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Should You Do Cardio Before Weights?

One of the most popular questions that comes across my desk is…

“Kate, should you do cardio intervals or weight training first?”

Good question!

Sure, it always depends on your overall goal… However…

If you want to lose belly fat, there’s one time you should never, ever do interval training or cardio…

…and that’s BEFORE you do weights.

Why?

Here are 5 reasons you should do weights before rocking your intervals or cardio. And…

Let’s dive straight in!

#1: You’ll Have More Energy for Lifting Weights

Quick science lesson here…

During exercise, your body uses glycogen which is energy stored in your muscles. If your glycogen levels are low… it will affect your workout. If you’ve ever “cut out carbs” and tried to do a workout but felt no energy… you know what it feels like to have low gylcogen levels.

No fun at all, right?!

Same thing happens when you do intervals before weights. You use up your body’s preferred fuel source for intense exercise. So when it comes time for strength training, you won’t have any energy left.

If you use up that energy, it won’t be available when you need it to strength train to increase your strength, get lean and toned muscle definition and boost your post workout calorie burn.

#2: Release Muscle Sculpting Hormones

If you do cardio first, the stress hormone cortisol is released without the simultaneous release of testosterone (yes, women release testosterone, too. Just in smaller amounts compared to men…)

Here’s the problem…

Cortisol breaks down muscles in order to give your body continued energy to exercise (think marathon running).

You see, when you’re strength training, you release testosterone, cortisol, and growth hormone. This hormonal shift not only gives you enough energy to complete your workout, but it also helps to tone and build lean muscle definition after your workout.

Without these hormonal changes, it becomes very difficult to get the muscle definition you’re looking for.

#3: Favorable Change in Blood pH

Doing cardio or any high intensity exercise can make your blood more acidic.

Why? You see…

As you exercise at high intensity, glycogen (remember, that’s stored energy in your muscles) is broken down for energy without the presence of oxygen and lactic acid is leftover. That’s anaerobic exercise.

Now, while you can use this lactic acid as an energy source for continued exercise, it does so by creating excessive amounts of hydrogen ions. 

What does that mean for you?

It burns, baby!

If you’ve ever felt intense burning in your muscles, it’s because you were training at an anaerobic level and the lactic acid was flowing.

Here’s why…

Your body can’t keep up the amount of hydrogen ions being released, which lowers your blood pH (and makes it more acidic). This highly acidic environment causes muscle fatigue and your performance drops.

That’s why you feel you need to stop!

So not only have you used the energy needed for resistance training… if you do cardio first, it will make it harder for you to contract your muscles for the maximum benefit.

#4: Exercise Feels Harder Doing Cardio First

I love using the “Relative Perceived Exertion” scale (or RPE for short for exercise. RPE simply means how hard the exercise feels. And it’s a great, simple way to measure your intensity on any given day.

Now here’s the thing…

Your perceived exertion is higher when you do cardio before strength training – even if you the results you get from both routines are the same.

Read that line again.

It simply means that if you do the same routine, but you do cardio before weights, it will feel much harder than if you did the exact same workout, just with the strength training first. (1)

The other three reasons I’ve listed above truly make your workout feel harder.

Too bad it’s not more effective for fat loss!

#5: Less Risk of Injury

If you’re trying to lift weights after an intense cardio session, you might be physically and mentally fatigued, which greatly increases your risk of injury.

Not only do you need mental strength to push yourself to train hard during your strength workout, but you also need the smaller “accessory” muscles that assist during the movements… that may be fatigued from the cardio beforehand.

By fatiguing these stabilizing, accessory muscles before your strength training, increases the likelihood you’ll complete the set with bad form, and potentially get hurt in the process.

The Bottom Line?

Now, the most important thing is to follow a structured program, so you continue making progress and seeing results.

The good news is… 

You can combine weight training and cardio intervals in a progressive program to sculpt your body and burn fat even faster.

Here’s how:

==> Bodyweight Cardio 500  

You can use this formula to sculpt muscle definition and melt belly fat even faster. And you will NOT need to train 7 days a week… or six… or even five for that matter.

And the best part?

Each workout will only take 20 minutes or less.

Get Progressive ZERO Equipment Workouts that take 20 minutes or less 

Enjoy,

 

Kate Vidulich

Exercise Physiologist

 

1. Wilson JM, Marin PJ, Rhea MR, Wilson SM, Loenneke JP, Anderson JC. Concurrent training: a meta-analysis examining interference of aerobic and resistance exercises. J Strength Cond Res. 2012;26(8):2293-307.

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