Cardio before weight training?
This morning I heard a ad for Virgin Active ad on the radio. It’s quite scary that they actually put something on the air like that, proving that they have no clue when it comes to exercise.
Still it is quite a common question I get, do I do my cardio before weight training or after? Most people do it before for some reason. So here is the explanation of why you should do it after your weight training.
By definition, weight training should be high intensity which means the body uses stored energy in the muscles for the activity. Cardio training is at a much lower in intensity and the idea is for the body to metabolize fat for energy. This process is very slow, hence the long duration at low intensity.
The problem is that the body is lazy and will burn the stored energy rather than metabolize fat, even at low intensity. Lets look at what happens when you do cardio before your weight training. Firstly, you will burn stored energy, therefore the cardio is not really having an effect on fat reduction. Secondly, you now do weights but with much less available stored energy and as a result, your workout and stimulation will be lower.
Now we look at weight training first. You have ample stored energy for a good high intensity workout. After the weight training, most of your stored energy is already used so that when you now do cardio, the body is already metabolizing fat, therefore the effect on both the workouts are much better.
Weight training first, then cardio.
