Should You Do Cardio Before Or After Your Weight Training Workout?

Should you do cardio before or after your weight workout?
Many prefer to do their cardio before lifting to get it out
of the way and as a general warm-up. I do endorse a 5
minute pre-workout general warm-up for safety' sake, but
for maximum fat loss, post weight training aerobics should
be the mainstay of your program.

The funny thing about being on the cutting edge of weight
loss science is that people are reluctant to believe you
until someone with a M.D. says it is so. Well, wonder of
all wonders, it just so happens that a recent study
suggests that the best time to do cardio is after a weight
workout and that how long you rest between the two can make
a difference in both hormone release and fat burning.

This is not new information to bodybuilders who specialize
in rapid fat loss year in and year out. My experience as a
competitive bodybuilder is what prompted me to use this
style of training for fat loss in my clients.

The study was presented at the 2006 ACSM meeting and
featured 10 healthy men who did three types of exercise
routines on different days: 1) Endurance exercises only 2)
Endurance exercise after weight training and a 20 minute
rest 3) Endurance exercises after weight training and 120
minutes rest

The weight training workout consisted of six exercises each
done for three to four sets of 10 reps. Pretty standard
fair and similar to the second phase of the Fat to Fit
Program. The cardio exercises consisted of stationary
cycling for an hour at low intensity (50 percent of maximum
heart rate.

For maximum fat loss I would suggest a higher intensity
level and a more High Intensity Interval Training style as
opposed to the low intensity approach used in the study.

Doing the weight workout before aerobics led to marked
increases in lactate, norepinephrine and growth hormone
levels. These are all great things when it comes to maximum
fat loss. Before the endurance exercise started those in
the 120 minute rest group showed the highest levels of free
fatty acids in the blood, while those in the 20 minute rest
group showed higher levels of norepinephrine and growth
hormone.

During the endurance and weight training exercises, blood
levels of free fatty acids and glycerol were higher in both
weight training groups than in the endurance only group.
The bottom line is that those in both weight training
groups were burning more fat during the aerobic exercise
than the aerobics only group.

You can compound the case for post workout aerobics further
by adding in the fact that not only did the group that did
weight training first burn more fat during their cardio but
also burned more calories in total by virtue of an
increased overall daily metabolism increase and calories
expended through the actual resistance training itself.

The study clearly shows that doing a weight workout before
aerobics leads to hormonal changes that increased fat
oxidation (read weight loss or fat burning) during the
following aerobic workout.

Here is another angle to the story. Imagine yourself doing
30 minutes to an hour of aerobics and then going on to do
your weight training. How much energy do you really have
left to do justice to your weight training? After all that
cardio, you have burnt through your glycogen stores (which
are the muscle preferred source of fuel) and will not have
the energy to stimulate the most outrageous fat burning
method available to you. An all day long, increased
metabolism, because you stimulated your muscles.

It kind of makes you smile when you find out information
like this doesn't it?

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