If this has been discussed before, I apologize, I don’t have search abilities yet.
If your goal is muscle toning, minor strength training, and cardiovascular improvement (with a bit of weight loss) is it better to do your anaerobic workout first or your weight lifting first, and why? Or does it matter?
I am no expert, but I think conventional wisdom is that you should do carido workout first, then weight training.
Also, more weight with fewer reps leads to bulky muscles, and more reps with less weight leads to lean and toned muscles.
I do not know why.
I believe that if you’re trying to increase muscle mass and strength, cardio should come second, since you don’t want to expend all of your energy before you lift. In your case, since you aren’t trying to specifically build muscle mass, I don’t think it will matter what order you do them.
The most important piece of advice that you can get when starting a fitness program is to make sure that it is fun. If it gets to be a drag you’re wasting your time and money. Keep it fun!
plnnr’s got it nailed.
Here’s the best advice I can give you:
Change it up!
Once your body gets into the routine of doing certain excercises in a certain order for a certain amount of time with a certain amount of weight the body adjusts and gets used to the routine which is not beneficial.
You want to keep your muscular and cardio systems in shock to get the most benefits.
So some days do cardio first, others do cardio last depending on your mood.
Same goes for weight training. Change up the the excercises from free weights to machines often. And change up the order also, don’t get set in a routine of “back first, then shoulders, chest, bis, tris”.
Another excellent idea to make your weight training a cardio workout also is to carry a watch with a second hand and limit rest between sets to 1 minute and rests between excercises to 2 minutes. It’s tough and keeps your heart rate up.
Hi, I’m a geek. Weight training is anaerobic. I think you meant “aerobic workout”.
You’re absolutely right! :smack:
I meant to write “aerobic or anaerobic workout” or somthing to that effect, but got all excited and mucked up.
Thank you all for your advice.
The best answer is “whatever works for you”.
I always do my strength training first, because that is my priority and I want to have as much energy as possible to hit the weights hard. This also gets my heart rate up (I walk laps between sets), and then the cardio session at the end of my session keeps the heart rate up.
I warm up, then lift, then do cardio, then stretch.
Don’t stint on the weights if you want to lose fat. Building muscle raises your metabolic rate so you burn more calories between workouts. It also changes the shape of your body, so even if your weight doesn’t change you will look, feel, and perform better.
Regards,
Shodan