spare, it can really become a non issue. i believe this is/should be obvious. you can do your cardio even before if you like, or even on an empty stomach, as in this case total calorie burn is your issue and not saving lean mass, for you probably don’t have enough to save or you have as stated plenty of fat stores to give up. your body will freely give up fat stores in this case, but still, make your weight session your priority as per the long term benefits.

but, no matter what your physique may be at the time, do not center your workout around cardio. make certain you incorporate resistance training, as this will in the long run be your best friend in the battle of the bulge. lean tissue is a fat burner 24 hrs. per day, a cardio session ends when you stop doing it. (a little different with hiit, but this is another whole subject.)

Original Source: http://www.worldfitness.com/fitness/990/when_should_you_do_cardio_when_trying_to_build_lean_mass.php

Body Building Routines - How To Build Muscles Quickly

by Peter Harris

Getting started if often the hardest part of working out. Performing a body building routine to build muscles quickly does take time, dedication and persistence. Once you start the process it can be addictive!

Once you've made the decision to start body building you simply have to set some goals and then stick to your plan to accomplish those goals. You'll find that this is not as hard as you might think, provided you have and keep the right mind set and that you have a good outline to follow.

Most people will quit the sport before ever really starting. If you haven't worked out in a while then you should expect some aches and pains the first few weeks into it. These symptoms will get better in time and soon you will be able to complete a workout without every muscle and joint aching. You will soon begin to feel energized and you will look forward to conquering more weight.

Always start a body building routine slowly. If you are new start working out three days a week and allow your muscles sufficient rest in between workouts. Be sure to vary your exercises and rotate the body parts that you want to work. Some weeks you may work a certain muscle group twice a week; then the next week only once. This is how you keep the muscles stimulated and prevent them from accommodating.

If you want to build muscles quickly then you will need to modify your diet in addition to lifting weights. Eating the right foods is as essential to buidling muscles as lifting weights is. Without proper nutrition the rest is useless.

Once you get past the first few weeks of lifting weights and working out the rest will get easier. You can continue to challenge yourself so that your workouts are rigorous, but the more you do this the better your body will respond. In this way you will feel invigorated, not defeated in the gym.

Original Source: http://goarticles.com/article/Body-Building-Routines-How-To-Build-Muscles-Quickly/2037964/