Picture it … You arrive at the gym feeling excited about the great workout you have planned. Today, you’re going all-out with cardio and weightlifting on the same day!

This is a marvelous goal, but you might wonder, which comes first, cardio or weights? Does it even matter?

Some health experts say yes, it does matter, but which you should do first can depend on a few factors. In this blog, we’ll discuss those factors so that you’ll walk into AFAC’s gym in Thornton, Colorado, with the information you need to make the best decision for your fitness goals.

Yes, You Do Need Cardio and Strength Training at the Gym

First things first. You might know people who say you don’t need cardiovascular exercise, or that you shouldn’t spend time on strength training, but the reality is, you need the benefits that come from doing both.

Each type of exercise provides you with health advantages. Some of these advantages overlap between the two, increasing the positive gains you’ll enjoy.

Cardio, which can be categorized as aerobic or anaerobic exercise depending on intensity level, gives you the following benefits:

Helps you lose weight and maintain weight loss
Improves your mood and mental health
Helps you stay active and independent as you age
Increases your endurance and strength
Boosts your immune system
Improves and prevents chronic conditions like high blood pressure, high blood sugar, arthritis, and coronary artery disease
Strengthens your heart and lungs
Keeps your arteries clear
Lengthens your lifespan

Strength training, which can also be performed as aerobic or anaerobic exercise, gives you these benefits:

Makes your muscles stronger for activities outside the gym
Slows down the loss of muscle tissue that can naturally occur with age
Reduces abdominal body fat levels
Helps you manage your weight
Makes you lose fat and gain muscle
Improves heart health
Strengthens your bones
Improves and prevents chronic conditions like arthritis, obesity, diabetes, and back pain
Improves mental health, mood, energy levels, and brain function
Lowers injury risks
Improves posture
Extends lifespan

An Alternative Scenario? Performing Cardio and Weight Training on Different Days

There’s certainly nothing wrong with doing cardio and weightlifting on the same day. You can even split your training sessions to do cardio in the morning and weights in the evening.

However, there are benefits to mixing up your cardio and weight training sessions throughout the week, for example, weightlifting on Monday-Wednesday-Friday and cardio on Tuesday-Thursday-Saturday. This training cycle can give your body time to adapt and prevents any negative interaction between the two workouts. In other words, your muscles will have time to mend after lifting and your body will have time to recover after cardio.

Some of us, however, enjoy doing cardio and strength training every day, and that’s fine, too. It’s really a matter of personal preference and what your lifestyle allows.

Now that we’ve cleared up that debate, if you’re part of the same-day, cardio-weightlifting group, which type of exercise should you do first?

Cardio or Weights First at the Gym? The Answer Is Not That Simple

While it seems like a simple question, there is no one-size-fits-all answer to whether you should do cardio or weights first at the gym. The right answer can vary from person to person.

There are many opinions on this topic, too, which we’ll outline below. We hope that this will give you a better idea on how to answer this question for your own personal needs and goals.

The Arguments for Cardio Before Strength Training at the Gym

One study found that participants who did cardio after strength training had a heart rate of 12 beats per minute higher during the cardio session compared to those who did cardio first. This result was surprising because those who did cardio last worked at the same intensity and duration as those who did it first, before strength training.

Because of this heart rate increase, the study concluded that cardio should be performed first. While most of us think that the whole point of cardiovascular exercise is to get your heart rate up, this 12 beat-per-minute increase moved exercisers into a vigorous-intensity cardio workout even though they were aiming for moderate intensity. Inadvertently making your cardio workout too vigorous can lead to overtraining, burnout, musculoskeletal injuries, and an increased risk of cardiovascular events.

Performing cardio first, therefore, ensures that you’ll be doing your cardio at your preferred intensity.

Another argument in favor of doing cardio first? It’s a great way to rev up your heart rate and prepare your body for movement. By increasing blood flow to the large muscle groups you’ll be lifting with, cardio can be your warm up before weight training.

In addition, if you’re training for a race, lifting weights before cardio could decrease your endurance. A 2013 study published in Applied Physiology Nutrition and Metabolism found that a group of people who performed strength training prior to running showed a greater running impairment compared to the group that ran first.

The Arguments for Cardio After Strength Training at the Gym

The above arguments should not be taken as an endorsement of an always cardio-first program design. Your needs and fitness goals should be considered when making the decision of which type of exercise to start with.

Some studies say it’s better to perform strength training first because:

(1) Your strength is reduced when you do cardio first, which decreases your lifting performance and results.

The reasoning here is pretty simple – lifting weights is difficult, and you need all the physical and mental energy you can get to move heavy weights with proper form, build muscle, and avoid injury.

In one 2015 study published in The Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research, researchers compared three different workout styles — strength training alone, running followed by strength training, and cycling followed by strength training. They found that running or cycling before strength training limited the number of weightlifting reps people could perform compared to those who didn’t do cardio before their workouts.

In another study published in the same journal in 2016, muscle power decreased when participants lifted weights after running on a treadmill. Heart rate and the rate of perceived exertion (how hard the workout felt) also increased, according to the study.

(2) You’ll use more fat for fuel by doing strength training first because your body depletes its glycogen stores during strength training. This forces your body to use fat stores during your cardio exercise.

In a 2007 study published in Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise, doing cardio after weight training burned more fat during the first 15 minutes of cardio, compared to doing the cardio workout before weightlifting. When you lift weights, your body gets its energy from glycogen that’s stored in your muscles. If that glycogen is used up when you do cardiovascular exercise, your body is forced to use energy stored in body fat. This led the study authors to conclude that it’s better to do cardio after weights if your main goal is weight loss.

What’s Better for Your Gym Goals?

At this point, you still might be a little unsure which combination is better for your fitness goals at the gym. Taking all these factors into consideration, here are some conclusions that might help.

You Should Do Cardio First If

You’re trying to improve your endurance — for example, if you’re training for running, cycling, or triathlon events.
Your goal is to maximally grow both endurance and strength, but in this case, you should do your cardio first thing in the morning and your strength training in the evening.
You don’t enjoy cardio and need to get it over with when you’re less fatigued.

You Should Do Strength Training First If

Your main goal is to lose weight or get leaner.
You’re trying to improve your strength.
You’re doing lower-body strength training on that day.
You don’t enjoy strength training and need to get it over with when you’re less fatigued.

You Should Do Either One First If

You’re doing only upper-body strength training on that day.
Your goal is general fitness.

How Often Should You Do Cardio and Weight Training?

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says that adults should get at least 150 minutes of moderate-intensity cardio, or 75 minutes of vigorous-intensity cardio, per week.

That means 30 minutes of moderate-intensity cardio exercise, 5 days per week, will meet the guidelines. But, how you break those numbers down depends on your schedule and goals. The higher intensity your cardio, the less frequently you’ll need to perform it.

Keep in mind that if your goal is overall fitness, there is no official maximum amount of cardio you should do. The only things holding you back are your physical limitations and schedule. Just keep in mind that you don’t want to overtrain or burn out on exercise.

It’s also recommended that adults strength train at least 2 days per week, but many experts suggest it’s better to strength train at least 3 days per week to maintain muscle mass and improve fat loss.

What’s the Best Type of Cardio to Combine with Weight Training at the Gym?

In general, low- or moderate-intensity cardio is the best type of cardio to pair with weight training. That could be walking, using the elliptical machine, rowing, jogging, or cycling. Your priority should be to choose the kind of cardio machine at the gym you truly enjoy using. When you enjoy the exercise, you’ll be more consistent with your workouts which will make them more effective.

Finding the Perfect Balance of Cardio and Weightlifting at AFAC Gym

Since personal schedules, fitness goals, and athletic abilities are unique to each individual, the decision on whether to do cardio or weightlifting first is really up to you. If you still have questions or need assistance with building out a balanced workout schedule, the personal trainers at AFAC gym are here to assist you. The entire team at AFAC gym is available to support you, as well, and help you get the results you’re striving for.

If you’d like more information about our strength training equipment, cardiovascular machines, and packed schedule of fitness classes, please stop by and speak to our team at AFAC gym. We’ll give you a tour and show you why we’re the best gym in Thornton, Colorado. For more information and assistance, you can also contact our gym owner, Susan, at 720-849-0245 or susan@adventurefitness.club.