Should you do cardio before or after weight training?

 Written by Chris on Aug 11, 2014

Do I need to do both cardio and weight training in the first place?

Short answer, absolutely!

Generally when people are doing both cardio and strength training, they are hoping to build some muscle mass while losing fat (which is a good plan). There are other important benefits for your health and athletic performance that can only be achieved from doing both cardio and resistance training, but as I’ve said to many people, there is nothing wrong with an improved appearance being your motivation.

On that note, from an appearance standpoint, you need both to get the look you really want. Cardio training is really the only way to trim excess body fat. Resistance training has it’s purpose, but it’s a poor fat burner. On the other hand, cardio alone will not reshape your body into the best version of yourself possible. Cardio only will give you the same body you have now, only smaller. If you want to lose weight and reshape your physique, you need to do both strength and cardio training.

When it comes to losing weight, combining strength training and cardio training has been shown to be far more effective than cardio training alone. It is not only better at reducing fat, but it helps preserve muscle far better than cardio alone. If you’re only doing cardio to lose weight, it’s actually possible to burn off just as much muscle as fat during your workouts. Adding strength training can reduce the muscle loss from dieting from 50/50 to 93% fat and 7% muscle. Beginners can actually see muscle gains as they remove fat (as long as they don’t run too big a calorie deficit). It’s really the well conditioned exercisers that will find it difficult to add new muscle while cutting fat at the same time. That’s why body builders do it in phases. One phase to gain muscle (and unwanted fat I’m afraid), and one phase to cut all the fat (while unfortunately losing some of their hard earned muscle).

Cardio doesn’t always burn off muscle

Now this scenario I mentioned above refers to people that are dieting and exercising to lose fat. During a calorie deficit, you will also lose muscle (it’s unavoidable), but adding resistance training will significantly reduce that loss. However, doing cardio and resistance training on a regular basis without running a calorie deficit (your maintenance phase), will allow you to favorably change your body’s composition so that you can steadily reduce body fat while building muscle mass.

Does this mean dieting is bad? No, of course not. Quick adjustments to your diet can yield positive long term results, but to make those results stick, you need to make both types of training, a regular part of your life.

So which should I do first?

Let’s get back to the big question of the article, which should come first: cardio or weight training. If you have a personal preference for the order, then I would suggest you stick with whichever you enjoy most. Sticking with an exercise routine long term can be tough, and anything that gets you to consistently exercise is always the best solution. However, to get the biggest benefit out of both types of training, I definitely would suggest you do your cardio after you finish strength training.