Cardio before or after weights?

If you want to achieve optimal health, body composition, or athletic performance, you need to do both cardio AND weightlifting (along with proper diet, which we’ll discuss as well). However, there is a lot of debate over which order you should go in – and of course, the Internet is full of conflicting recommendations. So, let’s take a look at the data and see what you should do!

First thing you need to consider is: what are you looking to accomplish? Your specific goals will always dictate the type of workouts you do. Whether it’s fat loss, muscle growth, general health, or athletic performance… the order of your workouts makes a difference, and it’s all relevant to the energy systems you use.

As a Sports Dietitian, I’m biased, so let’s start with athletic performance. This one gets a little tricky, since there are a lot of variables within this realm. Generally speaking, sports require a combination of speed, endurance, and strength. From there, take a look at what YOU personally need to improve on the most each off-season, and prioritize from there. Whichever you choose, that’s what you’ll do first. So, if you want to get faster, do your cardio and conditioning first, and then hit the weight room. If you’re satisfied with your speed and endurance, but want to get bigger, hit the weights first; however, if you’re still doing any anaerobic cardio workouts, make sure to give yourself plenty of time after lifting to assure you don’t interfere with post-workout hypertrophy gains.

For general fitness, if you’re just looking to build muscle while including cardio for general health, then research indicates that it’s best to do weights first, followed by a cardio session. Simply put, both workouts require a lot of energy – so whichever you do second will be impaired due to depleted glycogen and a fatigue central nervous system. Since muscle growth requires a precise load to invoke adaptations, draining your energy from a hard run will impact the strength and power you can offer during the lift, thus reducing the overall quality. However, this is only true for intense cardio, such as a long run or interval training. Going on a 5-minute jog, riding the bike, or going on a walk will not drain your energy stores too significantly – in fact, this is actually highly recommended before your workout as part of the warmup to get the blood flowing!

When it comes to fat loss, though, the recommendations are a little mixed. Some research shows that lifting before cardio results in greater fat loss; however, other studies have found no difference between the two, as long as total load and diet are the same. Based on this, it really comes down to preference. I usually recommend doing your least favorite part FIRST to get it out of the way, so you can use mental strength to push through the end. When losing weight, the goal is to maintain muscle, which is a lot easier than building new muscle – so you can afford to lose a little energy from your cardio before hitting the weights, if that’s the route you end up choosing.

And finally, let’s talk about those who like to run half/full marathons, triathlons, etc. Similar to the other groups, you want to prioritize YOUR specific goals. While weightlifting doesn’t immediately drain as much energy as cardio workouts, it’s still ideal to enter your primary workout at full capacity. Therefore, it’s recommended to do your full cardio workout first, and then hop into your lift – or better yet, wait until later in the day if you can. Either way, since these lifts are different than someone prioritizing muscle growth, you can still achieve the desired purpose of the workout even with depleted glycogen stores; and this is much better than trying to run 6+ miles right after several sets of heavy squats and deadlifts!

In the end, it’s all about what YOU want to improve on the most. You’ll always have more energy at the beginning than the end, so use that energy to focus on the workout that will help you achieve that goal. And of course, make sure you recover properly to assure you start fresh each day. For example, pairing an Anea Protein shake w/ a carb source will help to jumpstart glycogen restoration and muscle growth so you can continue to have quality workouts!