Is Cardio Best Before or After Lifting Weights?

Cardio is an integral part of any fitness program, whether you're seeking to lose excess weight, build muscles, increase stamina, or simply improve your muscle tone.

But is the best time to do a cardio workout before or after a weight lifting workout? Is it best to work your muscles first, then get your heart pumping, or the other way around?

Or is it best to separate the cardio and weight lifting by several hours? Should you let your muscles rest before doing cardio? Or should you do cardio first, rest for a few hours, and then lift weights?

Or should these workouts be done on alternate days?

Experts agree that both workouts deplete your body's supply of glycogen, which it uses for the quick bursts of energy necessary when working out.

Doing both types of workouts one after the other means your body has mostly depleted its supply of glycogen by the time you begin the second phase of the workout.

If you do cardio first, you'll burn more fat calories, but you won't have the stored energy to get the full benefit from weight lifting. You're also more susceptible to injury, as your muscles may be too fatigued to use proper form through the entire range of motion.

If you do weight lifting first, you'll build more muscle because your body has enough glycogen available to adequately work your muscles, and assume proper form through the entire range of motion. However, because your muscles will be so fatigued from weight lifting, you may be too tired to get the full fat-burning benefits of the cardio workout.

To get the greatest benefit, according to the experts, is to do cardio workouts and weight lifting workouts on alternate days, doing each a minimum of three times per week.

One way to get the greatest benefit from both cardio and weight lifting workouts is to do circuit training. In circuit training, short bursts of aerobic-type exercises for cardio fitness are interspersed with short periods of strength or resistance training for building muscle tone.

Although you won't build super muscles like a body builder doing this type of workout, you do get the best of both worlds, without sacrificing one for the other.

Health and fitness experts agree the best way to structure your workout, whether you're doing a fat-burning cardiovascular workout, a muscle-building weight lifting workout, or a combination of the two, is to do them at a time most convenient to you and your lifestyle.

Copyright Sharon Sweeny, 2011

Sharon Sweeny is a writer trying to get into better physical shape by doing a daily workout 365 days in a row. Follow her progress daily on her blog at http://edailyworkout.com.