Cardio and weight training are the cornerstone of most fitness plans, whether you like it or not. If you go to the gym on a regular basis, you probably have a preference for whether you go to the cardio machines or the weight room first. The basic answer is that it relies mainly on your personal fitness goals.
Cardio should be done after weight training for the majority of people. The majority of us want to gain muscle, lose fat, or do both at the same time. However, for a variety of reasons, practising cardio first may be more advantageous.
The following are some of the advantages of practicing cardio before lifting weights. If any of them are part of your primary fitness goal, you should start with cardio.
- Boost your cardiovascular fitness – Cardio before weight training is a preferable method for persons who wish to improve their cardiovascular ability, such as long-distance runners.
- Enhances endurance – Your muscles will be fatigued if you start your workout with heavy weight lifting. You won’t be able to offer your all in your endurance training after that. Aside from that, if you don’t have any serious body goals and just want to get in shape, cardio is a good place to start.
- Cardio is well-known for its ability to burn calories. Cardio before an exercise is beneficial since it allows you to burn more calories during the duration of the workout by raising your heart rate. As a result, your internal temperature rises and the metabolic demands placed on your body rise.
Every person has various goals in mind when it comes to the advantages of joining a gym, therefore practising cardio before body weight exercises can have some disadvantages as well.
- Do not do cardio before lifting weights if your primary objective is to gain strength and muscle mass. It is not a better technique to perform cardio before weight training to attain strength, power, and muscle building goals.
- People who want to lose weight begin their workouts with cardio exercises. Perhaps they believe that cardio is the most effective technique to burn calories and lose weight. Even if your aim is to lose weight or get shredded, doing cardio before weight training is not a good idea.
- To lose weight, your body must use stored fat as a source of energy during activity. In fact, you must first exhaust your glycogen reserves. As a result, when you lift weights, your body uses glycogen as a source of energy.
- When you undertake cardio after weight training, you’ll be able to use energy from your fat cells, which will result in more fat being burned. Lifting weights after cardio reduces your additional post-workout oxygen intake, which slows your metabolism and makes fat loss more difficult.
When it comes to deciding whether you should do your cardio or weightlifting first, the most essential thing is to make sure you’re receiving the correct quantity of both in the first place. So, whether you start with cardio or weight training depends mostly on your motives for going to the gym.