I don’t know if the order makes a difference so I thought I would ask.
Lately I have been going to the gym again and I usually lift weights and run on the treadmill on the same day. My question is physiologically speaking, is my workout somehow better depending on the order that I do these activities or is it a completely arbitrary matter?
Lifting first can have an effect on how quickly you can begin metabolizing stored fat during the aerobic exercise.
Really!? I did not know that. Why, then, did my “fitness coaches” at the gym always tell me to start out with aerobics (bike, treadmill) before doing the weights? I believe I recall their telling me something about it being necessary (or at least better for some reason) to “warm up” with aerobics first. Was their advice out-and-out wrong, or just outdated, or am I missing something?
I like to get my muscles warm before I start lifting. Even if it’s not your full cardio, you should do at least a 10 minute stretching warm-up before you start lifting. The only downside I can see is if you tire yourself out on with your warm up. Depending on your fitness level, hopping on the treads for 10 to 20 minutes, doing your lifting for 40, and then running another 10 to 20 will give you a nice warm-up/cool-down ramp, with plenty of cardio. This is depending on your goals, of course, if you’re going for muscle mass and/or bulk, you can run a little less. If you’re looking for cardio and/or weight loss, run a little more.
“Warming up” with aerobics is not the same as doing your all out cardio routine.
“Warming up” means light running or walking, just to point of working up a sweat, to get your circulation going and muscles loose. Stretching or working out cold muscles increases the likelihood of injury (tearing or spraining).
On the other hand, doing a full out workout, like running for half an hour, is another story. You will be physically more tired and unable to do as many reps as you would otherwise. This may be OK if your goal is to lose weight and maintain muscle, but if your goal is to build/gain muscle this can be very bad, as this makes it much harder to “overwork” your muscles to the just-short-of-failure point necessary to trigger growth.
Ah, that explains it. It was never my goal to increase muscle bulk or strenth for its own sake, I was only interested in cardiovascular benefits and weight loss.
Building muscle, losing fat, and being more healthy overall are not mutually exclusive activities. More muscle means more calories burned maintaining it rather than being stored as fat. More muscle mass helps you lose weight by changing your metabolism. Increased strength helps you maintain or increase your activity whether you’re doing aerobic long-term activity or more intense short-term exercise.
The advice I’ve heard most is to warm up with 5-10 minutes of light aerobic activity and do your strength training, cool down with a stretching routine or light aerobic activity again. For max gains in muscle mass, separate your cardio from your strength training by at least 8 hours, if possible. Running in the morning, weights in the afternoon or evening would be ideal. Doing cardio early in the day boosts your metabolism and has a carry-over that extends most of the day, when you’re taking in the majority of your new calories. Having most of a day of recovery between your cardio workout and your weight training, and having a night to recover from your weight workout lets you do each workout with full effort and energy.
If I may hijack this?
Every trainer tells me this. But by the time I start sweating, my heart is thumping and I’m dizzy; I have low blood pressure. Problem: doctors in general don’t know anything about exercise other than “it’s good for you”, trainers in general don’t know anything about medicine other than “working out is good for you”. Great.
Is there other ways to tell whether you’re warming up correctly? Because in my case, if I’m sweating it’s not light exercise.
robardin, I completely agree (well, except for the 8 hours part). It all depends on your goals, and what you’re looking for.
Nava, I don’t know how to address your specifc problem. However, I do know that I’ll start sweating about 5 minutes into an hour long workout. Perhaps you’re going too hard, too fast. At the very beginning of a run, for example, you’re burning sugars. About 20 minutes into it, your body’s mechinisms will start converting and breaking down fat for use. That’s why it seems to get easier around the 20 minute mark. This is also the time your body starts building extra capillaries (or realizes you’re serious, and needs to build some later, I’m not sure exactly how it works). Without trying to sound like a jackass, it seems like it’d be pretty difficult to have a serious workout if you’re feeling dizzy before you break a sweat.
This is very similar to my own schedule. I have also heard that for maximum calorie burning (fat loss) that the aerobic exercise comes **after **the weights.
I do a light 10 minute warm up to loosen muscles before stretching, then go into the weights, then 30-40 minutes of intense cardio. My goal is not to make dramatic increases to muscle mass, but to tone and strengthen. I’m pretty happy with the results. I also mix up the cardio to avoid getting into a rut. Some days the elliptical, some days the treadmill, some days I do intervals on the running track.
If I do things “my way”, using the threadmill or bike at a faster-than-usual pace than being on the street would usually allow and making sure to breathe deeply and with my mouth closed, then I start sweating after maybe half an hour. Often, I’ll go as much as 50 min and not start sweating until I stop. Walking on the street, I can go for three-four hours without sweating. I’ve taken part in 10km races, walking the distance in 58-70 min and not started sweating until I stopped (at which point someone opened the gates and Niagara Falls poured out).
Several times I’ve had trainers tell me I had to push harder because I wasn’t sweating. I’ve ended up getting a static bike at home, but it’s just kind of irritating.
Note to self in case there is reincarnation: ask for a body with sweat glands.
It really depends on what you’re trying to accomplish and at what level you train. For the average person, it probably isn’t going to make any appreciable difference because they’re not really pushing themselves to the limits of their energy systems. If you trained intensively at an elite level, it could make a lot of difference. The only real way to know if it makes a difference for you and your situation is to test it out and see for yourself.
Static stretching (slowly moving into a stretched position and holding it - which is what most people think of as “stretching”) slows muscle activation for around an hour afterwards and should never be performed before a work out. Dynamic stretching (moving while stretching - like arm swings, knee rotations, neck circles, etc.) is the sort of stretching that should be done pre-workout. Save static stretching for post-workout.
For weight training, warming up should not be limited to elevating your heart rate prior to exercise. It should also include a warm up set for every exercise you perform. This is something even experienced athletes sometimes forget to do. Warm up sets precondition muscles for more complete activation and so make your work sets more productive. They also give you a chance to see how those muscles are feeling today and warn you if there is a problem.
Sweating is not a good way to judge anything because it is way too variable. It changes dramatically from person to person and from time to time. Any trainer using sweating to gauge anything is someone I would avoid like the plague. The only way to know if you’re warmed up or not is your heart rate. Get your heart rate into the 75% of maximum range for five minutes and you’re warmed up.
People tend to have very casual attitudes towards exercise and weight training, yet both have the potential for serious injury. I’ve seen plenty of guys come into the gym and grab a bar and start flailing away with no clue of what they’re doing, no warm up, and no real training program. Those are the guys that blow out a knee or tear a rotator cuff and end up with a problem for the rest of their life. There is a ton of good information available about how to train safely and effectively, so do yourself a favor and take some time to do a little research. Not only will you be decreasing your chance of injury, you’ll be making your time in the gym more productive.