When working out, is it better to do cardio or weights first?

Answer 1

Weights first.

If you do cardio first, you will drain your muscles of its fuel, glycogen. Thus when you lift weights after your cardio, your performance will be poor.

Answer 2

WEIGHTS

Your body has thee energy systems, ATP anerobic, ATP areobic and then Aerobic.

ATP is used by acitivties less than 10 sec long (weight lifting), the second is used by activities 10-120sec (a hockey shift) and aerobic is self explanatory.

If you want to lose weight, by doing cardio first you have to go through and use all the fuel/energy designed for the first two energy systems (not going to explain this part as it will take forever). This is pointless, since it makes much more sense to do your weight lifting first, spend that "fuel" doing that, then by the time you start your cardio, you will go straight to buring carbs and fat as opposed to ATP.

WARMING up doing cardio is another story of course (it's fine to do that). But if you are talking about your actual cardio anyone with an anatomy background will say weights before cardio

Answer 3

Cardio first. You want your heartrate up, blood flowing, and muscles warm before you lift. Less chance of pulls, strains, etc.

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Note that this is a simplified, context sensitive reply. No one asking questions in this forum is doing long enough aerobic workouts to put a serious dent in glycogen stores. Most are doing a half hour on an elliptical machine and calling it a workout.

Note also to the guy concerned about 'performance'. No trophies were handed out at my last few weight sessions. If I have to use lighter weights after an hour in the pool, so be it. I don't care what the guy or gal on the next machine thinks of my workout or weight settings. I prove myself on the race course, not on Tuesday at the Y.

Answer 4

Cardio first...that will count as your warm up for lifting.

Also, when I take Body Works classes, we do a 5-7 minute cardio warm up before we start lifting.

Answer 5

I find cardio first is better. It warms up the body and energizes the body so you can train harder on the weights. Just make sure you dont use all your energy on cardio.