Timing is Important When it Comes to Cardio
When I first joined a gym years ago I made the mistake of doing cardio before I lifted. Not good.
Cardio before weight training is counter-productive to your muscles. Think about it. If you run for 20 or 30 minutes on the treadmill your muscles are going to fatigue and the glycogen it has stored is going to burn out. So you’ll be lifting weights using less than 50% of your muscle’s potential.
You also lower your blood sugar when you lift weights, so when you start running you’ll immediately begin to burn fat. Obviously when you’re lifting you want to maximize your output so wearing yourself out on the elliptical first makes no sense.
Tip: It’s okay and actually recommended to do a light 5-10 minute cardio warmup before you being weight training.
2 comments
I agree with you in part. Doing cardio first will tire you out when you lift weights. However, I really like running on the treadmill and always want to improve my time. If I did weights first then I would not be maximising my output on the treadmill.
I think the best solution is to have cardio days and weight lifting days so you can get the best out of both types of exercise. Obviously, this depends on your goals. If muscle building is your goal (as I’m guessing from the blog title) then cardio will take a back seat. Likewise, if cardiovascular fitness is your goal then weight lifting is likely to be less of a priority.
I definitely think cardio before weight lifting is a bad idea. As you say, your muscles will definitely be too fatigued to perform 100%, which is what you want out of them if you are trying to build muscle. Do cardio in a separate workout from your weight lifting.
I do like to do a little warm up running or biking before I lift though, but not more than 5-7 minutes normally, and at low intensity.
Leave a Comment