Aerobic Exercise Versus Weight Training: Which Should I Do First And Why?

The age old question: What comes first? Weight lifting or cardio training?

Athletes have been asking this same question to themselves for years when trying to plan out a proper workout program. If you feel slightly confused about the order in which you should be performing the components of your workout program, it's important that you keep a few key points in mind.

The training order you use when you hit the gym is important and is going to impact your long term results, so this isn't something to just brush off and not pay attention to.

Let's look at what you should take into account so that you can make the right decision.

What Are Your Primary Goals

The very first thing to ask yourself is what your primary goals are. If you're an endurance athlete and the number one thing is that you improve your cardio performance, then chances are you will want to do your aerobic training at the start of the session.

Since it's going to be vital that you perform your best during this element of the workout, you want to be at your most fresh and when you have the most energy.

If you do weights first, your performance is going to suffer.

On the flip side of the coin, if the primary goal of your workout session is to improve your strength, power, or speed, then you will want to begin with the weight training. Doing too much aerobic training before weight training will definitely reduce your total strength output, and that element of the workout will suffer.

What Type Of Session Is It?

Second, also check in what the nature of the session is. Are you planning just a simple bodyweight resistance workout? If so, you can likely do your aerobic exercise first. Especially if the aerobic exercise you're doing has any type of anaerobic element to it. That will be incredibly demanding, so you should do it when you're most fresh just like above.

If it's an easy cardio session however and you want to achieve some personal bests in the weight room, weights must come first. A light cardio warm-up will be important to do to prepare you for your weight lifting session, but you should not go doing 20-30 minutes of cardio training. It'll just have a negative influence on your ability to lift heavy.

So there you have the main two things to take into account when deciding the order of these workout elements. Whenever you're in doubt, place weight training first. It's the type of exercise that requires the most balance, agility, and strength output, so you should be doing it when your nervous system is at its best.

Only when you have very specific goals related to aerobic training or the weight workout really isn't all that demanding in the first place should it come second.

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Women Versus Body Building

Many think that body building is a sport exclusively created for men. This, however, is not true as there are plenty of women who practice bodybuilding. Such a sport is not necessarily more difficult for women than it is for men, so there isn't a specific reason why women couldn't take on this sport.

Practicing Body Building Exercises

Bodybuilding is another example of successful women attempts in men areas. Since their historical emancipation, you can see women practicing various manly activities such as military, sports, technical, hunting and the list can go on. There are successful women pilots, soldiers, football players, mechanics and many more proving once again that women of today are more independent, tough and up for the challenge.

Talking about bodybuilding, one cannot name anything special about the exercises designed for such a physical activity. This suggests a perfectly accurate idea that both men and women can achieve great results at practicing body building. All human beings are constructed according to similar biological patterns and have the same number of muscles. That means women can very easily accomplish results just as men can.

The main difference between men and women when practicing muscle building sports is of a hormonal nature. When exercising, men are aided by testosterone, which is, amongst other features, a muscle building hormone, while women have increased levels of estrogen. This is known as a fat building hormone. The result is that women have the tendency to accumulate fat faster than men especially once they stopped exercising.

Some could argue that women are not designed to build muscles because it doesn't look good on them. Of course it does, well defined muscles look good on anyone. Since muscles are there anyway, body building exercises can help women make them more toned and lose some of the extra fat, the result being a better and sexier look for themselves.

There are plenty of advantages to sustain the fact that women could very well practice body building exercises. Now, besides the ones mentioned previously, an increased muscle mass can help women build up confidence in standing up for them, as well as a higher capability of defending themselves in case they need to. A good body building exercise program will keep women in great shape, healthier and sexier looking.

The major disadvantage in practicing body building is that women can easily gain extra pounds if they suddenly stop exercising. Neglecting their body building program should be avoided by women who want to take up this sport, or else they will end up disappointed and demoralized by the sudden weight gain.

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