Strength before cardio or vice versa?

C

CodeMonkey

0
I have heard both suggestions, and I'm wondering, for burning fat, which is the better order?

I'm not trying to bulk up, just trying to cut fat. Most of my "strength training" is somewhat light, mostly sit ups, push ups, and other various weights at the gym. I find myself out of habit doing 25 mins of cardio, then venturing down to the weight area afterwards.

I've heard both arguments, and I want to know which should be better for burning fat, and why? I'm still kind of a newb at this stuff. Like I said my main goal is burning fat.
 
Well, the first thing you need to know is that cardio is not the be-all-end-all of fat loss that it is commonly believed to be. Many people assume that if they want to lose fat, they must do lots of cardio, and only throw in a little light weight lifting for good measure, if at all.

Strength training is not all about bulking up. It can be an incredibly large part of losing weight as well. If you had goals that required specific cardio training, such as increasing speed in running or biking, etc, then I would say to focus on that first.

However, fat loss as your goal does not mean that your focus needs to be on cardio. If anything, you could benefit more from putting more focus on a weight lifting routine, as opposed to just doing a bit of light lifting.
 
I agree with deschain, building muscle is very important for fat loss.

I would try to focus more on building up your muscles and a little less on cardio. Although you can always be like me and mix them up :)

As for the whole "which comes first" - I would put the weightlifting in front of cardio, especially in your case since you said you go light on the lifting.

If you do your cardio first, you'll have no energy to put into lifting.

However, if you do some light lifting first, you'll still have plenty of energy left for cardio.

Or you can even consider, like I mentioned earlier, mixing them together. However, if you do that you won't be doing "traditional" cardio, which is boring anyway.

For a quick example, you could do a set of bench pressing, then immediately do 10-15 vertical leaps, mountain climbers, jumping lunges, etc.

Then go back and do another set of benching, then another set for legs/endurance.

That's the kind of thing I like to do. It keeps it much more interesting and tests out your mental toughness big time. I just don't lift weights anymore, that's all. I do mostly bodyweight movements that I think are a lot better anyway.
 
Agree with the above. If you do your cardio first, the last thing you'll feel like doing is putting 100% effort into your weights routine.

Weights first, cardio second. The weights routine will also assist you in your fat loss goals.
 
Sorry to repost info thats already there. I have heard somewhere I cant find it right now but if you lift before you do cardio you burn like 40% more fat...maybe not 40% but im pretty sure its more then just cardio then lift.
 
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