Everyone has different priorities and can enjoy different things when it comes to fitness. People will have certain opinions on when to do your cardio or weight training because one will have an impact on the other. However I thought it would be best to explain why it’s so important to have proper structure to your programs to maximise your fitness goals.
Now on the face of it to build muscle you need to have adequate protein in your diet, be in a surplus and have progressive overload in your resistance training. Cardio burns fat although it can be used as a tool, the best way is to be in a calorie deficit through our diet. Anyway the two contradict each other, to build muscle you need to be in a surplus (weight training) and to burn fat you need to be in a calorie deficit (through cardio & diet). So does this mean we can’t do both, or that if we do it will have a negative impact on the other? Well maybe, the answers a bit more complex than a simple yes or no.
I’ll start off by saying you firstly need to analyse what your goals are, what do you want to improve on. As whatever that is needs to be done first when you have the most energy. If you want to improve endurance perhaps for sport then do your cardio first and base your program around that. However if you want to improve strength and physique, weights first will be the best thing for you. The exception will be when you utilise cardio as a warm up however this should be at a low intensity and not doing for long periods of time.
It’ll also depend what kind of cardio you’ll be planning on doing. Your skeletal muscles (muscles you use to move) are made up of three types of muscle fibres: Type 1, Type 2a & Type 2x. These different fibres are used for different activities, for example type 1 fibres (slow-twitch) are used for low intensity exercises e.g. walking. Type 2 fibres (fast-twitch) are used for high intensity exercises e.g. weight lifting. Weight training paired with low intensity exercises can be detrimental because your fibres are competing for the adequate nutrition from your body for performance and recovery, therefore neither gets the optimum. Whereas weight training with HIIT which both use type 2 fibres show little to no effect on muscle development. However remember they both still require energy so get all your weight training done first and don’t mix it up. This is to get the best out of both worlds.
What you may decide to do is have a dedicated cardio day which is something that can be implemented into a good program. However don’t mix your cardio days with your rest days. Our bodies will not get the rest it needs to fully recover, making you more likely to get injured and also perform less. The exception to this is LISS as it’s not as demanding as high intensity cardio. Often areas which suffer the most with regards muscle growth and cardio done at the same time is our lower body, so give your legs some rest because they have to carry you around all day everyday.
So the majority would have you believe cardio can kill your workout progress, is this true? Some studies support this theory and some show they don’t effect it much, it all depends on what you’re doing and how good your program is. The more time you rest between cardio and weights the less detriment it will have on your muscle growth. On the other hand the longer the cardio sessions or more frequently you do them can hurt your muscle growth.
Remember cardio is still very beneficial to do, it improves heart health and aerobic fitness something which we need in life not just when we go to the gym.
So what do I do. I always do my weight sessions first when I’m most fresh as that’s the area I want to improve most on. Then at the end I’ll a HIIT workout to help my cardiovascular health. On rest days I put a step count in place to help me be more active whilst still giving my body the adequate rest it needs.
Hopefully you’ve found this beneficial, if you did please subscribe always makes my day when I get a notification pop up.
Thanks
Cameron
Additional Sources:
Picture Fit - Muscle Fibers Explained - Muscle Contraction and Muscle Fiber Anatomy
Picture Fit - Does Cardio Kill Your Gains? (Doing Cardio and Weight Training Together)
Picture Fit - Do Cardio or Weights First?
Jeff Nippard - What is the BEST Time of Day to Train? | Should You Do Cardio or Weights First?
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