Gym Heads: Cardio before or after?

Better to do it after. But even better first thing in the morning. You go right into fat burning stage.
 
Never, If you're trying to put on muscle and look Diesel asap, dont do cardio.

If you're doing heavy weights, low reps, you should get a workout just from lifting. If not, you're doing it wrong.

If you aint tryna get swoll , do it before as a warmup to the weights.
 
after because is takes some time for your body to utilize fat as energy first your body will use the carbs youve consumed throughout the day
 
my routine is
warmup/stretch
Lift (rotate upper and lower body every other day)
core workouts
Cardio
Recover
 
To be honest, there's no right answer. Different things work for different people. Personally, I don't do them on the same day. Weights M W F, Cardio TTR Sat.

If I was going to do both on the same day, I'd do weights first for sure. I've read some things that suggest that may be a better combo. But do behonest I've read things with different opinions as well. Just do you, and make sure you don't overtrain. Most suggest that more than an hour in the gymlifting and you're not doing much good.
 
It depends on your goals.

If you are into body building or focused on strength training, do some low intensity cardio after weights.

If you want to do some athletic conditioning, some intense and/or interval based cardio should go first followed by some weights. Think about it. If you aretrying to get better at something like basketball or football, you want your body to handle a mix of jogging, sprinting and pushing your body weight andsometime your opponent's weight up and back and laterally.
 
My main goal is trying to trim down, try to lose as much fat as possible. So I'm still hitting the weights like I would normally, but doing elliptical x2.

Im thinking of starting swimming though because that #*%% incinerates calories and builds muscle.

This is my current routine

1. Weights
2. Elliptical (60-90 min)
3. Light Stretch, grab some water, get my breath
4. Then just run until I fall (which doesn't take me long)

With that routine I've dropped a solid pound a week over the past 6 weeks.

I was just wondering if someone had some tips or something to maybe change it up, keep it fresh.
 
everyone that says "before" is a dummy.. how you gonna run, ride a bike or whatever till you have no more energy left and then go do weights? you cando cardio as a warm up, then lift, and afterwards you can finish up with lifting... the muscles you use to lift weights, they also need to have nutrients, butif you burned them all by doing cardio you'll never be able to maximize your weight lifting. it's gonna hurt you in the end, because you'll be inthe gym thinking you're getting bigger, but you never will.
 
15-20 minutes before, 25-35 minutes afterwards.

Get your heartrate up, burn up your fatty acid stores with lifting, then burn fat afterwards.
 
after for sure dont even bother doing it before unless its bike on a leg day, for your warmup stretch and do light weights high reps. make sure afterwardsthough its over 20 minutes otherwise you will not be burning any fat. Another option is if your trying to lose fat i suppose would be breaking it up 10 minutesto start lift total body circuit training with 10 minutes in the middle, back to circuit training and 10 minutes at the end makes it more bareable but yougotta go hard
 
I used to do slow cardio before and after on lifting days, and I'd just do intervals on my cardio days.
 
Originally Posted by Rash

this is what I do:
1 warm up for ten minute first (treadmill, bikes, etc)
2 light stretch
3 lift weights
4 light stretch
5 then intense cardio
6 finish off with stretching after I cooled down
yep
 
Originally Posted by vctry20

My main goal is trying to trim down, try to lose as much fat as possible. So I'm still hitting the weights like I would normally, but doing elliptical x2.

Im thinking of starting swimming though because that #*%% incinerates calories and builds muscle.

This is my current routine

1. Weights
2. Elliptical (60-90 min)
3. Light Stretch, grab some water, get my breath
4. Then just run until I fall (which doesn't take me long)

With that routine I've dropped a solid pound a week over the past 6 weeks.

I was just wondering if someone had some tips or something to maybe change it up, keep it fresh.


gotta say man, you're really overtraining there IMO. Seriously, look it up on Bodybuilding.com, Wikipedia, etc. You may lose pounds quickly, but you'regoing to burn yourself out, it happened to me and yeah, you'll really get to where you hate it. You definitely need to keep weights and cardio in the mix,but i'd do them on alternating days.
To keep it fresh, make sure each day you're doing something different.

Monday - weights (chest and triceps)

Tuesday - cardio only (hit it hard - elliptical, treadmill, etc)

Wednesday - weights (biceps)

Thursday - see tuesday

Friday - weights (shoulders)

Saturday - see tuesday

This really helps me keep it fresh with my routines. As you get closer to your goal weight add some ab work in there too. Mix up the cardio if you can, tryto change the intervals you're doing the elliptical, (go up to 15, back down to 10 after a few mins, etc) Then run one day, etc..

That'll help you mix it up, especially with lifting, make sure you're not working out the same muscle two days in a row. You can do some leg weightstoo after the cardio..that's what I do. Of course, you gotta burn more than you eat!

I hit it HARD for like 6 mos last year before I realized I was killing myself trying to do a full body workout every MWF with cardio in between. Make sureto allow yourself time to rest (this is harder than it seems). I'm trying to just get more defined myself, and trying to figure out how to mix it up next.Main thing I've learned is that different things work for different people. This is just what's worked for me. I'm at a brick wall right now - butthat's when you gotta mix it up again.

Also check out http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/exercises.htm this site for good exercise ideaswhen you do try to mix up your routines.
 
Originally Posted by msw1233

Originally Posted by vctry20

My main goal is trying to trim down, try to lose as much fat as possible. So I'm still hitting the weights like I would normally, but doing elliptical x2.

Im thinking of starting swimming though because that #*%% incinerates calories and builds muscle.

This is my current routine

1. Weights
2. Elliptical (60-90 min)
3. Light Stretch, grab some water, get my breath
4. Then just run until I fall (which doesn't take me long)

With that routine I've dropped a solid pound a week over the past 6 weeks.

I was just wondering if someone had some tips or something to maybe change it up, keep it fresh.


gotta say man, you're really overtraining there IMO. Seriously, look it up on Bodybuilding.com, Wikipedia, etc. You may lose pounds quickly, but you're going to burn yourself out, it happened to me and yeah, you'll really get to where you hate it. You definitely need to keep weights and cardio in the mix, but i'd do them on alternating days.
To keep it fresh, make sure each day you're doing something different.

Monday - weights (chest and triceps)

Tuesday - cardio only (hit it hard - elliptical, treadmill, etc)

Wednesday - weights (biceps)

Thursday - see tuesday

Friday - weights (shoulders)

Saturday - see tuesday

This really helps me keep it fresh with my routines. As you get closer to your goal weight add some ab work in there too. Mix up the cardio if you can, try to change the intervals you're doing the elliptical, (go up to 15, back down to 10 after a few mins, etc) Then run one day, etc..

That'll help you mix it up, especially with lifting, make sure you're not working out the same muscle two days in a row. You can do some leg weights too after the cardio..that's what I do. Of course, you gotta burn more than you eat!

I hit it HARD for like 6 mos last year before I realized I was killing myself trying to do a full body workout every MWF with cardio in between. Make sure to allow yourself time to rest (this is harder than it seems). I'm trying to just get more defined myself, and trying to figure out how to mix it up next. Main thing I've learned is that different things work for different people. This is just what's worked for me. I'm at a brick wall right now - but that's when you gotta mix it up again.

Also check out http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/exercises.htmhttp://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/exercises.htm this site for good exercise ideas when you do try to mix up your routines.
maybe the "run till I fall" makes it look bad, I really can only get a half mile after my workout. I've been strait with theelliptical for a few months now too, I just pull up videos on my iPhone and the time flies by.

I'm not really trying to sound like Mr. Universe either but I've been hittin the gym literally 5-6-7 days a week, some days lighter than others, alwaysget a solid cardio workout in there. More times than not it's elliptical, sometimes it's running stairs at hayward, i'll occassionally hit thebag: five 3 minute rounds.

I really don't get burnt out on the gym though just because when I'm in school and +!!% I'm a machine and it's just my routine, I feel likee apiece of %@%+ if I take a day off without any real justification (papers, exams, etc). Yeah i'll probably go a little lighter and soften up over thesummer. Thanks for the link though, im going to check some of that stuff out and try it.
 
Originally Posted by vctry20

Alright so everyone I talk to does their cardio before weights in the gym, for me though there's no way I can do that. My cardio routine is somewhat extensive and my weight routine seriously lacks when I do it second. So I've been doing weights then cardio for the past month and my workouts have gotten serious...

So I was just wondering what everyone else's routines look like, and if you have any insight to why yours is better/more effective. I am always looking for tips..

workout first...always. you wanna be fresh for the strength training. it doesnt really matter if you are fresh or not for the cardio. a good strength trainingsession will burn more calories than a cardio session anyways.
 
If you guys are running cardio properly, you'd be too tired to weight train after. Plus, saving cardio for after weights helps dissipate the lactic acidbuildup in your muscles, helping to eliminate soreness
 
After. I tried cardio before weight lifting one time and I didn't have enough energy to hit the weights hard. I guess it depends what goal you'retrying to achieve too. I don't think there's a right or wrong way, just a matter of what fits you best.
 
i do before and after. i go very light on the elliptical. 15 minutes tops. work out. then i play basketball for an hr. i dont do this very regularly tho.
 
I always run for 30 min after i go through my full work out. I tried doing it before but i felt drained when i began working out so i switched it up...
 
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