01/12/2024
The timing of cardio
before or after training—depends on your fitness goals and personal preferences. Here's a breakdown of each option:
Cardio Before Training:
Benefits:
Warm-up: Doing light cardio (e.g., 5-10 minutes of moderate-intensity activity) can help elevate your heart rate, increase blood flow to muscles, and improve mobility, which prepares your body for weightlifting or intense training.
Mental focus: It can help you mentally prepare for the workout.
Fat burning: Some people prefer to do cardio first to burn more fat, especially if done in a fasted state (e.g., first thing in the morning).
Drawbacks:
If done too intensely before strength training, cardio may deplete glycogen stores and reduce performance during your weightlifting or resistance workout.
Potential fatigue: Excessive cardio before lifting can cause fatigue, reducing strength and performance during the main workout.
Cardio After Training:
Benefits:
Maximized performance in weight training: Doing cardio after strength training ensures you have all your energy for lifting or performing high-intensity exercises.
More effective fat burning: After a strength workout, your body is primed for fat loss because you've already depleted glycogen, and cardio can tap into fat stores.
Less fatigue: Since the strength training is done first, your performance won’t be affected by prior cardio, allowing you to push your limits with weights.
Drawbacks:
If you’re already fatigued after weight training, doing cardio may feel more difficult or less enjoyable.
It may take more time if you're doing long cardio sessions.
Conclusion:
If your goal is strength or muscle gain: It's generally better to do cardio after your workout, so you're not fatigued during weight training.
If your goal is fat loss: Either approach can work, but doing cardio after strength training might be slightly more beneficial since you’re in a calorie-burning mode post-workout.
If you're focusing on endurance: You might prefer doing cardio before your training, especially if you're preparing for a specific endurance event.
Ultimately, it depends on how your body responds and what you're trying to achieve!